What Happens In Vegas...Let Me Tell You...

Claude and I wanted to go somewhere to celebrate those 49 years of marriage. We sat down and looked at the calendar, thought about possibilities, and determined a quick trip to Las Vegas to see some shows would be a fun things to do. Off I went to my laptop to check on possibilities. A hotel was secured, airline tickets were purchased and a rental car was reserved. I prepared things to entertain Papa while I was gone and gave those to him on my Valentine's Day visit.

Valentine's Day Claude and I dined at Dairy Queen with dessert being their Valentine's Day special, a strawberry and Ghirardelli chocolate chunks Blizzard. Then we hurried home to pack for our trip. 

Friday morning the alarm went off at 3:30am. Yuck!! Our flight was to depart the Cincinnati Airport at 7:05am. All went off as planned and we flew away to Las Vegas. We had seats on the exit row. This gave us and empty place where a seat would have been next to the window. It also gave us a little more leg room. Claude took the aisle seat and I took what would have been the middle seat. We realized we should have taken different seats when we were both playing games on our Kindles. Claude is left handed. I am right handed. Our elbows were really bumping. So silly.

This was our view from the plane window as we prepared to land at McCarran Airport.

And before we knew it, we were on the ground in McCarran Airport where our luggage was found. This is always a huge sigh of relief when traveling. There are few things more discouraging than traveling while your luggage is trying to catch up to you.

We went to pick up the rental car. We quickly realized it was missing a license plate. Claude went back to talk to the rental company while I inspected the car for damage of any kind. Claude was told we had a little white piece of paper taped to the front window on the passenger side and that served as a temporary license plate. Okay??? Remember this, it will figure later in our adventure. 

Claude drove us to our hotel while I sent a text to Julie and Cordell telling them we had the car and were on our way to the hotel. Claude pulled into the parking lot and was turning the car around to park by the office so I could check us in. As he pulled up close, a huge white truck drove into the parking lot and was coming right at us. Now, Claude had not purchased the insurance for the car as he believes our auto insurance will cover anything that happens. I'm watching this truck keep on coming slowly at us almost as if it were challenging us to get out of its way. I finally threw my hands into the air indicating they should stop. Then it dawned on me...It was Cordell and Julie in their truck. Oh My Goodness!! Cordell was in stitches. We decided Claude and I would check into the hotel and rest a bit since we were really off schedule and a bit tired from our early morning. 

After a brief rest, we connected with Cordell and Julie. Our decision was to drive and find a parking spot off the strip. I really wanted to get a new pair of pajama pants from the M&M Store. We had a few potential restaurants in mind that were also on the strip. We were able to find a parking garage close to a Bubba Gump's Restaurant. Claude parked and we walked to the restaurant and enjoyed a really good meal. Then we walked back up the block to the M&M Store where I did indeed find M&M pajama pants. I asked a nice man to please take a picture of the four of us. If you look draped over my arms you will see my M&M pajama pants. I have worn my first pair absolute thread bare. Very, very happy to find another pair. 

Right back down Las Vegas Boulevard toward the car we walked. The stop we made next was the Coca Cola Store. Julie and Claude both love Diet Coke. Nothing was purchased here but we enjoyed walking through the store.

In the early evening we found our way to the Luxor. These are a couple of pictures inside the Luxor.

We were there to see the Blue Man Group. Claude and I have seen them twice before and totally enjoyed them each time. Julie and Cordell had not seen them before. We had a row of boys around 10-12 years of age. They were hysterical to hear as the program progressed. We enjoyed this show very much. This picture is Cordell and Claude participating in the fun that is this show. I sent this picture to Bonnie, their Mother, and told her it should just make her so proud.

Time for a good night's rest to prepare ourselves for a full Saturday. We did rest well until the sun came up. Our bathroom had a window with that frosted glass. When the sun came up it was like someone turned a bright light on in the bathroom. I stumbled to the door and shut it so we could sleep a bit longer. 

Friday was a good day.

Saturday morning I hopped in the shower...for a bit. I had just washed my face and was about to shampoo my hair when the water went to a trickle and then stopped. What in the world. I called the front desk and they said it would be back on in 5 minutes. It did come back on and I got my shower. Ugh. We went to Julie and Cordell's trailer to plot our day. 

