We flew out of the Bellingham International Airport instead of Sea-Tac. Best way to do it, if you can! (They have limited flights to and from Bellingham, and only two airlines). But even though the drive was slightly farther (about 8 miles more than Sea-Tac), it was stress-free with no traffic! Bryce was thankful for that, as he was our chauffeur!
I think it was only about 10 minutes from the time Bryce walked us into the airport and we got in line for security to the time we were through security and walking to our gate. Not only that, but the airport is so small that there was no way I could have anxiety or be worried about getting lost! (A big bonus for us!)
So, security was a breeze, and I got to lay down and have a little rest while we waited to board the plane. Boarding was interesting, as we had to go outside and walk back and forth on an incline to get into the plane, and I've never had to do that before (except maybe at the Narita airport in Japan when I was 16).
The plane ride wasn't long at all, and we didn't have to check any luggage! (Yay!) So, right when we landed in Las Vegas, the first thing we did was walk through the food court and visit the restrooms, since we were in no hurry to collect anything from baggage claim.
This is the part of the story where I need to back up and explain that, the night before we flew out, Fran called and asked us what time we were landing. When we told her, she said, "Cancel your ground transportation; Richard and I will just pick you up!" So, we jumped at it! It would be way more fun to hang out with our friends and save $18 on the ground transportation, right?
Haha, sort of.
It took us 3 phone calls and at least 45 minutes to locate Fran & Richard. (There was a lot of construction at the airport, and weird pick-up locations). We finally found them, and they pulled up so we could load our two bags each and get in the car. No sooner had we bucked up than a security guard came up to the car and told Richard he was getting a $100 ticket for parking in a crosswalk! WHAT?! We were all kind of shocked and not sure if this guy was for real.
He was.
He also told Richard that he was getting an additional $100 for loading in a crosswalk! NO WAY! I felt so terrible. It was our fault! But Fran just said, "Oh well. We'll figure it out." When the guard asked Richard if he knew why he was getting a ticket, his response was priceless, "Yeah! Because I'm confused! I'm in a new place! I don't know where I'm going!"
Needless to say, the guy didn't give Richard the ticket. So to re-cap: Our friends (and Awana Commander and Sparks leader) offered to save us $18, and we nearly cost them $200. Sigh.
But the fun started shortly thereafter!
Fran & Richard drove us up and down the strip so we could see everything there was to see. It was so incredible! I had never seen anything like it before in my life!
This is a picture of the New York, New York hotel (which, regrettably, we did not get to see on this trip).
After we cruised around for a little while, we went to the condo and dropped off our bags. Robert tried to check us in early, but we couldn't really do that, since check-in time was at 4pm, and we were there hours earlier than that.
That was no big deal, though, because we went with Fran & Richard to Sam's Town!
I was surprised at how much was going on in Sam's Town when we got there.
It was really huge inside! My pictures certainly do not do it justice.
But it was a lot of fun to get to go with Fran & Richard to see this stuff. I've come to the conclusion that we're probably going to travel with friends and family from now on, save for maybe a couple small trips here and there. It's a lot more fun when you have people around you to enjoy everything with!
These photo were taken inside Sam's Town. It was amazing! All the storefronts looked like this! Really and truly, it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight for this girl! 
More pictures from the road! So awesome!
So, after our shenanigans with Fran & Richard at Sam's Town, Fran decided that she really, really wanted us to see The Venetian.
Look at this guy! :) SO awesome!
So, there are a lot more pictures on Facebook. I'll try to upload to Picasa or something later, but the pictures here on the blog are just my favorites from the day.
Stay tuned for more!
