Always read your flight itinerary very carefully. A word to the wise.

Friday July 9, 2010

OK, it's the last day. A little anti-climactic after yesterday. We had no specific plans. Thought maybe we'd go back to Red Rocks to see if we could get rid of the rest of the burro carrots. Or maybe that I would play one game of blackjack for one of my friends. Maybe wander through the casinos again.

What I did decide to do was to go down to the pool in the morning before it got too hot. So, I packed up my book and my other stuff and went downstairs. Pool wasn't open yet. Grrr. There was a McDonalds in the hotel so I went and had a coffee and and Egg McMuffin and read the paper to kill some time. Didn't want to go back upstairs because Joel was still sleeping.

Joel had gone out into the hotel last night after we got home to see what was going on out there. Apparently, in Las Vegas, people get all dressed up and go out. To nightclubs. Or, to gamble. Strange. Who knew??? Certainly not I as I had been out all day. There was a nightclub in our hotel. LAX. Sounds fancy. I don't get nightclubs. I don't get this VIP business. I thought you had to be important to be a VIP, but it seems like you can call ahead and get on a VIP list and then all of a sudden, you are an important person? And what exactly is bottle service, anyway. Oh, the things I don't understand about the 21st Century. I was perfectly content providing my own bottle service in the olden days by walking up to the bar and getting my own beer. But, apparently, time marches on and things change. But I digress....

When it was 9:00 I went back to the pool. People were going in from the other side but no one had come to open the fence keeping us (me and a bunch of other idiots going swimming first thing in the morning) out. So we began to hop the fence and look for our perfect spot. Mine involved shade. Got my stuff and my chair and then I saw Joel coming across from the other side. I was surprised to see him but he thought he could handle the pool for a little while before it got too hot. Hopped into the pool. It was still really warm. Didn't have much opportunity to cool off overnight I suppose. Did you know that there is a VIP section for the pool too?? I still don't get it. You pay money to have a slightly higher quality chair so you can face it away from the rest of us peons and don't have to look at us while you suntan?? You can still hear us. We are right behind you....!!!

We went into one of the hot tubs and some guy came in there too a few minutes later. Do we look like people to whom you would like to tell your life's story and tell us things that we don't really think that we should know about you?? I guess so. This guy was here with his father and he was talking about being out the night before and having gone to see Carrot Top I think--why, I don't know. Carrot Top is not funny. And his dad just wanted to go to see the naked chicks at another show and then the guy got hit on by hookers and it just went on and on. I suggested that there were 8 bail bondsmen on Main St. if he ever needed them. He just kept talking about stuff.

I splurged on a couple of poolside beers in aluminium bottles. Mostly because I wanted to have a beer from an aluminium bottle. And they were really expensive. People bought bottles of beer in buckets from the bar. I can't imagine how much that cost. And, I wanted to have a beer in the morning just because I could.

It got pretty hot after a while and we had to be out of our room by 11 so we went upstairs to get organized.

I went out and took some pictures of pretend Egypt stuff. You think if I hang the pictures up in the classroom the kids would know they weren't really from Egypt? Fake hieroglyphics--they can't read them anyway.

Packed everything up and put our stuff in the car for the afternoon. The car didn't have to be back until the evening so it was easy that way. We decided that we would go and check out some of the other casinos that we hadn't seen yet. We went to the back of Paris Las Vegas and parked there. We went through Paris again, went outside and into The Venetian, wandered through all the shops and stuff and watched the gondolas. I thought there would be a big place out in the back where the gondolas would be--I mean, it looks pretty exotic in all the photos you see. But, there they were, right on the main street. You never see any of the main street in any of the pictures... Anyway, each ride was $16 per person or you could have a gondola ride for 2 for $64.00. I think I'll wait until I get to the real Venice.

We wandered through shops and shops and more shops and the occasional casino. We stopped and watched the Bellagio show a few times. Looked for a place to sit and relax for a while. That's harder to find than you might think. We did end up in Caesar's Palace again for a little while and found a little coffee shop where we could sit and read the paper for a while.

All in all it was a pretty boring day.

