The Journey Home
Vacations don’t come fast enough until the last day; then they are over before you know it. And 
as much as I pack into my vacations, that is really saying something. I don’t do a lot in my normal life outside of work, EMS and being at home, so I tend to do too much living and push myself entirely too hard when I go away. I walk all over, do several things in a day… normal people don’t do this. I suspect normal people balance their lives better. But I’m happy with my life and the way I balance it. It won’t work for most but it works well for me. I work hard and I play harder. I just play in very localized portions of time.
I don’t remember when we woke up – it was a week ago that this day happened, a long, long time ago (it’s been that kind of a week), but I think I was up fairly early. We had breakfast… we didn’t have breakfast, I guess! If we did, I don’t remember it. I remember going over to the
Mirage to exchange my broken dolphin necklace, but it was 0900 and the dolphin exhibit wasn’t open yet. I had to go back to Caesar’s. I think we went to the pool, and then after I went back to the Mirage to exchange my necklace. I did that, took pictures of the kitty (one of the tigers wandered out into the display area in the hallway of the Mirage) and got back. We checked our luggage downstairs by noon, then went to the Bellagio – ah, yes, we had lunch at a café there… a 
forty dollar lunch at a “café”… that tells you the difference between the Strip and the downtown area…
We went through the front area, then I dragged Luis through the Conservatory – yes, more pictures of butterflies and flowers and water sprays. He wasn’t excited, but he put with it fairly well. He knows I love this stuff. Then we walked out through the front and since it was Saturday, we stopped to watch the show. The fountain show, my favourite thing! We watched it and I loved it. I could still watch that all day, every day. After that, we went back to Caesar’s – time to get our stuff and head to the airport. We collected our bags, Nick and a cab and off we were to the airport. I got pictures of some of the
Strip casinos I didn’t make it to – like the Luxor. We went through the usual things there; curbside check in, going through the rigorous security, all that fun stuff. I also stopped at a candy store and picked up a few pounds of jelly beans and a couple of other things. (I did not eat much sugar while I was there… I guess I wanted to make up for the lost time. Anyway, we went 
to our gate and sat at a table for a drink while waiting. Nick called his wife (I use the term very loosely here. While they are legally married, that is the only way that they are married at this point. Hatred would be a weak word here. Amazing) to tell her that I “let” Luis go to the Glitter Gulch to get a lap dance. Just to sew more seeds of dissent. Then he tells me that they have sex three to four times a week. I don’t believe that for a second. Although he did mention she wants another child (I can’t even imagine what she’s thinking). Maybe they are having sex that often, but clearly it would strictly be procreational sex and not successful at that. One can only hope that doesn’t happen. It isn’t enough to torture two children?
We got onto our plane relatively on time and took off only fifteen minutes later. That is saying something, as I’ve noticed that airlines don’t really have a clear understanding of what “on time” means and what “departure” means. The flight was supposed to depart at 1600. We took off closer to 1620. That is a shorter lag than most of the time, but still not – technically – on time! I understand that. Airlines obviously don’t.
Well. Flights to the west coast and flights to the east coast are long. Five hours long going west, four hours long going east. Not really – it was four hours forty minutes going out and four hours fifteen minutes going back. It is a long time to get anywhere (what am I saying? Air travel makes this stuff possible! Still…), when you are crammed into a tiny, subhuman sized chair. And the food is scary. I flew to Dallas, Texas and Continental fed us cheeseburgers that were delicious. This time they fed us cheeseburgers that were microwaved too much. On the way out, anyway. On the way back it was the same cheeseburger (quite possibly the exact same cheeseburger) but not overdone. Still. You can’t say a lot of positive
things about the food on airlines any longer.
I had a really nice couple sitting next to me whom I chatted with for a while before we left and on and off during the flight. What a cute couple! They’re older and played cards the whole trip back. I mostly read and took pictures. The land we flew over was amazing! Just amazing. There were mountains, rivers, flat lands, old volcanic lands. And all brightly lit up by the sun for me!
The photos came out better than the trip out, which is saying something; the windows in the airplane are disgusting and scratched up. But the images mostly came out really great!
Fran told me to look out for the mountains. I saw them and was completely delighted. They were gorgeous.
We got in at 2330, were off the plane and waiting… and waiting…
and waiting some more… for our luggage. Nick got his and split pretty quickly but he was parking in long-term parking and needed to get out – we had a car at least. With the same old guy from an eastern-bloc nation that took us out to the airport! He’s a very sweet guy (but going deaf).
