I'm tired. I stayed up late last night googling

to find acceptable airfares and accommodations for a trip to Las Vegas if Jason and Dee decide to get married there next month. I know, it's the last wedding we'll get to share with one of the children, and our contribution will be minimal so I shouldn't worry and just have fun. But I thought if I could just drop a thou on the trip Janett wouldn't have to worry about pulling cash out of a money market, and she could relax and enjoy the wedding. Well, I don't travel much and my expectations may be unreasonable, like when planning a visit to Dean and Jim's. To rent a sub compact car in Boston cost $75 dollars a day. I was surprised.

Well, round trip airfare for two could easily cost a thousand. So that's why I started googling, and even though we may spend more than a thousand, we won't be way over-unless I pull a Clark Griswold. (Maybe I'd better let Janett hold the plastic.)
Besides shopping around for air-fares the other component of our (my?) plan is to stay at the Four Queens in the old downtown instead of staying on the Strip.

I'm sure Jason and Dee will be staying somewhere sparkly on the Strip along with whatever friends and other relatives who make the trip. I hope they don't try too hard to persuade me to join them there. Besides the money, you see, I'm just not sure I'm a Bellagio kind of guy. I'd feel more comfortable on Fremont Street, where The Fremont, the Golden Nugget, Binyons, and the Four Queens all have restaurants where they serve prime rib for ten or twelve bucks or buffets where for the same money you can chow down on shrimp, salads, and fancy deserts. Janett and I could walk down the street under that light show thingy they have there, and feel like we're enjoying the night life as we walk past the open doors of casinos and saloons with loud music in the air. And we're renting a car so we can take a little trip to Lake Mead, and when visiting the wedding party at their digs we'll get just a taste of the high life, without enduring 72 hours straight of it.

But what if it's seedy or tacky? I don't think it will be, but those hotels are forty or fifty year old and have been well used, I'm sure. We just have to be ready, if we find the accommodations unsuitable to blow off our meager prepaid amounts, forget about the parsimonious budget, and find something we like better. If anyone has suggestions or comments, please don't hesitate to share them. After all, this presumably will be our once in a lifetime Vegas weekend.