Our flight left at 11 something p.m. I kept telling Joel. So we took the car back in the evening--sometime around 8:00. Taking the car back was very easy. You just drive in and find the proper car dealer and there you go. At that point, I checked the paperwork to find the flight information. Oopsie, flight was leaving at 9:50. I was sure I had clicked the 11:00 flight. Oh well. Joel was not a happy camper. So we had to take the shuttle to the airport and then we had to get on a train and get to the right terminal. And then we had to go through security. While they were doing that, we heard the last call for boarding our flight--but it was still way early. I couldn't figure that out. So we ran to catch our flight. Fortunately Joel is a much better runner than I am--but I was carrying more stuff. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But we caught the plane. Joel still wasn't thrilled. We did not speak about it.

The plane ride home was BRUTAL. I was trapped in the middle seat between Joel at the window and some guy who slept most of the way. All I did was fidget. My feet swelled up and I just needed to move. The sleeping guy got up once so I could walk around for a little while but it wasn't enough. Didn't sleep a bit and I think I kept Joel from sleeping too. While I was out of my seat the short person in front of me shoved her seat back so I had nowhere to put my knees. I hate flying. Not the flying but the squish factor. But, we went to Newark in order to get to Buffalo--I don't get that either but I'm not in charge of the airline industry. If I was, things would be different!!!

So, back to Buffalo by Saturday morning. We got home and I thought I would have a nap and then get up to watch the World Cup game. I didn't want to sleep too long because I figured I wouldn't sleep at all at night. So, I set my alarm, moved to the couch, turned on the game and made it through the first 10 minutes. Then conk, I was out again. Missed the whole game. Oh well.

All in all, it was a good trip. I liked the outside of the city stuff much better than the inside of the city stuff. I think I am more inclined to driving trips. That way, I can stop and start when I want to and I can stretch out if I need to. And, you can stop and smell the roses along the way.

I guess that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted on any further adventures, I know you can't wait!!

Before I go into the desert, I always like to do a snake survey

This should be Thursday, July 8 2010.

Yes, it's late too. But all my days are in order.

This would prove to be the best day of the week. Joel had really wanted to see Zion National Park in Utah, so that's where we were going.

Up we were at the crack o' dawn. More likely 6:00 or so but it was early. As we came out of the hotel room, we could hear the casino humming. THIS should be called "the city that never sleeps". I wasn't sure whether these were early risin' gamblers like Uncle Don or if they were leftovers from the previous night. I am sure the casino doesn't care as long as the money is being spent.

We headed out to the highway--stopping at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the way. Nice lighting for my pictures!! And, even better, no people. Have I mentioned that I don't like people in my pictures?

Off we went, northeast towards Utah. There was a lot of nothing for a long way. It was going to be about a 3 hour drive which was fine. I like looking at stuff. Even if it's sand and cactuses (cacti sounds stupid). Every once in a while there would be signs for casinos and stuff. We got to I guess it was Mesquite--just before the border of Nevada and Arizona. Time for some gas. Joel was paying with a credit card and the pumps never let him actually pay at the pump. He had to go inside and then they wanted him to show ID. Needless to say, this kind of thing annoys Joel just a little bit...

Into Arizona we went. I didn't know I was going to hit 3 different states this trip!! :) I also didn't know we were in the Mohave Desert. I have to do more research before I go anywhere next time!!

As we went along the road, we could see these huge cliffs ahead of us. The road disappeared and it looked like it ended. As we got nearer, the road had just gone into the Virgin River Gorge through a cut in the rock. This was amazing to drive through. Cliffs soaring up beside and in front of us and we crossed the Virgin River several times. I took a bunch of pictures from the car but they don't do it justice. I was looking stuff up, go figure, and discovered that this is the most expensive rural highway built in America--$49 000 000 per mile (in 2007 dollars). After we went through the canyon, we came to St. George's in Utah. Time to turn off and head towards Zion National Park. The road we took was much smaller than the highway--kind of like Hwy 6. We went through a couple of little towns and clearly they were geared for the Zion Park tourist. People were selling a lot of rocks. There were motels and places to eat and get climbing gear and stuff like that.

