A little Fall Blogging

Alaska changes daily.  It's wonderful to watch.  I watched spring break up of the ice race through Turnagain Arm the day after I arrived in Alaska.  I watched the color of that water change from murky grey to a smooth cobalt blue.  I watched the trees wake up from winter, and the seedlings seize the long summers and shoot up taller than me in one season.  The hillsides and mountains turned green, then purple with fireweed, and the sunsets felt otherworldly.  And I left Alaska for one week to come home to a slightly shifted Alaska.  Somehow the sun has become lazy, and begrudingly takes its place in the sky as I head in for work, rather than warming the day in advance for me.  The bridge I have been watching them work on all year was still an unpaved shell when I left, but I drove over it coming home from the airport.  And the air hangs with just a hint  of cool.  I fear the fall is here.  It snuck up while I was away.  I am still hoping my return will drive it away.  Summer is definitely my favorite season.

So what made me leave the last of my Alaska summer?  This little thing...my niece got married so I was Alberta bound. Yes I know she looks young -- she has always been a tiny little thing, but her heart and smile were shining bright so I guess she is ready enough.  I quite enjoyed seeing the Bohemian side she has developed -- ballet slipper flats, simple white lace, a quiet ceremony in the park and a smile that lit up the world that day.

It was good to get a visit in with family -- a couple of meals, a couple of glasses of wine, and a lot of wondering where all the years went that led to the first wedding in this next generation of the family.

Of course, once I was in Alberta, I was halfway to Vegas, which is where I was planning on meeting the Bermuda Scots that week anyway, so off I went to join them for a few days.  The split trip made it a bit short on seeing both groups of people, but I will take the time I can get!

Once in Vegas, I took the time to FINALLY get to a spa again and now have strikingly pretty periwinkle toenails that got compliments all the way between Vegas and Oregon, but here in Alaska where there is no call for open toed shoes anymore, it's just me and the Panthers that will be admiring them from here on out.

Vegas is always changing, but I am noticing a few changes that I wasn't so found of.  There was a time when the food, drinks, and shopping were cheap and you could spend in excess of whatever you chose.  But each time I go back, the crowds are a little lighter, the growth of the city has slowed a bit more, and while it has more than enough going on and plenty of people going through, the casino's are actually starting to price gouge.  The hotel room was inexpensive, but the resort fee and taxes tacked on brought it up a bit.  Yet with that resort fee, you still had to pay to rent a pool chair, the internet is included but only if you are sitting in the lobby -- no internet access in the rooms (although the phones could still get enough of a signal, but not a tablet or computer), and...not even a coffee pot or mini bar/bottle of water in the room.  A cup of coffee in the lobby was $4.50 for a 12 oz Americano...which seemed bad until I bought the $4.50 small bottle of water.  Of all the money I have spent or wasted in my day, I don't have any regrets...but the price gouging for water and coffee were irksome.

Fortunately we made up for it -- in the end we didn't spend that much time on the Strip.  We took a cab to the shops south of the Strip, Town Square, that the Scots had discovered last year.  We did a bit of shopping and stopped at a fabulous place to eat/drink -- Miller's Ale House.  Delicious food, $2 cocktails, $19 twin lobster tails (although we all chose fajitias), and the funniest waiter ever.  We had a great time!

Usually we end up at a show or something, but it had been a year since the last visit, we had staggered arrivals and schedules, so we just decided to wing it and hang out -- which worked out fabuously!  We headed down to the big wheel, at the Linq...well almost.  There were 6 of us, in 2 cabs.  The Scottish accent is something you need to get a bit of an ear for, and I dare say that since I left Bermuda my Scots are sounding even more Scottish.  The cabbie was told to bring us to the Wheel, and we took off, with Lizzie's cab right behind us.  A while later we turned off the freeway, Lizzie yelled "follow that cab!" and her driver said "they aren't going to the wheel, that's the wrong day."  Well, our cab driver, heard Rio...which is where we ended up.  In fact, he thought they were Australian.  Lizzie's guy dropped them in the wrong place too, and we all eventually arrived at our destination at about the same time -- but later than planned.

The area around the "High Roller" or the wheel/Rio (no where near the Rio), is a marvellous little street of shops, colored fountains, eateries, and pubs -- a great place to go to.

So we decided to spend a little time enjoying the atmosphere a little off the beaten path.

Not to mention, we had to stop at a pub George has been raving about since last year -- the Tilted Kilt.  I think I know why he liked it so much now.

