Red Rocks: The Other Side of Vegas

Wednesday - Day 35 of Funemployment.

Well, it was a loud night.  Trying to sleep with giant jets flying over you is not the best.  But it did eventually start raining pretty hard, so that drowned out some of the airport noise.  

^^ I didn't know it ever rained in Vegas?

Apart from being open 24 hours for the use of the bathroom, the other good thing about being in a Wal-Mart parking lot is I can get  whatever I need.  Which this morning, meant a big blender for a smoothie.  I bought the cheapest one they had (along with a few other things for the van) and gave it a shot.

                    

Sometimes you get what you pay for.  That thing sucked and barely blended up the spinach enough for us to drink.  Cleaned it up and back to the store it went.  I upgraded to a nicer one, so we'll see how that goes tomorrow...

Since it was cool and rainy, and Scott had to get some work done, we decided to hang out at a nearby library for the morning.

He worked, I played.  I had an agenda of things I should have been doing, but I passed most of the time watching the airplanes come by and dreaming/planning of next years adventures. (Hawaii in January to kick it off!)

We made lunch in the van around noon -- and by "we" I mean Scott.  I make smoothies in the morning for breakfast, and he makes lunch.  And dinner.  Okay, and sometimes breakfast too... 

Time for some fun in the sun - errr clouds - after lunch.  I have been to Vegas countless times, and never made it 20 minutes from the strip to Red Rocks Canyon.  Scott had been to Vegas several times, and been to Red Rocks several times, but never really spent much time on the strip.  So this was my turn to explore a new side of Vegas.

It was a little chilly, but just a gorgeous afternoon.  We parked the van on the side of the highway, and took off down a trail for a run to the canyon.

I didn't make it too far.  1.4 miles, to be exact.  The trail was rocky and didn't feel so great on my foot.  Plus I had to pee.  So I turned around and came back, while Scott kept going a few more miles.

This is why I love the van life:  This is the view out your front door.  And it changes every day!

I worked out a little more in the van with all the resistance bands I brought, but that too came to an end early when the sun started going down and the clouds started lighting up. 

I had to get out and take some pictures.  It was too perfect to pass up!

When Scott got back, he did the same.  Camera came out instantly.

We had a bit of a van problem -- something about the van not charging the house battery, which is what we use for power on the inside (lights and fridge and chargers, etc).  But of course Scott fixed it in no time!

I thought we were going to go back to the strip for dinner and a show - which we had talked about - but Scott had other plans at a nearby campground.

The sun was already down, but that didn't stop him.  In fact, the sun had to be down for this hike and view, he said. 

So off we went, in the dark, in the cold.  Under a fence and on no trail.  Just "bush whacking" it up the top of a hill.  No big deal. 

  

But this view was so worth it.  It almost took my breathe away as we came over the ridge and saw the horizon glow.

Of course his pictures turned out a million times better than my iPHone ones, but even his don't really do it justice.  

Talk about some serious urban sprawl.  It was lights as far as you could see, and the bright strip lit up right in front of us.  

We didn't have time for a show after that little hike, but it was so worth it.  I've never seen this side of Vegas, and I love it just as much as partying at the clubs on the strip.

But back to the strip we went.  Because where else do you eat in Vegas when there is so much good food within a 2 mile radius!

^^ Still  raining in Vegas!

It. Was. COLD.  Coats and scarves and long underwear.  Give me it all. 

After wondering around several casinos and being too impatient to wait for a table, we ended up at  Public House in The Venetian.

The waiter had to have forgotten to put our ordern in, because we waited over 45 minutes for a salad appetizer, and it only came after we asked about it.

I had salmon, Scott had short rib.  Both were good but so absurdly overpriced for the amount of food.  

Lucky for us, the service was so horrible and our food took so long to come out, that we complained (nicely) about it and got a pretty decent discout. 

Off to bed in no other than a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Again.  But a different Wal-Mart this time.  I should bring back the #WalMartViews hash-tag that I had going for so long in early October! 

After a trip inside to use the bathroom, it was off to sleep for us.  In a much quieter spot. (No airplanes here.)

 

Tomorrow we are off to Northern Arizona - via southern Utah - to hopefully see the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument and Marble Canyon.

