Just got back from a whirlwind four day trip to NYC with friends and holy crap am I exhausted!

The idea behind this trip was hatched around the make up tables backstage at the theater while putting on the production of Rocky Horror Show last year. It was just in the dreaming stages and most times those things never actually see the light of day, but this one really did become a reality.

The players for this trip: Koly and her son Dustin as well as her father Brady, Allison, Andrea, myself and Heather.

The original plan was that we would all fly out on a Sunday to DC where we would stay with Heather for a few days to do some sightseeing there and then drive into NYC for the rest of the trip. While that plan worked for Koly & fam as well as Allison, I could only get three days off of work so I decided to just head into NY for the last part of the trip and meet everyone there. Andrea thought that worked best for her so we became traveling buddies. 🙂

Tuesday I went to work as usual since I would be taking the red eye out that night. After work Rob and I visited with his parents to kill some time and then it was off to Prunedale where Rob dropped me off with Andrea who drove us the rest of the way to the San Jose airport.

Check in was a breeze. We were there early so we passed the time getting ourselves familiar with the maps that Andrea had thought to print up of the streets of NYC as well as the subway system. I was scared of the fight because, we I’m a nervous flyer anyway, but it had been raining all day and I was afraid it was going to be a pretty bumpy ride. It turns out that all my worrying was for nothing because it was probably one of the smoothest flights I have ever been on.

I wasn’t able to sleep which kinda sucked but being in the middle seat on the plane is always awkward. Had I been with Rob, I just would have just raised the armrest and leaned against him but as it was I just kind of had to fold my arms and hunch forward a little so not to disturb either person on my sides. Didn’t make for comfortable sleeping quarters.

It was around seven thirty in the morning eastern time when we got to NYC. We gathered our luggage from baggage claim and cleaned up a little before heading out on the subway to get the trip started. Our first stop was a luggage storage place that Andrea had found online. For ten dollars a bag they would hold our bags until we could check into the apartment that we had rented at three o’clock.

After that it was off to Planet Hollywood to see about activating the hop on hop off bus passes we had gotten with our citypass cards. We stayed and had a very nice breakfast, taking some pictures of all the movie stuff they have around the restaurant afterwards.

With our belly’s full, we set out walking around Times Square.

We went off in search of the discount ticket place for shows but when we found it, the line was insanely long. A woman trying to give us tickets to a comedy show told us not to bother with the line, to head down the block and look for people in a red vest, they would give us discount tickets to the show we wanted to see(MEMPHIS). We never did find the people in the red vests but we did find the theater that was showing Memphis. We decided to head inside and see if he would honor the discount that was in our citypass guide.

The man at the ticket booth was a true old New Yorker. When I showed him the advert in the Citypass book and said there was a discount he just looked at me, shrugged and said: “Yeah, sure, what the hell do I care?” and gave us orchestra seats for 80 bucks.

With tickets in hand we headed back out. We had a couple hours to kill before the show so we decided to do the CSI experience that was right across the street. We had free admission with our citypass card so it would be a cool little thing to pass the time. Unfortunately, it had just closed earlier that month even though all the signs were still up. We were a little bit bummed, but we noticed that there was a Cake Boss Cafe in the same building so even though we were still full from breakfast we decided to check it out.

It was a tiny little bakery that had an exhibit where you could see Cake Boss stuff, but Andrea and I weren’t really interested in that. We grabbed a cannoli and sat down. I’d never had one before so I have nothing to compare it to but I have to say it was damn good! Not overly sweet, but just right.

They had a few other tasty treats but all we wanted was a small taste.

Once we were done we wandered around Times Square and took lots of pictures until it was time to go see Memphis. I picked the show initially because it starred Adam Pascal and if you know me at all, you know that I am a HUGE RENThead. Adam, Anthony and Idina are my favorites from the original play so to see Adam perform again was just a gigantic draw for me. The show itself was phenomenal!!! I mean, just great! I huge welcome to New York show that bowled me over with it’s awesomeness. I loved every single minute of it.

When we were done there we took the subway back to get our bags and then we were off to the apartment that Allison had rented for us. We met up there with the rest of our group and settled into our room. The pictures on the website tried to make the apartment look bigger than it was but you could tell it was pretty tiny. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms plus a couch that Brady slept on.

Once we were settled in and i grabbed a much needed shower, we all decided to go get something to eat before heading out to the Empire State Building. After much hemming and hawwing we decided on a Chipotle clone restaurant that I can’t remember the name of where we saw a guy freak out because he didn’t think they were honoring some sort of coupon that he had. Pretty funny.

I was extreeeeeeeemmmmly nervous about the Empire State Building because I am REALLY afraid of heights. I was almost ready to bow out but Koly convinced me to face my fears and do it. Of course I was fine once we got up there. Everything is fenced in so it’s perfectly safe. 🙂 I got a good number of pictures up there.

After we had our fill of the Empire State Building we hit the Walgreen’s that was connected to it to pick up some things for the apartment like coffee and sodas and snacks and then took the subway back to the apartment. Blessedly, I was finally able to sleep after being awake for over 40 hours.

The next morning I woke up as everyone was deciding what to do. Allison and Andrea were all ready and they headed off on their own in separate directions.
I got up, got dressed and joined Koly, Heather, Brady and Dustin for the bus tour from the Waldorf to downtown.
It was pretty fun. You basically sit in the open second level of a double decker bus so you get to see all the sights. It did start to rain for a little bit but the tour guide busted out some plastic ponchos and the tour went on.

We left Brady on the bus to continue on the uptown portion while we got off and grabbed a cab to the Shake Shack for a late lunch. Oh my God were their burgers fantastic!! I got a shack burger, cheese fries and a peanut butter shake.

We tried taking the subway back to the apartment but ended up grabbing a cab instead when there was some confusion as to which train to take.
When we got back home we found that the apartment was without power.
The original plan had been to come home, grab a shower, get all dressed up and then go out to a nice dinner before the show we were going to see that night.
Instead we spent much of the late afternoon on the phone with the property managers trying to figure out what was going on and how to fix it.
The property persons solution was for us to go to the show and if it wasn’t fixed by the time we got back she would move is to a new property.
We hurriedly got showered(still had hot water thank goodness!) and dressed and took a cab to the theater.

The show we were seeing was called “Other Desert Cities” starring Stockard Channing, Stacey Keach and Judith Light and it

was AMAZING!!

