Sun, Fun and Casinos

Well ok just to set the record straight I didn't do any gambling in Las Vegas but there sure were enough oportunities. I have never been anywhere where they have slot machines in the grocery stores and gas stations before. Really weird. My mom and I were there from last Weds. night till this morning visiting my paternal grandpa and his wife. We also drove across to N. Az to visit my materal grandma and her husband for 2 days. In all it was a great trip, lots of fun family time, lots of sun, I even got a bit of a tan! and even some adventures on "The Strip"!

Of course it wouldn't be a vacation if I didn't have some kind of trouble with a car and this one was no exception. Yesterday, our last day there, we got up early and went down to the Mirage to see the Dolphin and white lion and white tiger exhibit that they have there (was great by the way). We also managed to spend a little while in the "Forum" shopping mall connected to Ceaser's Palace. We watched the talking statue show in the mall and I laid eyes on and actually touched some of the ugliest almost $300 dollar shoes I have ever seen. They even had jelly shoes with a little strip of silver cord woven around the top, a little bow in front and some glued on rhinstones on the toe area for $269. What a deal! LOL They had one store in there that sold some alright looking clothes and I went in thinking I would look around for a few min. Well it was a few min. alright when I saw the prices. They had a basic cream colored peasent blouse for $125, a tee shirt that was nothing special $128, another shirt I looked at was $158 and there was a plain brown knit dress for the same price and then a pair of jeans with holes, etc. in them $145. Needless to say I didn't buy them. Another store had beautiful mens ties in it and all of those were a nice even $100! So anyway after the visit to the mall and the time with the animals we headed out to the van (borrowed from my grandpa) and when I went to unlock the door the key broke in two. So there we were with all the phone numbers, our water, everything but our credit cards, ID, a little cash and our camera's locked in the car. To make a long story short we got a lot of help from the Bell Desk at the Mirage, finally got a hold of Grandpa and he came down and brought us another key about an hr. later! Crazy times. In the mean time though we did get to go into another resort that I had wanted to see for a few min. so that was ok. All is well that ends well!

Monday night we went down and watch the musical fountain show at the Bellagio which was really nice. They do a different song every fifteen min. and we watched 4 songs. And on Friday we went down there and spent a lot of time watching the MGM lions. We saw them three different time and at first there were 3 teenage lions in the exhibit but then when we came back later they had switched those out for 2 cubs. Oh they were so cute! I will post pics soon. We also rode the tram over to the Mandalay Bay resort to check out the Shark exhibit but we didn't have time to pay and go through that one then so we'll save that one for next time. We also learned, after power walking down the strip for at least a mile and half in the middle of the afternoon at 90 something degrees, that when a local says take the bus, take the bus instead of trying to save 2 bucks. The Strip is much longer that it looks because the resorts are so big you think you are much closer than you really are. Yes, we took the bus back to the car!
The best things about the strip: There is so much to see and do, shows, exhibits, animals, etc. without gambling and even better, all the parking is free.
The worst things about the strip: Having to walk through all the casino areas to get to a lot of the stuff that is really worth seeing and all the people standing on the street handing out flyers for all sorts of immoral things.

All of our flights went well, in fact on the way home we were early, so that was a great blessing. I learned how to play Dominos while we were there and that was quite fun. Never quite understood the game before and now I know what I was missing! Might have to get some dominos myself sometime soon.

It was a great trip but there is really no place like home and I am glad to be back where things are green and the temps are milder. That is a seriously brown area and it was supposed to be over a 100 today. We left just in time!

The Smells of Summer

I can't believe it...it's been over a month since I posted anything. How awful of me. It's not like I haven't had things to write or things going on but when I sit down to write they just don't seem that interesting anymore. Life is pretty much work, school, sleeping, homework and time with Nicki and Mom and some naps thrown in for good measure. I don't figure you want to read about my adventures at the nursing home too often and while I am loving my biology class and it's going very well that could get boring too.
So what finally drove me to the key board at this late hour? I will tell you! On the way home from work this evening I suddenly realized that is smelled of Spring and early summer. I was compeled to slow down and drive most of the way home with my window open and some of you know how much out of the ordinary that is for me. So what does Summer smell like you might be wondering? Well for me it smells of fresh mown hay, manure, warm earth and just a faint hint of flowers or BBQ smoke. The temperature was perfect tonight and the smell was fantastic. It brought back so many memories of lazy summer days perched up in my favorite tree in the front yard with a blanket and a book (Little House on the Praire took up one summer I recall), years spent on a tractor working fields and doing hay, summer gardens, weeding, oh the weeding!, playing in the creek, taking long walks with my horse, bike rides to see my friend in town and house spent playing in her pool, bike rides with my parents all around the area, and the list goes on. So I ask you, "What does summer smell like to you?"
I took my first real hike of the season this last weekend up in W. Vancouver and that sort of made it start to feel summery but tonight it truely came home that summer is almost here! The hike was brutal but fun. My legs are still quite sore and the view was nice but not worth the effort expended I must say...oh well it's a good thing hiking is about the adventure not just the end. I enjoyed the time with friends and except for some sore muscles I came out just fine. One of my friends fell on a log and took a pretty nasty spill but no bones were broken so all is well.
Oh and Crystal's stupid stunt of the week: Trying to put my head into the car without actually putting it all the way down. Soundly smacked my nose on the door frame of my mom's car and gave myself a half black (well purple) nose. It's quite tender I must admit! Nothing broken, just looks awful. Thank goodness for Maybelline! LOL

More later but I must get to bed now...ta ta for now...