The Vegas vacation, part 1.

Flight out: We (my son and I) left for the Airport a bit after noon on Tuesday and made it there in good time, even considering the mass of DC a-holes in the left lanes going under the speed limit. When we parked the car, I saw the threatening thunderheads to the east, but figured we should make it out before they arrive here.
We got to the gate and boarded without much incident. I had a bit of a problem getting the boarding passes from the new automated computer terminal. When I asked the live cute gal behind the counter for help, she told me to pick up the phone and call customer support. Why was she even there? Why didn’t the web site tell me to save the CONFIRMATION NUMBER!! Duh…
As we boarded the plane, I did notice that a guy in front of me was bringing a bag no bigger than the one we checked in. I made a mental note to not check in the bag on the way back. The seats I had reserved on the web site went down the toilet. I was in one window seat and my son was 4 rows behind me. I thank UniTED for that. Actually, TED, which is part of United Airlines (get it?). Ted is the red headed stepchild, really. We waited 2 hours on the plane, before we had approval to taxi out to take off. It never rained where we were, but storms were in the way of where we wanted to go. What happened to flying around or over? Finally we were off, though.
It was funny that by the time the “snack cart” made it to my seat, they were all out of the “snack pack” I wanted (just $5) so I passed on the alternative yogurt based whale lovers meal. I just had a beer and tried to sleep. The cute mother 2 seats over had different ideas for me. She let her cute sleepy Czech speaking sleeping son, sitting between us, kick me nonstop through the flight. She didn’t even have the courtesy to wake up and let me take a piss when I smacked her sleeping ass on the shoulder multiple times. I was tempted to grab her thigh (she was wearing jeans) to see if that would rouse her. I caught a break when the drink cart rolled past and was able to drop a small lake in the lav. The rest of the flight was uneventful.
At the Vegas Airport, my son and I made it to baggage, where I spotted my Mom right away. She was dressed in a bright all over blue outfit. She stood out. I greeted her and she was amazed at the size of my son, who she hadn’t seen in about ten years. Kids grow.
We went and got our bag (we shared just one). I will say my son is always better at this than I am. He has a very keen eye for these things and pulled the bag out before I even saw it. We then waited with Mom for the rest of the family to arrive. Had we made it there on time, we would have had a 2 hour wait, which I could have spent in a bar, so I still can’t justify the initial delay.
Eventually, my Dad and older brother, with his daughter, arrived. We gathered their bags too, then we headed to the van my Mom had rented for the occasion. I am not sure why she felt the need to do that, but I suppose it would have been crowded in a 4 seat car.
My Mom drove us to my youngest brother’s place, which was fun. My Mom has a bit of an impediment when driving at night, um she can’t see things too well. It must have been a matter of genius, though. She had a perfectly good complaint for every lane she swerved into and red light she ran. My Dad actually had his head in his hands, on his lap. I was just laughing and giving Mom crap the whole time, I am quite the smart ass. I was cracking jokes about “Granny Road Rage” and she fueled them the whole way there.