We booked a family trip to Las Vegas and flew on Hawaiian Airlines. I was shocked and thrilled that my upgrade certificates were accepted on this popular and often sold-out route, especially during the peak of summer travel. Mahalo Hawaiian Airlines! It was nice to have some positive experiences with Hawaiian in the midst of all the issues I am having with their ‘upgraded’ website. Upon arriving at HNL, we found that the plumeria lounge was still open so we went and enjoyed some snacks and minestrone soup before our red eye flight that thankfully was on time. We arrived early in the morning and caught a taxi to the Orleans for our first day and night in Las Vegas. Since Orleans isn’t close to anything and we are only there for a night, I was planning to use the time to relax and enjoy a facial to start off the vacation. What really happened was I took a nap and then went to see the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse movie with my son. So many Spidey iterations in so many dimensions. After the movie, I played a little (very little) on the slot machines and cashed out after making a little bit of money. Our family met up for dinner at Ondori and then I did some work after dinner so my work won’t be too piled for me when I get back home.

The next morning, I didn’t wake up super early but did get up early enough to go to the gym and finish a workout before my family woke up for the day. We packed up and moved to the Venetian to be closer to the James Taylor concert at the Cosmopolitan that evening. We were able to check in early to our lovely, spacious suite. Since my son was interested in a championship soccer game being televised, he and I looked for a spot at the Venetian where the game was being shown while my husband and daughter went shopping. We didn’t find any sports book or sports bar with the game so I got some street tacos from Tacos and Rita’s at the food court and then we enjoyed the game in our suite. After the game, we headed to Sugarcane to get a bottomless mimosa (for me) and oysters for my daughter before getting ready for an evening with James Taylor. This was my husbands fourth JT concert and my third. I think my kids were the youngest people in the audience. It was nice to see JT’s son Henry perform with him. After the concert we walked back through packed sidewalks to our hotel and stopped at the Grand Canal food court before getting to bed.

In the morning, my daughter and I went off to our kayak adventure to the Emerald Caves at Willow Beach in Arizona. The tour operator recommended that we have crocs, a wet bag, and waterproof phone cases so I had packed those items with me from home. We woke up at 5:30 a.m., got ready, walked across the street to Treasure Island and got picked up at 6:30 for our 1-hour drive to Willow Beach in Arizona. If you enjoy the outdoors, being on the water, this is a different Vegas (Arizona) experience you may consider. We saw ducks, bighorn sheep, and a tarantula wasp. This was a workout for my arms. Especially when fighting the wind on the way back and when your tandem kayak partner only paddles some of the time. We left Willow Beach around 12 noon after the kayak workout and had an early dinner at Yardhouse and enjoyed fried chicken with yummy honey hot sauce, grits, cornbread, fried green tomatoes. I’m going to try making the honey hot sauce—its good! We are leaving for Zion National Park in Utah the following morning. But before bed, I tried winning a jackpot again but no jackpot for me. Living Hilo Style in Las Vegas.