So our annual trip to Las Vegas has begun. 

Our journey began when we left work on Thursday around four and headed into Bakersfield.  The drive was not as good as when we went to LA in February because that trip was a fluke.  On that trip we had ZERO traffic.  We were the only ones on the road for most of the trip and it was wonderful.  So we made it to our hotel in a little under four hours. 

Sonic

We found the shining beacon of light that is a Sonic Drive In on the way to the hotel and stopped and got some Chili Cheese Tots, Bacon Cheeseburger, Popcorn Chicken and a MnM Blast.  I know I always say I wished we had Sonic’s in Monterey but it is really a blessing.  There is a reason I weighed over 300 lbs when I worked a block away from one of these evil temptresses.

We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn with no problems and headed up to our room.  We had stayed here last year and knew we liked it so it when we discovered we could get it with a 59.00 room rate we jumped on it.

Hilton Garden Inn

We settled in but it didn’t take long for us to get sleepy and hit the sack.  I slept sooooo good that night.  I don’t know what kind of mattress’ the Hilton uses but damn, I want one.  That was probably one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on.

Friday morning we were packed and on the road about ten after ten in the morning.  Already it was hotter than I remembered it being when I lived in AZ.  I know that is not true, but I guess my blood has thickened back up since moving to Monterey. 

The traffic wasn’t *too* bad and we made it to the Orleans in about five hours stopping only once for gas. 

The Orleans Room 236

Check in at the Orleans was a breeze.  We were able to verify my mothers reservation(also in my name) for the next day and got the room that we had requested.  After a couple of trips to the car for all of our crap(this is why we drive, not fly.) we settled into the room and relaxed for a bit.  I called the cell phone that I had gotten my mother back in July when I was in Maine but it went straight to voicemail.  I figured that she had forgotten to turn her cell phone back on when she got off the plane on Thursday, so I then called the Golden Nugget where she was staying and left her a voicemail there.

Rob and I spent most of Friday night exploring the casino and all that it had to offer.  The reason we picked this place was because it had a movie theater and a bowling alley…other things to keep us entertained.  The older we get the less we are all about drinking and gambling the whole trip. 

We stopped by the arcade and played twice on a roller coaster simulator.  It was fun and the only kind of roller coaster you will ever see me on.  🙂  Finally, we got some dinner at TGIFridays and came back up to the room to hit the sack.  We had a full day the next day and were tucked into bed fairly early for us in Vegas and only 20 bucks down on gambling money.

Saturday was shaping up to be a busy day for us.  Our friend Scott was flying himself into the Henderson airport to meet up with us for lunch before heading back to Phoenix.  We also had to pick mom up at the Golden Nugget and bring her over to where we were staying at the Orleans to check in for the duration of her stay.

We woke to find overcast skies.  Rob mentioned that it was supposed to rain.  This could have posed a potential problem for our friend Scott flying in, but when checked his voicemail there was a message from him stating he was ready for take off and would see us around ten.  So we showered and dressed and headed out to the Golden Nugget, arriving a little early so that I could use up some old gift cards at the Starbucks there.

Rob dropped me off so I could get in line and then parked in the GN parking structure.  While I was waiting in the massive line, Rob had come down and found my mother and brought her and her luggage to meet me.  Per her request I got her a water and a muffin, and myself a caramel frap and croissant and also a latte for Scott.  $17.00 later I was told that they do not honor gift cards.  Wait…what?  You are Starbucks, but you don’t honor your own gift certificates?  Hmph.

With our bounty paid on a debit card we loaded mom and her luggage into our car and took off for Henderson.

To be continued….

