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APRIL Spring is arriving?
Saturday 4/25/08So, it's been a fairly quiet week this week, just consolidating everything that needs to be done and trying to get into a routine at home. We've both been fairly busy at work and it's only a few  weeks 'til my Mum and Dad arrive to stay. Tomorrow we're getting rid of the last of the kids clothes that have been stored in our closet since my old eBay selling days. We'll also get rid of some old furniture and then drop off old PCs to the local recycling shop. That should make a little more space for us. That will only leave the storage unit to empty and we need to inventory that so that we can advertise it on Craigslist. Then I can top that off with selling my old desktop PC and we should be good to go for the summer. Marriage has led to the spring cleaning, So that's a good thing. Next I need to book the air tickets for my two youngest kids Teddy and Sophie to come out here in the summer. They'll be here before I know it. I think it's going to be September before Debs and I get another break on our own. Still we have such great memories of Vegas to take us trough 'til then. Another week and it's May. Where is this year going? May is a busy month for birthdays. First it's my Mum's, and then it'll be Mother's Day. After that my Dad has his birthday, closely followed by Debs and lastly my eldest daughter Becki. I guess we'd better stock up on cards for the month. I got to speak to my eldest son John last weekend. He's working in the Scottish Parliament as an assistant to one of the Scottish Politicians there. John tells me he just bought himself a new PC and has been busy setting it all up at home. I know he's excited that he finally gets to earn his own money and decide what to spend it on! Apart from that there's not much to tell. I'll catch you next weekend.
Good to go... Saturday 4/18/08 Well it's been two weeks now since we got married and we're back in the day to day routine of life. We tried to rest the first week back and catch up on missing sleep but it's been difficult with all the things we had to do. Debs was really busy changing her name details everywhere she could. That task alone took several days. But now she's very happy to have a driving license that reads Debra Cox :-) We've been trying to plan out our wedding celebration dinner for late June and during this exercise we remembered why we decided to get married in Vegas without anyone else in attendance! Still, we think we've settled on a date now and it's up to the invitees to come if they can. There'll be more about that event nearer the time.  I also decided it would be cool to be able to perform marriage ceremonies for other people in future if necessary and so I investigated the requirements. Well, I am pleased to say I am now an Ordained Minister in the Universal Life Church and am licenced to perform weddings, baptisms, affirmations of love and other ceremonies. Cool. I hope I get the chance to marry someone in the future. Debs and I currently have her eldest sister Denise staying with us for a few days and so we still have plenty of things to keep us busy. Maybe life will slow down in the next few weeks. What Happens in Vegas...
Saturday 3/29/08
An early start to the day saw us leaving Redmond at 6am and heading out on our trip to Vegas. We packed the car full with clothes, food and goodness knows what else, and for some reason there seemed to be an awful lot of bags for only 10 days. After about 45 minutes we stopped for our customary McDonald’s breakfast; sausage and egg Mcmuffin, hash brown and a drink. Then it was back on the freeway and heading south. Today saw us drive just over 750 miles, all the way to just north of Sacramento, where we had booked a room in a Best Western for the night. The journey was mostly uneventful although the weather was fairly lousy until we got to southern Oregon. The furthest south Debs and I had driven on I-5 before was Portland and so a lot of the scenery was new to us. We didn’t know there were so many passes and mountain ranges to drive through! As the weather hadn’t been too good recently, there was plenty of snow to be seen on the sides of the road and even some sleet to contend with as we drove. Eventually we reached California where the weather cleared up a little and we even saw some blue sky.
About 12 hours after we left, we pulled into the hotel and unloaded our bags in our room. After a quick freshen up it was time to get some food before the strains of the day caught us up and sent us to sleep. The choice of restaurants was limited; either a Denny’s across the courtyard or a drive into town to find something else. We opted for the Denny’s. After looking at the menu we decided we had made the wrong choice; not a beer on the menu at all! However the manager reassured us as we collected up our belongings that they had some beer in the back and we could drink some with our choice of food. Such a relief! We ordered a couple of beers and some food and started to unwind from the long day and drive. As we ordered our third beer, along with our main course food items the young waiter informed us it would be our last beer. We had been cut off at Denny’s of all places and after only 3 beers! It seems there’s no room for guests that need more than 3 beers, even if they’re only walking 20 yards back to their hotel room after eating! Needless to say, we paid our check, left the required tip, headed over to the garage (another 20 yard walk), bought another couple of beers and turned in for the night. It has certainly been a long day and hopefully tomorrow will be shorter as we complete the final leg of our 1300 mile trip to Las Vegas.