The acting was amazing.  Judith Light stole the show in my opinion but all the actors were phenomenal!
Catching a cab after a Broadway play lets out is not as easy as you would think.  Heh.  We walked down the street trying to hail several cabs but they were all full.  Mumbles were made about finding a subway entrance when I heard Koly saying: “Allison!  Kelly!  Get in!”
I turned around and faced a bicycle cab.  You know the kind with the rickety little carriage on wheels hooked up to a bicycle.  I laughed out loud but Koly was serious.
In we hopped and while Koly, Heather and Andrea grabbed another one behind us.  It was quite a ride, weaving in and out of traffic, almost getting run over by cab drivers.  I was fearing for my life but also having a pretty good time.

When we got back to the apartment we were shocked to find that they wanted 48 dollars PER PERSON for the ride.  Not much we could do at that point so we chalked it up to another New York lesson learned and paid up.
The power was still off at the apartment so Allison called and got the address for the new place they were going to move into and she and Heather took off to meet her there to get the keys.
Koly grabbed two cabs that were on the street and we ran upstairs to get our luggage that we had packed before the show and headed over as well.
Well, the new place was certainly an upgrade.  It was between Park and Madison and it was HUGE!  Three bedrooms and three baths with a giant living room. I think the other apartment we had stayed in could have easily fit into the living room of this one.

We were all pretty exhausted so we settled in and hit the sack.
I slept in a bit the next morning while Allison, Brady and Andrea all went their separate ways to sight-see.  Koly woke me up to see if I wanted to do the Ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty with her and Dustin.  I reluctantly hauled myself out of bed(I STILL haven’t caught up on my sleep yet) and jumped in the shower.
Heather opted to stay at the apartment and work so after a group trip to Starbucks to fuel up on food and caffeine we said goodbye to Heather and grabbed a cab to Battery Park.
We had our citypass cards with us and were told to go inside the bookstore to get our free passes.  The bookstore told us that if we only wanted the 1 hour tour rather than the three hour one that we had to go outside and get into a different line.
After about fifteen minutes of standing in said line the man running the line announced that the boat was leaving and if we hadn’t paid for our tickets yet that we would need to follow him and we could pay at the boat.
Off we went playing an extended game of follow the leader for I’d say a good half a mile to the dock.  There we lined up again and waited for the man to print out the tickets.
Koly and I pulled out our citypass cards to get them ready when a young chubby man walked by and said “Uh oh.” upon seeing them.
Not exactly what we wanted to hear.  He waived to the guy printing out the tickets on his hand held device and pointed to our cards, sparking a discussion about how they can’t honor those, we needed paper tickets or a voucher from the bookstore.
Koly inquired why the bookstore had told us to go get in other line if they were supposed to print us out a voucher.
The man thought for a second and then grabbed our passes, handed them to the chubby kid and told him to run back to the bookstore and get our tickets for us.
The chubby kid did not look happy but took off at a medium jog to complete his task.
When he got back he was so completely out of breath he handed us the tickets and slumped down to sit on the ground.
Koly asked about seeing if he could get us back in line where we had been and between huffing and puffing he said: “Give me your tickets.”  We handed them over and he waived us in to cut and bypass the ticket taking line so we could go straight onto the boat.
The weather was perfect for the boat ride.

We got lots of good pictures and were almost home when Koly got a text from Heather to call her ASAP.
Fearing the worst that someone had gotten hurt she called her back and Heather explained that the property person was there at the apartment telling her that we had to move back to the old apartment that now had the electricity working.  Koly took the number and excused herself to go call the property person.
I wasn’t privy to the conversation but the gist was that the lady insisted that she told us the move was only for one night.  Which is just ridiculous because why in the world would we move all the way across town just to go to sleep?  We had hot water and we had candles, if we had known we would have to move all the way across town just to sleep and then shlep all our stuff back we would have just stayed in the dark and gone to sleep.
A compromise was reached that she would meet us at the apartment at six thirty and she would pay for the cabs to move back.  A discount was requested and she told us that we would have to write to the management and detail what had gone on before a discount would be considered.
We called everyone and told them to be back at the apartment by five to pack up and get moved.  At that point it was around two or so and we were starving so we headed over to the location where the new twin towers were going up.  I had wanted to go to the 9/11 memorial but the lines were long and we didn’t have a whole lot of time.  We grabbed some lunch at a Paninni place and while we were eating we saw an Occupy Wall Street march form and then take place in the park next to the restaurant.  That was pretty interesting.
After lunch we grabbed a cab back to the apartment where we packed up our stuff and waited.
The move was pretty uneventful.  The old apartment was just the way we left it only with power this time.  Since we were leaving the next day I opted not to unpack just grabbed what I needed out of my suitcase and got ready for my third and final Broadway show of the trip.
Andrea had decided to stay in a hotel that night because she found a really good deal while sightseeing and she needed some alone time with a shower that was all hers.  It was just she and I that were seeing Pricilla, Queen of the desert so I got ready and then took a cab to meet her at the theater.
This show was a perfect show to round out the trip.  Fun and festive with the brightest most outrageous costumes!  It was just fabulous!!

After the show I said goodbye to Andrea and headed up a side street in hopes of getting to a less populated street to catch a cab.  While I was walking another block I stumbled on a Subway entrance that had the M train…Hey!  I knew that one!  That’s how I can get home!  Look at me riding the subway at 11 at night all by myself!  Heh.
I got back safe and sound after stopping on the corner for a few slices of pizza which turned out to be the best ever!!
The girls weren’t home yet from their shows so I got in my PJ’s and ate my pizza down in the kitchen.
Allison got home first so we compared notes on the shows and then I headed up to bed.  The rest of the group came back from seeing Mary Poppins and getting some dinner and we all retired to our respective bedrooms.  It was late and everyone but Allison and I had to get up early and catch a bus back to DC to spend the night at Heathers before flying out Sunday morning.
Koly woke me the next morning briefly to say goodbye and I fell right back asleep until around 10:00.  Allison and I had talked the night before about me completing my final thing I wanted to do and getting my picture taken on Carrie Bradshaw’s stoop.  She was still up for it so I jumped in the shower and off we went. A quick trip to Starbucks to recharge my batteries and then we grabbed a cab to Greenwich Village. We found what I thought was the correct address with relative ease.  Allison snapped two shots and off we went to go back to the apartment via subway.

