Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
To begin our journey, we left the house and walked half of a block to the Route 90 bus stop.
We took the bus to the Norristown Transportation Center and boarded the R6 to the MarketEast train station. The R1 train then took us directly to the Airport.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, as planned. We checked one bag. I had never gone through the new airport security screening process. I did fine. My fear of falling over while de-shoeing proved groundless.
Borders Express didn’t have the new John Saul paperback. I decided to just wait and buy it in Vegas, rather than make an alternate selection. We walked around and the mall sat in rocking chairs and watched airplanes taxi into the gate area and be pushed out backwards by small looking muscular golf carts. Evidently there isn’t a reverse on airplanes. I took some photos.
We had dinner at Chickie & Pete’s. The place was packed to capacity. The food was great. The beer was cold. The server, Drew, was pleasant and efficient. After dinner we walked around some more looking for ice cream and another bookstore. We never found either, just frozen yogurt and magazines.
We went to the gate assigned to our flight and decided to sit and relax. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30 pm. Around eight o’clock it was announced that our flight was now 9:30 pm. The original plane that we were supposed to fly out on had been diverted to Baltimore for refueling. It would be refueled there and then travel on to Philadelphia to pick us up for Las Vegas. The plane had started the journey in Seattle. I was confused. I surmised that the wait time to land in Philadelphia must have been longer than the pilot wanted to wait or could safely wait. I’m thinking that Baltimore is further away from Seattle than Philadelphia.
But, then that plane was further delayed. Before the airport worker could finish making that announcement she was informed that they were going to switch us to a different plane. This plane was already on the ground in Philadelphia. It would be pumped, cleaned, fueled and catered for our 9:30 departure.
Our fellow passengers were forced to gate check all of their wheeled carry-on bags. Our carry-on items didn’t have wheels and were well within the size limits. The flight attendants had to put up with a lot of complaining over it. I really thought that people were being unreasonable. I saw detailed instruction including a size template for carry-on bags at several places in the airport. Most of the bags that people thought that they were going to carry on were larger than the bag we checked. The fee to check our back was $15. The people who were forced to check their bags at the gate did it for free. I had read an article on line about ways to save money while traveling. The author had actually suggested to just brazen it out with a large bag, because if you were forced to check it at the gate you would probably not be charged the fee. I know, I know, those people might have had their life saving medications in those bags. (No one died.)
The airplane was an older model that still had the no smoking lights. Our seats were at the right wing of the airplane. Michael had the aisle. I had the center. A woman about our age had the window. Our flight took off just after 10 pm. The pilot had stated that the flight was going to take four hours and forty-six minutes and that the temperature in Las Vegas was 105 °.
There was light turbulence for the first half of the flight. The captain had everyone remain in his or her seatbelts. A few people did get out of their seats and go to the lavatory.
I really enjoyed watching the wing of the plane glide over the continuous gray looking cloud cover. I did spot some lights on the ground three hours into the flight. I had no idea where it was. Michael listened to his mp3 player and fell asleep for awhile. I was just too excited to sleep.
The ground below us started to look as if someone had dropped golden glitter. It was Las Vegas at night and it was beautiful. The pilot announced that we were 90 minutes away from landing in Las Vegas where the temperature was now 95°. It was just before midnight. The landing was smooth.
The baggage claim area at McCarran International Airport was a healthy walk away from our landing gate. All of the shops and restaurants in the airport were closed. We picked up our bag. A shuttle was waiting just outside. It was $7 for each of us, plus gratuity.
Checking in at the Riviera was painless. Michael had called ahead to inform them that we would be arriving after midnight. We went up to our room, freshened up, and went downstairs (is it still downstairs if you use an elevator?) in search of food and drink. We decided on Kady’s. I had a bagel with cream cheese. Michael had an omelet. We both had Heineken. Our hotel room was very nice.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
We woke up just before the alarm went off at 7 am. The digital clock had an iPod docking station, but did not have illuminated numbers. It was impossible to read it in the dark.
Michael and I went to breakfast at Kady’s. Afterward he went to his conference and I went back to the room. Luckily, I had a one-gallon zip lock bag with me. I used ice from the handy ice machine to make myself a lovely icepack for my sacroiliac. The light turbulence on the flight had caused a problem for me.
