Las Vegas 2001 Food Show

In 2001 we had planned a trip out west to see the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and also Las Vegas, NV.  SIL Henry worked for a food company at that time and he was required to work the food show.  Barbara always enjoyed going to the food shows when they were close to their home on the East Coast and she said she wasn't going to miss Las Vegas.  

If you remember, this was also the year of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S. and there was talk about canceling the show; however, the show went on.  Many people were scared to be on the roads fearing gasoline shortages and more attack, but we decided that wasn't going to happen.  Gerry's sister had been battling cancer and lost the fight about the time we were departing in the motorhome to visit her.  It was a difficult time for us, but we made a beeline for Ft. Worth, TX to be there in time for her memorial service.

After the service we headed for the balloon fiesta and then the food show.   We used the Circus Circus campground (asphalt parking lot) while we were in Vegas.  It was the closest rv park to the show and we really didn't know of any other park in the area.

We got company passes to enter the show and had a ball.  We walked all around the huge hall and managed to pick up bags of freebies.  I mean really large bags and we made a couple trips to the Jeep to store them and go back for more.  Barbara was part of our scrounging team and cleaned up, also.  Henry was mortified.  
BTW:  That was the last food show Henry invited us to attend.  Hint Hint.

The motorhome was full of bags, drinks, gloves, chips, glasses, etc. and the storage bins were full too.  Since Barbara and Henry flew to Vegas, we wound up taking most of Barbara's stuff back with us and lived with all of it in the motorhome for a month or so.  Never again!

It wasn't all work, though.  I managed to take a walk through and get some autographs.  I wish I could remember the names, but I do remember who signed them.

I'm sure you will forgive and understand why I didn't remember their names.    Now, if I can get this part by my censor, it will be fine.

While I was on my own Gerry and Barbara were having some fun of their own.

Barbara and I competed in three events to see if we could win a prize.  I wound up with the highest score and Barbara was right behind me.  There must have been a hundred or so people competing, so we figured we wouldn't be a winner.

 Much to our surprise, the winners board was posted that afternoon and we won the two best prizes.  I won Tony Lama boots and Barbara won a nice Sony Tv.  I wasn't able to find boots that fit me and they awarded me a generous cash prize.  Add to that the $225 that Gerry won on the slots and we had a free week in Vegas.  Is there any wonder why we love it out here?

Finally the week ended and we hit the road for Lake Havasu and Barb & Henry went home.  We wound up trading potato chips and pretzels with some fishermen and received some fresh striped bass in return.  We wound up with 3 meals of fish and enjoyed the fish very much.

Why, you may be asking am I writing about something that happened 13 years ago?  Well, we drove around out here in the Southwest and really loved what we saw and decided we would return and spend the winter out here.  We wound up checking out the Cactus Country RV Park and thought that would be a great snowbird location.  A couple years later in 2006 we came back and spent the winter in Tucson as well as each winter since then.

We both were worn out today and decided to take a day off and hit the road again on Tuesday.  We hope to have an interesting blog on Tuesday night and have done something we've never done before.  As long as the winds don't pick up, then stay tuned.

Trip to the Outback

Well, we made it through the night fine.  The really bad winds were between 10:30pm and midnight with gust anywhere from 50-92mph in the Las Vegas area.  We were on the low end of the wind speeds and it wasn't too bad.  The winds died down by morning and were only in the 10mph range.

Gerry had a nice Mother's day even though her children were miles away.  Barbara called first thing this morning and they chatted for a while and grandsons Ryan & Jared got on the phone and wished Gerry a happy Mother's day. 

After the phone call I made coffee and prepared one of Gerry's favorite breakfasts.  Favorite since she doesn't have to prepare it and she actually likes it.  I must confess to making a delicious egg sandwich with grated cheese melted on at the end.  Place the egg between two slices of toast, spread a little mayo on the toast and mash the toast slices together.  Yes, I know your mouth must be watering by now, but you will just have to wait.

