Ok so... this is part 2 of our trip. There is just so much to talk about and I hate to leave bits and pieces out! We got our car from the service and found it and then made our way out of town. We stopped at Costco for some meds and some drinks from the food station and of course free samples. :) We then plugged my phone into the charger and realized that the outlet was broken on the car! Ekk!! So we ended up calling Roni to get directions and had to do so for a few times since my gps would go out after a short time. While we were driving Daniel started having a lot of questions about things we were seeing. He was just amazed at the difference in land in the desert, mountains. We started writing down all the questions so we could have them hopefully answered later that night. So on we go to CA. Like I said, Daniel was amazed at everything but my head was in my book for a good portion of the trip. I started reading this book while at the pool and it was so good I didn't want to put it down. In the past I have gotten car sick when reading in the car, but I guess I overcame that sometime in the recent past.
After a four hour drive in the car, we made it to CA! We were both tired and in need of a home cooked meal. Luckily we had a home cooked meal waiting for us!!! Roni made chicken and salad. I was so grateful for something healthier than what we had been eating. Everything was great. During the evening we were show around the house by Roni and Stephen. We also got our questions answered... well most of them. One in particular they did not know the answer to. We also got a little bit more information from our questions and talked about our Vegas trip. I ended up calling it an early night because I was so tired. I knew we had a busy day planned for the next day.
Friday we all got up and had to get ready to see Jay Leno. I was told the night before to wear something nicer because they tend to show the people who are dressed nicer. So I did some wash and wore my black knit dress and we were out the door for breakfast. But before breakfast we had to stop by to return the car. So we did that. At breakfast we learned a bit more about the town and the demographics of the area. We also had a little tour going into LA. We went to the hills and took pictures of different things. We also went and saw where Gene Simmons house is and the Play Boy mansion. We also found out where Elvis used to live. There were a few tourist walkers out looking at homes. We then stopped to get some snacks before the show at the gas station. We knew we wouldn't be hungry before the show since we had a late breakfast that was pretty big but knew we would be by the time we got into the show.
Tip.... If you ever go to a show in LA make sure you get there super early. Our show didn't start taping til 4 but we were told to be there by 245. Well... we got there at 145 and we still were #89 and 90 who got there! So people had shown up at about 12 for the show! We sat there for a good while and read and chatted and ate way too many chocolate covered almonds. They were amazing!!
When we got to go into the show area, we still had about 45 min before the show started so we sat again. This time though, our teeth were chattering. The show area was about 60 degrees! It was freezing! But I guess Jay gets hot with the lights on him and having to wear the suit. While at the show Daniel embarrassed me by screaming for a pic with Jay. He did not get it but Roni got a little gift bag from the show and gave it to me. (how sweet!)
After the show we scooted out of there and did some driving around. We were determined to find a place to eat dinner that was unique. Someone suggested places from Diners Drive ins and Dives. We found a place that was not too far away and headed there to eat. The place was called Nickel Street Diner. And boy was it DELISH! Everyone had amazing food. One thing that sticks out about this place was a man that was standing at the window looking in. The waiter said he did that every night at 6 and lives next door. Roni had to go out to get her camera from the car but was nervous due to the types of people hanging outside. I ended up going out there with her, no problem.
When we finished with our dinner, we drove around a bit more and went to the street that has everyones stars and hand prints on it. There were characters out there walking around looking for money. Roni got terrified by Edward Sizzerhands! He touched her neck and she screached! Hahahaha. The girls ended up splitting from the boys to go to Gap and do some shopping. I found a few things and tried them on. I ended up settling on a pair of white jeans that were entirely too long, but Daniel asked his mom if she would hem them for me. Roni said yes so they were sold! I couldnt believe I had purchased a pair of jeans on Hollywood blvd for 6 bucks! NICE. After leaving the store we tried to find the Hollywood sign but the lights were off. Who knows why but o well. We ended up heading home after that and calling it a night.