I fell asleep. When I awoke I heard loud heavily rhythmic music coming from the hallway. The main lyric was, "I need a victory." I looked out of the peephole in our door and saw young men dancing. (Well, why not? From the peephole in our front door at home I can watch the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Star helicopters take off and land.) I had to know why. I opened the door and asked. The five young men were going to compete in a gospel dance show/competition. There was also a gospel church convention going on at the hotel.
I checked out the hotel gift shops. Neither one had books, but the larger one had magazines. They both had wine and beer.
I decided to look for Michael in the area of the meeting rooms before I went to lunch. Happily, I found him. We had lunch at the food court area of the Riviera. I patronized Quiznoes. Michael had Chinese food.
After lunch we went outside briefly. It was 105°. I felt like I was being baked. We walked a short distance and failed to find anyplace that sold books.
One the way back to the room I stopped and bought a bottle of white wine and a pair of sodas. I finished unpacking and iced my sacroiliac again. The destination tag on our checked bag had a "Searched by TSA" sticker on it. I didn’t think that I was had packed that sloppily.
There was a dinner reception for the Postal Press Association (Union newsletter editors) in the penthouse of the hotel. I was also invited. We had fun talking to editors and assistant editors from other Union newsletter throughout the country. (Michael has been the editor of his local Union’s newsletter for 15 years. He has a degree in journalism from Temple University.)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
We started the day with breakfast at Kady’s. At lunchtime Michael came to the room to get me. We had lunch together at the food court.
The wind was gusting in the 30 – 40 mile an hour range. After lunch we walked outside and walked a few blocks in the opposite direction from the day before. The wind kicked up lots of sand and dust, but it kept the temperature in the record-breaking mid-90°.
After Michael’s afternoon session we hopped on the Deuce and went to the Venetian. (The Deuces are double-decker buses that run up and down the Strip [Las Vegas Boulevard] and stop at convenient places.) The gondola boatmen and women came out of the Venetian singing as we were walking in.
We knew ahead of time that there were many excellent restaurants at the Venetian. We had decided to have a celebratory meal. We wandered around and checked out the posted menus while we tried to decide where to dine. We got as far as the Delmonico Steakhouse Restaurant. That was the place for us. Everything there was perfect. As we were placing our orders we told one of our three servers that we were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and were looking forward to a very special dinner. The chef prepared special sweet and sour beef kabobs for us. Michael enjoyed the Australian lobster. I adored the chicken breast prepared with Emeril’s secret spices. We shared a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. For dessert the pastry chef prepared a chocolate ice in a pastry shell with whipped cream and a pink candle. The meal was fabulous. So wonderful that I almost forgot to mention the assortment of domestic artisan cheeses that I had for an appetizer. My favorite was the Oregon Blue. Everything was perfect. We had a wonderful experience there and would recommend it to anyone looking for a special ($250 + tip) dinner.
After dinner we went see the Blue Man Group. Michael had bought the tickets for us online months before as part of our vacation celebration.
The show was fantastic. We were sitting in the "poncho" section. They actually gave us clear plastic ponchos to wear during the performance. Parts of the show were a little wet and messy, but we stayed clean. Michael had wanted to see Blue Man Group in-person for years. We both had a great time. Afterward we picked up the dvd and a cd as souvenirs.
Friday, August 7, 2009
We started the day with breakfast at Kady’s. Michael had a morning seminar afterward we had lunch at the food court. After lunch we went for another walk on the Strip. I found the John Saul book that I wanted at a Walgreen’s about two blocks from our hotel. Now my quest was over. I had gone as far as looking in the Yellow Pages of the Las Vegas telephone directory for bookstores. If I hadn’t been having problems with my sacroiliac, I could have gone to the mall on the Deuce.
