Our Vegas vacation began on one of the worst travel days of the year. Making our way from central Pennsylvania in the early morning hours as rain turned to ice and then back to piercing rain. Then the rain became blinding fog. All in the hopes of making it to Baltimore International Airport to board a plane that would take us first to Houston for a flight, and then off to McCarran International Airport in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada.

When my mom first proposed the idea to me I thought she had finally gone insane. My cousin was getting married in Henderson, Nevada. “Wouldn’t it be fun to take the entire family to Vegas?” she said.  Then she said by “family” she meant me, my dad, sister and boyfriend, Scott Goss.

How would we travel 2,300 miles across the country together? I’ve been out of the country tons of times, but have never gone with anyone but my family. Would Scott want to race screaming back on a plane by himself?

After a full body scan at BWI, we touched down in Las Vegas. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing palm trees outside of an airplane window! It was seventy degrees and sunny, and we were in the desert.

None of us had ever been to Las Vegas before, so we were all excited.  Our faces pressed up against the taxi windows, we were “oohing” and “aahing” at every site.

“There’s the High Roller,” the immediately recognizable ferris wheel on the Las Vegas Strip. “I see the Statosphere, it looks just like the Seattle Space Needle,”

The taxi took us to our home for the week, the Westin Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, NV.

This is where most of the “wows” started.

The resort was located on Lake Las Vegas and has multiple pools, hot tubs, tennis and basketball courts, kayaking, restaurants, and a beach with its own fire pits for s’mores. We started our trip by running around the resort just exploring.

We spent our days at the palm tree lined pools, relaxing, catching rays and having fun.

We caught a shuttle to the Las Vegas Strip, where we would find something different to do every night. One night we went to the Luxor to explore the pyramid. Everyone knows this hotel from the massive beam of light projected into space from the top of the pyramid. Inside the hotel is like going back to Ancient Egypt.

We also went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. There we were able to pet live sting rays and observe sharks through massive glass tunnels.  My sister wanted to take home the komodo dragon thinking it would make a great pet.

In Las Vegas you can travel the world without leaving the city. Visitors can walk through the streets of New York City and see the Statue of Liberty and just a few blocks away, you’re in the streets of Paris, France taking pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. Right across the street you’re in Greece at Caesars Palace. A couple of blocks over from that you’ll be on the streets of Venice, watching the gondolas float by in the canals. In Venice we witnessed one of the most amazing water and light shows that I have ever seen at the Bellagio Hotel. The water shoots hundreds of feet into the air. It was spectacular.

On the last night, we finally got to see the Volcano explode at the Mirage. It’s a mixture of water, fire, and light made to look like real lava.

One week in Vegas really isn’t enough.  Hopefully one day I’ll go back to Vegas when I am old enough to go into the casinos and stay.

Nowhere else in the world can you see Dr. Evil standing next to Captain Jack Sparrow standing next to Elvis alongside a dog dressed up for St. Patrick’s Day. Really, we saw that.  That is the beauty of Las Vegas. No one asks why. You simply smile and take a picture of it.