We all decided to drive to the Valley of Fire. Cordell and Julie found a 5 Guys and we stopped there for a burger first. Then on to the Valley of Fire.

We drove north on I-15 and then south through the Moapa Valley to get to the Valley of Fire. There had been a day full of rain the day before we got to Las Vegas. This drive took us over several road covered in sand that washed down the dry beds during the flash flood. There was even one car stuck in that mud over a highway. We made it through and were very grateful. 

Valley of the Fire is just beautiful sand stone. The rain made all the sagebrush and other plants vibrant shades of green against the red rocks. It was stunning. Here are a few pictures. One is blossoms on a cactus and the final picture is petrified wood.

Saturday evening Claude and I went to the Bellagio to see "O" by Cirque du Soleil. We had also seen this before but we really love Cirque performances. We totally enjoyed this one and believe it is different than the first time we saw it. The staging is the same. It is a huge tank of water with platforms that move up and down so sometimes they perform on a dry stage and sometimes they are wading in water and other times they a diving from a high trapeze into the water. 

After the performance we walked through the indoor garden area at the Bellagio. This is the Chinese Year of the Pig. They had decorated with that theme.

Saturday was a good day.

Sunday Julie and Cordell asked if we had ever been to Oatman, Arizona. No, we had not. This is an old mining town that was abandoned. There is still a small group of people that live there. This would be our destination. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there and a 2 1/2 hours drive to return. It would fill the day. 

This time we went in Cordell's truck. We left through Boulder City where we caught a glimpse of Lake Mead. 

Outside of Boulder City there was a view point pull off. Cordell stopped there so I could take pictures of the Colorado River.

It is hard to describe the vastness of the west. These open areas go on for miles and miles with huge mountains around the edges. It is stunningly beautiful. So very different than the landscape in Kentucky. Claude and I just soaked in the beauty of it all.

We drove to Kingman, Arizona first. Here you find a portion of the original Route 66 highway. Cordell and Julie's daughter lived here for a while so they know that area well. We went to Mr. D's diner for lunch. A fun restaurant with menus that look like a vinyl record album. 

This was my lunch. I chose the Andy Devine burger. Andy Devine was an comic actor who died in 1977. He had a very distinctive raspy voice. He was born in Flagstaff, Arizona and he was raised in Kingman, Arizona. Hence the tribute burger. It was delicious. Huge, but delicious. 

There is an old train in a park across the street from Mr. D's. We walked over there to take a few pictures. 

My guy is super strong. He did this when we road the Agawa Railroad in Canada. Very impressive, don't you think? 

Nucor is a steel plant in Kingman. They donated this really cool bench to the city. It is made of train parts. Even has a cattle guard on the back.  

We now continued on Route 66 to Oatman, Arizona. Route 66 is very much a two lane road here. One lane coming and one lane going. It winds and curves over a mountain pass. It is a beautiful drive over that pass. One just needs to take the time and not be in any hurry so this view can be truly enjoyed.

Oatman is known for the wild burros that roam the streets. As we approached Oatman proper, this was our first burro spotting. Cutest little animals. The burros are descendants of those used by the miners way back when. As the mines started shutting down, the miners no longer had a use for the burros, so they just released them. The burros now roam around the Southwest desert areas and are one of the fun attractions at Oatman, Arizona.

All that said, when we entered Oatman and found a parking spot (no small feat), there were no burros to be seen the entire time we were in Oatman. 

Oatman is a colorful town. A few permanent residents. They have turned the old buildings into various businesses. There is the old west flavor to everything and a lot of whimsy in what they do. This is not a metropolis with lots of building codes and rules. It is more like Alaska where people go there to do there own thing and not be regulated so much. It is just plain fun to roam that main street. It was a cold day. But we enjoyed our walk through town and into some of the businesses. Claude and I purchased some coasters for our living room made out of sandstone. 

All the different varieties of cactus were amazing. This type kept catching my eye. It reminded me of a deer whose antlers go velvet when they are ready to shed them and grow new ones. 

