Las Vegas and Grand Canyon were technically the same trip, so i'll use the same wikipage for both.

Our path:

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This trip actually featured three spots in all: Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, and White Sands National Park .. but .. White Sands was boring, and hot, and .. white.  That's it.

Actually, at the time (I was about 12), the Grand Canyon wasn't that great either.  I wasn't really old enough to appreciate nature, and beauty, etc. so I was one of the kids asking "can we go now?"  (I think it drove my parents insane)

There were three families, all with 2-3 kids, so we rented one of those huge vans, with 3 rows of backseats.  I looked up to the oldest boy in the group, Justin, who was three years older than me.  I learned alot of variances to grade school car songs, such as "On Top of Old Smoky".

Las Vegas was the fun part.  We stayed at the Luxor hotel (the pyramid).  What I remember most about it: the 'inclinators' (the elevators that would go along the top edge of the building)

Just being in Vegas was the fun part, since we were all so young.  We watched a show or two, but our parents got most of the benefit of going.  They went to more shows than we did and gambled.  They gambled fairly little though, much less than I expected.  I think they realized they weren't that good at gambling and weren't going to win money - so they tried limiting the amount they played (and lost).  I've always admired their restraint in certain situations, alot of them having to do with money.

Since I graduated from high school (or possibly a bit before that) i've been thinking about what else I would do in Vegas if I went when I was 21, so my friends and I have planned to take a trip there once everyone has graduated (and possibly worked a little to get some money).