Travel

Nascar In Vegas

It was a beautiful, bright, sunshiny late February afternoon when we pulled into Las Vegas. Our first stop, naturally, In-n-Out. Next was a gigantic electronics store that my husband and I had discovered on a previous trip. I'm not nearly the electronics nerd everyone else in my family is and I was tired from driving so I decided to just hang out in the car. They enjoyed their time in the store and I got totally star struck when Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars) parked next to me & walked in the store. (FYI, If you're in Vegas and decide to visit the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, be prepared for an all day wait to even get in the door!)

Off to the hotel to check in. We intentionally chose a hotel off the strip and a little out of the way. Las Vegas is a fun place, but I'm good with not right in the center of the activity. We check into the beautiful Aliante and discover the pool is closed for refurbishment. Major bummer!!!! The kids spend the rest of the afternoon working on school work (we pulled them out of school for a couple of days for this adventure) and we rest a little. True to form, I'm sick. I'm not really sure how I always manage to catch a cold when we go on trips, but I seem to be a pro at it. We explore the hotel later that evening, eat dinner on site and crash out for the night. Side note: props to the bartender my honey found in the middle of the night that made some sort of magical potion that quieted my annoying cough and knocked me out for the night!

Vegas Day 2 means more homework, laundry (Vegas comes on the heels of a Southern California adventure) and Wienerschnitzel. Not quite as awesome as I remember it from college, that's for sure. Ha ha! As evening comes we head for the Strip. After a trip up and down, we find parking in one of the garages (after a lot of searching for a space) and begin exploring. It's the night before Nascar so things are a little different than normal. First, the M&M store. There are people lining the interior halls near the elevators to get in and the top 2 floors are shut down. We find a very nice worker and ask him what's going on and he explains that "Rowdy" (Kyle Busch) is doing a Meet & Greet on the upper level and tickets have been sold out for weeks. Vegas loves their hometown boy. So we shop what we can there, the Coke Store, Hershey's, New York NY, Hard Rock and a few other places. No one does neon like Vegas, that's for sure! It's crowded but fun.

Because Vegas is so busy all the time and the neon is everywhere, it's the strangest feeling in the world when you see the entire Strip shut down. We were crossing over the Strip and realized the Strip was blocked off and we weren't really sure what was going on. There were people lining the roads and the walkways staring towards the South end of the Strip. Then we saw them...we had, very unexpectedly, found ourselves in the middle of the parade of semis bringing the race cars to town. They shut the strip down and the trucks roll down the center of the strip in a processional headed to the track. I had literally no clue they did this and it was, easily, the coolest thing I've ever seen in Las Vegas. That town loves Nascar - it felt like a religious experience - and I'm so glad we got to see it.

After some Hawaiian BBQ, it's back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. Oh! And when we get back to the hotel? The Pace Car is parked in the parking lot - that's how you know you're staying at a cool place! Ha ha!

Day 3 means Nascar! Our youngest is a walking, talking Nascar encyclopedia and his birthday is right after Christmas so it's always a challenge to try and make it special. This birthday brought him some Nascar gear and this trip to see a race. We opted for the Truck Series for a couple of reasons. First, tickets were a little less expensive (honestly, tickets to Nascar races for kids are crazy cheap), this race is on Friday instead of Sunday so we wouldn't have to pull them out of school for another day and the trucks are more likely to wreck (oh come on...we all enjoy the wrecks).

I'm not sure what I expected from a Nascar experience. I've been to concerts and sporting events and I suppose I expected it to be a little like that, but it wasn't. I understand now why they call the fans a "family". Everyone we came in contact with that day was just incredible. Some of the nicest, most down-to-earth, genuine people I think I've ever been around. They were kind, they were friendly, they were patient and informative with us being newbies. It's an experience I would, without hesitation, recommend for anyone. The raceway food was great, the souvenirs were overpriced but money well spent, my oldest almost ended up with a daiquiri (no way he looked old enough), our seats were right on the finish line in the front row...it was a magical day. We learned really quickly that people either loved their "hometown boy" Kyle Busch or they hated him - seriously, there was no in-between! Even in the disagreements over racers though, people were respectful to each other.

That afternoon we watched the Trucks run qualifying to determine start position and then the cars for Sunday's race ran qualifying to determine start order. It was kind of like getting two mini races before the race. Definitely worth spending the afternoon at the track. If you go, be sure to take headphones though - it's loud. Much louder than you think it'll be. They sell them at the track, but they're not cheap. We bought the boys headphones at the electronics store when we rolled into town and I'm glad we did.

After an amazing flyover by the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the National Anthem, it's racetime. The race itself was crazy exciting and we ALL had such a great time! There weren't as many wrecks as we'd thought there would be, but there were 3 good ones. (Good? Is that wrong to call a wreck good?) Kyle Busch won the race and we were right there on the finish line for the burnout at the end. That was such a cool experience and I don't think any of us will forget it anytime soon.

Ears ringing, adrenaline pumping, traffic backed up for miles...it was a challenge to get out of the raceway for sure. Eventually we did and made it back to the hotel for one last sleep before the drive home tomorrow. What an amazing night this was!

The drive home would be a challenge (blinding snow, white out conditions, driving through alien country), but I would do this trip again in a heartbeat. Nascar is an experience everyone should have at least once in their lives, more if you can. You don't have to know a lot about the racers or the sport in general to appreciate the experience. I think that's what made it so fun. And honestly, how could you look at the pictures of the kids and not feel their excitement? Isn't that joy what life's really all about anyway?

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