Las Vegas, NV - February 26 - March 1

My poor working husband never gets to go on any of our trips.  And, he is the reason we get to travel to begin with.  So, as he approached his 50th birthday, I asked him how he wanted to celebrate and he said that he wanted to go to Las Vegas.

So, he took a couple of days off, as did I and off we went (with the kids, of course).  Although taxis are readily available, we decided to rent a car so that we could take a couple of side trips.   We stayed at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.  The hotel is at one end of the strip and there were several things within easy walking distance.

We used Priceline to book our room and received a very good rate.  We also were exempt from paying the ridiculous $25 per night "resort fee" that the regularly book guests are forced to pay.  I am guessing that they received too many bad reviews on Priceline for the surprise fee.

As soon as we walked into the casino, Lil' Bit made a beeline for the slot machines with eyes as wide as dinner plates.  She had never seen an "arcade" so big, bright, colorful and loud.   
There was no explanting to her that they were not video games and she was not allowed to play them.  She was almost inconsolable.  But, we did manage to drag her away and we made our way to our room. 

The room was comfortable.  Not huge, but nicely appointed and comfortable. 

We dumped our bags and headed out to explore.

The pool was very nice and we spent a good amount of our vacation time soaking up the sun while the kids swam. 

Next post:  photos from the strip

Live...from Alaska!

I am posting this from our resort in Girdwood, Alaska! We made it!.  My husband ended up ordering himself a ZED fare ticket and joined us on our trip.  I will make a full post on our trip at one point but I am trying to keep the trips in order and I am way behind on trip reports.  I just could not contain my excitement and had to check in to say how awesome this place is.  And huge.  We are overwhelmed with the expanse of it.  We would like to visit Denali and Mt. McKinley but it is a six hour drive from here.

We are planning on setting off tomorrow to see glaciers and hopefully some wildlife.  Look forward to an amazing trip report in the future.

How to get to Alaska

Step 1.  Get your husband to go on his employee website and show you how to book a Zed Fare ticket.  Since our airline does not fly to Alaska, we have to book on affiliated airlines.  We pay for our flights based on a zone system which is based on miles and this is called a Zed Fare.

Step 2.  play with the system and book a random set of travel dates "just to see how we do it"

Step 3. reassure said husband that we probably can't accidently book the tickets without putting in a credit card number

Step 4.  notice that the website mentions that the tickets will be paid for by payroll deduction....  oops

Step 5. wait for the paid for tickets to arrive in the mail.

Guess what...., we are going to Alaska.   The dates we put in the computer were for four or five days starting July 29th (I think) but I have been reassured by the helpful operator at the Pass Bureau that we can change the dates.  This is good because apparently we are still in the high tourist season with very expensive hotel rates and difficult to find rental cars. 

Although I am loathe to take the kids out of school right at the beginning of the school year, I can't afford to go during the tourist season and don't want to go after it starts to get cold.  So, if we can indeed change the dates, I will probably try to find a way to go in early September.

While I am very excited about seeing Alaska, I regret that we will only be able to go for a few days.  I have a felling that I could spend a month there exploring (in the summer, of course) and still not get my fill.

New Orleans - final thoughts and budget report

As I bring this trip report to a close here are my final thoughts.

We love New Orleans.  Absolutely loved it.  We do wish it has been a tad warmer and would like our next trip to be a little later in the Spring or early in the Fall.

We did need a car to get from our hotel near the airport to the French Quarter but once there, we parked the car and didn't look at it again until it was time to head back to the hotel.  New Orleans is very pedestrian friendly if you want to stay in the touristy areas.  It was very easy to navigate to and from the hotel though.

I budgeted waaay too little for food.  We decided not to pack food this trip because it would be criminal to bring baloney sandwiches to the food capitol of the south.  But, we never managed to find a local or cheap spot to eat.  We spent a lot more on food than I anticipated.  I will know better next time.

We spent a lot of time in Jackson Square and the French Market.  I think that when we go back, I will have at least one "Mommy's Choice" activity and visit the Garden District.  I will also budget more money for food.

I will say that we used priceline to find a very nice and affordable hotel but then, as I am sure I have mentioned, spent way too much on food.

Date	Time	Amount	Category	Details
16-Feb	1:18pm	$         31.01	food	mother's restaurant
16-Feb	8:34 AM	$         12.47	food	mcdonads at airport
16-Feb	6:26 AM	$         19.54	food	sonic burger
17-Feb	11:51am	$           4.99	food	sodas and praline
17-Feb	9:22PM	$           8.87	food	dunkin donuts for departure morning
17-Feb	12:48 PM	$         34.15	food	bubba gump lunch
17-Feb	3:14 AM	$           9.09	food	pizza
17-Feb	7:52pm	$         57.52	food	olive garden
18-Feb	5:52am	$           2.65	food	soda
18-Feb	10:59AM	$         12.26	food	royal farms after landing
17-Feb		$      181.00	hotel	hotel
18-Feb		$           5.99	other	magazine for kid
18-Feb		$           2.31	other	gum
18-Feb	5:52 AM	$           5.40	souvenir	shot glass
16-Feb	12:44pm	$           1.15	transportation	parking
17-Feb	9:46pm	$         50.65	transportation	car rental - Alamo
17-Feb	11:12am	$         10.00	transportation	parking at french quarter
17-Feb	9:29 AM	$         15.07	transportation	gas
18-Feb	10:49am	$         19.00	transportation	parking at airport
16-Feb		$           5.44
16-Feb		$           4.31
	total	$      492.87

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

To finish out our New Orleans trip report...

