I'm fairly confident in saying, however, that I won't visit Vegas again. Parts of it were fun but parts of it ABOUT KILLED ME! Mainly the heat, the crowds, the prices, and my body parts that were fighting me every step of the way. I knew when I made my reservations that it was going to be a challenge getting around because of my ongoing foot ailment, my sciatica, and my sore hips, knees, and back that act up whenever I try to convince them to kick it up a notch.
Jenni and I discussed ahead of time that she'd understand if I had to sit down and rest or go back to the room or not participate in everything she wanted to do. Thank God she's the type who is perfectly fine with exploring on her own and finding her own adventures. She's just like Mary in the way she talks easily to strangers. Everywhere we went, she was chatting people up and laughing with them. I used to be that way a little bit. Perhaps because I drank more then.
I knew right off the bat that we were going to have a good time. We drove to Mary's on Friday night so she could take us to the airport the following morning. Jenni didn't get off work as early as she'd hoped so it was close to 8 pm before we got underway. As we're cruising down the highway she says: "I want you to remember to tie a hankie to the doorknob if you pick up somebody and decide to do the nasty." We laughed for miles over that one. hee hee
As we sat at Sea-Tac waiting for our plane, the lady next to me pulled out her cell phone to call her husband. Since I wasn't doing anything except people-watching, I decided to listen. I probably wouldn't have paid any attention but we were right next to each other and if people are going to talk that freely on cells, they have to expect other people to hear what they're saying. My ears perked right up when she mentioned Port Townsend.
Apparently, she'd gone sightseeing with friends and she proceeded to tell her husband all about it. She described the place as similar to tourist towns in California. Sailboats on the water, people sitting on the sidewalk to eat, shops catering to tourists, etc. I chuckled quietly as she lambasted the town for not having restrooms for people to use. She couldn't get over the fact that they definitely favored tourists but unless you ate at a specific restaurant, you couldn't find a place to pee!
Her friends thought the food prices were high but she didn't. She said you'd pay that just about everywhere you went. She also talked about some woman she met who told her about glass beach and how you could find sea glass all over the shore. She said: "But you'd have to walk 90 minutes one way just to get there! I'm too old to spend that much time walking." I identified with that remark.
Southwest Airlines doesn't assign seats. You're put in category A-B-C depending on when you show up to check in. The A people get to board first and so on down the line. We were in the C's both coming and going and while we were lucky enough to find seats together in the back on the way to Vegas, we didn't have the same luck coming home and we had to sit apart.
On the way down, our seat partner was a guy from Nashville. Graduated in '63 I think he said. Anyhow, we talked country music a bit. His kids went to school with Johnny Cash's kids. He said Nashville has changed completely from the old days. He used to see the stars in the grocery stores but nowadays it's just young people singing bad rock and roll. Ha ha
On the way home, I sat with a couple from Indiana. They were going to Silverdale to attend his navy ship reunion. He was on the USS Joseph Strauss stationed out of Pearl Harbor and they had all kinds of neat activities and tours planned. I told him I'd go to the ships website and see the details.
When we landed in Vegas, it was hot and hotter. We hired a shuttle bus to take us to the Excalibur. Unfortunately, we ended up staying on that dang blasted bus for well over an hour. Some guy took Jenni's suitcase in error. Luckily, her cell phone number was on the tag. He called and the bus driver had to finish delivering all the other riders before going back to retrieve Jenni's bag and take the guy his.
The driver was a rude little thing and never once said Sorry. We were in the middle of rush hour and the traffic lights took forever on every single corner. When we finally got to the hotel, the check-in lines were long. Once we got our room, we discovered the elevators for our floor were a long hike from our room. And the ice and pop machines were even further away.
I always take a picture from my room and the Luxor is what we looked out on this time. I think that's my favorite building down there although I love New York too.
For some reason, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this trip. I guess I was too busy doing other things. Here are some views I did shoot, though.
This Statue of Liberty is filled with thousands of jelly beans.
Well, I've still got a ton of stuff to yak about but I'll save it for tomorrow and the next day. All my life I've been fascinated with bums. I'm not sure why but I know I've found their existence interesting even when I was a kid. Las Vegas has some good ones too. One guy (kind of a young man really) had a sign that read: PLEASE HELP! Apes have stolen my girl friend and I need money for bananas!
This guy just sat there dozing. You'd think they'd try to find a cooler spot. This was on a very busy walkway connecting Excalibur and New York New York, right over the highway. Poor guy.
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