Whistler to Las Vegas

14 January

Although Whistler is warming up, it was still quite chilly this morning. After a little sleep in we headed down to Vancouver for our flight to LV.

It was a little bit of a sad trip. We all really love the feel and atmosphere of Whistler and have enjoyed the skiing, particularly Joshua. I am not sure introducing the kids to snow sports was such a brilliant idea when you dont have ready access to snow when they love the sport so much.

The ride down was easy and the scenery spectacular. At least half the drive down was filled with snow capped mountains and road side bushes, frozen waterfalls and semi-frozen creeks and lakes. The sun was bright and creating a beautiful magical sparkle to the snow. 

We ventured into Vancouver briefly to check out the steam clock and make a few last minute maple purchases before heading to the airport. Just as well we got there early as it was possibly the worst check in experience we have had. The affects of the Arctic airflow continued in Vancouver - for the first time on any flight, our wings were de-chilled, or had anti-freeze sprayed all over them before take off.

The flight to LV was straight forward and quick. We had previously driven into LV so flying was a new experience. I had no idea that the airport was so close to the strip. As we landed we had a clear view of the Luxor, the Excalibor, and the MGM hotel, just to name a few. It was also our first glimpse of the Sphere.

Belle had her first drive in a Tesla (actually it was also Joshua and my first as well). I have not seen her so chatty with an Uber driver before, getting the run down on his experience with the car. 

Arriving at the Bellagio, we were reminded of the shere size of Vegas, just by design. Its not like Vegas out grew the number of tourists that were arriving - Vegas was made to attract and accupy more tourists than we would ever see or know (I hope - there were already too many without any special events). Its amazing that a city can have an entire F1 staging area set up and sitting vacant for most of the year awaiting the next annual event. Even walking from the checkin to the lifts and then from the lifts felt like a marathon. 

The kids were reminded of the weirdness of being able to walk right through the casino floor and watching (and smelling) people smoke. While there is no smoking on the hotel room floors or in the rooms, it really feels like the smell is effusing through the air conditioners.