It turns out that I had the address wrong for Carrie’s stoop so I ended up taking the pictures on the wrong doorstep.  When I got home I fixed this with the magic of Photoshop:

While we were waiting on our train I discovered that Sockmonkey had fallen out of my bag somewhere along the trip.  I always kept her in the back pocket that didn’t zip but she was tucked pretty far in so I felt she was safe.  Not so apparently.  I was pretty sad, almost started crying but there wasn’t anything I could do about it so I made up a story in my mind instead.  Sockmonkey decided she was a New York monkey at heart and needed to follow her dream of being the first Sock Monkey on Broadway!  She knew I would try and talk her out of it so instead of telling me and risking me not letting her go, she simply jumped out of my bag when I wasn’t looking and is now out there in the city making her dreams come true!  🙂
Back up to the apartment we packed up our final things and I got a text from Andrea saying that it took her two hours to get to the airport via the Subway.  They had shut down the M and the F train that we had planned to take back to the airport.  Allison and I made an executive decision to cab it instead.  The guy charged us a flat 50 dollar fee and got us there in no time.
At the airport we checked in and got through security before doing a little shopping and meeting Andrea at the terminal gate.  I was kind of hungry so Andrea told me about a sandwich place where you order on a digital touch screen.  You pick out your meat, cheese, bread, smear and veggies and they put it all together for you.
It’s a great system however the computer went down right after I placed my order and the people making the sandwiches never got it.  Cut to me finally giving them the order by hand and then getting a text from Andrea saying the plane was boarding.
When I finally got my food in hand I checked out and ran the distance to the gate to find only Allison and Andrea waiting there…everyone else had already boarded.  Almost missed the darn plane for food!  Heh.
The plane ride was an hour longer going home than it had been getting to NY.  There were a whole lot of tornado watches and warnings happening in the midwest that we had to fly around.  I was really scared that it was going to get REALLY bumpy when we got to the middle of the country so when the drink lady came around I ordered two vodkas just in case.
I didn’t end up drinking them because other than one major bump that lasted maybe two minutes the flight was relatively smooth.  There was almost a constant slow bump under us but it was so steady that you got used to it and I actually worried when it got completely smooth.  🙂
The only real worry on the flight was a young teenage boy that was walking up the aisle to the bathroom when we were almost home.  He started to waiver and then pitched forward and passed out.  I’m still not sure what happened but I’m guessing it was a blood sugar issue or maybe he got up to soon after sitting too long but he got up after about fifteen minutes and made it back to his seat.

Overall this trip was had some hiccups but it was amazing and well worth it.  I can’t wait to go back!!

I slept as late as I could on Sunday given that I didn’t get back to the hotel until two or so in the morning.

I woke up with an overall feeling of dread.  I wasn’t *that* tired but I just wasn’t feeling the race.  It was odd having been at the Expo two days before and then having the race at night.  I had nothing to get myself psyched up for it.  My back was tweaked from sleeping in the car on the way in and the last thing I wanted to do was walk/run 13.1 miles in the freezing cold.

I showered and got dressed and Rob dropped me off as near to the corrals as possible and I walked the rest of the way.  I was found my corral and texted Aimee but we never ended up finding each other.  I was cold and felt out of sorts.  I don’t know why but I felt more alone this year.  Even though I was by myself last year I didn’t feel the as lonely then as I did this year.  It was weird.

I was so glad Rob and I had decided to remember a pair of sweatpants of his that he didn’t mind me ditching by the side of the road because my legs would have been FREEZING while I was waiting the two hours for the start.  I’m also glad Rob talked me into buying a cheap pair of gloves because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to feel my fingers either.

After what seemed like an eternity, the corrals started moving.  How it was supposed to happen was just like last year.  There were 40 corrals and they were all supposed to be released within a minute to a minute and a half of each other.  The theory behind it is that you sign up given the time you know you can finish in and that gives all the faster runners a chance to get out there and get a headstart that way no one is stuck behind someone that is slower than them.  That is how it worked last year and it was perfect.

Last year they also had the full marathoner’s run the strip and then they broke off to do side streets before completing the marathon.  That way there was little or no merging between the full and the half.

A lot had changed this year.  Last year, because of the staggering of the corrals, it took me an hour to even cross the start line.  I’m not sure when the staggering changed this year but it seemed like after corral 20 we were all just kind of let go to run as a massive lump of people.  There were no more countdowns and the ropes were taken down.

At first I was thrilled at crossing the start line a half an hour earlier this year but I quickly realized what a problem it was going to present.

As we all started out on the road it appeared to be going well.  There were these random orange cones along the left side of the road that didn’t appear to have a function as there were no signs so I didn’t think much of them.  The first mile passed like nothing and I ditched the sweatpants(note to self, next year either wear tear aways or cut a slit up the ankles for easy removal, I lost at least two minutes trying to pull these suckers over my sneakers).

The first water station I started to worry just a little.  The first few tables were empty and there were only volunteers dipping cups into what appeared to be a large plastic garbage can being filled with a hose.  I had a hydration belt on so I kept on trucking and eventually found tables full of water that I grabbed a cup from.

Around mile three I noticed there was finally a sign on one of the cones dividing the left side lane.  It said full to the left and half to the right.  I wonder why it took three miles for us to be able to actually see a sign, but from then on I stayed to the right.

Last year I didn’t start experiencing doubts until mile 11 and that was just because everything was hurting and hurting bad.  That year I had trained in an old pair shoes and wore a new pair with only like nine miles on them for the race.  That was a lesson learned let me tell you!

This year around mile five I started to doubt myself.  There is a small section near downtown where you have to go down a few side streets and because this was a night race there was one area that was pretty poorly lit.  To be fare, it was pretty much the only spot that wasn’t lit well but it started to freak me out a little.

I went through the thoughts of, even though I was walking amongst a lot of people that I was all alone in a seedy area in the dark.  I don’t know why, but all of a sudden I started to have a panic attack.  I got over it once we got back into better lighting but it freaked me out a little.

As I came up on mile six I sent my husband a text.  I was going to be running right by our hotel (El Cortez) and he and my best friend Paula were going to be outside cheering for me with the sign Rob made at the Expo on Friday.

I thought about texting him to have our room key ready so I could run up and pee.  I had to go fairly bad at that point and going up to our room would surely be quicker than waiting in line for the port a potty’s that weren’t as plentiful this year as they were last but I missed my chance.

As I ran passed my cheering husband and best friend it put some wind back in my sails.  Rob told me I was looking strong and took some video of me and Paula was shouting encouragement.  My doubt from earlier was turned around a bit and I felt that I could do it.  It was half over at that point after all.

Back up on the other side of the strip I discovered the same thing I had thought last year but had forgotten about.  There is a very slight incline going from downtown to the top of the strip.  Something you don’t notice when you are driving it, but when you are run/walking you can tell.  That also means there is a slight decline going towards downtown.  The reason I know this is because the 1st half of the race I kept the same pace as the second half(I run to a certain BPM on my Ipod to keep my pace even all the time) and I was not winded or sore the first half, but was the entire second half.  It is by no means a hill, but it was an interesting observation.

