California

 Shortly after waking up at the Luxor in Las Vegas I received a notification that there was movement near my front door. My doorbell captured “Nana” giving water to our plants. It reminded us how blessed we are to have parents who bless us in so many ways - in fact, they are taking care of Fenway while we are gone. This is no small task and we are hoping that Fenway will be a “good boy” although no one is holding their breath.

Megan got up this morning and went to pick up the rental car. More than two hours later she showed up with this one. Thank you to Megan for going through all the trouble it takes to rent a car these days in Las Vegas. So, we all piled into this car (which is way nicer than anything we are use to) and made our way into California. Here are some of the views that we encountered.

We encountered traffic and lost about 45 minutes but we made it.

After going to the Hotel to unload our stuff we went to Downtown Disney to get the lay of the land. We had a great dinner at the Earl of Sandwich. We even had a few beignets.

Happy to be here and to have some time to rest.

Vegas

 Vegas was never supposed to be a major stop on our trip to the western realm but the more we planned the more we knew that Las Vegas would be our home airport. As long as we were here we decided to take the day to look around and recover from jet lag before going to our next destination. We took full advantage of the opportunities to see the grand spaces and enjoy the Luxor and other amazing hotels.

We had a discussion on one of our Uber treks about how sometimes the people you were with will have a completely different idea about how and what you should do (on a trip or anything really). We talked about compromise, and giving of ourselves sometimes. We discussed how it will sometimes be the other way around, and that you will be the Beneficiary of someone else’s compromise. 

Today I think I was the beneficiary of others’ compromise. You see about 15 or so years ago Megan and I went on a three day excursion to Las Vegas. We had each chosen things we wanted to do and see. Topping my list was an exhibit about King Tut at the Luxor. We arrived only to find that had begun tearing the exhibit down the day before. I was disappointed, but we still had a great trip. Once Megan chose the Luxor to be our hotel in Las Vegas I checked it out online, and I was elated to find that the exhibit was back, new and better.

We only had enough time and money to go to one exhibit, and there were three in the Luxor at this time. The body (which no one wanted to see), the Titanic (which everyone wanted to see), and the King Tut exhibit. All of the girls acted as if they were very interested in the King Tut exhibit although I knew they were compromising, I was happy to take them up on the offer. Finally I would have my dreams fulfilled. Megan did other more interesting things but the rest of us were off.

This is a replica of the actual outer sarcophagus. It is huge and pure gold.

He was buried with his car!

There is gold everywhere.

The layers of the sarcophagus.

One of the criticisms that I read often of this exhibit was that they did not have any real artifacts, and that everything was a replica. Unless I am mistaken, it is no longer legal to have artifacts from ancient Egypt, unless it is formally on loan  from them. Recently, a new museum was built in Cairo, and all of the parts of king Tut’s tomb have been called together after being displayed in several different museums. So, when it was all said and done, I thought it was a good representation and was informative. It wasn’t all that I hoped it would be, but I was happy to have seen the exhibit – finally.

Next, we did lunch, and the girls rested in their own ways.

Next, we did some sightseeing. First we went to the Bellagio. This beautiful glass work on the ceiling was made by a artist in North Carolina. It is in the main lobby.

The conservatory

The world’s largest chocolate fountain

Then to the Venetian. Notice all the artwork on the ceiling and the beautiful views.

Next, we went to a pizza place that Olivia found online. Everyone else was about to find the end of their energy, so Olivia was the only one who really participated in the games and rides.

The plan was to close out the day at Fremont Street. But, by this time of the day, everyone was done. We went to Fremont Street but all of the people and all of the lights even the lighted canopy overhead were sensory overload, and everyone was ready to go back to the Luxor.

All of that is OK, Vegas was good to us, and we were able to get rested for tomorrow.

Flying

If you have followed this blog at all you know that I always begin by saying that we, logically, would not spend the money (that is always in short supply) to go on such adventures- but we do, we always do. And we never apologize for it and we never regret it. It is who we are and it makes our family stronger and closer in the long run. These experiences mark the time and help to establish our way.

Even as we arrived at our first destination, Las Vegas, Nevada (sin city) our family unity and our faith and our utter reliance on and deep belief in the Grace of God is re-affirmed.

Join us for the next couple of weeks as we have new experiences. Some will be great and some may not be all that we hoped but through it all, as always, we will grow. 

With all of that said: This is the Davis Family Vacation 2023. Welcome to it!

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Since we have been foster parents our vacations always begin with a heavy heart as we have to say goodbye to one of our family for a short time while we rest and regain our strength. We know we leave her in good hands and we will see her in a couple of weeks but we miss her every day. We love you Anila Queen.

We flew out of Raleigh/Durham Airport for the short flight to Charlotte. We were excited to get under way.

This was the plane for the first leg and we would fly exactly the same kind of plane on the second leg from Charlotte to Las Vegas.

We had a good short first flight except for a delay because there was no gate.

Traditions are important in any family and ours are held onto tightly. This is a picture on the second flight where Addison opened her tackle box snacks that we have put together in the past for long vacation drives. I assumed no one would want such on a plane but I was informed the day prior to vacation that they would be expected and appreciated. 

The second leg of the flight was long - but no problems. When we landed the first person I saw in Vegas was Rick from Pawn Stars. I did acknowledge him but I didn’t want to infringe on his privacy by taking a picture so I did the next best thing - a picture of Addison with Rick Harrison in the background.

We arrived at The Luxor very late (Eastern Time) but we managed a few photos while Megan got our rooms straight. We ended up having to move after we got in our rooms because of a very loud cricket in the window seal on the fifth floor. They moved us to the ninth floor (I guess crickets don’t climb that high) and to better rooms and gave us a $75 voucher for food which we used for breakfast. Finally … rest.

Emily Grace Birthday - Trip to Disney

 Emily Grace really did not have much desire to go to Disney for her birthday trip until in talking about her trip Addison told her that on birthday trips you get to choose where we go and what we do. After that, she was in. 

Very shortly she had chosen the parks and we were off and going.

It was great to have time with her. I am very proud of the way she has made the transition to private school and kept her grades up for the year. Mostly I'm proud because of I love who she is and how she loves Jesus first. What a great few days!

We stayed at The Swan which afforded us early entry to Disney Studios. We went straight to Tower of Terror and got on very quickly.

Then Mickey and Mini's Runaway Railway

I won the shootout at Toy Story Mania

Star Tours

Breakfast of CHAMPIONS

We used our first Individual Lightning Lane on Rise of the Resistance. It was a good thing too. Standby wait was 155 minutes. Our wait was zero.

We didn't expect Rockin' Roller Coaster to be open but it was. It was rumored that this ride was switching from AeroSmith to Queen. Not yet anyway.

Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We tried and tried to get a reservation at Andy's Backyard BBQ but could not. This proved to be fortunate because "a problem in the kitchen" had caused the restaurant to be closed. Suddenly we were very happy with our reservation.

After lunch we took a break back at the hotel. We took about an hour before heading back to the parks.

The Monorail to get us into the Magic Kingdom.

Our second Individual Lightning Lane of the day. Again, no wait for Tron.

By the time we got off of Tron we had a lightning lane for Space Mountain

A snack - a smoothie for Emily and this for me.

About to get on Peter Pan with Lighting Lane

Pirates of the Caribbean 

We went by the pub and Gaston was making these.

Big Thunder Mountain

Dinner

The Haunted Mansion

It's A Small World After All

1 hour waiting for a good spot for the fireworks show.

A few friends behind us.

And in Front.

After the big fireworks show we did a few more rides. Winnie the Poo and Buzz Lightyear.