After church we returned to the motorhome and enjoyed a glass of wine and watched the movie "Philomena" which we enjoyed.  It's based on actual events and is about the adoption of babies in Ireland by outsiders.  If you get a chance to see the movie, do so.

Gerry selected the Outback Steakhouse for her Mother's day dinner.  We managed to get a parking place right in front of the restaurant.  There were people sitting around all over the place and our worst fears were realized when they said the wait was 1 1/2 hours.  Then the hostess said if we wanted to sit in the bar area we could be seated right away.  Well, yes we were willing to sit in the bar area and immediately snagged a booth.  How nice was that?

We had a super waitress and she recommended a few items and we went with them.  Of course, I didn't need any help ordering a large Foster's draft beer and the bloomin' onion.  Gerry ordered a Hickory Smoked Pineapple Margarita with hickory smoked salt on the rim.  She loved it and managed to drink it down without me getting a taste.

They do serve large meals there and we couldn't finish everything.  Take a look at our plates and you will see why.  This was served after our salads.

Steak & Shrimp - Gerry  Pork tenderloin for me

Happy Mother's Day Gerry

 We decided since we had such good luck at Outback,  we would try to extend it at the Sunset Station Casino.  We should have bypassed that stop since we used all our luck up before we got there.  Needless to say, we lost our allotted funds for gambling that day in a hurry.  I was actually up $25 and should have stopped there, but I just knew the next turn would be the big winner.  It was, but it was the casino who was the winner.

We beat a hasty exit and returned to the motorhome in time to see "The Amazing Race".   

Phone calls from Cassie & Larry Jr made her day complete as she wound up talking to all her children in one day.

(Note from Gerry - I have had a very nice day and enjoyed the special attention.  Henry, Larry did spoil me today, as you suggested.)

That was our day, how was yours?

It's Windy, Windy & Happy Mother's Day

We had a very nice day until around 5pm when the winds started picking up speed.  When we went grocery shopping this afternoon it wasn't too bad, but within an hour or so the dust started appearing over the city.  It was very noticeable by the time we got back to the MH after 6pm and visibility was really dropping quickly.

It's 10:30pm now and the wind gusts are very strong.  It is buffeting the motorhome around like a cork bobbing in a pond at times.  They are calling for wind gusts around 50mph tonight and I think they are about in that range now.  We are sheltered a little by other RVs and I'm glad we aren't completely out in the open!

It doesn't look like we will be getting a sound sleep tonight if this keeps up.  We've had winds like this in Tucson and they aren't fun to ride out, but we will be fine.  If I could include a picture of the winds I would do so.  This is the best I can do under the circumstances.

More to follow in the morning, I hope!

Gerry edits my blog so it doesn't look like chicken scratching and I had to wait for her to finish her job before the following entry.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

TO:  Gerry, Barbara, Cassie and Jane; the mothers closet to me.  I hope it is a great day for all of you and your husbands spoil you like I intend to spoil Gerry.

Happy Mother's Day to all the other mothers out there.  Where would us men be without you?  No, don't tell me.

Visit with Bob & Ihsan

Our friends Ihsan and Bob returned from a visit to the Los Angeles area yesterday and contacted us.  We set up a get together with them for today and drove over to their nice home in Henderson.  We've been there before, but the GPS helped find their house quicker than hand written directions.

Before we left the RV park we checked if we could stay another week at the same rate and they said fine.  So, it looks like we will be in Las Vegas another week and leave on May 19.  I hope the weather and our money holds up until then.  Now if I can keep Gerry out of the casinos, we should be ok.

Back to Bob & Ihsan.  We left in plenty of time to get to their house and took I-515 south to I-215 west to speed up the trip.  Bad move on my part.  For some reason the exit ramp onto I-215 was almost at a standstill.  The locals were all waiting until the last minute and then swerving into the lane and cutting off everyone.  Within a 1/2 mile section of the road this occurred with about 50 vehicles.  If everyone would have been patient and got in line there wouldn't have been a delay.  Then again, these are the "me" people who think they deserve to be first and not have to wait.