Another thing of note is that in the dark, running the strip was a little more nerve wracking for me.  I am horribly afraid of heights.  To the point where if there is no railing on a staircase I panic.  It also effects me when looking up at tall things.  In the daylight it didn’t bother me last year.  This year, with all the lights things flashing I kind of felt like I was on sensory overload and looking trying not to look up at the buildings wasn’t really helping.  It was kind of weird.

Another difference between having a race in Vegas at night instead of in the morning is the appearance of hecklers.  I saw nothing but support from the crowds last year and while that was mostly true this year there were the occasional belligerently drunk people walking the strip and shouting rude things at the people running.  They were few and far between but I thought that was worth mentioning as well.
I finally stopped to use a porta potty around mile nine.  That was the one time I wished I had brought the little head lamp thing that they gave us in our swag bags.  Trying to balance over a filthy porta john while holding onto your IPhone for some sort of light and doing your business was a bit of a struggle but I managed it.

Mile 11 brought some pretty gusty winds and a bit of rain but that quickly passed.

When I finally crossed the finish line I was handed a full marathon medal and the girl explained that they had run out of half marathon medals and they would mail me one.  The full medal was just so we didn’t walk away empty handed.  While I appreciated the gesture, I couldn’t help but wonder how the hell they ran out of medals.  I mean, you have to sign up and pay to run this race.  You know EXACTLY how many people will be running both the half and the full so unless you started handing out medals to people with no bib numbers on, you shouldn’t run out of medals!  And why was there such an overabundance of full medals but not enough half?

I later heard a rumor that a lot of people changed their minds and ran the half instead of the full at the last minute but I don’t know if that is true or not.

I didn’t waste too much time thinking about, I was tired and cold.  I grabbed a mylar blanket and a bagel but I couldn’t make myself choke any food down.  With no one picking me up I was confused as to wear to go.  People around me were angry and yelling and there were ambulances trying to weave in and out of the people walking.

I stopped to stretch briefly and then made my way into Mandalay Bay.  I recognized the way as the same route we used to get to the parking garage last year.  The difference this time was there were twice as many people and not a lot of forward movement.

We all bottle-necked about 500 feet from the door we had come in and moving forward was a slow and painful(literally) process.

Eventually we got to the casino entrance only to be rerouted through the convention center.  Apparently people were going into shock from hypothermia and dropping like flies.  I’m sure it must have been an absolute nightmare to try and get medics through the massive crowds of people and that is why they redirected us(or so I was told).

Downstairs we went, back outside into the freezing temps, around the building and in through the spa entrance I followed the crowd.  Finally spotting hotel registration I ran towards the taxi stand only to find a literally never ending line.  I could not see an end to the line, it just went on for days.

That is when I burst into tears.

I found an empty slot machine and sat down to bawl my eyes out.

I checked my phone and found a text from Rob asking how it went.  I can’t remember what I wrote back but I think it was something like “Clusterfuck, giant wait for a taxi, going to sit here for a minute.”
He immediately called me and asked how he could help.  Did I want him to come pick me up?  At that point the only thing I could think of is that he’d never be able to get through the throngs of taxi’s that were flooding the entire entrance to the hotel.

After a few more tears and much frustration we decided that he would meet me in the parking garage.

I hung up and went off in search of the parking garage.  There were no signs where I was indicating which direction to go in and I couldn’t find one single staff member to help me.  Not even at one of the bars, the bartender just ignored me and continued chatting up two attractive females.

Like I wasn’t frustrated enough!!  Finally I sat down and dug my phone back out.  Thank God for smartphones!  I was able to pull up a map of the casino, determine where I was on said map and get my ass to the parking structure.

Rob said just to go all the way to the top so I did and there was my knight in shining soccer mom van.  I was so relieved to see him I got in the car and dissolved into huge wracking sobs.

Rob let me cry and then when I was better we headed out.  He wasn’t sure which way was the right way to get back to our hotel but at that point he just wanted to get on the road and moving.  Because he didn’t know where we were he was driving a little slower than normal and irritated that there was a cop on tailing us that didn’t seem to want to pass us.

Sure enough a few seconds later his blue lights came on and we were pulled over.  It turns out Rob didn’t have the headlights on.  Which isn’t totally true.  On our van we have automatic lights but they only work in front, so Rob thought his lights were on, but they weren’t in the back where the cop was.

Anyway Rob explained that he had just picked me up from the marathon and the cop went on and on about what a good thing that was and aren’t I proud of myself and so on and so forth.  Then he told Rob that because his wife did such a good job he was going to let us go without a ticket.  Heh.  He was really nice.

We finally made it back to the hotel where I took the best shower of my life and checked out the online world on my phone.  The reviews were in on the race and they weren’t good.  There was so much complaining about the way the race was organized this year but what I was shocked to learn about was how many people had gotten sick during the actual race.  Rumors were flying about tainted water or possibly bad samples given out at the Expo.  The other main complaint was that the full marathon runners got stuck behind the half marathon walkers and lost a lot of time and energy getting around them.

Overall I had to say I had a pretty good race.  I didn’t sick with whatever was going around.  My feet only had a couple of blisters, compared to almost having half of both of my feet covered like last year.  I wasn’t that sore, and I didn’t get hypothermia.  🙂  I ended up finishing seven seconds later than I did last year (darn those sweatpants taking minutes off my time!) but I am still pretty proud of my accomplishment.  My training actually paid off this year.

To Be Continued…

I’m currently sitting in the Logan Airport in Boston with my husband waiting four hours for the final leg of our flight.
Yeah…four hours.
It’s the price you pay for the cheap convenience of flying into the tiny airport of Augusta, Maine, where my mother lives.
My in laws drove us to the San Jose airport where we took a red eye Jetblue flight to our current location.
I’ve never flown Jetblue before and I have to say that I really liked them. They don’t charge for bags, they have an abundance of free snacks and soft drinks and they provided us with free sleep masks and earplugs for the overnight flight. They also had free direct tv built in to the seat in front of you that provided a very enjoyable distraction during take off and landing.
Having said that, the seats could have been more comfortable and I’m used to larger planes for such a long flight.
Didn’t really get a whole lot of sleep which is going to suck a lot when we get to Maine and my mom is raring to go.

I’m pretty sure that is our plane from here to Maine. Not too excited about that.

My 1st Coolatta of the trip. I AM pretty excited about that. :). Oh Dunkin Donuts how I have missed you.
Alright. Now, to kill three hours without passing out from sheer exhaustion. Wish me luck!! I’ll blog later.

Yeah, I am fully aware the only time I ever update this thing is when I travel somewhere.  Today’s post is no different.