The following day we had big plans to go to Santa Monica and Malibu. So in the morning Daniel did some research about places to eat. He came up with a few so off we went. We drove into Santa Monica. Now this city was so pretty! We went to a carribean place that was so tasty. We ate outside because it was such a nice day. I sure was glad I bought the pants the day before because that is what I wore this day. The high was to be under 70. After finishing up lunch and stuffed to the brim we went walking on the beach. Daniel was debating going swimming in the ocean. It was so cold! After much debate, he did not. Instead we walked down to the pier and down the boardwalk. After getting on the boardwalk, Roni and Daniel discovered they had tar on their feet. Ick. That tar would not come off! Huge bummer for sure. We decided to go to the end of the pier and look at the fishermen to see what/if they caught anything. It was a quiet day.
After a while, we had enough and headed back to the car. Before we got to the car, Daniel decided to climb this rope thing in the park that was close to the ocean. There were so many people working out at this outdoor area. It was pretty neat.
So off to Malibu it was. We drove around and settled on this place to eat. Daniel thought it would be good and it was, but it was a little too uptight for any place I would normally go to. But we were in Malibu so I guess thats normal? Anyways, I was not impressed with Malibu by any means. I know a lot of rich/famous people live there but still. Not impressed.
After dinner, it was getting late so we headed back to the house and called it a night.
The following morning we all got up and had to pack up to leave. :( I was happy to see the cats but sad that vacation was over and I had to go back to work. It took a while to get everything just so for getting on the flight. Stephen arrived back from Church a little later and we got the car packed up and ready to go. Our thoughts were to stop at in and out burger or another place. We did not have enough time to go to this other place, so we arrived at in and out. Holy cow! IT was packed!!! I couldnt believe the amount of people that were working there/eating there. And the line for the drive through!! PLEASE! The food was good but the french fries got to me. I had had so many french fries over the week, I was not feeling it. So I got a milkshake. mmmm. We lost time a little bit and had to hurry to the airport. After circling around and trying to find our place of departure, we did. We had our goodbyes and were off to the east coast again. But this airport trip was much different from heading to the west coast. We had to get a wheelchair because Daniel managed to hurt his foot really bad and couldnt walk. With the wheelchair situation, we were able to cut the security line and head right to the flight. Our flight boarded on time and we were off to Atl. I thought I was going to be able to get some rest on the long flight back but this toddler in front of me had different ideas. Screamed the whole time pretty much and the person behind me kept moving my seat. Lets just say I was excited to get off that flight and onto another one. After a long day all around, we did finally arrive at RDU and Daniel's Grandma picked us up and then we headed home.
Overall, a great trip. I know I complained in my head a lot about the gloomy weather in Vegas but looking back, it was a blessing because we were not burning our brains out. We still got time at the pool and all around the strip. CA weather was perfect too.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Vegas and Beyond
As you all know... Daniel and I went to Vegas and CA last week. I am particularly funny about posting anything about being out of town while we are gone. There are way too many wacky people out there who can do harm. Anywho... so here it goes....
Sunday evening Daniel and I traveled to Durham to visit his Grandma and stay at her place since it is only about 2 miles from the airport. When we arrived, there was dinner waiting for us. All of my fav's.. green beans, chicken, mashed potatos, etc. We spent some time chatting and then called it an early night because we knew that the following morning was going to be very very early.
So I ended up waking up before the alarm clock on Monday.. which was before 430am! We were set to leave at 5am to get on the plane by 630. When we were driving to the airport, Daniel got a call from a funny number. He wasnt able to check it til later after we went through security, etc only to find out our plane was delayed til 715. Anyways..... that gave us a little extra time to charge Daniel's phone and for me to read magazines.
The flight to Vegas was great. Daniel and I were not able to sit next to each other but that was fine. The week previous I bought a travel pillow. I knew I did not want to be embarrassed like last plane trip. (slept on a strangers shoulder on accident!)
