Two Days To Vegas

From the desk of Normal Girl…

Okay, it’s two days before our trip to Vegas begins and I still can’t believe that we are getting on the plane this Saturday. Jason keeps bugging me to search for fun things that I want to experience while we are there, but I finally broke it to him—I know nothing about Vegas.

It’s true, I don’t. I know of “the strip,” I know Jennifer McFly gets married in the “Chapel o’ Love” there, and I know I will be super excited when the lights go down at the start of Miss America. Beyond that, I can’t be much help with tourist-type expeditions. I even asked Jason where Vegas is located in the state; one of my lifetime goals is to stand on the site where you are in the four states at once. (My other two lifetime goals are to ride on a Zamboni and play Plinko on The Price is Right, but that’s another story for another day.)

So, off we go to Vegas. Although I am unsure what I want to see, I know I want sunshine and warmer weather than the predicted 13 degrees for Boston. I want to be blinded by the lights of The Strip. I want to be surrounded by Elvis impersonators. (I went to college in Mississippi, so becoming an Elvis fan was inevitable!) I want to walk around, see some random event, and decide to join in.

Planning has never been a forte of mine, especially when it’s a new destination. Sure, I can tell you where you should go in various cities across the nation, but it’s only because my family has either lived there or we have visited many times. Take New Orleans, for example. The city was my family’s home while I was in college and I made many treks to the Crescent City for fun—yes, Mardi Gras included. I can tell you that Maspero’s has the best fried shrimp and Camellia Grill, where the cooks sing, has amazing apple pie. Ask me to plan a vacation to an unfamiliar place and I look like a deer in headlights. Tell me to take you to Oxford, Mississippi and there will be no hesitation when I direct you to the gas station with the best chicken-on-a-stick known to man.

Vegas overwhelms me. Part of me remains the small-town girl, intimidated by big city lights. I am sure that the skylines of Philadelphia, NYC, and New Orleans are nothing compared to the strip after sunset.

I can’t wait to go and enjoy this time with Normal Guy, not only because he can be my official tour guide, but because any guy that will go to Miss America with me is one I plan to keep around…