We got to the main gate of the park and had to pay to get in. It cost us $25 for the vehicle to get in but that entitled us to 7 days in the park. Since we only stayed for one...I thought we were getting ripped off. But it was worth it. We stopped at the Visitors' Centre. We needed maps and such. I love a good map. I wanted to see if there was any place to swim. I mentioned it was hot, right? And, I needed the snake report. A couple of places to swim and no major snake outbreaks. Phew. I am not really really afraid of snakes. Not keen on the poison ones. That's the main issue. Snakes are fine if I see them before they see me and I can just let them go about their snake business. I don't ever want to surprise one that feels that he needs to defend himself by launching some kind of toxic venom into my leg. You know that this would happen to me, don't you?

What I hadn't realized was that you couldn't drive through all of the park. It wasn't like Red Rocks where there was a driving loop. I thought that would suck but it didn't. We as far as we were allowed to drive and got changed and ready for our hike in the canyon. Zion has a bus service that runs up and down the canyon all day about 5 minutes apart. You can get on and off at whatever stops you want. So, that's what we did. We got off at each stop and hiked in or up or wherever to see what there was to see. One place we got off, you climbed up a short way for a view of these three mountains. Apparently, once upon a time in the 1860s, a bunch of Mormons found there way to what is now Zion. And they decided that they were going to name everything--the hills or mountains or whatever and some of the cliffs. So, there are things like the Great White Throne. Doesn't look like a throne to me. And the sound of it makes me think of something that I don't think was the original intention. They have the Temple of Sinawava. Don't even know what that is supposed to be!!! Anyway, the mountains we were looking at were called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the Three Patriarchs. They also have Angels Landing and the West Temple. These Mormon names have stuck since then.

So we got off the bus at various places and went to the end of the paths to see what there was to see. At a couple of places there were hanging gardens--water dripped down the walls or over a ledge enough so that plants would grow right out of the rock. There were golden columbine just sticking out of the rock. Other plants too. And, occasionally there would be little trees clinging to the rock. There were a couple of pools--pretty shallow at this point and there was a swarm of tadpoles in one of them! I took a picture. I like tadpoles.

At one point we came across these two bikers. They were probably in their 50s but they looked like they had lived hard so could have been 35--who knows? They had ridden all the way from Key West. I can't remember where they were going or how they ended up at Zion but they added a degree of colour to the families that were there. They were pretty cool guys. Said they had really good ice cream at the lodge partway along the trail. One of them was a little more suited to hiking than the other. Could have been the cigarette hanging out of the guy's mouth--I don't know. But they were pretty amazed by the scenery and were taking pictures like everyone else was.

At the end of the road that the but took, there was one last path. There were postings about flash floods. A little nerve-wracking but it hadn't rained and it was sunny so I wasn't too worried. It was a mile up and a mile back and it was pretty flat, thank God. You know how I am about the flat land. So, we took it. It followed directly beside the river and went up to what was called the Narrows where the path ended. I went to the very very end of the path and smacked the tree so I could say I did the whole thing!!! There were lots of people in the water, wading, cooling their feet, swimming, whatever. I would have loved to have stuck my feet in there but since I had another mile to walk back, I couldn't risk it. You know how it is once you take the socks off and try to put them back on exactly the same way again?? I couldn't risk blisters on top of the other problems I was having with my feet. Besides, to get through, I was fully dosed on anti-inflammatories and extra-strength Tylenol. But, boy was it worth it. The view was amazing. We talked to a kid and his dad who asked me to take their picture. They had rented water shoes and hiking poles and had hiked another two hours up through the water in the canyon--apparently it gets to be about 20 feet wide at some parts. That would be an amazing trip to do. I'll have to go into training for that. Maybe one of these days... We hung out up there for a little while for a rest.

Then it was the return trip. We saw the Zion Snail. The only place in the world it lives is here. Besides, the snail is the size of a pencil nib and it's probably been migrating for centuries and has only gotten across the first mountain. We tried to showed these little old ladies who were wondering why we were staring at a wall of algae. Snails. That's all. Just little wee ones. I think they thought we were weird. Once we got back to the bus, we went to the Lodge that's partway along the route. They sell snacks and meals and you can stay there and they had a gift shop. We had ice cream--even Joel did!! I should have gotten that piece of sandstone from the gift shop while I was thinking about it. Argh. I always do that. It was really pretty.