Where's Claudo??? 

When one is in an old abandoned mining town, one must go into an old abandoned mine. Right??

Main Street in Oatman, Arizona. 

This is not a real burro on top of this building. We didn't see any burros in the town of Oatman. 

This is just a cool bench Claude thought he should make for our deck. 

What is the value of a $1 bill? They were written on and stapled all over the outside of the hotel and on the inside of the hotel lobby. 

This hotel had the honeymoon suite of Carol Lombard and Clark Gable. Amazing. 

Okay, this just had to be done. An open casket and my hubby. After we looked at this picture for a bit we decided we should have had Claude's feet together and his hands crossed over his chest. Maybe he should have removed his sunglasses. But it is a fun picture nonetheless. I should pair it with the picture of the two of us laying on our grave plots!! 

We were treated to a reenactment of an old west shoot out on Main Street. Donations were requested. They were given to St. Jude's Hospital, a very worthy cause.  

This is the story of Olive Ann Fairchild Oatman. This lady had a very rough life. 

And finally, one picture of me as a cactus.

Oatman was really fun to walk through. On the outside of town we found the burros. With all the rain from a couple of days before, the vegetation was especially delightful to them. So they were out of town enjoying the food of their choice. Cordell stopped the truck and I walked out to where they were to take some pictures. They are wild because they live off the land in the mountains. However, they are tame because they roam the streets and are fed by the visitors to Oatman. These were not afraid of us mere mortals. They would let you pet them and one of the people brought food from town to feed them. 

Two final pictures before we returned to Las Vegas. One is the Route 66 sign. The other is a cairn. This is a stacking of rocks so that they balance. I was seeing these all along the highway. They fascinate me. 

Back to Las Vegas Cordell drove. We had a few minutes to visit and then we were back to our hotel for our last evening in Vegas. 

Sunday was a good day. 

Monday morning we were up and packed. Cordell and Julie had to be out of the RV spot by noon. Claude and I needed to check out of our hotel but our flight was not to leave until 11:25 that evening. The plan was to check out and pick up Cordell and Julie and go to brunch before we parted ways. Claude got in the shower. He was enjoying a nice shower when the water went out on him. Ugh!!! I called the front desk. She said she would have the maintenance guy look into it. Claude got out of the shower and we went ahead and packed up to check out. I went to the front desk at check out and expressed my frustration at two morning without shower water. I requested some reduction in our rate for this inconvenience. She did lower the rate.

I sat down at the lobby computer to check us in for our evening flight and print boarding passes. I found our flight and suddenly the computer had warning signs springing up all over the screen indicating there was a virus. Goodness. I did notice that I had booked us for the flight on Monday, March 18th not February 18th. Oh My!! I closed the computer and I proceeded to go to the car, explain the situation to Claude, then to find a number to call Delta to change our flight. I ended up leaving my number for them to call me back in about 30 minutes.

We had a nice breakfast at the Omelet House not far from our respective hotels. The food was delicious. Delta called and throughout breakfast I was making the change. After talking to two people, I was told I had two options. Pay $210 per person to change the reservation or use 40,000 miles and $20 to change the reservation. We chose to use the miles and made the change. We would be on the same plane just different seats but seated together. Whew!! 

After saying our good-byes, I gave Claude some possibilities for filling our last free day. We chose to go to Spring Preserve in Las Vegas. This is the spring in the desert around which Las Vegas grew. They have built several museums there as well as a botanical garden filled with local vegetation. The buildings fit right with the landscape. 

While driving there, a nice Las Vegas Police Department car drove behind us and put on his flashing lights. What now? We pulled into the shopping center and found a spot. Claude rolled down his window and the officer approached. He noticed we had no license plate. Claude told him about that nice piece of white paper taped to my side of the front window. I removed it and handed it to him. He smiled and said they really weren't supposed to do that. We assured him two other cars pulled out the same day we did from the car rental with no license a white piece of paper taped inside their front windows. The nice policeman told us it was okay and to enjoy our day. Whew!!

The parking lot at Spring Preserve has a covering over it and on top of that covering are rows of solar panels. We enjoyed the Origen Museum first. You walk through rocks depicting canyons to get to it. 

