Word of the Day

Menoclaus - The change of life for Santa's wife.

Catch up time. I got back from Vegas yesterday. While in Vegas, I made a concerted effort to stay away from the computer...thus...no blog. Anyway, time to catch you up on stuff.

On Friday, HTP drove me over to my friend's house and dropped me off with all my luggage. My friend and I took off for Vegas at 9 AM. Traffic wasn't bad until... Yup. You guessed it. We arrived at mile marker 4, four miles from The Dam, when traffic came to a dead stop. HTP had promised that this wouldn't happen. HTP couldn't predict accidents. My friend and I wouldn't know about the accident for a full two hours. That's how long we ended up waiting in a parked car four miles from The Dam. When we finally were able to shift into drive again and actually reach The Dam, someone ran up to the car and told us about the accident. A gravel truck lost a wheel and dumped its load of gravel all over the road. Traffic was stopped from both directions until the mess was cleared and the truck was towed away.

My friend and I stopped at my folks place. Pit stop. We both raced in and took advantage of my folks' bathrooms. Neither of us planned on such a long Dam wait. Besides, I needed to bring my Mom a set of double-pointed knitting needles that she wanted to borrow.

After settling into our rooms at Sam's Town, my friend and I decided to take in the Friday Seafood Buffet. Yummy. I filled my plate with more than two dozen raw oysters. And then after consuming these, I filled my plate with snow crab. I finished with rocky road ice cream.

After supper, my friend and I tried our luck. She played Frog Prince. I played video poker. I didn't win but I didn't lose too badly. She won. And then she headed on to bed while I continued on. And I played, and I played. I gave up when I finally broke even at 2:30 AM.

And so...I got up at 6 AM. Let's see...that's a total of 3 1/2 hours of sleep. My friend and I went down to have breakfast at the buffet. Champagne brunch. I had a mimosa. Coffee. Smoked salmon and bagels. More coffee. After breakfast we returned to the room to fire up the computer so we could check on our Denver friend's flight. Interesting. No mention of the flight. We called the airline. Our friend's flight was delayed. We returned to the casino to try our luck. I decided to play Frog Prince with my friend. Then I coached her on nickel video poker. She did pretty good. I won. Go me!

Then I got a call from Devil Dog Daughter. Her replacement for guard duty hadn't shown up as yet and she figured that she would be able to join us until later in the afternoon. We were still waiting for our Denver friend. With all the delays, our Denver friend didn't show up until around 2 PM at which point we took her for a quick bite to eat before we drove over to get tickets for a show at the Riviera for that night.

Devil Dog Daughter arrived at the casino at around the same time that we returned to the casino. Hugs all around. We grabbed her and headed for a quick meal before the show. A sluggish wait staff caused us to lose our chance at front row seats at the show. GRRRR. Oh well...we got a fair view of La Cage at the Riviera. While we were at the Riviera, we tried our luck at The Wheel of Fortune slots. I won $500. Woohoo! Go me!

We returned to Sam's Town after the show. Devil Dog Daughter and my Vegas Gal friends headed straight to bed. I decided to play a bit more...feeling lucky. I won. Woohoo! Go me! Nothing huge. Minor wins but these things add up and keep you going. Anyway, I got back up to the room at 1:30 AM.

We got up at 7:40 AM. A bit more than six hours of sleep. Not bad. After a champagne brunch, we drove out to The Valley of Fire. As we drove along, we encountered a drizzle of rain but nothing that was bad enough to send us back to the casino. We were determined to go hiking and see petroglyphs. Pretty soon the drizzle of rain became snowflurries. Good thing I brought my USMC hoodie that Devil Dog Daughter gave me for my birthday. It was COLD!

We hiked. Not too far but we hiked. The Valley of Fire is worth seeing. Indian graffiti. Petroglyphs. More than you can really take in or see. It was great!

After our hike, we returned to Vegas and headed for Mandalay Bay with the intention of seeing The Shark Reef. Unfortunately, the line to purchase tickets was REALLY long. Change of plans. Instead of going to see Shark Reef, we decided that we'd go see The Bellagio since Devil Dog Daughter had never seen it. We also decided to have supper at Paris' Buffet. Wonderful. Really wonderful food.

So by this time our feet were really tired, legs too. We decided that all our hiking earned us a break and a taxi ride back to the Mandalay Bay where the car was parked. $10 for a cab ride was well worth the cost.

At this point we discovered that the line to see Shark Reef had cleared so we decided to hike through the aquarium. It was worth the $16 ticket price and the added wear and tear on worn feet and legs.

Upon returning to Sam's Town, we all hugged and said goodbye to Denver friend who had an early flight. She had to leave at 3 AM for the airport?! Devil Dog Daughter and I decided to indulge in a nightcap at the Ram's Head bar in the park before trying our luck at the machines. I coached her on Double Bonus Video Poker. And then, Devil Dog Daughter won. I didn't. Go Devil Dog Daughter! And then it was back to our room, packing, and bed.

The next morning we all had breakfast at the buffet. Adequate but nothing special. No champagne during the week. Check-out. And then a non-noteworthy return to Arizona for my friend and me and back to base for Devil Dog Daughter.

Unpacking. Chinese takeout for supper. Bed. And so ends my Vegas Gal Adventure.

Laundry Day today. And now...you're all caught up with all the events of the last few blogless days. Time for supper. Left-over Chinese takeout.

Murphyism of the Day

Barber's Rule

Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.