After that, it was back to the stop where the car was and then it was time to head home. I had done a pretty good job staying hydrated. I get mild cases of heat exhaustion if I'm not careful. So I had consumed a lot of water but we hadn't eaten much. The park did a good job of having water available so people could fill up there water bottles at almost every spot along the way. I was pretty tired--didn't even want to stop to take pictures on the way out. Eventually we found some Gatorade and felt better on the ride home. Our car had one of those really cool outside thermometers and we watched the temperature climb higher and higher as we worked our way back through the desert. I got a picture of the temp at 112 degrees. At one point it flipped to 113 but flipped back to 112 before I could get a shot of it. Oh well. Regardless, it was darn hot.

This was the best day we had. I think I went to lie in the pool when we got home. I wasn't in much of a condition to do too much more. Heat really tires me out. But it was an amazing trip. I would go back again one day and hike all the way up the river. That would be really cool. It would also be amazing in the fall when leaves are changing colour. So, if anyone is looking for somewhere to go that's a little different--give Zion a thought. There are a number of National Parks out there. I would like to go and see more of them!!!

These places are further apart than you might think...

Wednesday July 7, 2010--yes, I am late in getting this up!

This was to be the day in Las Vegas to look at the hotels and see what there is to see. Since we were at the bottom of the strip, we could just work our way up from one to another. These are some seriously BIG buildings.

We went into New York New York. I liked that casino. It was interesting. We were hungry and went to find someplace to eat. We ended up in the Irish pub inside NY NY. It was pretty packed since there was a World Cup game. Lots of Spanish fans. There was almost nowhere to sit but we did find a little alcove with a decent view of a TV screen. Yay!! I was worried about missing the games. So, we had something to eat. There was a painting of D'Arcy McGee in our little alcove. I was a little puzzled since I didn't think he had remained on the best of terms with the American Irish. But, not my pub. They can put up pictures of whoever they want! So, we watched the first half of the game and then set out again.

We went into MGM. Did you know that there is a big lion enclosure in there? They bring in lions every day. There is a ranch that they live on outside of the city. They get washed and blown dry every day. Spoiled lions. It's like a big lion spa there. The day we were there, they had 3 cubs in the enclosure. They were running around and playing with each other and their toys. They had really big feet. I wish glass was easier to take pictures through--it makes it hard to get a good shot when everything is distorted or reflected. But, the lions were fun to watch. I don't think Joel enjoyed waiting for me.

We went to the M&Ms store. I can't believe that there are 3 floors dedicated to M&Ms. Do people really like them that much? There was a LOT of crap in there. I refrained from purchasing anything.

We also went into the Coke store. I didn't know that the Coke bottle on the front of the store is made of recycled Coke bottles. Bet you didn't know that either.

We went up the tacky side of the street--lots of people. Very hot. Lots of people. We went into some of the hotels. It is interesting to see what they--the powers that run the casinos--want you to do. Everything is about getting you to spend money. They don't care how. There are no straight paths so that you have to go past as many machines and tables as possible. I thought that there would be more places to sit and have a coffee and watch what was going on. Not too many. They want you to sit but only at a machine or in a restaurant. All the paths are windy to take you past stores. They put the less expensive eateries in places where you have to search them out.

You can smoke in the casinos. I guess that makes sense. They would lose a lot of business if people were constantly going out for a smoke. Some casinos do a better job with their air than others. Some smelled like smoke but most of them smelled like covered up smoke. The Flamingo was brutal. It smelled really bad. But, the Bellagio did the best job. It was still covered up smoke but it smelled the least bad.

We stopped and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. did I tell you about those already?? I can't remember what I have said and what I haven't! Those things are amazing. I didn't realize that they played a different song each time. I imagine at some point there are reruns but we didn't see any. I love the big huge fountains--really loud when they shoot those things off. Very cool. Go see them if you get a chance.

It was pretty hot. I think I have mentioned that before, right?? We went back to the hotel. I got to use the pool again. Why do they make hotel pools only 4 feet deep? I imagine it's for safety and stuff but it isn't any good for people who actually want to get wet. The pool was really warm. I guess that goes with the territory but I'm not accustomed to warm water swimming.

