Home Again
Thursday while I was at work I got a phone call from my husband. He said, "You want to go to Vegas this weekend?"
So, since my lovely boss is so kind, I was able to take Friday off and leave on the LONG drive to Las Vegas.
My Mother-in-law is an amazing quilter. She even has a website and podcast from which she gets opportunities to speak to other quilters. (If you even quilt a little bit, this is a must see/hear site.) She was invited to speak in Vegas, so my husband and I tagged along.
We left early in the morning and arrived in Vegas in the early evening. I had been to Las Vegas before, but that was 15+ years ago, so it was basically a new experience for me. I was lucky and got the side of the car where I could watch "The Strip" go by as we made our way to our hotel. Wow! Was it a gaudy and garish place. I knew it would be, but it really was like the Disneyland of sin! It seemed that every other billboard was for the Adult Megastore, some topless/lap dancing, etc. I'm not really into that in the first place, but being there, looking at that with my in-laws was a bit... uh...unsettling.
Wouldn't you know it... Our hotel was right across the street from the Adult Megastore! Geez!! Thank goodness my in-laws are not as prudish as me and made jokes about it. After dumping our stuff off in the hotel room we made an essential vacation stop off at Wal-Mart for all of the little items we forgot; shampoo, a tee-shirt, water... Then it was time for FOOD. We dined at Ruby Tuesdays. I have been seeing those darn commercials for their Triple Prime Burger for the last 6 months on the Food Network and was not able to satiate my desire to try it until then. (Btw, it was good, very good, but not as good as the commercial portrays it to be.)
On Saturday, we dropped my mother-in-law off at her presentation and we were able to go off for the rest of the day. We went to Hoover Dam.
We almost went for a helicopter ride, but it was lunchtime and we wanted to get over to the strip for lunch. Ryan and I had seen a place on the Food Network called Ellis Island. They have a daily special where you get a Top Sirloin Steak, Baked Potato, Salad and Veg for $4.95. Ryan and his Dad had the Prime Rib Meal and I had the Fish & Chips. It was a fabulous meal and the bill came to $31 for all of us. (BTW, if you ever go, try the Root Beer.... FABULOUS!)
Then it was time to go see some Casinos. Unfortunately, we only had time to see one. I chose the Venetian.
Oh! How I want to see Love by Cirque de Soleil. We couldn't get tickets, being that it was Memorial Day weekend and we didn't plan on going til the day before. Argh!!! So close yet so far!
After the Venetian, we hurried to pick up Ryan's mother and went to change for the evening. Ryan's parents are HUGE Toto fans, so we made it out to the Toto concert. I couldn't name a Toto song before attending, but was actually a great concert. I did recognize a few of the songs as the concert went on, and it was fun to see my mother-in-law rockin' and groovin'.
Sunday was our big trek. We left Las Vegas and drove through a tiny corner of Arizona and over to Southern Utah. We stopped in St. George and had a peak at the St. George Temple.
Then we drove through Cedar City and then over to Parowan, where my father-in-law's family came from. We brought some flowers to place on Ryan's grandparents graves. It was a beautiful day at about 75 degrees with a slight wind, so we went up into the "Five Mile" for a picnic in nature.
LOOK at those red rocks!!
Then we were off to Brian Head. 13,000 ft!
SNOW!! 56 degrees! In Las Vegas it was 100!
Cedar Breaks was just a few thousand feet lower.... AMAZING!
We went back down to Parowan and got a "Fresh Lime" drink from the dairy freeze. Yum!
We parked by the old rock church to enjoy our drinks and I got out to see the Jesse N. Smith home. He was a founder of Parowan as well as Snowflake, AZ where my family is from.
He is also my great-great-great.... grandfather. Yes, Ryan and I are 16th cousins or something like that. It isn't gross... I swear!
The next day we had the LONG trip home. I slept through most of it. Ahhh....
Fun, impromptu long weekend.
So, since my lovely boss is so kind, I was able to take Friday off and leave on the LONG drive to Las Vegas.
My Mother-in-law is an amazing quilter. She even has a website and podcast from which she gets opportunities to speak to other quilters. (If you even quilt a little bit, this is a must see/hear site.) She was invited to speak in Vegas, so my husband and I tagged along.
We left early in the morning and arrived in Vegas in the early evening. I had been to Las Vegas before, but that was 15+ years ago, so it was basically a new experience for me. I was lucky and got the side of the car where I could watch "The Strip" go by as we made our way to our hotel. Wow! Was it a gaudy and garish place. I knew it would be, but it really was like the Disneyland of sin! It seemed that every other billboard was for the Adult Megastore, some topless/lap dancing, etc. I'm not really into that in the first place, but being there, looking at that with my in-laws was a bit... uh...unsettling.
Wouldn't you know it... Our hotel was right across the street from the Adult Megastore! Geez!! Thank goodness my in-laws are not as prudish as me and made jokes about it. After dumping our stuff off in the hotel room we made an essential vacation stop off at Wal-Mart for all of the little items we forgot; shampoo, a tee-shirt, water... Then it was time for FOOD. We dined at Ruby Tuesdays. I have been seeing those darn commercials for their Triple Prime Burger for the last 6 months on the Food Network and was not able to satiate my desire to try it until then. (Btw, it was good, very good, but not as good as the commercial portrays it to be.)
On Saturday, we dropped my mother-in-law off at her presentation and we were able to go off for the rest of the day. We went to Hoover Dam.
We almost went for a helicopter ride, but it was lunchtime and we wanted to get over to the strip for lunch. Ryan and I had seen a place on the Food Network called Ellis Island. They have a daily special where you get a Top Sirloin Steak, Baked Potato, Salad and Veg for $4.95. Ryan and his Dad had the Prime Rib Meal and I had the Fish & Chips. It was a fabulous meal and the bill came to $31 for all of us. (BTW, if you ever go, try the Root Beer.... FABULOUS!)
Then it was time to go see some Casinos. Unfortunately, we only had time to see one. I chose the Venetian.
Oh! How I want to see Love by Cirque de Soleil. We couldn't get tickets, being that it was Memorial Day weekend and we didn't plan on going til the day before. Argh!!! So close yet so far!
After the Venetian, we hurried to pick up Ryan's mother and went to change for the evening. Ryan's parents are HUGE Toto fans, so we made it out to the Toto concert. I couldn't name a Toto song before attending, but was actually a great concert. I did recognize a few of the songs as the concert went on, and it was fun to see my mother-in-law rockin' and groovin'.
Sunday was our big trek. We left Las Vegas and drove through a tiny corner of Arizona and over to Southern Utah. We stopped in St. George and had a peak at the St. George Temple.
Then we drove through Cedar City and then over to Parowan, where my father-in-law's family came from. We brought some flowers to place on Ryan's grandparents graves. It was a beautiful day at about 75 degrees with a slight wind, so we went up into the "Five Mile" for a picnic in nature.
LOOK at those red rocks!!
Then we were off to Brian Head. 13,000 ft!
SNOW!! 56 degrees! In Las Vegas it was 100!
Cedar Breaks was just a few thousand feet lower.... AMAZING!
We went back down to Parowan and got a "Fresh Lime" drink from the dairy freeze. Yum!
We parked by the old rock church to enjoy our drinks and I got out to see the Jesse N. Smith home. He was a founder of Parowan as well as Snowflake, AZ where my family is from.
He is also my great-great-great.... grandfather. Yes, Ryan and I are 16th cousins or something like that. It isn't gross... I swear!
The next day we had the LONG trip home. I slept through most of it. Ahhh....
Fun, impromptu long weekend.