Eileen had a little hole in the wall in the neighbourhood she wanted to visit too -- last year she found John Wayne there, and yup -- he was still there!  Clint Eastwood is in the ladies room.

 After that, it was to the piano bar at Paris Paris, where I was delighted to hear Taylor Swift followed immediately by Master of Puppets by Metallica all on the pianos!  Quite the range!  It was a full and fun couple of days, but now it's back to work!

Goodbye For Real This Time

Sunday dawned the last day in Vegas for me.  We went for breakfast, laid out by the pool as long as we could, said goodbye to the Edmonton crew, and headed out for one last adventure minus the Dev, who muttered "Vegas always wins..." and stayed in for a nap with one eye on his Vegas prize....the 64 ounce leg glass from Freemont Street.

So as it was, we met at the Aurora in the lobby, and dabbled in a little electronic poker.  Kinda looks a bit like Flanagans when you put the usual faces in place.

The plan for the evening was to get some pictures of the Bellagio fountains, and so we hopped in the cab and headed that way.  One good thing about Vegas in August is that its not as crowded as some of the cooler months. 

Ah, pretty Vegas lights

And 5 years in Bermuda makes summer in Vegas easy to handle.  We stopped for a group photo -- now Joy from Bermuda gave Siobhan a "selfie stick," and this delighted the crowds wherever we went...especially Eileen as you can tell by this grin.  Most of the time we still missed a head, but we had a lot of fun trying, and refusing offers from people passing by offering to take our photo.

We had a great spot to stand and view the fountains as they "danced" to what I think was Pavarotti playing over the strip.

Once the fountain show was over, we started making our way down the strip towards the Cosmopolitan.  Music was still playing over the street like an extra companion, and an oldie but goodie "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton came on.  Eileen was bopping and dancing down the street as we sang along (which reminds me that Lizzie was dancing along to the music of a street performer the night before, and soon a crowd was watching HER perform...someone even threw in money so she is officially a Vegas showgirl in our legends).  It was one of those moments that the world slows down a moment, and I looked at my smiling, laughing Bermuda friends and realized that after months of putting it off, this was really it, the last night before time and distance would interrupt our usual and casual unusual and awesome flow of our escapades.  Eileen, Lizzie, and George would go back to Bermuda.  Siobhan would complete her disjointed Bermuda-Canada-US move back to Ireland.  Dev would go back to Qatar, although we always know he will pop up again soon, and I would be off to the States soon (or so I thought at the time).  So the moment in time is frozen in memory, and whenever I need a smile I can pull up these guys, bopping down the strip in Vegas.

Our next stop was the Chandelier bar at Cosmo.  We decided to get some Veuve Cliquot and toast the good times.  I don't think there is a sparklier place in Vegas than this, so it was the best spot we could think of!  So we toasted a good weekend, a good run, and future meetings, and ended our little journey on the same path...for now.

And on the way out the door I finally consented to letting Siobhan buy me something for a birthday present.  We found a vending machine that dispensed gifts...souvenirs, electronics, flasks, watches, and I had been determined all week not to accept Siobhan's offer of a gift.  But....there was a little stuffed dog wearing a bear suit, and when it was pointed out, I couldn't deny that it was adorable.  And so we headed back to the hotel, 2 scots, 1 Brit, an Irish lass, a Canuck, and a dog in a bear suit -- now adorned with lipstick kisses from all the girls and even George...the perfect souvenir :)

Viva Las Vegas

The final stage of this road trip....a flight from YYC to LAS (Calgary to Las Vegas).  In the cab between the airport and the hotel, the cab driver told us that the convention in town this week was the Hacker Convention.  "18,000+ registered, and let me tell you, you can pick those guys out a mile away, with the little backpacks and their faces glued to screens."  Siobhan and I had a little laugh, leave it to us to pick "nerd week" of all weeks.  After we checked in, we headed go the little lobby bar, because the free wifi at the hotel was only available in the restaurants and bars.  I don't want to say I go to Vegas a lot (but it is probably exceeds the amount of times I have been a bridesmaid, which is remarkable for any event go do, and interestingly, the two events have never happened at the same time.  I will come out of bridesmaid retirement for a Vegas wedding one day...), but when we sat down at the lobby bar I recognized the bartender.  He did not recognize me though, and to Siobhan's delight, when I flicked open my beloved Surface Pro to let everyone know we had arrived, the bartender said "Are you here for the convention?"  "You're a NERD!" Siobhan squealed!  I did not hear the end of it for the rest of the weekend.