It was nice enough outside that we sat on their patio for 3-4 hours chatting and catching up on events in our lives.  We also replayed some events from when we worked together in Washington, DC and also overseas in the Foreign Service.  Our paths have crossed many times in various places in the world.

Bob is a semi-celebrity in that he appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in the December 11, 1954 issue.  He included this photograph in a Christmas letter a few years ago and I've kept it all these years.  Maybe I had a view of the future and knew I would need it for the blog.

 In the picture are his mother, father, sister and Bob.  He doesn't look too happy even though it was the Christmas season from the looks of it.

We enjoyed a few drinks, nuts and a cheese spread and finally decided we needed more substantive nourishment and headed over to a local Panera Bread for a light dinner.  It was nice eating there once again since it had been a number of months since we last enjoyed their food.  We continued our conversations there and wound up staying 20 minutes beyond their closing time.  Time really flew by fast and we had a nice dinner and company.

Bob & Ihsan

 
We decided to call it an early evening so we can hit the road in the morning before it warms up.  Also, the town will be mobbed since it is a weekend and half of California will be here.

That was our day, how was yours?

Lunch at M

We made it to one of our favorite buffets in Las Vegas today.  Friends Sharon & Bill R joined us there around 1pm and we sat and talked for hours.  Bill & I met many years ago at USAID.  We've known each other for 44 years and have worked on projects together a couple times.  He joined the Foreign Service a while after I did.  He retired from USAID and wound up in Las Vegas around 2000 and bought a beautiful house on a golf course.   They love the summers out here and she looks forward to the hot weather.

We always enjoy seeing them and chatting up a storm.  

The buffet at the M was great and we all enjoyed our meal.  They even include beer and wine with the meal and a huge assortment of desserts.  I managed to stuff myself pretty good and could only take on a few desserts, but one of them was Flan, which I love.

After the long lunch we went out into the casino and donated some funds to the local establishment.  I wound up breaking even and Gerry was down a few dollars but we had a great time playing the slots.  Bill & Sharon played the slots next to us until they exhausted their limits and then they went home to pack for a trip to Hawaii on Friday morning.  Have a great trip guys and we will see you next time we are in Las Vegas.

The M casino and hotel has a beautiful lobby and there is a wall of callalillies separating two sections of the lobby.  We managed to get a nice picture of them, included here.

 
The M has a number of super restaurants and bars on the Casino floor.  We haven't tried any of them yet since we love the buffet.  Maybe one of these times we will check them out also.  Maybe!

My first cousin Dodie & husband Ray visited my old home town yesterday and called my brother Dick to see if they could meet up.  They haven't met before and she didn't know what Dick looked like so it was like a blind date.  Here is how the meeting went in Dodie's words.  Keep in mind, they didn't know what each other looked like.

Dodie writes:   "The story of our visit to Dick...very funny...when we got to Gillespie I called him on his cell phone and he said he'd meet us in front of the Miners Restaurant in just a few minutes, he was in Odell (Benld) working on a truck.  So after a few minutes this car pulls up right next to ours.  I stick my hand out to shake his & say "are you Dick?", he says yes, so I introduce ourselves and say "lets go in and get some lunch", so when we go in (the car was from Missouri and 2 women were with him - & since I know nothing about him, I figured they were visiting, but he was driving), so we go in the restaurant and again I say to him, Dick, I'm your cousin Dodie and this is my husband Ray...with that the lady says to him, Dick, you don't have any cousins...with that I proceed to ask him his cell phone number and his last name....totally wrong....everything!!! soon Dick and his daughter arrive in his truck...and we had a wonderful afternoon eating and visiting and having a grand tour of the area...so that will be a story to be re-told!!"

 
It was a very long day for us and I almost didn't write a blog tonight.   

That was our day, how was yours?