Okay, so Friday I ended up going shopping instead of going to take pictures. I found the Fashion Bug out here(it’s been moved since I was last up here) and went in search of an outfit for Sherry’s wedding. I found something and a few other somethings and then ran into Sears real quick to get an adapter to play my Ipod in my mothers car cassette player before heading back to mom’s. Once there I proceeded to try and get a nail appointment forgetting about it being a holiday weekend. No dice. I did call the gym and found out that I could sign up for a week for 20 bucks so that was cool.
I ate some leftover Red Barn food and waited for mom to call to be picked up.
Picked mom up around three or so and we headed up to Walmart. I already had my outfit and mom was kind of thinking of wearing something she had at home so it was more of a grocery run. It really shocked me to see the number of spiral perms and female mullets that are still running ramped here in Augusta. I mean, it was kind of okay when I left…it was 1999. Still way out of style but it was still almost in the 90’s but in 2009?? Wow.
After Wally-world I ran into the gym to sign up for a week and then mom was hungry so we stopped at Sam’s to get some pizza. I got mine to go since I had been snacking on the leftovers that afternoon.
Once we were home we watched some TV and I had a glass of wine that I had gotten at Wal-mart(Lambrusco!) while I set mom up with a Facebook account. I showed her how to work it and retired to my bedroom to read and upload pictures. Mom was still playing around on Facebook by the time I hit the sack. I may have created a monster.
Yesterday I woke up got into my workout gear and hit the gym. I did my couch to 5k program on the treadmill. It is SOOOO much easier to run on a treadmill. Must be the shock absorption or something.
On the way home I stopped at Dunkin Donuts. We don’t have them back home and I miss their coffee badly. I was still hot from my work out so I opted for a coffee coolatta instead. Oh. My. God. I fell in love! It is sweet coffee goodness and I will surely go into withdrawals by the time I have to go home.
By the time I had got home mom had already showered so I followed in her footsteps and we got ready to go to the wedding. My cousin Rocky had facebook messaged me the night before asking if we were meeting them at her mothers house beforehand and caravanning to the wedding. She said they would be leaving around 1:15ish since the wedding was at 2. I said we would be there but if we weren’t there by 1:15 not to worry and to leave without us.
We picked up Tammy(another cousin of mine) around noon and headed to Portland. I decided to drive because…well, my mothers driving makes me nervous. It was probably the longest I have driven in a long time. Yes it was freeway, but not the kind of freeway I am normally scared of. 🙂
We got to Lee’s at 1:05 and they were all gone. Thankfully it is Maine and no one locks their doors so we were able to use Lee’s house to take a pee break. I took a picture of the clock above Auntie Tee’s fridge to show we were on time and then all three of us stole a homemade chocolate chip cookie from the Tupperware box on the counter before heading back out to Scarborough.
We found the place no problem. It was a campground on a lake. Unfortunately, it has been raining in Maine for the last two weeks and today the rain was also making an appearance. It held out right until we all sat down outside to start the wedding and then the sky opened up.
We were herded under a tarp until it has passed and then us cousins were given a scrap of towel and ordered to go wipe off the chairs while so everyone could take their seats again. Who knew I would have to work for my dinner? 😉
The timing worked out and they were able to get through the wedding with no rain. Sherry looked beautiful in her gown. Her two sons gave her away. It was all really nice.
After we all gathered under the tarp on picnic tables while the wedding party took pictures. It was here that I learned that my cousins have not changed and that you still can’t seat Denny and Tammy next to each other. No good will come of it. It was also here that I realized how much I missed family get togethers because of the very reason that my cousins hadn’t changed.

When my grandparents were alive all the family would gather for Thanksgiving and Xmas. Every year. It was a tradition and it was fun. Once Mam and Pap passed on we didn’t do the family social gathering thing much. By we I mean Mom and Shawn and I. I’m sure we were invited to other get togethers but it just kinda dwindled down to us not doing much of anything on the holidays. I don’t think I’ve hung out with my cousins all together like that for at least 13 or 14 years.
It had been far too long. I laughed so much on Saturday it was pretty amazing. I’m not sure how my mom, being as quiet as she tends to be in social situations, came into this family. If she didn’t look like a complete cross between my grandmother and my grandfather I would swear she was adopted. The rest of my family on my mothers side is just as loud and crazy as I am and I love it! 😀
At any rate, the wedding had good laughs, good food, good company and good times were had by all.