As you all know(all two of you that read this thing), I am a total and devout RENT-head.  I love love LOVE the play and the movie and all that stuff.  What you may not know is that the original Maureen from RENT is pretty much my Idol.  Idina Menzel has the voice of an angel.  I’ve never heard an equal to her.

When I was auditioning for RENT here locally I never even entertained a thought of singing anyone else’s songs.  Looking back, I realize I may have set the bar too high with that because I don’t have near as much talent as she does but that is neither here nor there.

What I am building up to is that I finally got to see Idina Menzel live last night and it was magical.

But in true Kelly fashion I must recap the whole trip, so here goes.

We left the house by 9:30 on Friday morning.  For some reason my memory of my last trip to San Francisco didn’t have bad traffic.  Now I don’t know if that was just because it was because Julie was driving and we chit-chatted the entire way or it really wasn’t a bad day for traffic but I was not prepared for what we ran into when we got passed Morgan Hill.

I’ll just say that my right bicep is really freaking sore today from gripping the “oh shit” handle so much on that drive.

At any rate, since we were going to be in the San Fran area Rob called up some work associates of his and they said they would like to take us to lunch.  They decided on a Mongolian Hot Pot restaurant.  If you are like me, you have no idea what that is.  Basically it is like the Asian version of fondue.  You are given a giant pot of soup broth, with lots of tasty seasonings floating around in it.  In our case, since I can’t handle the spice we were given a divided pot, one half for spicy broth, the other for mild and then you just basically order from a list of what you want to throw into the broth to cook.  We ended up with lamb, beef, pork, chicken, tofu, pot stickers, scallops, squid, shrimp, clams, and veggies.  I think there was more but I can’t remember at this point.  I have to admit I was very skeptical about the whole thing but it turned out to be really good!

The food was good, the company was excellent and a good time was had by all.

After lunch we scooted on over to David’s Bridal.  I know that I already did my dress shopping for the vow renewal, but my good friend Renee pointed out that I really needed to try some dresses on to see how they looked on my body.  It’s all pretty and fine on the rack but that can all change when you actually put it on.

How right she was.  Not that long ago I found a dress on the David’s Bridal website that I adored:

Cute right?  Looked like absolute crap on me.

Anyway, at David’s Bridal they help you find a bunch of dresses in your size so you can try them on and see how they look on you even if they are not in the color you want.  I had in mind what I wanted so I picked up a bunch of knee length dresses to try on and on a whim I picked up a full length dress just to try on.  The end result is that I discovered I do not have the legs to pull off a shorter dress.  I liked a couple of them but I was just not satisfied with the way my legs looked.  Hey, I have cankles.  It’s a fact of life and I accept it.  🙂

I tried on the full length dress and absolutely fell in love with it

It wasn’t what I thought I was looking for but it looked so perfect on me.  I didn’t feel like a big heifer, the opposite.  I felt like a princess and loved it from ever angle.  I called Rob in and he agreed that it looked very good so we bought it.  They didn’t have it in the color I wanted so I ordered it in the hot pink.  I also got a veil with a matching pink trim.

They were nice enough to let Rob and I change into our formal wear for the night as well and I ended up purchasing a black wrap for my dress to the concert that night.

At the check out there was a slight problem.  It appeared that no one had the color I wanted in stock and it would take too long to order it from the warehouse to have it available for the vow renewal.

I was devastated.  The clerk said she would call the distributor and see if there was any way to get something shipped ASAP.  In the meantime Rob and I walked around and brainstormed.  At that point it was too late for us to try anything else on and I really had my heart set on that dress so we started talking about maybe getting a different color but I really didn’t want to settle.  Just as we were getting ready to cancel the whole thing the clerk said that she would be able to get it shipped in plenty of time from the distributor and we were able to leave in just enough time to catch the BART into San Fran for the show.  I love that clerk and if I could remember her name I might name my first born after her… you know, if I were having kids.

Off to the BART station we got parked no problem and bought our tickets.  Safely nestled on the train we had a minute to finally relax.

You know it wasn’t that easy though right?

After we passed the first stop on the train Rob realized he had left the tickets for the show in the car.  So after a minor panic attack we got off on the next stop and traveled back to the original stop to get them and then re boarded the train.

Crisis averted, we got off on the Civic Center stop and hoofed it over to the restaurant I had picked to meet up with some fellow Idina fans.

A little back story here:

When my friend Richard found out I was an Idina fan he thought to introduce me via facebook to his friend Erin.  She ran an Idina fan website and was also a fan obviously.  She lived in Texas but was coming out to the San Fran show so we chatted a couple of times and made plans to meet up before the show.   She and her friends wanted to have some sort of get together before the show but there were no real plans made.

Since Rob and I would have some time to kill before the show, I took the bull by the horns and researched a restaurant that was near the symphony hall where Idina was playing and made the reservations.

As anytime I meet a new group of people I felt kind of awkward.  Apparently the place I picked was a half an hour walk from the hotel they were staying in and the service was very slow.  Of course I felt responsible for that and felt really bad about it but there wasn’t much I could do at that point.

They were a friendly bunch and I think we had a good dinner despite the fact that it took an hour to be served even with a reservation.  Then it was off to the symphony.

We parted ways since our tickets were not in the same area as theirs and took our seats.

All I can say about the show is that it was AMAZING!!  I was in awe from the second she took the stage from the time that she left it.  In addition to her fantastic voice she was charming and funny and adorable.  I can’t even describe it so I am not even gonna try.

The only thing that I will post is that when I was seeing RENT in San Fran, the person next to me didn’t have tissues and I was able to supply her with one.  This show, I forgot my tissues but the girl next to me heard me sniffing and handed me a tissue.  Karma at its best.

No pictures were allowed at the show but at the end ppl were snapping them like crazy so I was able to pull off one picture that didn’t come out fuzzy.

It all started with my former work place starting to plan a reunion.  I haven’t seen some of the people in a very long time so I was totally down for the idea.  Things were planned, dates were set and Rob and I secured the time off of work.  Long story short, the dates kept changing and it got to the point where I didn’t trust that we could purchase non refundable airfare.  Since most of the people in the Reunion still lived in Phoenix it was easier for them to adapt to the changing dates, but for us, we needed a locked in date so we could fly in and get hotels.

Finally I said screw it, we can’t wait to book airfare but I don’t feel comfortable plunking down a wad of cash on tickets since the dates kept changing.   Rob and I opted out of the reunion.

Since we still had the days off of work approved we began to plan a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain.  Well, when the PT Cruiser(our reliable car) died right before the trip, that kind of put an end to that.