Kansas City --> Las Vegas

Tuesday

I got my early morning workout in at the gym, and then came home and walked the dogs with my mom.  Trying to get her some last minute "Terri Time" in before I leave today.  Well, that and I just like to get outside whenever I can.  Even if it is gray and foggy.

I was pretty well all packed up and ready to go on my 3.5 week trip, so the plan for the morning was just to go through the insurance book of all our lost items (from the fire) and make some progress on the 1,200 front/back pages we have to get through.  

That was until Tony called and said he and his family were trying to figure out how to get downtown for the Royals World Series parade...

They tried to get on the free shuttle fromm Olathe to Crown Center, but said there were litrally thousands of people waiting there...in a line that wrapped around a block.  So that clearly wasn't happening.  (Later found out that thousands of people who were waiting on those free shuttles all over the KC area didn't make it to the parade...)  

Enter me to the resccue.  I offered to drive them down and drop them off as close as I could get.  I started checking different routes and traffic reports....and it was a whole lot of dark red (ie not moving) on all the major roads.  

Christa said she had faith in me, and knew I would do whatever it took to get them there - even if that meant driving over curbs.  That was all the incentive I needed.  Off we went -- along with 800,000 other Kansas Citians -- to Crown Center.

   ^^ They were all wondering at this point if they should even be attempting to go...

I have honestly  never seen so many people in one spot all wearing blue in my whole life.  Even from miles away.  We took 75th down to Troost -- I knew most of Johnson Country would not take that route -- and then snaked our way back over.  Tony said I had an hour and a half to get as close as I could and then they would just walk.  He only wanted to get within a couple of miles...

Well, I'm proud to say that in right about an hour I got them not within a few miles, but about two blocks away from Crown Center.  I drove right up to the polic blockade and pulled over for them to hop out.  I was just as shocked as they were that we actually made it that close in that little time.  All by avoiding the main routes.  

Look at the masses of people walking:

It was so easy going the opposite direction.  Not one car was going that way, but the people filled the sidewalks for miles.  Literally, miles.  

In fact, I later found out that people just abandoned their cars on the interstate because traffic wasn't moving and there weren't any more parking spots.  They left their cars on the highway and just walked!

I made it home in no time, changed clothes, grabbed lunch at Panera with a friend, and then took off for the airport.  Didn't miss a beat of the parade.  It was on every tv and radio station anywhere  you went, airport incuded:

They estimated that over 800,000 people crowded around Crown Center to see the team.  That is a LOT of people - all in blue.  Such a cool site!

 

My flight to LAX took off on time, and I passed most of the flight updating this blog.

I hardly had any time in LA before taking off for Vegas - a quick and easy flight.

The airport was dead, and I was the only one on the little train to baggage claim.  (Yeah, I had to actually check a bag for this trip.  3 weeks in different climates and a wedding was too much to fit in a carry-on.)

^^ Not used to seeing Vegas like this, but I guess it was a Tuesday evening.

While the airpot was dead, the strip was still business as usual.  People on every sidewalk and taxis jammed on the Las Vegas Boulevard.

First things first.  I had to eat.  It was late there, and even later in my world (central time).  My all-time favorite meal is the Chilean Sea Bass at Tao in The Venetian.  

Scott agreed to try it out, and with no reservations, we were forced to squeeze in to the corner of the bar.  But it worked.  And I got the best sea bass ever.  For real.  Makes my mouth water just to look at this picture:

Scott hadn't ever really spent much time on the strip, so we walked down to see the fountains at Bellagio -- another favorite of mine, and took in a few other sites along the way.

It was so late and I was so tired by that point.  We left the bright and busy strip for a quieter place to park the van for the night:  a Wal-Mart parking, per the usual. 

^^ Found this one right across from the airport!  Might be a loud night.

More Vegas adventures tomorrow -- but of a different kind (ie not on the strip).

Monday Madness {Royals}

With the winning of the WORLD SERIES last night - in extra innings, this mornings workout class was cancelled.  I did my own little "deck of cards" workout downstairs with the RipDeck app, and then took the dogs for a wal / jog.  You can see about how that went:

Cricket going one way and Willow the other.  That's not so easy to jog with.  But it was still a beautiful fall morning to get outside for a little exercise.