                                
I drove us home and it started to downpour as we got closer to Augusta. We dropped Tammy off and headed home. At this point both mom and I were exhausted and sat down in front of the TV and got all giggly. I thought about having a glass of wine but realized I was so overtired I already felt like I had a buzz so I really didn’t need it. Heh!
I headed to my room, uploaded all my pictures and videos and watched an episode of LOST before reading and going to bed.
That leads us to today.
I have gone to the gym and gotten another Coffee Coolatta. That’s it. Tomorrow I hang out with Naomi and hopefully Tuesday will be Mags and Kim but Kim hasn’t gotten back to me after I left her a voicemail and Katherine hasn’t texted me back so maybe I don’t have as many people to see while I’m here as I thought. 🙂
I think I might go see Auntie Donna this afternoon and see if the Made In Maine shop is open so I can get some gifts for the kids back home.
So that is what is going on so far.

I planned my trip back home to Maine for this weekend because my cousin Sherry is getting married.  What better time to get to see all the cousins I haven’t seen in ages right? 

Wednesday we packed up all my stuff in the PT and headed to work.  My flight wasn’t until later that night so I had to put in a full day of work first.  My decision to pack lightly this year was based on the fact that I’m staying at my moms and she has a washer and drier, plus I know I’m going to end up buying stuff much like last year and since I had a hard time fitting said stuff into my suitcase last time, I would just bring a few things and buy whatever I needed here.

Rob brought me to the airport after work where we had a nice dinner of prawns and twice baked potato with clam chowder and the most delicious bread.  My goal was to overstuff myself so I wouldn’t need to buy any expensive food on the plane(it worked by the way.)  After that my nerves kicked in and thanks to PMS I had a mini melt down out in the parking lot where were getting my luggage which resulted in some tears and me smoking a cigarette.  That helped out and then we were off to check in my bag. 

As I learned last year, Monterey will shut down their security screening if there are no upcoming flights within an hour or two so Rob and I waited in the lobby for a few minutes waiting for them to open.  

  We took pics and twittered on our phones and eventually the gates opened.  Rob made sure I was all set up to go through and then with a kiss and a hug he was gone.  Long drawn out goodbyes only cause me to cry so we know we have to make it short and sweet. 

By some small miracle my bags weren’t picked for additional screening so I gathered my stuff back up and walked the 20 feet to the gate.  Rob was waiting by the glass to see me walk through so when he saw me he gave me a wave and headed off. 

The 1st leg of the trip was to San Francisco.  It was a prop plane but thankfully the whole flight was only about 20 minutes long.  I really wish I had taken my camera out too because there was a really cool shot in the air of when the clouds met the fog right before the ocean.  It will forever be burned in my memory but of course I didn’t get to get a picture of it.

At the San Fran airport I booked it to the gate for 2nd leg of the trip.  It was to the Dulles airport in DC.  Last year there was hardly anyone on this flight and I was able to lay down on all three seats in my row.  It was really great because it is a five hour overnight flight.  I was kinda hoping for the same thing this trip.  I was already sleepy from all the food I had eaten, not to mention it was around ten at night and already past my bedtime.

All hopes were dashed when they announced that the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to give up their seats.  The deal they were offering was pretty sweet actually.  They would get you on the next flight in the morning, put you up in a hotel in San Fran with transportation to and from AND you would get a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the US except HI and AK with no black out dates.  If I hadn’t had a connecting flight to catch with a ride waiting for me when I got there I would have seriously considered it. 

I had a bad experience on this flight last year so I wasn’t looking forward to this flight.  I had bought a pillow and sleep mask at the airport because I knew the first part of the flight wouldn’t be too bad and I had already seen what movie would be showing and I had no desire to watch DragonBall Z. 

The flight was surprisingly smooth.  There was about a 15 minute period where we ran into some turbulence but other than take off and landing, that was the only time the seat belt light was on.  I found a classical music station on the plane radio and was able to get about an hour and a half of sleep in ten minute increments.  I just can’t sleep well sitting up.

In DC I stopped a Five Guys again for a breakfast sandwich and then headed to my gate where I read until they announced our flight.  Once we boarded they warned us that it was raining and very foggy in Portland and they were prepared to reroute us through Vermont if they had to.  Great.  