Michael had an afternoon seminar. We decided to stay within our hotel for dinner. We chose Kristopher’s Steak House. We arrived there about three minutes after a party of 80. It was a wedding reception. Despite the chaos the large group could have caused we had excellent service and fantastic food. I had a house salad, Atlantic salmon, green beans and white Merlot. Michael had French onion soup, a Delmonico steak, green beans and Brassfield Shiraz. We ended up with a ton of green beans. I took the leftovers back to our room refrigerator to snack on later.
We went to a show at the Comedy Club at the Riviera. The three comedians were Jason Downs, Marty Rackham and John DiCrosta. They were extremely funny. Michael commented that he was a tired from laughing as he would have been from working a 12 hour shift. It was great. I’d see them again.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
We started Saturday with our now normal routine of breakfast at Kady’s. Kady’s offered a wide variety of breakfast options and we never had the same thing twice.
Michael’s lunch break was two hours long. We walked across the street to Circus Circus for lunch. It was an amazing place. It was a combination amusement park, carnival, circus, casino, food court and of course, there was a wedding chapel. It was the first place where most of the people looked happy. There were families (probably Las Vegas natives) with young children out to enjoy the day and have fun. We had pizza at a restaurant called MexItalia. It was good.
We went to dinner at Paris in the St Louis Cafe. Michael had stayed at Paris last year when he was there. He was familiar and took me on a tour of the place. It was very pretty. I got a chuckle over the Degas Dance Studio window on the second floor of the street façade. (Degas’ dancer is one of my favorite pieces at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.) We also walked around Bally’s.
We had time for quick nap back at our room before the show. We had front row tickets to Scarlett and her Seductive Ladies of Magic in the Versailles Theater at the Riviera. The show was wonderful. Scarlett was a great magician. Her two female assistants were topless during sections of the show. Scarlett is drop-dead gorgeous with red hair and green eyes. Mid-way through the show Max Clever took the stage. He did an adorable act with his two dogs and parrot.
Sunday, August 9th, 2009
Sunday was our last day in Las Vegas. We started off with breakfast at Kady’s. We packed up and checked out. We left our bags with the Bell Captain and set out to explore.
We boarded the Deuce in front of the Riviera and went north on Las Vegas Boulevard. We exited the bus at Fremont Street and looked around. Fremont Street is often featured on television and in movies. At night it’s a wild and crazy place. We both took photographs. We stopped for a snack at the Golden Nugget casino. The gamblers there looked happy. Maybe because it was Sunday morning and they were out of the house. I don’t know.
We caught the bus and rode it to the end of the line. We had a chance to see the Post Office, Federal Courthouse and many normal non-resort buildings. At the end of the line we hopped onto another Deuce and headed south.
We rode all the way down the Strip to the end of the line in the front seats of the top deck. We saw the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign and every thing on the west side of the street. We saw the New York City fire boat at New York, New York, the fountains at the Bellagio, the Fashion Show mall, the multi-colored towers at Excalibur, the pyramid at the Luxor and so many places that we’ve seen in the movies and on television. Traffic was terrible but we didn’t mind.
Near the end of the line we found the Coach (purse) factory. This fact doesn’t mean anything to me, but I felt that I should mention it.
At the south end of the line we switched to a north bound Deuce. We saw the back of the welcome to Las Vegas sign, the huge golden lion at MGM and everything on the east side of the Strip. We stopped at the Flamingo for a beverage. We took some photos in the courtyard of the hotel. I really liked the fountain.
Now it was time to head to the airport. We went back to the Riviera and retrieved our bags from the Bell Captain. We caught the Deuce across the street from our hotel and headed south again. From the SSTT (South Strip Transportation Terminal) we took the 109A bus to McCarran airport.
McCarran airport is a WiFi hotspot. We both went on-line briefly while we had dinner at a sports bar. Neither us had been on-line at all during our vacation.
Our flight was on time. There was a thunderstorm somewhere near the Texas – Oklahoma border. The lightening was beautiful and far enough away that I wasn’t frightened.
Monday, August 10th, 2009
We arrived safely in Philadelphia, retrieved our bag and took the R1 train to the MarketEast train station. There we got the R6 train back to Norristown and the Route 90 bus to the street corner by our house. All of our connections worked out smoothly.
And there you have it – door-to-door and back again without driving our car.
After our nap we had pizza delivered.