"Short, but sweet" Las Vegas by just4funds

This trip was for a business meeting with customers. After the meeting was completed, my wife was able to fly out and join me.

All in all the trip went well. I had some good luck at the resort, we had fun in Vegas and also got to enjoy a few hours out at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

Is this yours?

Let's see, attempting to leave Grand Rapids meant boarding, de-icing, taxi, stop, it's too slippery and we're too heavy, taxi, deplane while they call for plows, eat during the 2 hour wait, board, de-ice, taxi, stop, still too much snow, taxi, deplane for alternative arrangements, pack 7 people + luggage into Ford Expedition, race to the Hertz rental at DTW, transfer to an Excursion, get dropped off @ terminal, told by supervisor to get in line, watch colleague ask the 20 in front of us if they'd mind letting us be next, run the half mile to the gate, board, wait an hour for luggage handlers to return to load some "late arriving luggage," fly to MSP, wait 30mins. for hotel shuttle, see the freak show at hotel, sleep a few hours, go to MSP, wait for inbound flight, enjoy the careful handling of baggage, FINALLY GET TO VEGAS!

Is it a good thing when the captain warns you 2 hours ahead of time that you'll be encountering some "turbulence" so keep that belt on after we cross the Rockies? I tend to think it's not, but even moreso because we had just barely lifted off.

It took us two tries to land at MSP, the first one felt like we were in an old wartime bomber coming in hot. The bird was just bucking and rocking, yawing this way and that. Engines were up a bit, too, so it was just a screaming good time. The crazy thing was that it was sunny just a few hundred feet up, and once you got into the snow it wasn't snowing that hard, just the wind was blasting. We crossed over the runway and thought "Whew!" when a mean roundhouse crosswind rocked us hard and it felt and sounded like the left side gear slammed down. This was followed by complete silence "We're down!" I thought, but then I noticed the engines revving higher and more bucking. Seemingly the pilot needed a break too because we took a good 1/2 hour before trying another run at it.

It doesn't end here. The landing experience at Grand Rapids was almost identical, except that it was almost dark and it only took one try. Finding my car in the 30+ mph blizzard conditions (protected only by my spring jacket in my carry-on, the warmer clothes were in the big case keeping my wife company at the terminal.)

• Pros:I didn't have the $$ to gamble with them
• Cons:There's one hawking porn on every corner