Enter, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  We’d gone there a year and a half ago and had a fun time.  We figured what the heck, why not?  It also worked out nicely that my friend Michaelle had scheduled her C-section in Santa Cruz the day before we were going to be there so I would get to see her and the new baby.

Woke up on Wednesday morning, took the dog for a long walk and then finished packing.  By eleven we had dropped the dog off at the vets to board him and were on the road.  Santa Cruz is only about an hour to an hour a half away so it didn’t take long to get us there.

Our first stop was Dominican Hospital to see the new bundle of joy.

He was so adorable and cute I can’t even say enough about it.  Sooooo tiny.  Look at his little feet!!

After a short visit we left.  She had a lot of family there and I didn’t want to hog her and the baby so it was off to our hotel.

We chose the Ocean Pacific Lodge for our hotel.  It was the same hotel we stayed in the last time we were in Santa Cruz because we liked it so much the last stay and the location was within walking distance of everything that we would need.

We arrived about an hour too early for check in so we decided to hike over to the beach and see about getting some lunch.  I went down to the beach for a second to take some pictures because I could.  🙂

The last pic is the restaurant/bar that we decided to have lunch at.  We ambled inside and waited for about ten minutes before we even got menus.  Then once we had the menus we didn’t see anything particularly good and the waitress was taking forever to come over to even take a drink order.  End result?  We left and hit up this little deli/pizza place on the way back to the hotel.  It ended up being pretty darn good.

After we were done eating it was time to go check into the hotel.  The last time we stayed here we had a jacuzzi suite that we didn’t ask for or pay for so I knew it wouldn’t be quite as good but it was still nice.

We chilled in the room for a while, swam in the freezing cold pool and hung out in the hot tub before heading out to get our dinner at the same mexican food place we ate the last time we were here.

The next day we woke up and got ready.  For some reason we both thought the boardwalk opened at eleven but we were wrong.  So we got there a tad too early and had to wait around for about 45 minutes for things to open.  We were hoping that since it was May there would be more rides open this time than the last time we came in the month of January and we were disappointed.

In the long run it was okay though.  We still had tons of fun, Rob got his roller coaster fix and I didn’t eat any of the many bad food treats presented before me.

After we had our fill of fun at the boardwalk we decided to hit the bowling alley for some lunch and to see if the Wii had helped at all with our bowling games…it hadn’t.

With Rob establishing himself as the champion after two games(I totally beat him all the time on Wii) it was time to head back to the hotel.  We stopped at the corner store to get some soda and chips and then I decided last minute that I would rather get another sandwich from the place we ate at on our first day than have leftover mexican food so I sent Rob off to the hotel and waited around for the sandwich.

Once back at the hotel we chilled in the room, swam a bit and hit the hot tub.  It was dark out and I packed a bit but I still felt like the vacation wasn’t complete.  I asked Rob if he would mind taking a walk to the beach.  We had talked about it briefly the night before about just sitting on the beach watching the waves and him playing guitar.  It sounded like the perfect end to the vacation so off we went.

It was so nice and peaceful sitting there on the sand watching the ocean while he played his acoustic guitar.  It really was the perfect end to the vacation.

As we were getting ready to leave we were approached by a young man wearing only shorts and a tank top(it was pretty cold at that point) asking if he could borrow a cell phone.  Rob said no, but he’d be happy to dial a number for him and put it on speakerphone.  The guy agreed eagerly.  I guess he had been out for a run earlier in the day and at some point his house key had fallen out of his pocket.  He had been looking for it ever since and had been having no luck.  Since it was dark he was using the light of his Ipod as a flashlight.  So Rob dialed up the guy’s fiance who apparently lived three hours away and we listened to him beg her to come down and let him into the house(I can only assume that she had a key to the house as well), she agreed but let him know that it would be three hours before she got there.

When he was done, we chatted a little bit more and Rob gave the guy his sweatshirt.  He also gave him his card and said that if he wanted to return it, he could.  Otherwise he could pass it on to another sad soul in a similar situation.  The guy was very grateful and said he was going to go to his house and see if any of his neighbors would let him in to stay for the next three hours.

Feeling a little like we helped out, we headed back to the hotel where we ate dinner and went to the bed.

The trip home was uneventful and once we unloaded the car I headed down to the vets office to pick up our baby boy.  They love him so much there I swear, it was like a celebrity was leaving the building.  As the brought him out all of the staff was yelling: “Come here Pappy!!  Come say goodbye to me!” and giving him lots of loving.  The lady behind the desk leaned in and told me: “He really is a very special dog.”  It was very cute.

At any rate, it was a very successful trip.  Lots of fun was had and our batteries were recharged.  And we still have the rest of the weekend to relax.  Not bad at all.

I met Julie at her house on Saturday at two in the afternoon like we agreed.  We piled into her car and hit the road, making good time into San Francisco.

Thanks to my GPS machine we found the hotel with no problems and got checked in.  The hotel was okay.  For the price and the location it was actually really good. 

 We settled into our room and Jewels called Mel.  They were down the street at Union Square getting Melissa’s race pack and checking out the freebies they could get due the the race she was going to run the next day.  Jewels told them where our hotel was and they walked down.

From there we hung out a bit while the girls checked their facebook accounts on the laptop and then decided to go get dinner…in downtown San Francisco…on a Saturday night…at six o’clock.  Yeah, every single place we went into had an hour and a half wait before we could even be seated.  So we walked and walked and walked some more, sticking our head in every restaurant along the way to see what the wait time was.  Just as we were about to give up we spotted an Irish pub across the street.  We jogged over and found there was no wait time at all!!  Glorious!!

We got seated, got beer and ordered up some grub.  Dre and I got the fish and chips, Melissa got cottage pie and Jewels got a steak.  I was very excited that they had mushy peas just like the kind I loved so much in England.

By the time we were done we had just enough time to walk back to the theater, say goodbye to Dre and Mel and hit the restroom before they opened the doors and we took our seats.

I had seen the show earlier this year in LA and of course seen the movie a thousand times but I can never get enough of it.  Especially on this tour because it has the original Mark and Roger in it.   Our seats were so much closer this time.   I sat there telling Julie over and over again how great the seats were and and we were going to be so close to see everything…aaaaaand that is when the tallest man in the world with the largest head on the planet sat down directly in front of me.  Okay, this might be a SLIGHT exaggeration but it’s not that far from the truth. 

So much of the play had me dipping my head from one side to the other to see everything but it was still spectacular!!! 