It was another full flight.  I sat next to a very nice girl reading an electricians for dummies book.  I gave her my standard disclaimer that I was a nervous flier and not to mind me and she was fine with that.  Behind me were two chatterboxes that made me remember a pair of earplugs had come with my sleep mask.  🙂

The flight attendants were still milling about when I felt us starting to descend…very quickly.  I know that it was probably just the clouds we were going through that made me think it was going far too fast but that is when the panic started to set it.  Finally the pilot came on and announced we were making our “rather rapid decent” into the Portland airport and hopefully the turbulence wouldn’t “get any worse”. 

Yeah, it was pretty bad.  Probably the worst I have ever experienced.  And the worst part was everything outside was a haze of grey cotton candy.  You could see NOTHING else.  I don’t know about you, but when I am flying and the plane starts descending, as soon as I can see the ground I feel better.  Just knowing that it is there and we are getting closer and will be on the ground soon is comforting. 

Amid the gauzy outside view the plane was rocking and dipping and being tossed side to side.  One of the flight attendants almost took a dive as he was walking through getting the garbage.   The person sitting next to me is calm as calm can be, but she is on the lookout for the ground for me since she now knows I can’t look out the window for myself without getting more frightened.  There is a couple across the aisle from me where the wife has her head in her hands and he is rubbing her back.  I suddenly miss Rob very much.  “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”  I hear the man say.  I look over expecting to see him comforting his wife but I find he is looking right at me as he says the words.  I realize that I am rocking back and forth trying to breathe.  I smile and just say: “I don’t do flying very well.”  He nods and smiles and says: “Just think of it as a very big roller coaster.” 

I grin and say: “I don’t do those either.”   He just laughs and says: “Okay, then just trust me, it will be okay.” 

I am grateful people are so nice but embarrassed that I am such an obvious basket case.  🙂

When the treetops are finally visible both my new friends, my seatmate and the guy across look at me and exclaim: “We can see ground!”  Thank goodness for small favors.

The touch down was flawless and as we taxi to the gate we see that it is a torrential downpour outside.  I could care less about getting wet…in fact I would have gotten down on my knees and kissed the ground but I didn’t want everyone to think I was a bigger freak than I already was.  😀

On the ground I make my way to baggage claim while calling my aunt to let her know they can head out to come pick me up.  I text Rob and let him know I landed safe and after a long wait finally get my bag and head out to see my Aunt Lee(auntie tee) and my mom.

After a short drive through the streets of Portland we get to Auntie Tee’s house and move my luggage from that car to mom’s and head into the house where I get to see my cousin Rocky who I haven’t seen in at least ten or thirteen years.  She, my brother and I were all the babies of the cousins so of course I tended to be closer to Rocky than any of my other cousins.  She was Shawn’s age so she was older and I always looked up to her.  She is now living in Virginia, married with two beautiful children that I got to meet that day. 

We didn’t stay long as I was running on empty both food and sleepwise and I was in desperate need of a shower.  So mom drove us home and after dropping me off she headed out to Red Barn to get us a fish and chicken basket with fries and onion rings and a chocolate shake for me.  The Red Barn is a mom and pop place just down the road from my moms house that we have always loved.  How can you go wrong with deep fried everything??

I had planned to go to Walmart to pick up an outfit for Sherry’s wedding and get some essentials that I hadn’t brought with me but as soon as that food hit my belly I was comatose.  I changed into PJ’s and somehow managed to wait until the sheets for my bed were out of the drier before collapsing on my bed and falling into an instant slumber around four in the afternoon eastern time.

I awoke around ten thirty to thunder crackling loudly overhead.  I opened my eyes to find the accompanying lightening flashing as well.  About two minutes later I saw the living room light blink on and new that my mom had woken up as well.

I padded out into the living room and mumbled “gotta pee” before hitting the bathroom and coming back out.  Mom announced that she didn’t want me sleeping in my room while the storm was raging because there were two large trees right outside my room that could fall down and crush me in my bed.  Yikes, thanks mom!