We got great snacks on the plane and the seats were super comfy. There was plenty of leg room too. I ended up sleeping for about 2.5 hours and then the remainder I stared out the window at the mountains/desert. It was so different from anything I had ever seen.
We made it off the plane at 9am and this was 12 our time. I was in desperate need of coffee asap. I had given up caffeine for a little while but I totally splurged on the trip with coffee, sweet treats, etc. It was a shame Starbucks was so expensive but I needed it. After a quick coffee stop, we were off to find the bus to take us to our hotel. On our way, we dropped off other people at various hotels.
When I mentioned to people that I was going to Vegas, they kept saying... its like nothing you have ever seen. Its so big, so so big. Well.... disappointment alert. I really was not that blown away by the vastness of it. I was in my head comparing it to Chicago (downtown) before I even got there and when I learned the strip was 4.1 miles long, thats a cake walk for me! Yes the buildings were large but nothing that really blew me away. It was fantastic to look at though.
Anyways... we made our way to the hotel (Flamingo) and did the whole early check in thing where we could drop off our bags until 3-4ish. Finished doing that and went out to explore. We went across the street to Ceasar's and walked around there for most of the day. I really did not realize how much we had walked inside the hotel until we got out of it. It was very pretty inside. I did fail to take pictures in there because I figured we would be back.... Wrong!! We got lunch at the bbq place there and then walked more and finally made it back to the hotel at 3. Daniel was exhausted by then and I went out to go to the pharmacy and drug store. I of course walked to the store since we did not bring a car. Upon returning it was about 530 (830 our time) and we were both hungry. I was not overly hungry but needed something. Daniel found Casino Royal earlier that day had 1.50 hotdogs and decided thats what he wanted. I just walked to mc donalds and grabbed a side salad and parfait. I knew I was going back to take a nap and didn't want to stuff my face before doing that. Daniel was off to watch Monday night football.
He returned at about 10ish and we watched the fountains light up a few times before heading to bed.
Grand plans for exercise..... It all started Tuesday morning. I decided that I was going to run 4 miles (at least) and go explore a side of Vegas we had not walked the day before. I went down to Mandalay Bay and back. I passed our hotel and then looked at the sky.... dark rain clouds.
Last I checked, Vegas gets about 2 inches of rain a year.... well.. they got 1 inch while we were there! It decided to start raining on my run so I went back to the hotel. Boo. I took the extra time to do work (yes I still work even on vaca) I then got Daniel up and we went out to go explore some more. This time we went the same way I ran. We walked down to NY NY, and MGM. We caught lunch at Ny NY. Daniel got a Ruben and I got some pasta. My pasta was not that awesome.. his sandwich... awesome! Daniel then decided he wanted to ride the roller coaster so he did. I did not. He told me if I closed my eyes it was a waste of $ and I agreed because I knew that is what I would do. I found him after his ride and we went over to MGM. That was a pretty cool place. I liked seeing the lions even though they did sleep for the most part. We grabbed something to drink at MGM and were walking out and low and behold we saw a bunch of people gathering. There also was a ring set up at the entrance. We found out that all the fighters who
were going to fight later in the week were going to be there. So of course we stopped and waited... for an hour and half. We saw Ortiz, Mayweather, and another fighter. AND Daniel got a pic with Mayweather and shook his hand!
After this huge excitement, we called the hotel to see if the pool was open. They said yes so we headed back. When we got there... it was not open. Ugg. So we got ready to go to dinner sooner and then our show. We were both very excited about the night that we were going to have. We both had never been to a show and we were told about this steakhouse that was good.
So we arrived at the steakhouse and sure did feel important. We had someone come talk to us, escort us to our table, place the napkins on our laps, treat us very very well. I would go back there again for sure. We got french onion soup (the best ever!), tomatoes and mozzarella, and each got some steak. Everything was great about this place.
