This past weekend, I went to Las Vegas for my grandma's 70th. Her actual birthday is on the 17th, but she'll be in Culiacan that weekend. I wasn't expecting it to be that bad as my cousins were going, but I wasn't expecting it to be fun (it is Vegas after all). I can still smell the smoke and alcohol from there in the classroom I'm typing this in. So let me weave you a tale of the drive, the experience, and my thoughts when we got back. 

   My parents didn't want me to leave school early (education is my priority after all), so once the bell rang, I walked down with my teacher and we had a small conversation. We ended it in the parking lot with this: "Good luck in Hell- I mean Vegas!" I took it as a joke because I didn't remember the last time I went being so bad. I hopped in the minivan we rented for this and went to my grandma's house. I changed out of my uniform to something else and waited for everything to be ready. We hit the road and drove for a few hours. We stopped at a Starbucks and ate a The Habit in the area. We then drove to another place for the restroom and finally drove until we got to the hotel. The landscape the whole drive was stunning and I took more pictures than I care to admit. The whole way I put on some of my favorite songs and to avoid motion sickness, I imagined a girl on a skateboard skating on the electrical poles, freeway railing, along with other random fences and landscape. When we got there, I was dizzy and it was past 7pm. We walked in and my cousins were by the elevators, and the sight of them made my grandma so happy. They didn't recognized some of us, but gradually remembered after a bit. My tia and tio were really happy and were holding my cousin Nayeli. We checked in and went to our rooms. They came over and planned out the rest of the night: me and my tia take care of my cousins, everyone else gambles. My 7 year old cousin Abram was playing Sonic on his Nintendo Switch (I linked my friend code to his account so we can play together) and my 5 year old cousin Nikolai was pixel coloring on my tia's tablet. They stayed up until minutes to midnight and by midnight they were asleep(Nayeli was out by 10). I went to sleep around 1 because my parents came back late. 

    The next day, we had breakfast at The Coffee House in our hotel and went to M&M World and Coca Cola World. My cousins loved M&M World and did the Around the World tray with us. Their reaction to the Beverly was the stuff of legend. They headed back to the hotel, but me and my mom stayed behind to see the Stranger Things store. That store was AMAZING and I got a sticker for $5. We went back to the hotel and left for dinner at a place outside the strip. The food was great and we had a mariachi group serenade the room. Nikolai saw them and said "I want to do that." and it melted my heart. The family was talking that Nayeli was the singer, and the boys would play instruments. It reminded me of this meme of "me and my sibling making a free concert for our parents" (look it up, the 2 guys with blond wigs should be one of the first images. It was that one). Me and my parents went to see the volcano show at The Mirage and it was an amazing show. I went to bed as everyone else gambled. That morning, we packed and my tia, tio, and cousins said goodbye to head home. The rest of us went to Blueberry Hill for breakfast and the food was delicious. We hit the road and I hit the floor (fellow soldiers/troops/LP fans should get that) drawing myself in my hood amid the damage and chaos a local gang started, eager to get my revenge. Just as I started, we stopped in Primm to gamble again. The casino we chose was SO. DEAD. The restrooms were fine, but we waited for my tia and grandma to stop gambling so we could leave. That's when I heard a very familiar song on the speakers. The minute the first word came out, I started singing along. As a proud soldier, idiot, and Blinker (Blink 182, get this straight), I recognized the tune as "I Really Wish I Hated You" by Blink 182 from their 2019 album Nine. I started singing and my mom was so confused. I nailed every note, every line, and my mom just stared at me as if I heard an imaginary tune. We moved along and drove home. The sunset in Fontana was beautiful and the mountains looked like one of those Mac backgrounds. We got home around 7 and I just went to bed.

    So what did I think? I thought it was a pretty fly trip. We were with family, we did stuff we wanted, I got my travel sticker, it was fun. The drawback from this was the fact that I forgot what Vegas was like. I always had a cloud of smoke floating in my face, the smell of alcohol was draining my energy, and I barely had sleep. So my teacher was right in saying HELL, but it was more purgatory. Just remember everyone (especially fellow soldiers), in the end, it doesn't even matter. Just as long as we all had fun.