One thing I really wanted to do while I was in Las Vegas was go to Fremont Street. They have covered the whole of two blocks overhead with LED lights and then broadcast a show on it several times at night. This year, it's a 70s theme. They did a whole thing to American Pie. VERY COOL!!! The lights of the whole street go down--all the shops and casinos dim--and then everyone on the street stops where they are and looks up. Eventually your neck gets tired but it's OK. I had a strange thought that it would be an ideal spot for pick-pockets. Everyone is focussed on something happening above so it might be easy pickin's for someone with bad intentions.

I really liked Fremont Street. The whole street is closed off and there are artists and booths selling things and the casinos are open into the street and it's cool. Glitter Gultch, the Golden Nugget--what you think of when you think about old Vegas. I think I kind of remember this street from when we were here when we were kids. It would have been something in its heyday! Mind you, now, it's only a couple of blocks and it gets a little dodgy outside of the area.

Joel doesn't really like traffic much (imagine that) so we had to take back routes. We went down Main St. to get to Fremont St. I don't know if this means anything, but I counted EIGHT bail bondsmen on Main St. alone. Why? I don't know. Maybe people need to post bail in Las Vegas. Why was I counting? I don't know.

There is also the side to Las Vegas that tries to save your soul. God seems to be a prominent feature on billboards. My personal favourite says, "What happens in Vegas...God knows!! Be not deceived, God is not mocked." I took a picture from the car at night. It's a wee bit blurry.

Joel wanted to see the Bellagio fountains at night. we never really got a chance to see that. Or the pirate show or the volcano thingy either. I guess it'll have to wait for another time.

So, that's about all we did on this day. We had to get up really early the next day so it was off to bed early for us!

But, it’s a dry heat!!!

This should say Tuesday July 6, 2010!!

Full day today. Lots to do.

Our first stop was breakfast. McDonalds will do in a pinch. It’s cheap. Egg McMuffin and yogourt parfait won’t kill you. Got a medium coffee—Jeez, if I’d gotten the large I’d be awake until a week next Tuesday.

Our first stop today was Hoover Dam. It’s about ½ hour away. We stopped at the Lake Mead Information Center, learned some things about the lake—like there is a B-29 at the bottom of the lake from some time in the 40s. I’d look up the exact date, but I don’t have the internet therefore there is no Google.

The traffic was bad as we got closer to the Dam and we were thinking there were going to be billions and billions of people there. But no, it was the security stop. And top security it was too! A couple of 18 year old girls were checking the cars to determine if they were safe or not. She looked at us and told us to continue. I felt much safer. But, if you were a camper—they pulled you over and checked everything out. But this explained the traffic jam we had been in for a while. That's OK, there was lots to look at all around us.

They are building a huge bridge bypass just downstream. That'll change the travel pattern for a lot of people and probably make it a lot easier for people who are just travelling through. They say it will open later this year.

Got to the parking centre at Hoover Dam. They want a lot of money for things there—it was like $7.00 to park. And there were next to no other options. We went into the Visitors’ Centre but they wanted money there too. I think you could go on the tour inside and stuff too. But we didn’t need to do that. We took pictures and walked all the way across and back. It is quite a feat of engineering. It’s huge!! Hard to believe it was built in only 4 years. By mostly manual labour too.

Lake Mead is on the blocked off side of the dam. It’s now a huge lake. Apparently it’s the 16th largest man-made lake in the world and the largest one in the western hemisphere. And it takes up 1.5 million acres—twice the size of Rhode Island. The amount of water that can be held in Lake Mead would cover the entire state of Pennsylvania a foot deep. The water seemed to be quite low—I don’t know if that’s normal for this time of year or not but it makes me wonder what Las Vegas is going to do when they run out of water.

