Me Mum (she who signs all her comments as "Me"), DD Daughter, and Ms. En. - October 5, 2007 (I have not idea who everyone else is because they were unconnected to us other than being fellow diners at Valentino's)

Word of the Day

Dentarded - People who refuse, are afraid of, or simply ignore dental visits to the point of nastola.

Where's Old Grey Froggy? I'm in Vegas. We arrived yesterday morning. The driving was almost perfect. After we got through that initial rain, the rest of the time driving was perfect. Blue skies. Sun. A bit cold up in the mountains of Colorado but...what the heck...at least the snow that did fall, didn't fall on us. No ice scrapers or car washes were necessary after we descended the lower elevations of Utah.

We left on Friday morning. Rain. I locked the house up in the rain. I got out of the car to lock the gate...in the rain. The chain that we use to lock up the gate fell into the leaves on the side of the road and since it was still a bit dark at 7 AM in the morning in Wisconsin and it was raining, I got kind of wet as I groped around in the dark to find it. Old Grey Frog was a bit cranky at the time but as soon as I got back into the car and dried off, using my hooded sweatshirt, and started sipping on that first cup of coffee and nibbling on my cinnamon apple donut, my mood improved.

We met up with my folks in Menomonie and continued on to Omaha. After checking into our motel, we met up with DD Daughter and Ms. En at Valentino's for supper. GI Joe joined us a bit later. He was finalizing arrangements for their new apartment which they planned to start moving into after supper. HTP and I and my folks decided that, although we'd really love to see their new apartment, we had to get up too early in the morning the next day to get in their way. Moving isn't fun...we all know that.

Saturday morning we got up early...no thanks to the people at the front desk of our motel. We never got a wake up call. However, my Dad and I are both genetically predisposed to waking up at least five minutes before an alarm clock/or wake up call can actually cause us to jump or startle. I was awake when the wake up call didn't occur. So was Dad. We discussed the lack of a wake up call over our continental breakfast. The guy at the desk was apologetic but I felt his excuses were rather lame. We were all loaded up and back on the road by 8:30 AM. Destination Dillon/Silverthorne, Colorado.

The weather forecast for that area of Colorado wasn't encouraging. Cold. Snow. We got the cold but were fortunate to miss out on the snow. We had a wonderful supper at The Dam Brewery. HTP hates that place but I love it and so that's where we had supper. Dillon has these wonderful outlet stores which we didn't explore. I would have loved exploring but HTP isn't an exploring kind of guy. Oh well...I didn't really need to buy anything and we already have too much packed into our car as it is.

Our wake up calls came right on schedule for Sunday morning. Of course, I woke up ten minutes before the call came in but I never like to depend upon my genetic "gift"....or take it for granted. Besides, the motel had zooped up the heat in the place and the room was so hot that we ended up sleeping with the windows open all night. The freezing temperatures outdoors barely made a dent in the heating system at the motel. We had the AC running all night along with open windows (exterior temperature when we went to bed was 38°F...and it got colder) and we still ended up sleeping with the covers tossed to the foot of the bed. We hit the road again at 8:30 AM (which was really 9:30 AM Central time....gained an hour of sleep)after another free continental breakfast. Cold but sunny. The only snow that we saw was that which was dusting the ground on either side of the road. Pretty. Destination St. George, Utah.

Upon arriving in St. George, Utah, we were relegated to the second story of our motel for the evening. This was because every motel/hotel in town was booked solid. We were lucky that we made our motel reservations a month ago. World Senior Games? Every senior citizen from across the nation and the pond were in town to compete on everything from horseshoes to softball. Lots of physically fit senior citizens in town. Oh well, we dined on Mexican food that night. It wasn't great but what can you expect in Utah? Oh well...at least our waitress was authentic. She didn't speak any English. That was OK too...I speak Spanish. As soon as she discovered this, I think we got the best service in the place. The food was flavorful but.... I guess HTP and I were overeager to have Mexican food again. Real Mexican food...or Arizona-style Mexican food.

Wake up call at 7 AM. My eyes popped open at 6 AM and I worked on a Sudoku puzzle until the wake up call came in. We shared a continental breakfast with a lot of people who were in town for the senior games. We didn't get a free newspaper because they were all gone by the time we got to the breakfast room. Sold out motel equals no free newspapers. Oh well....we hit the road again at 8:30 AM and got to my folks home in Henderson at around 9:30 AM. How can that be? It takes about 2 hours to drive from St. George, UT to Henderson, NV. Time change. We gained another hour.

After dropping lots of our more security sensitive stuff off at my folks place along with the stuff in my ice chest that didn't completely stay frozen but...it'll be OK. The fish was frozen solid. The rest of the stuff didn't matter so much. It was still frosty and can be re-frozen without any health issues. Anyway, after dropping all this stuff off at my folks place and abandoning them to their unpacking, HTP and I continued on to Sam's Town.

So...here I am at Sam's Town. My luck hasn't been the worst but neither has it been the best. I did get a Royal Flush today but the payout wasn't huge. HTP and I enjoyed a oysters on the half shell last night before a dinner of lobster tail and meat. Prime Rib for me and Porterhouse steak for HTP. The thing is that HTP and I still can't figure out how Billy Bob's can screw up the cooking of their steaks like they do. Maybe it's just us. I can cook a mean steak and Billy Bob's steaks and meats just don't measure up next to mine. On the other hand, I don't even attempt raw oysters on my own. I'd probably poison myself. So...weighing the good with the bad...the oysters keep coming back to Billy Bob's.

So...why am I in the room blogging instead of losing money down in the casino? Despite my royal flush, I decided that I was tired of tossing good money after bad. I'm still down for the trip. Besides, it was starting to feel a bit like work. No fun. So I decided to come back up to the room and wash my hair (note: see first paragraph about rain on Friday as I was locking up the gate). I've been battling fuzzy hair for days. Today, I noted, that fuzzy hair can also start to feel greasy. Yucko. I'm blogging with my hair in a towel, waiting for it to dry enough for me to start drying it further with a hair-dryer. I hope my traveling hot hair curlers still work or it's back to the frizzies.

HTP and I will be here at Sam's Town until Thursday. Home in Arizona by Thursday night. I'm not sure if I'll be blogging again tomorrow or not. Maybe. Maybe I'll win a huge jackpot. I have my doubts. Oh well...there's always Sudoku puzzles. We're eating at Fellini's tonight. Tomorrow night? I don't know. Our food is comped (that means free). Maybe we'll eat at Fellini's again tomorrow...or maybe Billy Bob's for their oysters.

Murphyism of the Day

Carillo's Codicil

Age is a high price to pay for maturity.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

Never take the advice of someone who has not had your kind of trouble.

-- Sidney J. Harris