We walked from Jackson Square to the French Market and stopped to get a balloon from a street performer along the way.

The French Market is market consisting of several buildings full of vendors.  Although there is a roof, the sides are open.  Part of the area is dedicated to food vendors and part is set up flea market style with booths for vendors to sell their wares.

We sampled several foods along the way and can now cross "eat alligator" off our bucket list.  The alligator was in the form of a sausage on a stick.  it was very greasy and pretty spicy.  It wasn't bad but I have no need to eat it again.  been there, done that.

 

 

Back onto Bourbon Street

 

We had lunch at Bubba Gumps.  The food was good but expensive and I regret eating at a chain instead of a local place but we were hungry and it was there.

And, back to Jackson Square for more street performers

You just cannot visit New Orleans without trying a beinget, a fired pillow of dough sprinkled with powdered sugar.  And the famous tourist spot to indulge is the Café Du Monde in Jackson Square

 

Progress Report - halfway there!

I have not been updating the blog lately due to several distractions. One of the biggest ones being the online college class I am taking.  It has been a lot more work than I am used to.  Also, the kids are out of school for the summer so I have been spending a lot more time with my family and away from the computer.

But, now that June is just barely behind us, I wanted to provide a progress report.  We began out 50 state challenge in June 2012.  As of June 8 2013, we have visited 26 states!  Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am counting a few states which we actually visited prior to the start of our challenge.  And, if time allows, we plan on revisiting those states with out two years. But, since we have visited Florida multiple times, I think we should cut ourselves a little break.

State	City	Date
Virginia	Drove through and probably stopped at one point	prior to 2012
North Carolina	Drove through and probably stopped at one point	prior to 2012
South Carolina	Drove through and probably stopped at one point	prior to 2012
Georgia	Drove through and probably stopped at one point	prior to 2012
Texas	Dallas	prior to 2012
New Jersey	Jersey Shore	prior to 2012
Florida	Orlando	6/17-23/2012
Missouri	St. Louis	7/14/2012
Maryland	Baltimore	6/26/2012
Illinois	Chicago	8/11/2012
Pennsylvania	Hershey Park	8/13/2012
Tennessee	Nashville	8/25-26/2012
Alabama	Birmingham	9/8/2012
New York	Buffalo	10/18-19/2012
Ohio	Columbus	10/20/2012
Delaware	Vanderwende Ice Cream	10/24/2012
Colorado	Denver	11/4-6/2012
Indiana	Clarksville	1/19/2013
Kentucky	Louisville	1/19-20/2013
Louisiana	New Orleans	2/18-19/2013
Nevada	Las Vegas	2/26-3/1/2013
Arizona	Hoover Dam	2/27/2013
West Virginia	Harpers Ferry	3/30/2013
Wisconsin	Milwaukie	5/4-5/2013
Rhode Island	Providence	6/8-9/2013
Massachusetts	Boston	6/8/2013

And here are some interesting statistics about our travels  We have taken 33 flights (including several back and forth to Disneyworld) and visited 11 states by car.

Flight Distances
In Miles	25,735
In Kilometer	41,417
Earth Circumnavigation	1.03 x
Distance to the Moon	0.108 x
Distance to the Sun	0.0003 x

Flight Time
Hours	62:33
Days	2.6
Weeks	0.4
Months	0.09
Years	0.007

Longest Flight (distance): 2,103 mi, 4:16 h, Baltimore (Washington) - Las Vegas (McCarran International), 02-26-2013 Longest Flight (duration): 4:16 h, 2,103 mi, Baltimore (Washington) - Las Vegas (McCarran International), 02-26-2013 Shortest Flight (distance):  281 mi, 1:00 h, Baltimore (Washington) - Buffalo (Niagara), 10-18-2012 Shortest Flight (duration):  1:00 h, 281 mi, Baltimore (Washington) - Buffalo (Niagara), 10-18-2012 Fastest Flight:  493 mi/h, 2,103 mi, 4:16 h, Baltimore (Washington) - Las Vegas (McCarran International), 02-26-2013 Slowest Flight:  281 mi/h, 281 mi, 1:00 h, Baltimore (Washington) - Buffalo (Niagara), 10-18-2012 Average Flight: 780 mi, 1:54 h