And that was our trip to Las Vegas!
as much as I pack into my vacations, that is really saying something. I don’t do a lot in my normal life outside of work, EMS and being at home, so I tend to do too much living and push myself entirely too hard when I go away. I walk all over, do several things in a day… normal people don’t do this. I suspect normal people balance their lives better. But I’m happy with my life and the way I balance it. It won’t work for most but it works well for me. I work hard and I play harder. I just play in very localized portions of time.I don’t remember when we woke up – it was a week ago that this day happened, a long, long time ago (it’s been that kind of a week), but I think I was up fairly early. We had breakfast… we didn’t have breakfast, I guess! If we did, I don’t remember it. I remember going over to the
Mirage to exchange my broken dolphin necklace, but it was 0900 and the dolphin exhibit wasn’t open yet. I had to go back to Caesar’s. I think we went to the pool, and then after I went back to the Mirage to exchange my necklace. I did that, took pictures of the kitty (one of the tigers wandered out into the display area in the hallway of the Mirage) and got back. We checked our luggage downstairs by noon, then went to the Bellagio – ah, yes, we had lunch at a café there… a 
forty dollar lunch at a “café”… that tells you the difference between the Strip and the downtown area…We went through the front area, then I dragged Luis through the Conservatory – yes, more pictures of butterflies and flowers and water sprays. He wasn’t excited, but he put with it fairly well. He knows I love this stuff. Then we walked out through the front and since it was Saturday, we stopped to watch the show. The fountain show, my favourite thing! We watched it and I loved it. I could still watch that all day, every day. After that, we went back to Caesar’s – time to get our stuff and head to the airport. We collected our bags, Nick and a cab and off we were to the airport. I got pictures of some of the
Strip casinos I didn’t make it to – like the Luxor. We went through the usual things there; curbside check in, going through the rigorous security, all that fun stuff. I also stopped at a candy store and picked up a few pounds of jelly beans and a couple of other things. (I did not eat much sugar while I was there… I guess I wanted to make up for the lost time. Anyway, we went 
to our gate and sat at a table for a drink while waiting. Nick called his wife (I use the term very loosely here. While they are legally married, that is the only way that they are married at this point. Hatred would be a weak word here. Amazing) to tell her that I “let” Luis go to the Glitter Gulch to get a lap dance. Just to sew more seeds of dissent. Then he tells me that they have sex three to four times a week. I don’t believe that for a second. Although he did mention she wants another child (I can’t even imagine what she’s thinking). Maybe they are having sex that often, but clearly it would strictly be procreational sex and not successful at that. One can only hope that doesn’t happen. It isn’t enough to torture two children?
We got onto our plane relatively on time and took off only fifteen minutes later. That is saying something, as I’ve noticed that airlines don’t really have a clear understanding of what “on time” means and what “departure” means. The flight was supposed to depart at 1600. We took off closer to 1620. That is a shorter lag than most of the time, but still not – technically – on time! I understand that. Airlines obviously don’t.
Well. Flights to the west coast and flights to the east coast are long. Five hours long going west, four hours long going east. Not really – it was four hours forty minutes going out and four hours fifteen minutes going back. It is a long time to get anywhere (what am I saying? Air travel makes this stuff possible! Still…), when you are crammed into a tiny, subhuman sized chair. And the food is scary. I flew to Dallas, Texas and Continental fed us cheeseburgers that were delicious. This time they fed us cheeseburgers that were microwaved too much. On the way out, anyway. On the way back it was the same cheeseburger (quite possibly the exact same cheeseburger) but not overdone. Still. You can’t say a lot of positive
things about the food on airlines any longer.I had a really nice couple sitting next to me whom I chatted with for a while before we left and on and off during the flight. What a cute couple! They’re older and played cards the whole trip back. I mostly read and took pictures. The land we flew over was amazing! Just amazing. There were mountains, rivers, flat lands, old volcanic lands. And all brightly lit up by the sun for me!
The photos came out better than the trip out, which is saying something; the windows in the airplane are disgusting and scratched up. But the images mostly came out really great!Fran told me to look out for the mountains. I saw them and was completely delighted. They were gorgeous.
We got in at 2330, were off the plane and waiting… and waiting…
and waiting some more… for our luggage. Nick got his and split pretty quickly but he was parking in long-term parking and needed to get out – we had a car at least. With the same old guy from an eastern-bloc nation that took us out to the airport! He’s a very sweet guy (but going deaf).And that was our trip to Las Vegas!
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