The Hoover Dam itself is really quite impressive. The pictures really don’t give an accurate sense of how big it really is. We didn’t do the whole inside of the Dam tour but got a good sense of size from walking across the top. Vehicles can drive across the dam—except tractor-trailers or those things carrying dangerous chemicals. Apparently blowing it up would be bad. The dam itself is 726 feet high and weighs 6 600 000 tons. Who measures this??? It is 1244 ft long and at the top is 45 feet wide—wide enough for 2 lanes of traffic and 2 sidewalks. They say there is enough concrete in Hoover Dam to build a 2 lane highway from Seattle to Miami. Again, who measures this stuff?? Anyway, it’s big. You can see the water coming out of the turbines at the bottom so they are working. It powers Arizona, Nevada, and Los Angeles.

Partway across the dam is the border between Nevada and Arizona. There is a marker there so that you can hop back and forth and say, “I’m in Nevada, now I’m in Arizona, now I’m in Nevada, now I’m in Arizona.” There are only so many times you can do that before you annoy your travelling companion, trust me.

So—over the bridge and back was enough. It was pretty hot so we headed back to town. We stopped at another scenic viewpoint over Lake Mead and could see a big marina and there is a major path that people can walk or ride that takes you from the Lake Mead Visitors Centre to the Dam I think. It even goes through an old railway tunnel.
We got back to Las Vegas and looked around there for a while. Big hotels, air conditioning. We saw a few things. But we would look at the hotels mostly tomorrow.

I wanted to go to Red Rocks which is out the other side of Las Vegas. So, off we went again. Needed to get something to eat too. Joel likes to find the fastest ways places so we ended up in Summerlin, which seems to be a nice area of Las Vegas near the Red Rocks Casino. There were signs for the Olive Garden and that’s what we decided would be nice. But, could we find it??? No. Eventually we got there—tucked into a corner of a power centre. But, it was air conditioned, there was lots of water and food. Remember—it’s a dry heat and you have to drink tons of water. I had spaghetti and meatballs—my Olive Garden favourite. Joel yelled at me for having something at a restaurant that I could have at home. I can’t have this at home. #1. I can’t make it like the Olive Garden does. #2. There aren’t any Olive Gardens in Canada any more.

The waitress we had there was awesome. She was originally from Detroit so she understood our difficulty with the heat—but she prefers the Vegas heat to the humidity we have here. I can see that. So, she kept filling our glasses with water. She asked what we were doing and we told her that we were on our way to Red Rocks. She said that she had been out there a number of times and that there were wild burros that lived out there and in the evening came close to the road. There was a grocery store just down the road and we could get carrots there to feed the burros. I imagine that it’s not what people want you to do—feed the wildlife that is—but I couldn’t resist. The waitress sent us on our way with large cups of ice and water. She also told Joel of some other parks that he might like to see and wished us well. She was great!

So, needless to say, we stopped and bought burro carrots. Out of the city, into the desert we went. We got to the gate of Red Rocks. You have to pay to get in which is fine and there is a 13 mile driving route with lots of stops along the way. You can get out and take pictures or have a picnic or go on hikes at the different places. Along we went. Stopped here and there. The rocks really are red. We stopped at one place where there was a couple who was sitting on a bench, with a bottle of wine just watching the sunset and the scenery. It was their anniversary. They had lived in New York State and Pennsylvania before moving to Las Vegas and couldn’t imagine going back there. They were very nice to chat to. There were a couple of buttheads who were going at about the same speed we were so we got to see them from one stop to another. But, you can’t have everything.

Apparently there had been a fire through the park in 2006 and a lot of the cactuses (cacti??) had been burned. This fire was about 1500 acres of damage. They haven’t really grown back much but the park people are working on regeneration. The desert heals but it heals slowly. Cool to see though. I would like to go back there and do some hiking and get off the beaten path a bit.

The park closes at 8:00 so we didn’t have too much time to much about. When we finished the 13 mile loop, we decided to go right instead of left. And then we came across the Bonnie Springs Ranch. It looked interesting so we went in. There is a ranch and a motel and a petting zoo. As we pulled into the motel parking area, we found a use for the burro carrots. Piggy burro kept sticking her head into the window looking for snacks. And when she found out that I kept the carrots in the car, she wouldn’t leave. And then she followed me around. She was pretty cute though. There were 2 other burros around but they were quite timid and missed out on the treats. The manager of the motel fed a whole pile of wild cats too. The managers were very nice to talk to. It would be a cool place to stay one day.

