Las Vegas and the BYU game

I am a die-hard BYU fan. When we landed here in Utah one of the first things we did was get season tickets to the football and volleyball (men's) games. This year when BYU made it to the Vegas Bowl, I told Ray, "We're going. We finally have a December with no baby being born, so let's go while we can." We drove down on Monday, came home today.

We took our time going south, and stopped in Washington, UT to see our dear friends the Manwarings. We had some delicious soup and breadsticks and three delightful hours of conversation with them. Then we tore ourselves away and drove the rest of the way to Vegas.

We haven't been to Las Vegas in 12 or 13 years. We used to go to Comdex every November (do they even have Comdex anymore??). We became pretty familiar with the strip. When we drove in on Monday night I felt like I'd never been there before. I didn't think it was possible to fit any more structures on the strip than were already there. I was wrong. New hotels. New stores. New restaurants. Sensory overload. Crowds, crowds, crowds.

We arrived at our hotel - the New York, New York. We've never stayed there before. It was as nice as any other place we've stayed in the past. We unloaded our bags, and took off walking down to the Forum Shops connected to Caesar's Palace. Ray couldn't wait to get a sandwich at Stage Deli. No Stage Deli. It closed down about four months ago, we were told. We didn't even recognize the Forum Shops. Everything's different. We ended up eating at the Cheesecake Factory - we got in immediately and had a light meal. It was very good. Their nachos are great - homemade chips. After dinner we walked the mile and a half back to our hotel. It felt good after riding in a car for six hours. We stopped along the way to watch the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel.

Tuesday morning we slept in. It felt so great! When we were up and around Ray asked if I wanted to do the NY, NY roller coaster. We could see the roller coaster from our window on the 19th floor. It was taller than our room. I love roller coasters! Ray does not. He said if we were going to go we had to do it before we ate anything. He was so good to go with me. There was no line, and we got right on. Then the car started to climb. I looked up. It was tall. Oh, so tall. Taller than 19 floors of a tall hotel. Then I remembered my strong aversion, perhaps you could even call it terror, of heights. What was I thinking?? But it was too late.

So, I did what any sane person with a terror of heights would do. I closed my eyes, and cried and screamed the entire ride. It was so fun! Ray told me we went upside down, and did a barrel roll. He still doesn't get how I can do it. It may be the only area in my life where I am truly adventurous.

Afterward they have a wall of pictures they took while you were on the ride. My head was bowed with my eyes closed. We didn't bother to buy one.

Tuesday night was the big game. IT WAS SO COLD I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. The wind was screaming through the stadium. The backup net for one of the field goals became entangled in the goal posts. A huge banner on top of a building blew off. We were all bundled up, and frozen solid. Hot chocolate helped for about five minutes. It was all worth it. BYU won handily.

A very cool thing happened before the game. If I could do anything more than take a snapshot with my digital camera, it would be a miracle. I should have taken a video of this, but didn't have time to call one of my children to tell me how. Before the game began, soldiers from Nellis AF Base brought out a flag. Not just any flag. This flag was 50 yards tall, and 100 yards wide. The size of a football field. It was an amazing thing to watch. I tried to capture it in pictures. They walked the flag on the field all rolled up. Here they are getting ready to unfurl it:

It was opened all the way across the field:

Notice how hard it was to hold onto. It would be hard anytime, but with that wind, they were really working. They held it there through God Bless America, and The Star-Spangled Banner. Everyone holding the flag had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. If you think I could watch that dry-eyed, then think again. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

This morning we got up, had breakfast, and came home. Two days is about all I can take of Vegas. It is good to be home!