I’m going to Las Vegas next week. It might just be the death of me. I’ve assigned myself the role of intermediary between the husband (who thinks that this might be the worst vacation since the Griswolds) and my parents (who are enthusiastic but have strange vacation habits). I’m trying to keep them all happy without going stark raving mad.

Until I was in my 20s I had no idea that people went on vacation to relax. My parents go on vacation to see things. Specifically they see everything. That means that you get up at 7:00 AM to get an early start on seeing.

When I agreed to go my one stipulation was that there would not be schedules for every minute. Mirage 7:00 Am – 7:45, Bellagio 8:00 – 9:15, etc. I think that my parents are trying to go too far the other way though by not deciding on anything they want to do and leaving all the planning to me.

I hate Las Vegas. I’m not the touristy type, I don’t gamble, and I’m cheap. For those reasons Las Vegas hates me too. So I set out to find cheap things to do mainly off the Strip.

Here’s my plan that is not a plan for next week.

Monday – Get there at night
Tuesday – Set off at a reasonable hour (9 or 10) with the parents for a bit of sightseeing in the fancy hotels. Come back and pick up the husband for lunch. After lunch do something. (I vote for lounging by the pool.) Eat dinner. After dinner do something.
Wednesday – Day trip to Grand Canyon
Thursday – Repeat Tuesday
Friday – Valley of Fire, Lake Mead, and Hoover Dam
Saturday – Fly home

After a lot of thought about how to get this to work out I heard my mother tell someone that they plan to have a family vacation every other year. Great. Maybe I’ll force my brother to come on the next one and he can do the thinking.