Las Vegas, Baby?

Last week I went to Las Vegas. Yeah, you read that correctly, I went to Vegas.

I went with my friend Angelia who is the creator of fantastic fairy wings and related ephemera (check out her Etsy store: On Gossamer Wings). She had been invited to teach fairy wing construction to dance costume designers (Tutu Seminars). I was invited to go along as the muscle (because every good fairy needs to have some muscle and protection behind her).

Angelia's seminar went from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM on Thursday and Friday nights, so that put a bit of a hitch in doing anything exciting in the evenings (and yeah, I know technically that is still early, but we are old...and cheap, err frugal). The sessions were great and Angelia had the opportunity to meet some of her fans...and she does have fans. I have to say that the women and men that were participating in this seminar are amazing. They all schlepped sewing machines and sergers to this place and learned to make all sorts of different bodices and tutus and dance wear for the schools and professional dance troupes and theaters. The work that they were doing blew me away and they so enjoyed what they were doing. After the classes, they would continue to gather together and discuss the hows and whys of doing certain things in the construction of their costumes and they were all more than willing to open and share what they knew.

Now, Angelia and I we were not there for learning all the ins and outs of working with tulle...I was there solely as an observer. We also didn't stay anywhere near the strip, which is always the first question that people ask when I say I went to Vegas. In fact, the strip was about a 30 minute cab ride over there, and we just weren't that interested in checking it out....we could see it from our room, and that was good enough. We were on the 19th floor of a 20 floor building, so we declared ourselves to be staying in the penthouse basement or penthouse adjacent. The room fit our needs. It was clean, had two beds, and good AC, so really, what more could you ask for?

The casino, however, well, it really wasn't what you imagine, or rather not what I imagine....

What you expect in Vegas....bright lights and beautiful happy people

This would have at least been interesting to see:

This is what we actually saw in our casino (not an actual picture because I just couldn't bring myself to take pictures in there....)

Rows and rows of slot machines manned by the elderly or the depressing

Mind you, the casino was right across the street from a retirement community, so I really think they just bus people over from there every afternoon. The highlight of the casino, though was checking out all of the names on the slot machines. My personal favorite was:

Willy Wonka machine with the motion seat

Now this casino didn't have just slots and a handful of tables for cards, craps, or roulette....they also had a giant smoke-filled bingo parlor (although there was a little glassed in room for the non smokers to sit in), a bowling alley, and a movie theater (not that any movies were showing at times that were convenient for us).

Just to give you one last feel for this place.... As I stated, our class was finished at 8:00 PM, which meant we would get out of there around 9:00, after all the clean up and final questions. We would try to go to dinner after that, however, the restaurants would all stop serving around that time. The buffet was closed, the surf and turf restaurant was out of our price range...and closed. The bottomless taco and enchilada restaurant stopped serving. The sushi bar...you guessed it, stopped serving. The only place left to eat was TGIFridays. Yep, I went all the way to Vegas and we ate at Fridays...both nights. Not that I really minded because they currently have a Tennessee Whiskey Cake that is really scrumptious and Angelia and I split one....twice.

Will I go back to Vegas? I'm sure I will.....it didn't kill me this time and who knows, maybe third time will be the charm where I meet somebody and get married there...

Drive "Home" Day Three

This morning I awoke and headed back into Yosemite Park and headed over the Tioga Pass... It was beautiful. I've decided that I like the High Sierra Mountains better than the the valley floor and Lower Sierra. For some reason it struck me as more stark and prettier. I stopped to put my feet in Tenaya Lake. There was a couple there pulling food out of their car in preparation for a picnic. I, of course, had to make a comment to the extent of "Thanks, but y'all didn't have to make breakfast for me...." They got a chuckle; I got cold toes as the lake was really cold, but lovely!!

I then got through the mountains and headed into Nevada.

I went to and down the Extraterrestrial Highway, and my Tom Tom even knew to call it "99 miles down the Extraterrestrial Highway" is what Daniel the computer voice told me what to do. Sadly, I saw no Extraterrestrials... I did see a couple of coyotes and a lot of free range cattle. The whole time I was traveling the highway, I was completely out of cell phone range, so I missed my Dad's call(s) when he landed at the airport in Vegas.

A couple of hours later, I came out of cell phone lock down and started my decent into Vegas. I had programed Tom Tom to find the airport and called my dad to let him know that I was about 45 minutes away and I'd be picking him up soon. Well, that's what I thought. It turns out that I had programmed Tom Tom to go to the wrong airport. (Who knew that there were more than one in Vegas.) I should have realized that I was not heading to the correct place as there were no planes in the sky heading in the same direction that I was heading and the fact that I hadn't seen any signs....Well, I show up at the VTG and that is when it dawns that I'm in the wrong place...I reprogram Tom, call Dad to tell him I'm still on my way, and head out...Only to get caught in a less than nice neighborhood in a construction zone.... An hour later, I show up at the correct airport and Dad jumps in the car and we head off to the Holiday Inn Express (how many of y'all come to Vegas and stay at the HIE?).

We check in and then walk over to a casino which is just on the other side of the parking lot and grad some dinner....no there was no gambling, neither Dad nor I are big on that.

The thing that I noticed was the big difference in the sensory overload that I got at this small casino in comparison to the past couple of nights when I was in Yosemite and enjoying the sounds of silence and the stars within touching distance.

Tomorrow we get up and head out to Albuquerque.