Tuesday, July 12, 2011

I'm Back from Las Vegas


The following is what I wrote on my return flight to Seattle:

When I left Seattle it was gorgeous and sunny.  When we arrived in Las Vegas it was cloudy.  Can you believe it?   Sunny in Seattle and cloudy in Las Vegas.   That just isn’t fair. 

I’m on the plane now returning to Seattle and apparently it’s 56〫degrees and cloudy.  I’m not looking forward to going back because I’ve enjoyed the sunshine and dry air so much. 

I didn’t use the internet while I was there because I was too cheap to pay for it.  Rather, I preferred to spend my money on other things. I gambled my limit ($5) and I tripled my money so I think I did ok.  At least I didn't lose any money.

We stayed at The Orleans... and it was a pretty nice place.  The room was huge.  All the other times I’ve been to Las Vegas I’ve stayed at Motel 6 across the street from the MGM and they aren’t fancy so this was quite a treat. 

Top of the sign

Bottom of the same sign

I didn’t have much of a view from my room…


What I neglected to show in the picture from my room were all the air conditioning units that were visible to me.  I chose to just look out further so that I'd have a better view.  You can barely see the mountains on the right side of the picture and on the left side a monsoon was going through so the mountains weren't visible.

The view from the bathroom shower stall was pretty good…



The blur in the picture above is because of the window…



The thing I disliked most about this trip was the smoke in the casino where I was staying.  (This was all I wrote on the plane.)

I thought the smoke was terrible and I haven't been around cigarette smoke since 1994 when I quit smoking and it was awful for me.  Most of the time when I'm near a smoker outside I'll just hold my breath until I get past them.  Try doing that in a casino.  If it wasn't the smoke in the casino, it was the cleaning products used in the rooms.  I've become very sensitive to smells since I quit smoking and this trip taxed me to the max.  I still had a good time and I'm glad I went.

That monsoon shown in the picture above?  We were right behind some of the monsoon when we went to Red Rock Canyon.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to go beyond the Interpretive Center because the desert was flooded. What we were able to experience were the wonderful smells in the desert after the monsoon.  While I can't stand the rain in Seattle, give me a monsoon in the desert any day. I think they're a fantastic display of Mother Nature and I love them.  

Believe it or not, I had to point this Bobcat out to my friends because they didn't look up...


It was right over the desk in the Interpretive Center where we were told we couldn't go any further due to flooding and lightning strikes.  So I went into the gift shop and bought a coyote hand puppet...



for my future grandchild (it reaches up to my elbow) and went outside and took a picture of...


the lovely mountains.  I don't know what they're called but they are colorful. I also got my Senior Pass for Federal Parks, etc. while we were there.

After we left Red Rock Canyon and were back in Summerlin, we tried to find the Del Webb community on that side of Las Vegas and weren't able to.  We looked at a number of houses in the Del Webb community in Henderson, which was the reason for going there.  

I'm leaning towards the thinking that if I have to get permission to do something on my own property that I might not like living there too much.  

I think I've mentioned before that I live on a busy street.  I also store Olivia at a Public Storage not too far from my house.  I was at Public Storage at 6 AM last Sunday to get Olivia and take her home so that I could wash her.  I was hoping to miss out on the traffic and I did.  I back her up my driveway and I didn't want to mess with any speeders on my street, which is almost everyone.  I did the best I could washing her since my drive is fairly steep and I wasn't able to use a ladder for the tall parts.  I was pretty soaked by the time I finished so I accomplished something.  Actually, she looks a lot better now and I'm not embarrassed to drive her around, which I did.  I took a friend for a ride.

This Friday my friend/pet/house sitter, my dog and I are going to Sequim, WA (pronounced Squim, like swim) for the Lavender Festival.  Yes, we're going in Olivia (that's why she was washed).  Kathy's (my friend) mom and stepdad live in Sequim so we'll spend Friday night at their house and go to the festival on Saturday.  I'll take pictures and report back.

I've signed up to go to an RV Maintenance Boot Camp in Oregon next month through RVing Women and then a weekend RVing Women gathering on the Washington coast.  I'm looking forward to both.  

I have a call into my friend in Twin Falls, ID to see if she wants to go to Tucson. I think I'm catching the travel bug!!!

Before I close this post...NO, I haven't found my GPS yet.  I think I've looked everywhere, but apparently not, because it's still missing.

Raring to go,

Jeana

6 comments:

  1. Too bad you couldn't go into the Red Rock Canyon but at least you got your senior pass. Sounds like you have some fun activities planned.

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  2. what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!..now that Olivia is all clean!..what fun you two are going to have!!

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  3. Sounds like you enjoyed Vegas.
    When are you planning on going to Tucson? One of my camping friends came here to Lakeside yesterday and will be here until next Thur. She has a popup tent trailer and this will be her longest stay in it. Terry is from Tucson too. Of course I won't be back to Tucson untile Oct 15 when it should be cooler. :)

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  4. Loved reading your post. It was full of exciting adventures and future plans. I'm also going to a Boot Camp in November at the Escapees Campground in Texas.

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  5. Such fun adventures - we haven't been back to Las Vegas in several years. Like you, we like to go Red Rock and we also visit family in Lake Havasu City and Yuma. And now you will be headed to Sequim - another wonderful place. Thanks so much for sharing your travels with us all!

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  6. I'm the same way about cigarettes. I don't think most people who smoke know how bad it smells because they can't smell. It's a good thing though because it keeps me out of the Indian casinos here in Oklahoma--I love slots but can't handle the smoke.

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