Hadley had FaceTimed me yesterday evening and asked me if I would pick her up from school today.  Thinking Kelli had an appointment or something going on, of course I said yes.  I mean, how can you say no to an adorable 5 year old?

Well, turns out Hadley just wanted me to come get her and have a picnic.  It wasn't all that long ago that she wouldn't even leave the house with just me, so this is a huge step up!

I certainly didn't want to be late for this date, so I set off early, stopped at Wal-Mart on the way for a Lunchable for her picnic (her request), and got to school ooooohhhhh about 20 minutes early. {Side note:  I've never seen so many people in Royals gear in one spot.  I'm not sure I've seen one person today NOT in some form of Royals attire or at least the color blue.}

The staff made me wait at the miniature lunch table until school was out.

Of course I had on my Royals shirt, along with every other person in the KC metro area.  Hadley had hers on.  At lest 3/4 of the kids in her class had on Royals gear.  All the other parents coming to get their kids had on Royals stuff.  It's madness in this city today.

It was quite the debacle to actualy leave with Hadley.  I guess they weren't really sure who I was, so I got questioned a lot -- which is good!  They walked with me to her classroom and said they had to see "how she reacted" towards me.  Of course she smiled and waved when she saw me and told them my name.  But they still had us come back to the front office to quiz me more.  They asked me her little brothers name, her moms cell phone number (no idea!) and her other aunts last name -- which I couldn't think of.  And I didn't have my ID on me.  It was in the car, but they eventually let us go.  Jeez... wasn't expecting any of that.

We went straight to the park Hadley requested.  "You know, that one over by your old house you sold."  I think she calls it Spider Park, although I have no idea why. 

She ate her pizza lunchable - which looked  beyond disgusting to me - and then we played on the toys.

I had to get her back to her house a little earlier than planned because my mom and I had a meeting with the contents adjuster for the insurance company at 1.  More fire damage business.  This whole process is going to take months...

That afternoon, my bff from Charlotte, Kelsey, flew in to KC.  I hadn't seen her since her weddig last October, so this was a way overdue visit!  She was in town for the Royals game that was supposed to be Tuesday night, but the Royals ended the series early in NYC.  No love lost for Kelsey.  She got to see the parade instead!  She's about the biggest fan I know of all Kansas sports, so getting to see her so excited to be back for this was pretty awesome. 

   ^^ Kelsey is like my moms other daughter, so she was beyond thrilled to have her with us.

When we sat down to catch up for a little bit, the "Breaking News" on every tv channel was the Royals returning home.  I mean, do we really all need to see them walking off a plane and then follow the buses down the interstate with a helicopter?  Seemed a bit much to me but apparently all of KC was watching that and loving it. 

Kelsey's first request:  go get the official Royals t-shirt.  Of course.

Academy Sports had the official shirts and had been open all night long selling them hot off the press.  Literally.  I thought if we got there late afternoon, before everyone got off work, it would be fine.

HA - yeah, right.  It took forever just to get in the parking lot, and the line inside was nuts.  The only size they had left was a youth extra-large. Thankfully, that worked for Kelsey.  That t-shirt and a new hat, and she was set. 

   ^^  Look how packed the store was!  And a lot of disappointed customers without shirts.

We wanted to check one more spot, Kansas Sampler just across the street, to see what they had, too.

Kelsey didn't get anything else, but I got two new Kansas City t-shirts.  Not Royals (remember, I'm not that big of a fan), but still blue and still KC.  My mom even bought one of them since she is ordering Royals shirts for the boys. 

Kelsey and her new gear:

Now I thought just seeing everyone all over the city in Royals shirts was enough madness for a Monday.  But it got way better:

Not just Olathe Public Schools, but every school district in Kansas City cancelled schools for Tuesday for the parade.  That's crazy!  I'm sure there were a lot of not happy parents who now had to take a day off work to watch their kids.  Well, either that or they were happy they had to take off work and could go to the parade now! 

I heard schools as far away as Topeka were closing, too.  In fact, my friend in Topeka called and said her babysitter was cancelling for the day, so she was taking off work and coming to KC, too!  I think half the state of Kansas will be decending on Kansas City tomorrow for a celebration 30 years in the making!