Sticking Out in the 5-star Resort

If you ever stay at the Wynn in Vegas, make sure to wear evening attire and come with proper luggage. We didn't--and stuck out, badly.

On our way back to California from Utah, Jeff and I decided to stay in Las Vegas. We got a smokin' deal on Priceline, so we decided, "What the Heck? Let's bring our two-year-old and one-year-old to a five-star, five-diamond resort--the only one in Vegas!"

We got to the Wynn around two in the morning. Lizzy and Jenny had slept most of the way down, so they were awake but bleary-eyed with crazy hair. The dried chocolate smeared all over their mouths (falling asleep while eating candy will do that to you) completed the picture. I didn't want to haul all of our bags into the hotel for such a short stay, so I packed one change of clothes for each of us into a plastic bag.

We walked into the casino awed by the glitz--and surprised that there could be such a variety of short black cocktail dresses. Dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, we carried babies in arms through the poker tables, past the indoor pond, across the mosaic floors, and into the registration area. As we waited for the attendant to register our room, we were greeted with curious stares as the babies twirled and jumped from Jeff to me to Jeff and back again. I have to admit that I gave a few curious stares of my own to the woman with tattooed pawprints up and down both arms.

Finally our room was ready. We gathered our babies, and Jeff reached to pick up the plastic bag. As he picked it up, the handle broke, spilling our clothes out into the middle of the intricately designed plush carpet. An unidentified, stifled "gasp!" disseminated through the purified air. The woman behind the desk, with matching organza on her slate blue dress, tried to be helpful: "Can I get you another plastic bag?" Red-faced but amused at each other's trailer park aura, we just smiled and said, "Sure, thanks!"

The plastic bag she came back with was much too small to be of help, but we thanked her for the effort and made our way to our room with clothes in one hand and babies in the other. We were so embarrassed by our lack of class, we made sure to get a new plastic bag for the return home.