Road Trip Day #5

We woke up Sunday morning and get all packed up. In our guidebook I found an awesome-sounding breakfast place for Easter- it's breakfast, then the beach.

We drive by the breakfast place and obviously I am not the only person that knows about this place- the line is out the door. We look back at Millie and Ellis who are, for the moment, contentedly looking out the window at a 72 degree, sunshine filled day. We don't think it will last long and go to Denny's instead.

After breakfast it's off to the beach. The public parking for Mission Beach is TIGHT- meaning that I have to negotiate an 8-point turn to get into the space- while 10 cars that can't fit by me wait patiently. After changing Millie into her suit, off we went!

Millie was nervous of the water, but enjoyed playing with her sand toys and bucket. I had lost my sunglasses at this point (for anyone who has ever traveled with me knows that at some point I WILL lose or break my sunglasses) so Ellis and I went off to find a cheap replacement pair. While Ellis and I were gone, we missed the German man that changed into his bathing suit right behind Jackie and Millie- much to the amusement of the hundreds of other beach goers.

After I got back, Millie said she needed to go potty. After a few minutes, Jackie came back and said, "we're done here. Get the stuff, let's go." We head back to the van and Jackie starts changing Millie- which is tricky because Millie had pooped her suit (Millie Poop-Watch 2008: 1). While several cars line up to take our spot, Millie is sad because she doesn't want to get in her car seat, Ellis doesn't want to get in her car seat, my new sunglasses are too tight on my ears and Jackie is wrapping Millie's soiled suit into a plastic bag. Time to hit the road for a 5 hour drive to Vegas.

After getting lost trying to find a gas station, we hit the I-15 thinking traffic will be a breeze because, it's a Sunday afternoon- only to hit a southern California traffic jam as everyone is trying to get to the coast.

Luckily we had a little more battery on the Ipod and we made it to Barstow (with a quick potty stop at Trader Joe's). After a quick meal at Burger King (where Millie wet herself on the play land), we saw the lights of Vegas rising like a mirage in the desert.

I had gotten a killer deal on a superfancy, 5-star hotel on Expedia. The hotel was attached to Mandalay Bay- which we thought would be fun for it's 10 pools. The hotel name is THEhotel and as we pulled (after driving by it a few times) into valet parking, next to the Hummer limo, in my parents 1999 minivan with a soiled bathing suit on the passenger floor, we got out of the van feeling decidedly 2-star. It was also really fun to wave the bellman down to make sure he didn't forget Millie's The Little Mermaid blanket and pillow.

Ellis charmed the check-in staff by belching as my keys were given to us- and up to the 15th floor we went- only to realize the room we were given was either currently occupied or hadn't had housekeeping come yet. So, back down the elevator we went- to get our new room.

Our new room was on the 25th floor and was amazing. Two rooms and bathrooms, 2 huge flat screen plasma tv's and we both thought the same thing- Ellis can sleep in her own room tonight. Even Millie was impressed with the accommodations and claimed the smaller bathroom as "hers".

We went to the 24 hour coffee shop for some food (dragging two small girls with us made sure that we were put in the farthest corner of the restaurant)- Millie ate fruit and shared my ice cream, Jackie ate a huge salad and Ellis screamed while we kept feeding her the bread basket.

After all of us had a bath in the huge tub (not at the same time- and Jackie was in heaven because there was a wall mounted tv in the bathroom so she could watch Oprah's Big Give), we all fell asleep in 5-star splendor (after Millie slipped on the floor after her bath, causing her to not make it to the potty and accidentally peeing on the marble floor).