At the end we all filed out and there was a sign with an arrow that said “This way for autographs”.  I knew that Julie had no desire to stand in line and get autographs from the cast but I really regretted not getting any in LA when I had the chance.   We stopped outside for Julie to call Dre and see if they wanted to meet for a drink and when we did I discreetly popped myself into the autograph cue.  Turns out since Dre and her friend Desiree did want to meet for drinks and they were coming up to meet us we had to wait anyway, why not wait in line right?  😀

I got “Maureen”, “Benny”, and the seasons solo singer(who was also part of the original cast but had been sick during the LA show so I didn’t get to see her on that one) and Anthony Rapp to sign my program.  I was so starstruck for that one.  I saw him moving down the line and kept thinking “Tell him you loved his book.” but as soon as he came up to us I just stared at him and thrust my program in his face to sign.  Sigh.  Oh well.  🙂

I thanked the girls profusely for waiting for me to get that one and we left after I got his autograph.  I would have loved to get Adam Pascals but I wasn’t sure he was going to make and appearance and if he did I didn’t know when.  The girls were nice enough to hang around for me to get Anthony’s so I didn’t want to make them wait any longer.

We made our way back over to the Irish pub where we had eaten dinner and ordered up a round of beers.  It was around eleven or so I believe so the crowd was pretty snockered…basically it was a people watchers paradise.  The girls ordered another round of beers and I got a Long Beach because I can only drink so much beer.  Now, I’m used to ordering this particular drink in casinos.  I have never had one outside of a casino so I expected the same watered down, mostly cranberry juice drink.  Nope.  What she brought me was pure alcohol with a splash of cranberry.  By the time I finished that, I was done.  My eyes were shutting and we had to walk back to the hotel.  Heh.

We tried to hail a cab but after one cabbie made kissing noises at us we decided it was better to walk.  🙂

Once at the hotel, Julie and I called it a night.  We had to get up fairly early to meet up with Mel at the finish line of the race and it had been a long day.

The next morning there was some miscommunication on where we were meeting Dre and her friends but it all worked out okay in the end.  We lucked into a parking space only a couple of blocks from the finish line and walked down.

It was fun to watch all the racers come through the home stretch, especially Melissa.  We caught up with her as she made her way through the throngs of people.  She was understandably exhausted and since we had a closer parking space we volunteered to drive her over to their car. 

After depositing her safely with Dre we made our trek home, stopping in Morgan Hill for In & Out Burger.

It was a really fun weekend and I had a blast hanging out with these girls and of course seeing RENT.

Monday morning I woke up and hit the gym again.  I’m sorry to say this would be the last structured exercise of this trip. 

NYNY

After I was done I came upstairs to the room and showered before heading off to meet mom in her room.  I got her safely to the car in the parking garage.  This would be the very first time I was going to drive in Vegas.  As many times as we have been here, Rob has always done the driving.  He has always done the driving for the majority of our relationship but even more so for the scary places…like Vegas.  Thankfully the trip was a hop, skip and a jump from our hotel at the Orleans to the Luxor.  No freeway what so ever and it wasn’t a weekend so it was all good.

We got to our destination with ease.  Normally, I would have valet parked since I was with mom and walking is not her strong suit but it turned out that this trip the parking garage was closer to where we needed to be than the valet entrance.

Before I left the Orleans I had Rob call my Auntie Tee to see if she could call FedEx.  The location of the phone was still up in the air but since it hadn’t been delivered overnight as it was promised, we figured she could not only get her money back, but get it delivered back to her since she was the sender of the package.

As mom and I rolled up to the Luxor I got a call from Auntie Tee on my cell phone. 

“Your mother gave me the wrong zip code!”  She said after I answered.

Apparently since the wrong zip code was given for the package, they couldn’t refund any money, and since it has already been delivered to the Golden Nugget(news to us) it could not be returned to her.  I thanked Lee for trying and then promptly called the Golden Nugget to speak with the person my mother had been dealing with about the whole cell phone fiasco.

She informed me that the phone was indeed there and she would hold it for us to come pick up until the 26th as that was the day we were leaving.  A quick call to Rob and we decided we would pick it up on the 26th before we dropped mom off at the airport.

Mom at Starbucks at the Luxor

With that taken care of we began our mother/daughter day.  After a couple of stops to rest we got up to the food court at the Luxor where I got a caramel frap at Starbucks and a Strawberries and Cream for mom.  (although she is diabetic, she claims she needs to “sugar up” for the nights here in Vegas because of how much she walks…)

Once we were done, I got tickets for the Titanic Exhibit and we were off.  I had been wanting to see this exhibit for years.  I had thought I would see it at the Tropicana last year when I went with Paula but it had already been moved.  I was quite happy to finally get to see it.

The whole experience is pretty cool.  They have all of the facts of the trip written out

The Titanic Exhibit

with giant photographs but they also have a bunch of artifacts that they recovered from the ocean floor under glass.  In addition to that, they recreate the rooms in the third class and first class as well as recreating the deck and the “famous” staircase.  It was all just a really great experience.  The best part was at the end they had a giant piece of the ship that they had recovered from the ocean suspended in the air for us to look at and in addition there was a video of how they recovered it.  Well worth the money in my opinion for the experience.

Mom at the Luxor Buffet

Once we were done with that we had some time to kill and were kinda hungry so we hit the buffet at the Luxor.  I don’t have a lot of experience at buffets in Vegas but this was one of the largest and best stocked I have ever seen.  They had foods of all kinds in one place and the deserts were yummy!  We didn’t leave hungry at all!  😉

After the buffet, we hit a couple of shops and then it was time for the show!

We were seeing Menopause the musical.  I had done a lot of research on what mom may

Sign outside Menopause the Musical

 or may not like and this won out hands down.  Bonus that it was cheaper that most and started at 5:30!  I bought the tickets in advance…VIP seating so we could get front row, but they turned out to be even better.  Smack dab in the center of the row.  Mom voiced a small concern about being picked on for being in the front row but I assured her this was not an improv show so there shouldn’t be a problem.

Once the show started, my mother and I were caught up.  The show is just hilarious and it is set to the songs of my mothers generation so she was just in her element.  She laughed a lot and there was one moment where one of the ladies was singing her song and she came down into the front row and chose mom to sing directly to.  It scared my mom a little but thrilled me to no end.

At the end they call for people to come up onto the stage.  My mom was one of the first people picked but she didn’t want to go.  I forced her and we both ended up doing an impromptu kick line with the stars and more audience members.  It was classic and gives mom a great story to tell when she gets home.  The whole experience was fabulous.

After the show we got back in the PT and headed back to the hotel.  I gave mom her souvenirs of the day in the elevator and bid her ado until the next day.  Up in the room I filled Rob in on the show and my day and then I got lazy while Rob watched football.