So, it was a long day—back to the hotel. We took the route we took to get there since it was dark. Didn’t see any more burros on the way back though. By the time we got back it was all dark. Time to go to bed. Apparently people in Las Vegas were just getting up and hitting the clubs. Yes, I know, I know—I am an animal. But, our hotel room kept the noise out so we got a good night’s sleep and even slept in the next morning!!

A good day. Lots to see and do. I think I like driving holidays better than flying ones. You can stop and get out whenever you want.

Talk to you tomorrow!!

Buffalo---Newark---Newark---Newark……….

This should say Monday July 5 2010.

So, it’s that time again. I only have anything remotely exciting to say once a year it seems—when I go somewhere different and that only happens in the summer. Clearly it’s July again!! Whether you like it or not, you will get to live vicariously through me and what I happened to see. Hope you enjoy it!!

We were up at the crack of dawn—before 5:00 am and out of the house. We were staying at Joel’s friend’s house in Buffalo. Off to the airport. Smooth sailing except for the automatic check-in. I don’t know how to do that very well. And, apparently they charge you for luggage even when they say they don’t. So, once all that’s done, we get on the plane to Newark. No problem. Now, I always wondered why, if you were flying west, you had to go east first.

So, we get to Newark, load up the plane and we wait. And then we wait. And then we wait some more. They decided to start the movie and we hadn’t even left yet. Then they decided to take us to what they call the Ballpark. Apparently some part wasn’t working right. Then we sit some more. And then they take us back to the gate. And then we wait a little longer. They decide to let us off. We wait. Then they gave us a meal voucher--$6.00. Whoop-de-friggin-do. A sandwich costs over $7.00 at the airport. And we waited. And then they wouldn’t decide if they were going to fix the plane or whether they were going to send it with lighter weight which would mean we would have to stop along the way. Then, they decided that they were going to use a plane that was coming from Florida. So we had to wait for it to get there, for the people to disembark, for it to be cleaned and refueled. But, for our trouble, they were going to provide meal service and give us a special package to reimburse us for the inconvenience. This gave us one free drink and 10% off our next flight. Brutal. When the meal service came, it was a turkey sandwich the size of a timbit, a tiny bag of pretzels, some M&Ms left over from Halloween and a fruit roll up like thing. Finally, 6 hours late, we arrived in Las Vegas.

Off to get our rental car. I didn’t know I was supposed to get cruise control when I ordered a car. But, when we went to get the car, there was one there with cruise so we took it. Joel was happy. It's really easy to pick up and drop off a rental car in Las Vegas at the airport. They do make it pretty easy!

To the Luxor!!! We parked (parking is free) and went to find the front desk. That took some doing as we traipsed all over the casino with our luggage. Finally we found the front desk and checked into our room. We are on the 4th floor. Finding the elevators around here is next to impossible. I think the person who designed the hotel also designed the tombs embedded in the real pyramid of Cheops. We have to go behind the front desk and then around a couple more corners and finally, they are there. But, the room has 2 beds, a shower, a TV and it’s quiet. You can see over the whole of the casino from just outside the door. Did you know that you can smoke in the casinos? It completely didn’t occur to me that they would let people smoke. So, by the time we got to our room, it was 7:15 Las Vegas time—or 10:15 our time. The pool closes at 8:00 so I had time to run down and jump in. It had to be about 90 degrees. But it was wet and that was nice after the day we had had.

Since timbit sized turkey sandwiches don’t take you too far, we went off on a quest for food. We didn’t find anything interesting in our hotel but we are attached to Mandalay Bay and they had a burger place in there. It was good but perhaps I shouldn’t eat a burger, sweet potato fries (which were really, really good by the way) and beer at 10:00 p.m. when my bedtime is 11:00 at night.

I was glad to get back to the room and go to bed.

My intention was to put this up on Monday when we got there, but the internet in our room doesn’t work. Alas.

No wireless. Imagine that. Now, since the building has so much concrete, I’m not surprised. But the cord that is supposed to be there, isn’t. Argh. We could get wireless all over Newfoundland but nothing here. Hmmm. Upon further reflection, it may be that they want you to pay more money for more stuff.