Sunday 3/30/08
Well today was a different kind of day than yesterday. It started at about 7:30pm when we woke up and realized we needed to be on the road again as soon as possible. We were late waking up but it wasn’t surprising as we had both slept pretty badly during the night. Denny’s had their revenge on us! The nachos we had gave us both heartburn and I slept very badly. Debbie slept in between my snoring and so all in all we both only slept about 5 hours each during the night. Still, we managed to get moving by just before 8:30am and we still had about 600 miles to cover. We were soon upon Sacramento and making a turn from I-5 and heading on 99, towards Los Angeles. The countryside slowly changed into the California you see on TV, full of vineyards and fruit trees. We even passed the hotel come pub made famous in the movie Sideways. After several more hours we left 99 and headed west towards Vegas, traveling through the Californian desert. Before long the road narrowed down and became a two-lane highway. Going east and north towards Vegas was fine, but coming the other way the traffic was terrible. All the way to Vegas the traffic was really bad coming in the opposite direction even after it became a real highway again. We decided we wouldn’t be traveling back that way next week! There were many miles of lines and probably at least 2 to 3 hours of delays. It would certainly take us days to get home! Eventually, by about 5:30pm we reached our timeshare complex named ‘Tahiti’, just about 2 miles off the ‘strip’ in Vegas. We checked in, unpacked and decided to go for dinner somewhere close by. After walking around for a few minutes we spotted a small bar – O’Aces - (that stays open 24/7!) and decided to try it out. It was fine and we had a couple of beers each and some food. What’s more they didn’t even cut us off after two beers like the day before! Life is good. And so, it’s currently about 8:15pm and we’re worn out and ready to sleep. We’ve poured ourselves a gin and tonic each and we’re about ready to curl up for the night. We’ve safely arrived in Vegas and the vacation is all set to begin. Let’s see what tomorrow brings us.
Monday 3/31/08
 A sunny day dawned in Las Vegas as we started the first day of our vacation proper. We got up about 7am as the morning shuttle run to the grocery store left at 8am and we wanted to get a few pieces for the store cupboard. We were back at the holiday village by 9am and went to see the concierge to find out about all the activities that were available for the week. It seems like we’re going to have a busy time! We have already booked up for two shows and have tickets for a third. We also have vouchers for a meal, some free slot time and other goodies. Oh, and we’re going on a trip to Red Canyon too. It looks like the week will end up passing by far too quickly. We decided to have a quiet day in today, recovering from our long drive. We spent a few hours by the pool (Debbie went in, but I kept myself away from the sun), and did a little reading. Debbie also made some jewelry earlier in the day. The weather has been great. It has only been about 75 degrees, but compared to the 50 degrees of Seattle recently, that’s a great difference. And the rest of the week is supposed to be similar.
So, it’s time to make some dinner and it’s the ever faithful Spaghetti Bolognese tonight, although not quite made to my normal recipe and in the normal cookware. Still, I’m sure it’ll turn out fine. Then after a few more gin and tonics I’m sure it’ll be time for an early night to catch up on the sleep we’ve missed so far.
Tuesday 4/01/08
Wow, it’s already Tuesday and the week is going by so quickly. I spent the morning working on updates for Debbie’s spreadsheet application I am creating for her business. It’s getting to be pretty slick now and Debbie really likes it. Debbie spent the morning making a few necklaces and bracelets ready for upcoming shows later in the year.
At 1:30pm we had to be in the lobby of the complex to get a bus over to the sister resort of where we are staying. We had agreed to be sold to for a couple of hours in return for some free show tickets which we shall use later in the week. We arrived at Tahiti Village, just south of the Las Vegas strip and waited for our guide to arrive. For the next two hours we sat through various discussions about the advantages of timeshares and had a tour of the property. Actually it was a really nice trip and it was a shame we didn’t have the money at present to buy one of the units. Maybe another year. We really like coming to Vegas and so it makes sense to have a timeshare here eventually. Still, we got to get our free show tickets and then it was back to the resort complex.
When we got back to Tahiti we decided it was time for a beer. We had been very good to date, spending almost all our time in the apartment and working on various things. We had time for a few beers before our evening trip and so we chilled out and had some Fosters beer in the local tavern. We were back in our apartment by about 6pm and had plenty of time to get ready for our trip to Fremont St that was planned for 8pm. I cooked one more spaghetti bolognese and put it in the fridge to be eaten another day.
At about 8pm we caught the bus to downtown Las Vegas and hunted out a few of the local, older casinos. We spent the next 2.5 hours or so feeding nickels into slot machines and drinking complementary gin and tonics. Vacation life is so difficult sometimes! Then a few dollars lighter and happy faces later we climbed back on board the bus and came back to the resort, via the fountains at the Bellagio. It had been a good day. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Wednesday 4/2/08
I’m finally exhausted. It’s been a long day today. We had some planning to do earlier today (more about that another day) and then it was off to ‘the strip’ for the first time this week. The resort bus dropped us off at NYNY and then we took a long walk to a casino called ‘Terribles’. We’d been given some vouchers for the casino and it seemed a good idea to try a new one out. We had some fun, we lost some money and we got a few freebie goodies for our troubles. Then it was another long walk back to NYNY to get the shuttle back to the resort. All in all it was a long day, although not very exciting if you weren’t there! You’ll just have to imagine the slot machines, the free beers and all the rest of the fun.