There were several exhibits in the Origen Museum we walked through. One exhibit showed how the desert flash floods after a rain. We experienced the results of that flooding as we tried to drive on roads covered with slippery sand that flowed over the roads when the rain waters filled the ditches and flooded over the roads. This is a real danger and threat to the people living in the desert. The second picture was a display of people purchasing land. 

We made sure we were back at the theater in the Origen Museum for the Extreme Parrot show. Clint Carvalho owns 250 parrots. He trains them and clearly loves them very much. He puts on two shows each evening in one of the huge hotel/casinos on the Las Vegas strip. He decided he wanted to bring his show to children as well as adults. So, he volunteers and brings his parrots to the Origen Museum and does shows for the public. One of his parrots, Kitten, has performed for the Queen of England. The parrots talked to us and did some tricks. They talk with lots of emotion. Clint explained that a parrot learns what it likes. He gives them all kinds of training and they pick up the pieces that appeal to them. Then he uses the bird that does the things he wants to display in his show for that piece of the show. He had audience participation. His final thing was to bring in the bird that performed for the Queen of England. He showed a video clip of this bird in a cage on top of a very tall building. Clint was across the street in another building on a stage. He talked to the parrot on the tall building across the street via telephone and told the parrot to come to him. The lady holding the parrot cage opened the door and this parrot took off. The parrot flew down the side of the tall building, over the top of a lower building, across the street, through the open doors of the theater where Clint was, through the lobby of the theater and then down the aisle of the theater and landed on Clint's arm where he stood on the stage in the theater. It was amazing. As he ended the video, someone let the parrot loose in the back of the Origen theater and it flew to the stage and landed on Clint's arm. It was amazing. Clint then took two hula hoops and placed them at different places in the theater seating. The parrot flew from Clint through each of the two hula hoops and then back to Clint. Audience loved it.

Another exhibit in this museum was created by National Geographic and featured several of their explorers in several different habitat regions from the Antarctic to the ocean floor to slogging through the jungle. Lots of hands on things to touch and video clips to view. Equipment needed to explore these regions was on display. Very fascinating. This picture was taken for Nissa, our oldest, who loves bears very much. 

Claude and I then roamed the grounds and through the botanical garden. It featured a tiny home made to run on solar power and be self-sustaining. The grounds were beautiful. 

After the Spring Preserve, we found a Carl's and had a soda. We really didn't have or desire to do anything more in the touristy department. After sitting for a bit, we decided we would just head on to the airport. We could sit there and have chargers for our devices and things to eat if we were hungry as well as we could sit in Carl's.

It took us three gas stations to get the car filled up. There were three at the intersection near the airport. The first one had no pumps available. I noticed the price was lower across the street anyway and that was the side of the street we needed to be on to get back to the car rental place. Claude made his way across the street and the pumps that were available were that way because they were broken. So, he went to station number three and it was just right. Goodness. 

Once the car was returned we found our way into the airport. We needed to check in as I couldn't do that at the hotel in the morning. We only had one suitcase to check in and needed to pay the $30 for it. The kiosk would not take my credit card. Finally a nice lady from Delta came and explained that these kiosk, while showing they could take a credit card, really couldn't take a credit card. Goodness. She set the kiosk to accept our check-in and sent us to the ticket counter to check our bag and pay for our bag there. 

We found our gate and a nice charging station along a wall and out of traffic. We set up camp at one end of this wall and remained until just before time for our flight. Claude brought us pizza and a bottle of water each. We each paused to stroll the area several times and the hours past until time to board our plane. 

The flight went well and we cheerfully found our luggage after landing. The shuttle bus was right there to take us to our car. We were dropped off right at our car. There had been lots of cold air and some snow while we were gone. We waited for the car to warm and the windows to defrost and then we were off to Sadieville.

We arrived home about 7am and went straight to bed. I slept until noon. Then Claude woke me up and we unpacked. I went to visit Papa.  He enjoyed all the pictures from our trip that I had on my phone. We were back to our normal routine after a great mini-vacation to Las Vegas. And, there you have 'what happens in Vegas'!