It had been a busy day for me so that night I didn’t have any desire to go gambling.  I stayed up the room and played my new computer game while Rob went downstairs to play.  He wasn’t down there for long but ended up winning enough to pay for our dinner at TGIFridays that he brought back up to the room.  🙂

To Be Continued again…

Henderson Airport

Picking Scott up at the airport turned out to be a breeze after one small wrong turn.    When he got there he informed us that the weather was about to take a turn so he was just going to get a room at the Orleans and spend the night. 

Now, remember in part one where I tried to call mom’s cell phone and it went straight to voice mail?  And how I assumed she just never turned it back on after getting off the plane?  Umm…no.  Mother, for some odd reason, had taken out her cell phone while my Aunt Lee(Auntie Tee) was driving her to the airport and left the phone in her car.

This would have been the first trip where mom had a cell phone, thus making communicating with her a bit easier while she was gambling the night away in the casinos.  Oh well, Rob and I decided it wasn’t the first time she wouldn’t have one so it wasn’t that much of a loss.  But wait!  There’s more!

Instead of leaving well enough alone, mom decided to take matters into her own hands and told Lee to overnight the phone to her at the Golden Nugget.  She had a cell phone, and damn it, she was determined to be able to use it!  🙂

Weeeeelllll….the phone didn’t arrive at the Golden Nugget.  And now mom was checked out of the Golden Nugget.  But mom didn’t tell us any of this until we were on the freeway driving away from the Golden Nugget.  Mom didn’t appear too concerned.  She told us that she had a tracking number and it would go to the GN eventually…but she wasn’t AT the Golden Nugget any longer.

Sighing and agreeing to deal with it later, we picked up Scott and headed back to the Orleans.

When we got to the hotel Rob dropped mom and I off since walking long distances is not my mothers strong suit, and went to park the car.  After trying to check in early we were told there were only three rooms clean and they were all as far away from the elevators as possible.  Not an option for my mother.  She did however tell us that she had a room vacant but not clean near the elevators, and she would put a rush cleaning on it.  She told us to check back in an hour and she would have us all set.  Sounded good to me.

I took mom up to our room in the meantime to park her luggage.  I could tell mom hadn’t had a whole lot of sleep in the last couple of days.  Her MO is to go full force the first couple of days in Vegas and tire herself out to the point of exhaustion.  I got her situated on the couch just as Rob and Scott came in.  Apparently the hotel was completely sold out so getting a room for Scott was not an option.  We offered him our very uncomfortable couch but he said he would just check later since people were bound to be cancelling at some point.

It was almost 11:00 at that point so we decided to head down to the cafe for some brunch.  Scott wanted to try the prime rib here at the hotel because he heard it was pretty good but the Prime Rib Loft didn’t open until so the cafe it was!

Scott and Rob at the Cafe

There was a bit of a line but it moved pretty fast.  It was an okay meal.  Nothing spectacular…typical cafe food.  It did, however, kill enough time to be able to get mom checked into her room after.

We decided though that Since Scott couldn’t fly out that night, that we would be able to take him to the Prime Rib Loft after all so after depositing mom in her room we called and made a reservation for five when they opened.

After that, Scott and Rob decided to take off to Guitar Center for a bit.  With the room to myself, I contemplated a nap but decided since I was going to be eating a large meal fairly soon after the large meal I had just eaten that I should get my lazy butt to the fitness center downstairs.

Dinner at the Prime Rib Loft was nothing short of amazing!  The prime rib was just to die for.  I enjoyed the whole experience very much.  It had the feel of an upscale restaurant but you didn’t have to dress up or drain your wallet.  Definitely a place we will recommend in the future.

With The Orleans still completely booked, Scott managed to find a hotel nearby to spend the night.  I don’t blame him for not wanting to stay on our couch…it wasn’t that comfy.  🙂

After dinner we had to get ready for the show we were seeing that night. 

My husband has been a fan of Richard Cheese for a very long time.  We saw him live once, very briefly when he was the house band at a taping of the Carson Dailey show that was being filmed at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.  This was many years ago and since they were the house band, they only played about 30 seconds at a time, leading in and out of the commercials.  Not exactly what we had in mind.  So seeing a full live show has been an eight year dream of Rob’s.  Richard Cheese plays Vegas often but it never seemed to fit in with our vacation schedules so we’ve always just missed him.

For those unfamiliar with Richard Cheese, or just to lazy to follow the link, I will explain.  What he does is take

Me at the Green Valley Ranch waiting for the show to start

popular songs, the dirtier the better, and “loungifies” them.  He sets them to a lounge song tempo and sings them with a pleasant voice.  It is better experienced than read about so go ahead and click the link above okay?

Richard Cheese!

Anyway, that night he was playing at the Green Valley Ranch.  I had heard some of the songs he does from Rob’s CD and knew it was funny.  What I didn’t know was that the guy himself is excellent at improv and plays off the crowd so well during and in between the songs.  Rob and I were crying we were laughing so hard.  The kind of laughter where after two hours you are physically exhausted from all the mirth.  Such a good show!

After the show we headed back to the hotel.  We hung out in the room for a little while and decided around one in the morning to go see about getting some food.  As we got off the elevator, we spotted my mother sitting on a bench with a Subway sandwich  bag next to her, furiously searching through her purse.  As we got closer we discovered she was visibly shaking.  She had been out all night gambling and hadn’t eaten of course.  Being diabetic, that is not a good thing.  Her sugar was low and she was running on about 6 hours sleep in the last 48 hours.  She looked a wreck and she apparently couldn’t find her room key.

We fished the card out of her purse and escorted her up to her room because honestly, in the shape she was in I wasn’t sure she could make it the short distance.  In her room we got her settled, made sure she started eating her sandwich and made her promise to stay and go to bed.

The next morning was Sunday and we had no plans.  Mom had strict rules to stay in her room and rest because Monday was our mother daughter day at the Luxor, so we weren’t worried about entertaining her.  I got up and hit the gym and then we decided to go to Fry’s Electronics.  I had gotten the new Sims 3 game but my laptop didn’t have enough RAM to play it.

After that we got back to the hotel and decided we wanted to go see a movie.  Rob had really been wanting to see District 9 and I didn’t know much what it was about so off we went.  The movie was excellent.  Very fast paced from the get go.  Another show where we were exhausted afterwards.  🙂  I recommend the movie highly.

I wasn’t feeling the gambling that night so I stayed up in the room and played my new game while Rob went down and gambled.  He ended up being up enough money to pay for our dinner from TGIFridays so that was a plus.  🙂

To be continued…

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….