So, it’s a short day’s report today. We have a show planned tomorrow and we’re looking forward to catching up on some rest tonight. Later…
Thursday 4/3/08
Well, I’m a couple of days behind in my writing now and so I’d better do a quick recap of the previous few days. Thursday saw us taking the bus to Treasure Island on the strip and then walking for a while to get to The Riviera. Once there we exchanged our ticket vouchers for real show tickets and headed off to spend a few nickels in the Nickel Emporium. Unfortunately sometime in the last couple of years it had been knocked down :-( It seems that as is required, the face of the Strip changes annually, not always to the good as all the little places take their place in history. Still, we crossed the street and headed for ‘Slots of Fun’, a down-market place next door to Circus Circus. We had some fun there, drank a few beers and watched the 7s and Bars go round and round. Soon it was time to head back to the Riviera and line up to go see our free show Ice. It was a pretty good show, full of Russian ice-skaters and gymnasts who had learnt to skate too. The show lasted about 90 minutes and was good family entertainment. I wouldn’t say it was the best show I’d seen on the Strip but it was certainly not a bad one. After the show Debbie got hooked on a little slot machine that had an Irish theme. She kept pressing the buttons, watching the reels go around and listened to the Irish ‘jig’ music that blared out continually. Needless to say, she actually did pretty good on the thing and ended up changing her $20 into $50 (hey, you can tell what big rollers we are in the gambling department). Then at about 12:30am we headed off to get a taxi back to the resort. It had been a fun day.
Friday 4/4/08
We got up nice and early today (even though it was a little bit of a struggle after the day before) and headed down to the lobby for 8:30am. The bus came and picked us up and we headed off for a  morning tour to Red Rock Canyon, a little place just north of Las Vegas. It took about 30 minutes to get there and then we spent the next few hours touring round and generally looking at ancient rocks, Indian hand prints, other geological wonders and generally very nice scenery. We had a really great time although Debbie was a little cold as the elevation meant there were a few degrees of temperature difference between there and the city. We got back to the resort at about midday, laden down with a few keepsakes and went back to our room to regroup. Then we couldn’t decide what we would do for the rest of the day. We had tickets for another show at the Riviera in the evening but quite honestly didn’t really fancy the long ride back up there and the taxi trip home again. In the end we decided to get the bus to the Orleans casino which is quite near by and then walk across the street to an Irish pub we had noticed on previous trips. It was pretty authentic (in an American way) and reminded us of Fado’s in Seattle. The food was excellent and we both had some nice lunch. After a small rest and a couple of beers we walked back over to the Orleans to have a look around. Needless to say  we ended up spending the next 3 or 4 hours there! Debbie found another of the Irish slot machines she so loved, although today the machine was not being so generous. I did manage to double my $20 into $40 though so I was a happy gambler for the day. We were back in our apartment by about 7:30pm and we had a quiet evening ready for our big day tomorrow.
Saturday 4/5/08
What a day! We got up pretty early and we were out of the resort by 9am for our pre-arranged appointment. We were back by 10:30am though and we managed to get the 11am bus down to the Strip. We stopped at the ‘9 Fine Irishmen’ for lunch (in NYNY) and had our favorites, battered sausages followed by bread and butter pudding. It was turning out to be a great day. After lunch we wandered over to the Bellagio via M&M World, a few gift shops and the Hawaiian market. We bought a few souvenirs we had wanted and felt good that everything was going so well. We even got chatting to the barman in the Bellagio who was from England and had a laugh with him. After that we wandered back down to NYNY and sat in the Chinese restaurant for a while and had some beer and sake. Finally at about 6:30pm we decided it was time to leave and we caught the bus back to our resort. Once we were back we wandered over to the cigar shop, bought a cigar and then went to O’Aces, the bar we had visited on our very first day. We only managed a couple of beers and some snacks  before we decided we were tired and it was time to go home. Inside our apartment we opened up the balcony, lit our cigar and smoked it. The first cigar I have ever had (I don’t know why but it just was). Then it was time for bed. Tomorrow we have to be out by 7am to start the long journey back to Redmond again.
Oh, and I forgot one little thing. That appointment we had this morning was at the Little White Chapel. What for? Well, of course it was for us! Debbie and I finally got married. It’s taken a little over 3 years but we finally did it today. The Little White Chapel in Vegas is really famous. Even Ross and Rachel (from 'Friends') got married there (and Elvis). So now Debbie and I are husband and wife. We had no one from our families there, or any friends. But that way no one can complain they were left out. With my family in England and Debbie’s family on the East Coast, and friends scattered all over the world, it was just too difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time. We’ll just have to have a lot of parties during the next few months!
So, anyway, that was our trip to Vegas. I have just one more thing to say… ‘Whatever happens in Vegas…” Well, that’s a load of baloney. I’m taking my Vegas souvenir home with me!! |
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