The family get together started small. My brother, Tom, asked if we would be interested in using one of his time-share weeks when he did an exchange in Las Vegas. His son and daughter-in-law live there with two young children. We thought it was a great idea. We could see the babies that we haven’t seen and enjoy a new city.
By the time the planning ended, here was the lineup:
- Ann and Dan from Catonsville Maryland
- Heather (sister) and Tom from Afton, Minnesota
- Tom (brother) and Ali from Midlothian Virginia
- Lauren (Tom’s daughter) and Natalie ( 6 months old) Waitkart from Bethesda, Maryland
- Lianne Shea, (Ali’s sister) Seattle, Washington
- David Shea, (Ali’s brother) Richmond, Virginia
- Holly (my first cousin) and John Cahill from Boulder, Colorado
A few people are missing in the photo, David went home early and Holly and John arrived later in the day. Six-month-old, Everett, was home with a babysitter. As a side note, I used the camera remote on my Apple watch to take a photo using the timer feature on my iPhone. Notice I still have my wrist up in the air.
We are all related to the Wall children, age 23 months and five months old. We are great uncles and great aunts, uncles and aunts, and first cousin once removed. The last time my brother and sister were together was for my father’s funeral in 2012.
The Hilton Grand Vacation Club on Paradise was our home base. We had a modern, well-equipped one bedroom apartment in a quiet location just one block from the Strip. There were no slots in the lobby!
We had family time, show time, and meal time. Las Vegas was new to me. If you want to go to shows, it is not cheap. What’s another 130 bucks when you may not be back. We did see the following shows, some with family members and others on our own.
- Msytére, Cirque du Soleil at Treasure Island
- Blue Man Group at the Monte Carlo
- Terry Fator at the Mirage
- Frank Marino’s Divas at the Linq
My lungs got a workout with the smoky casinos. I missed the Maryland no smoking in bars and restaurants. Of course, the signage is poor so you can’t find your way out. Most of the theaters require a trek through the casinos. It was nice to have the self-parking garages for all the hotels. We had a rental car, so we did take advantage of the free parking. It seemed like it blocks to get from the garage to the destination inside the hotel.
We also discovered trams from one hotel to another. We managed to see the Mirage Volcano and the Bellagio Dancing Fountains by taking the tram from another location.
We did see the Hoover Dam with Holly and John. Too bad Friday was 100 degrees. We did take the 30-minute tour rather than wait two hours for the longer version. Half an hour was just right. The water is low compared to the line in the rock showing the normal water height.