After dinner we made our way to pick up the tickets and found out the show had been canned. Apparently someone got hurt and they canned both shows Tuesday and both Wednesday. We were both caught so off guard that we didnt know what to do. We were offered other shows for the same night but there was limited availability. Daniel wouldnt have minded seeing some shows but I was not impressed with them and really did not want to fork out 100 bucks for the both of us to see something I wasn't interested in. So we moped and then decided to head to Paris and walk around. That ended up being a great idea because we got a free $5 from Paris to play the slots. Daniel did not have the best luck but I won $5!!! I was so excited about that!
Daniel suggested going to try to win more but I just kept what I had. While in Paris we also went to a little shop and had deserts and coffee. I had some chocolate raspberry thing and Daniel had key lime pastry. Both were sooooo good. We also went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower that they have there. I am not sure how tall the real thing is but this one was at least 30+ stories tall. I was a bit scared of being so far up. While up there we got some great pictures of the strip and saw the fountains a few times. We called it a night after Paris.
On Wednesday morning.... I woke up only to find it was flat out pouring rain outside. AGAIN!! I walked downstairs to see if it would clear up and it wouldn't. So.... I went back upstairs and found my $5 winnings and hit the indoor gym. While I was at the gym I got a text from Alex saying she was going back to the hospital. So I texted Val just in case Alex would need her. Luckily, she was released that same day.
When I finally got back upstairs, I told Daniel about the weather and how we were not going to be going to the pool again today. He suggested getting a moneral pass and going up to the stratosphere and then the outlet mall up north as well. So that is what we did.... but first we went and had breakfast at a buffet...mmmm. The buffet had the best strawberries and cream ever!
So off to the north we went. Once we got off the train, we started walking to the outlets. We ended up walking through the slums of Vegas. I would have never done that if Daniel wasn't there. When we got to the outlets, they were overall disappointing. Daniel did score 2 shirts for 97 cents each but besides that...ehhh. I think we are spoiled by the Myrtle Beach outlets. So we found a cab to take us to the stratosphere and decided to go to the top. When we went to pay, they said we would not be able to view because of lightning! Our luck. So we ended up walking back to the train and headed back to mgm, then to excaliber, luxor, and Mandalay bay. We had intentions of going to the shark exhibit there but there was not enough time so we headed back to get ready for dinner and our show. Dinner took forever to be seated. 1.5 hours. But we had time since our show didnt start til 930. We went to see Circ De Sole (Im sure I totally didnt spell that correct) Mystique was the show title. When we went to purchase the tickets we got seats for the balcony. When we got to the theater, we were asked if we wanted better seats. Of course we did! So we were sent to the 4th row!!! That was pretty exciting. During the show we had some of the people come around our chairs. You could see the details of their makeup but what I didn't like was that they were having the audience participate in the show. The audience members were literally a few chairs away! I was nervous that they put us in those seats so have us participate. Thankfully we were not in the show!
After the show Daniel wanted to spend some time down at the casino but my eyes were bothering me super bad. I had to go take out my contacts and then joined him. I ended up wining another .50 that night playing blackjack. Daniel taught me how to play earlier in the week.
The following day (Thursday), it was sunny!!!!!!!!! I was so excited. I went for a run outside and then got ready to pack up and go to the pool. We wanted to be checked out by 850 so we could be at the pool by 9 when it opened. Daniel found us some amazing seats and we laid around for hours and ate pool pizza. Unfortunately our trip in Vegas had to end so we packed up by 1pm and went to grab our bags and get a taxi to the rental car service. So long Vegas....
TBC
Sunday evening Daniel and I traveled to Durham to visit his Grandma and stay at her place since it is only about 2 miles from the airport. When we arrived, there was dinner waiting for us. All of my fav's.. green beans, chicken, mashed potatos, etc. We spent some time chatting and then called it an early night because we knew that the following morning was going to be very very early.
