Las Vegas trip 2019. Happy 22nd Birthday Ryan.

It all started about a month ago, Ryan says, mom it would be fun to see Penn and Teller do their show. That was all I needed to hear. I started checking to see where they performed and found out they were at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. I mentioned it to Jeff and he said “let’s make it happen!”

You must understand, Ryan NEVER wants to do anything, especially when it involves being around crowds and unfamiliar surroundings. So to say we jumped at this chance to get him out of the house is an understatement!  We quickly started working out the details, we weren’t going to give him a chance to change his mind!

First thing was to make sure we could get tickets, then started planning our trip. Jeff had to be in Sacramento for work, so we drove our R.V to California, spent a few days there, then off to Vegas!  

Here is a little summary of the things we were able to do;

Walked through Caesars Palace, and down a little of the Vegas Strip. 

Ate at Gordon Ramsey’s pub where we had the best hamburger, Beef Wellington and sticky toffee pudding ever!

We ate the best steaks at the Voodoo Steak House on the 50th floor of the Rio Hotel. We enjoyed the food and the view was awesome. 

We saw 2 shows, CrissAngel Mindfreak  and of course Penn and Teller.  Both were illusionist/magicians and about as opposite as you can get. One flashy and loud, the other laid back and relaxed, but both were very good. After Penn and Tellers performance, Ryan was able to meet them and get a picture.   

 

We went to the top of the Stratosphere Tower. The tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States at 1,149 ft. I was surprised when Ryan asked to do this, since he does not like heights.  The view was amazing. There was a rare lightening storm in the area, this was the perfect spot to watch the storm move through.

 Ryan played the slots, lost $20.00 and decided gambling was not his thing.

 Drove over the Hoover Dam.

 Spent the day at Zion National Park in Utah. A must see! 

All in all it was a great trip. Ryan enjoyed it and he saw a whole new world!  Walking through the Casino after the shows was an experience!  When we got back to our R.V. he said, “should I just assume all those people were drunk or just crazy?” I said, “well probably a little of both.”

I am so glad we were able to do this for Ryan.  We saw him willingly step outside of his comfort zone like never before. My favorite part of the whole trip was watching that take place!  I am hoping this experience will help Ryan be more open about getting outside his little world. 

A side note; When the CrissAngel show ended we stayed in the auditorium for a few minutes waiting for the crowds to go through. After it cleared out, a security guard helped us find our way to the elevator that would take us to the lobby. Once we exited the elevator we were meet by a very tiny, little short women. She said her boss, the head security guard, told her we needed an escort to get through the crowded lobby. She proceeded to hold her arms out-stretch , walking in front of us to clear a path for Ryan to get through the crowd.  We all got a kick out of that! She didn’t let anyone get in our way!