 I grabbed my blanket and sleep mask and dragged them out to the recliner where I laid for about fifteen minutes.  I couldn’t really sleep there but thankfully the worst of the storm had passed so after taking full blame for the storm(“I facebooked saying I wanted thundershowers while I was here because we don’t get those back home.”) I headed back to my bed to fall back into my coma until mom woke me this morning at seven or so.

She has to work today so I drove her first to McDonalds for her breakfast and then to work so I could have the car. 

My original plan was to make it to walmart while she was working but she has now expressed an interest in going so I will have to wait.   However as I was driving back from her work I found myself wishing I had brought my camera with be because there are some great shots of downtown I would like to get.  So I think I might just take my camera on a little jaunt to see if I can get some good pics.  Plus I have to go to the gym down the street and see if they will sign me up for a weeks worth of membership.  I still have to train for my 10 K but I didn’t anticipate all this rain either.  Hmph.

So here I sit, on my bed with the laptop and cell phone.  I’m blogging, texting Paula and sipping a diet sprite.  Who says I can’t multi task???   I need to shower and come up with some sort of plan for the day, but I want to be lazy. 

Okay, that is all for now, I’ll blog as more happens.

A bit of background:  For as long as I have been with Rob we have always gotten these cute little cards every holiday with pictures of a little girl on them.  And when I say EVERY holiday I mean it.  She sent one out for St. Patty’s Day, Valentines Day, Easter, and so on and so on.  They were sent by Rob’s old friend from school Kerry and the little girl featured on the cards was her little girl Bailey.  I had never met them but I pretty much got to watch the little girl grow up in pictures.

We have talked often about taking a trip up to Cayucos to see them since it is only about two hours away but we just never seemed to all get together on it at the right time.

Thus my surprise.  He was taking me to Cayucos for the weekend and I would finally meet Kerry and her family and basically have a stay at a hotel(which he knows I love) and just relax and chill out for the weekend.

We left work at five and headed out to this little beach town.  It’s about 20 mins from San Louis Obisbo and is an easy drive up the highway.  About ten miles away from our hotel our GPS told us to turn off onto a very creepy, very curvy road.  One lane with sharp turns and not much in the way of civilization.  As we turned onto the road, Rob turned to me and said: “Remember that movie The Hills Have Eyes?  We aren’t stopping for ANYTHING!”

We managed to make it off that road without having car trouble and then being mangled to death by maniacs and found our hotel with no problem.

We knew when we booked the room that it was going to be a small little motel.  They had a website but the reservations were not available online.  But the price was right and they accepted pets and the first choice of hotels was all booked up due to a wedding so we booked over the phone. 

When we arrived what we found was a small motel built off of a house and run by a couple that lived in said house.  He took our info and gave us our keys…and I do mean keys.   He handed us the first set of actual keys to a hotel room that I have seen since I lived in Maine.  No key cards, and actual key with the big tacky plastic key ring announcing your room number on it.  I suddenly was no longer worried about the movie The Hills Have Eyes and was more worried about the movie Vacancy! 

We got to our room and discovered that the pictures of the rooms on the internet were kind of deceiving when it came to the size of the room.  Yeah, the room was TINY!   It had a double bed because…no bigger bed would fit, but the thing that made it that much smaller were the two white wicker chairs that were on either side of the room.  Without them the room might be okay but as it stands now we are on top of each other and then cramped in the bed.  Oh well.  We knew we had to live with it.

We unpacked what we could and then headed out in search of what was within walking distance of the hotel and possibly for dinner.  What we found was very little but we did find an italian/mexican place that also served burgers.  On our way to the food place we had passed a coffee shop that Rob had researched online.  They were having an open mic night and he wanted to check it out so while I waited for the food he ran up there.

A few minutes later he called me to tell me that he was going to go get his guitar and then hang out for a while.  I told him that was cool and would bring the food back to the motel. 

Last night was uneventful.  Rob played for awhile at the coffee shop and then came back.  We ate and puttered around and went to bed.

Day Two to follow soon