So I ended up waking up before the alarm clock on Monday.. which was before 430am! We were set to leave at 5am to get on the plane by 630. When we were driving to the airport, Daniel got a call from a funny number. He wasnt able to check it til later after we went through security, etc only to find out our plane was delayed til 715. Anyways..... that gave us a little extra time to charge Daniel's phone and for me to read magazines.
The flight to Vegas was great. Daniel and I were not able to sit next to each other but that was fine. The week previous I bought a travel pillow. I knew I did not want to be embarrassed like last plane trip. (slept on a strangers shoulder on accident!)
We got great snacks on the plane and the seats were super comfy. There was plenty of leg room too. I ended up sleeping for about 2.5 hours and then the remainder I stared out the window at the mountains/desert. It was so different from anything I had ever seen.
We made it off the plane at 9am and this was 12 our time. I was in desperate need of coffee asap. I had given up caffeine for a little while but I totally splurged on the trip with coffee, sweet treats, etc. It was a shame Starbucks was so expensive but I needed it. After a quick coffee stop, we were off to find the bus to take us to our hotel. On our way, we dropped off other people at various hotels.
When I mentioned to people that I was going to Vegas, they kept saying... its like nothing you have ever seen. Its so big, so so big. Well.... disappointment alert. I really was not that blown away by the vastness of it. I was in my head comparing it to Chicago (downtown) before I even got there and when I learned the strip was 4.1 miles long, thats a cake walk for me! Yes the buildings were large but nothing that really blew me away. It was fantastic to look at though.
Anyways... we made our way to the hotel (Flamingo) and did the whole early check in thing where we could drop off our bags until 3-4ish. Finished doing that and went out to explore. We went across the street to Ceasar's and walked around there for most of the day. I really did not realize how much we had walked inside the hotel until we got out of it. It was very pretty inside. I did fail to take pictures in there because I figured we would be back.... Wrong!! We got lunch at the bbq place there and then walked more and finally made it back to the hotel at 3. Daniel was exhausted by then and I went out to go to the pharmacy and drug store. I of course walked to the store since we did not bring a car. Upon returning it was about 530 (830 our time) and we were both hungry. I was not overly hungry but needed something. Daniel found Casino Royal earlier that day had 1.50 hotdogs and decided thats what he wanted. I just walked to mc donalds and grabbed a side salad and parfait. I knew I was going back to take a nap and didn't want to stuff my face before doing that. Daniel was off to watch Monday night football.
He returned at about 10ish and we watched the fountains light up a few times before heading to bed.
Grand plans for exercise..... It all started Tuesday morning. I decided that I was going to run 4 miles (at least) and go explore a side of Vegas we had not walked the day before. I went down to Mandalay Bay and back. I passed our hotel and then looked at the sky.... dark rain clouds.
Last I checked, Vegas gets about 2 inches of rain a year.... well.. they got 1 inch while we were there! It decided to start raining on my run so I went back to the hotel. Boo. I took the extra time to do work (yes I still work even on vaca) I then got Daniel up and we went out to go explore some more. This time we went the same way I ran. We walked down to NY NY, and MGM. We caught lunch at Ny NY. Daniel got a Ruben and I got some pasta. My pasta was not that awesome.. his sandwich... awesome! Daniel then decided he wanted to ride the roller coaster so he did. I did not. He told me if I closed my eyes it was a waste of $ and I agreed because I knew that is what I would do. I found him after his ride and we went over to MGM. That was a pretty cool place. I liked seeing the lions even though they did sleep for the most part. We grabbed something to drink at MGM and were walking out and low and behold we saw a bunch of people gathering. There also was a ring set up at the entrance. We found out that all the fighters who
were going to fight later in the week were going to be there. So of course we stopped and waited... for an hour and half. We saw Ortiz, Mayweather, and another fighter. AND Daniel got a pic with Mayweather and shook his hand!
After this huge excitement, we called the hotel to see if the pool was open. They said yes so we headed back. When we got there... it was not open. Ugg. So we got ready to go to dinner sooner and then our show. We were both very excited about the night that we were going to have. We both had never been to a show and we were told about this steakhouse that was good.
