In October of 2007 Erica, my parents and myself took what was mine, Erica's and my mom's first trip to Las Vegas. We went with the explicit purpose of watching the NHRA Fall Nationals, another first for all of us except my dad. Needles to say, we spent most of our time at the races, but we did find some time to go out and see the lights and sights… and of course enjoy the food.

Being my first trip to Las Vegas I was in for number of surprises. First off, apparently Erica and I booked the party flight. There were people playing music as loud as their laptops would blare it, people yelling (literally) and 75% of the plane pretending that we were on a roller coaster throwing their hands in the air and whopping and hollering at every bit of turbulence and every movement the plane made. As fun as it sounds, it was actually more annoying than anything else as you couldn't even chat with each other for all the racket. Oh well, it was a smooth and safe flight… so it was a good flight!!! We landed at the airport where my mom and dad were waiting for us in a rental van. A short trip down the street to drop an old friend of mine, who happened to end up on the same flight, off at his time share. For those of you who don't know, like myself and Erica, Las Vega Blvd is nothing but a traffic jam.

We stayed at the Imperial Palace, which wasn't bad and it was definitely cheap for on the strip at Las Vegas, but it definitely wasn't the greatest. Luckily, we were hardly ever there… so it didn't really matter one way or the other.

Erica and I spent the nights exploring the town, my parents came along as well but they typically called it a day around midnight. We stayed out a few hours later. We were thoroughly impressed with the Paris Hotel, The Bellagio, the street shows (particularly The Sirens of TI and the Volcano, which is no longer there). The seasonal display at the Bellagio really sticks out in mind as do the Fountains. The Fountains have to stick out in our mind as my mom absolutely loves the fountain show… I think we watched it 5 or 6 times in 3 days. Erica and I also enjoyed the M&M store, buying some over priced Christmas ornaments and the like. We also rode the roller coaster at the New York New York, which was cool just because of the layout and environment, but was far from impressive for $20 for a roller coaster.

As for the races, they were everything that I expected and then some. John Force made his first appearance after his near career, and life, ending injuries from a crash a few weeks earlier. Ashley Force did well as did the Mopar gang. The sound the cars emit is just indescribable, it is undoubtedly the loudest thing I have ever heard by a factor of 10… or more. The sound waves are so intense that they literally alter your vision. I personally enjoy the Pro Stock car, but the crowd pleaser's are definitely the rails and the funny cars. Surprisingly, Erica really enjoyed the races as well, mostly the pits and the stands and all, but still. She also enjoyed the fact that Hulk Hogan made an appearance as they were unveiling a funny car bearing his resemblance. We now have a poster hanging in the garage that she picked up as part of his promotion. It was just an all around cool event. One for the books, I know I'll always remember it as a fantastic time in my life!!!