 

Well, Siobhan and I never did make it out of that lobby bar that day.  Eventually "my Scots," Eileen, Lizzie, and George (Lizzie is more of an honorary Scot, since she moved from England but has some Scottish ancestry, but I lump her in there anyway) arrived at the lobby bar.  They had been out touring Vegas all day, and already had some interesting adventures and logging some time at places like the Twisted Kilt....and had a drink on the go on the other side of the lobby, so just popped in for hugs while we waited for...The Dev.  When "The Dev" arrived, he had been in transit for 34 hours from Qatar, so Siobhan and I expected an early night.  However, in true form of the legend that is Dev, something like surviving 34 hours in airports and planes is cause for celebration, and the long island iced teas started rolling.  Our bartender was about to experience the legend of Dev, and the evening was not going to be an early one after all.  Somewhere along the lines, John from Bermuda popped in, who was in Vegas on vacation with family, and a little while later Davey just rocked up, which was quite the surprise since he left Bermuda at the end of July and we weren't expecting him to pop up in Vegas!

 

At some point, Dev started talking to another Australian lad, who was indeed in town for the Hacker Convention.  In the best of Long Island Iced Tea laced intentions, Dev was pulling out all the stops to "be my wingman" and set me up with this Australian Hacker lad.  It was not going to happen. But he was a nice enough lad, and travelling on his own, so we told him the group meets every night at the lobby bar and he is welcome to join.  Still delighted by this hacker convention and nerd line of conversation, Siobhan was delighted to say "I can't believe it you pulled on the first night in Vegas, and a nerd!"  Again, he wasn't really a nerd, just a hacker, but there is no point arguing terminology at 3 or 4am, so I just said "Hey, that's Dev's nerd, thank you very much."  Despite this being an entire 'Act of Dev,' this is yet another thing I will never live down.  There is still lively debate on whether he belongs to Dev or me.

 

Friday morning...er early afternoon...dawned and began with a little shopping.  For once we were not fashion mission orientated, but utilitarian mission orientated.  The strip is not designed for utilitarian shopping, for future reference.  Early in afternoon, Barb and Heather arrived from Edmonton, and we had time to catch up before meeting the group in the lobby bar and heading to the show of our choosing.  Our hacker friend was waiting, and so our group expanded by one.  The taxi driver's were just fascinated with us, because for once they couldn't figure out where the group was from, with a mix of English, Irish, Scottish, Australian, and Canadian accents in the group...and it was even more confusing when we said we were mostly from Bermuda, except for "that guy we just found yesterday," which became the running joke for our hacker friend.  I think he quite enjoyed the humour, which is good, because we used that over and over on him.

 

The show we agreed on was....

 

 

 

...Rock of Ages, and we all loved it.  Loads of 80's and 90's music, the quality of the show was excellent....and they sang Journey "Don't Stop Believing," which is sort of the requisite for any good weekend with us anyway.

 

Pre-show

After the show, those of us still up for an outing made a brief pitstop at the Rock of Ages bar, where we were streamed live (a little too much like my last night at the Hog Penny), so we headed to a favourite Vegas haunt for all of us....Nine Fine Irishmen at New York New York.  This next photo was taken compliments of our hacker, minus solid attempts and hilarity of Shibby and the selfie stick.





 

 

Saturday it was necessary to put in some pool time, with the evening plan being to go to Freemont Street, just to go there, and also because Seether was playing a live free outdoor concert there...awesomesauce!!!  We had to take 2 cabs, and even with the split, we ended up with 6 and so it was necessary to rent a stretch SUV and travel in style.  Here are a few photos from the drive.

 

 



This ride is an excellent investment.  $60 is a flat rate fee, takes up to 8 or 9 people, and he toured us around for over and hour before dropping us at Freemont Street.  He also suggested a stop at a liquor board first so we could enjoy the cruise.  This is definitely the way to travel in Vegas.  Once we got to Freemont Street, we found a streetside pub and got a drink so we could get a couple of chairs, and settled in to enjoy the concert.

At one point I went into the Golden Nugget just for the point of it and put $5 in a slot machine.  This is what it looks like when you win $50!

Dev kept putting his head in the wrong spot for Heather's pictures, and after hearing about it a few times, he just decided he might as well do it on purpose.

Probably the tipping point of the evening was when Dev spotted this 64 ounce beer glass that was oddly reminiscent of the leg lamp in "A Christmas Story."  After that, well....there is a code about Vegas and I will plead that.

At some point a few of those left standing made it to this wheel, the new observation point in Vegas.  They include a few drinks in the ride, which we probably didn't need at this point, but Shibby and I were happy to have completed the original plan, even if it took til 2am or so.