So we arrived at the steakhouse and sure did feel important. We had someone come talk to us, escort us to our table, place the napkins on our laps, treat us very very well. I would go back there again for sure. We got french onion soup (the best ever!), tomatoes and mozzarella, and each got some steak. Everything was great about this place.
After dinner we made our way to pick up the tickets and found out the show had been canned. Apparently someone got hurt and they canned both shows Tuesday and both Wednesday. We were both caught so off guard that we didnt know what to do. We were offered other shows for the same night but there was limited availability. Daniel wouldnt have minded seeing some shows but I was not impressed with them and really did not want to fork out 100 bucks for the both of us to see something I wasn't interested in. So we moped and then decided to head to Paris and walk around. That ended up being a great idea because we got a free $5 from Paris to play the slots. Daniel did not have the best luck but I won $5!!! I was so excited about that!
Daniel suggested going to try to win more but I just kept what I had. While in Paris we also went to a little shop and had deserts and coffee. I had some chocolate raspberry thing and Daniel had key lime pastry. Both were sooooo good. We also went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower that they have there. I am not sure how tall the real thing is but this one was at least 30+ stories tall. I was a bit scared of being so far up. While up there we got some great pictures of the strip and saw the fountains a few times. We called it a night after Paris.
On Wednesday morning.... I woke up only to find it was flat out pouring rain outside. AGAIN!! I walked downstairs to see if it would clear up and it wouldn't. So.... I went back upstairs and found my $5 winnings and hit the indoor gym. While I was at the gym I got a text from Alex saying she was going back to the hospital. So I texted Val just in case Alex would need her. Luckily, she was released that same day.
When I finally got back upstairs, I told Daniel about the weather and how we were not going to be going to the pool again today. He suggested getting a moneral pass and going up to the stratosphere and then the outlet mall up north as well. So that is what we did.... but first we went and had breakfast at a buffet...mmmm. The buffet had the best strawberries and cream ever!
So off to the north we went. Once we got off the train, we started walking to the outlets. We ended up walking through the slums of Vegas. I would have never done that if Daniel wasn't there. When we got to the outlets, they were overall disappointing. Daniel did score 2 shirts for 97 cents each but besides that...ehhh. I think we are spoiled by the Myrtle Beach outlets. So we found a cab to take us to the stratosphere and decided to go to the top. When we went to pay, they said we would not be able to view because of lightning! Our luck. So we ended up walking back to the train and headed back to mgm, then to excaliber, luxor, and Mandalay bay. We had intentions of going to the shark exhibit there but there was not enough time so we headed back to get ready for dinner and our show. Dinner took forever to be seated. 1.5 hours. But we had time since our show didnt start til 930. We went to see Circ De Sole (Im sure I totally didnt spell that correct) Mystique was the show title. When we went to purchase the tickets we got seats for the balcony. When we got to the theater, we were asked if we wanted better seats. Of course we did! So we were sent to the 4th row!!! That was pretty exciting. During the show we had some of the people come around our chairs. You could see the details of their makeup but what I didn't like was that they were having the audience participate in the show. The audience members were literally a few chairs away! I was nervous that they put us in those seats so have us participate. Thankfully we were not in the show!
After the show Daniel wanted to spend some time down at the casino but my eyes were bothering me super bad. I had to go take out my contacts and then joined him. I ended up wining another .50 that night playing blackjack. Daniel taught me how to play earlier in the week.
The following day (Thursday), it was sunny!!!!!!!!! I was so excited. I went for a run outside and then got ready to pack up and go to the pool. We wanted to be checked out by 850 so we could be at the pool by 9 when it opened. Daniel found us some amazing seats and we laid around for hours and ate pool pizza. Unfortunately our trip in Vegas had to end so we packed up by 1pm and went to grab our bags and get a taxi to the rental car service. So long Vegas....
TBC
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