Drove across the border to Detroit to fly with SPIRIT airlines out of Detroit. Bad beat #1-the trip is for 13 days, neither of us are chicks,we are BOTH over-weight on our luggage. Dad is down his first $138 in baggage charges.

Relatively uneventful flight to Chicago until about the last 1/2 hour. The flight attendant announces sons 21st Birthday over the loud-speaker, I wasn't expecting that but I count as the first WIN, son, not so much I think. The guy in the seat across from me decides this is a good time to ask about our itinerary. He seems like a really nice guy but apparently he feels that in a persons life you have an alloted number of words you must use in sentences or be forever damned to silence in purgatory. Apparently he had some catching up to do. Nice guy though.

Lunch at Chili's in Chicago's Ohare. Bad beat #2) I order the Cobb salad and have what very much feels like a long hair stuck between my teeth. I bring it to the waitress's attention as my stomach is turning and am very relieved when she informs me that "I'm sorry, but it's not a hair, all our cooks are black. Thats a thin thread from our linen napkins. I wish they'd change those" REALLY???? How can I NOT feel 1000 times better after that?????

After the great lunch sitting in the waiting area to board for Vegas. I can't help but notice "MR CHATTY-PANTS" using up his word-bank with an older gentleman for the next 20 mins. I decide I'd rather not subject my fat azz to any longer in the sardine-can seat than it needs to be. We wait until the last few boarders and head down the ramp. Son says, man "that guy" is STILL talking all the way down the ramp even. He says, you watch, he's gonna be sitting beside us. I make a wager with my son, I mean, there's still 20-30 of us to board. Bad-beat #3. I pay my son off as I am squeezed into the middle seat between my son and guess who?

I am very happy that I had a good night sleep as I know I am about to enter my first real competition of the trip. How do I not be rude to someone I don't know for 2-3 hours. We have about 3 minutes of silence and it starts. The fact is we are are having a great conversation about politics/health care/Vegas and then I thought somewhere in there I heard him say at the end of some non-descript senetnce "...my boyfriend is 21". I shrug it off and change the topic to the U.S troops in Afghanistan. BAD topic. Somehow that turns into a conversation on how "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" was getting repealed. I wasn't asking...honest!!! In all fairness, he really was a great guy to talk to and even gave up his window seat for the last hour of the flight so my son could see the landing. Win, it was a very kind gesture and THANK-YOU sir!! (Who doesn't LOVE seeing Vegas from the plane)

Days 1-6-I have a limo driver pcik us up in a stretch at the airport. He has a sign , HAPPY 21ST. We take some pics at the Welcome to Vegas sign then drive the strip to downtown. PRICELESS watching the kid's reaction to the sights and sounds. WIN!! Roll up to the Nugget and go to VIP check-in. You get to do that with the Landry's card. Bad beat, no upgrade as is supposed to happen with being a card-holder. I ask about it and get told it's the weekend. I know for a fact it's Wednesday in Canada. Check-in, son disappears, finally find him playing in a tourney at the Nugget. No wait, he finds me, needs 40 bucks for his rebuy. I fork it over. About 20 mins later I hear how he re-raised all-in after flopping top 2 with AQo on a dry board. Guy has 9's, turn blank, can anyone guess the river?? Time for bed son. Welcome to Vegas!!! (to be continued)