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April 10, 2009

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!

We have been on vacation and at the condo in Mesquite, Nevada we had to pirate off someone's unencrypted signal to even try to get online. The signal was very weak (when it was on at all) so that is why I wasn't able to update since I left Phoenix. We were barely able to sneak on long enough to check our email.

We had a great vacation and now it is time to go back to reality. Here's the update for the past two weeks. While I was in Phoenix visiting my sister, I picked up my friend, Terrie at the airport on Saturday. We did some shopping and saw a couple of movies and then on Monday the 30th, Terrie, my sister Jeanne and I drove up to Sedona, Arizona to have lunch with some of other friends of mine who live there. Pat and Betty Kaufmann met us for lunch and then we took a tour of their beautiful home that faces the red cliffs of Sedona. Betty also showed us some of her baskets that she has been creating and selling in the local artist's shops. She's very talented and they sell for big bucks! The beautiful red cliffs that surround the area highlighted our trip to Sedona, but as it turned out, that was only the beginning of what Mother Nature had in store for us later.

On the 31st, Terrie and I picked up the rental car at the Phoenix airport and the next day we left bright and early for Las Vegas to meet up with Stan and Dave. The five-hour drive to Las Vegas was an easy trip with hardly any traffic. The only problem we had was when we stopped to fill the car with gas and we had to pump our own. Being from Oregon, we didn't even know how to take off the gas cap let alone know how to begin to pump the gas! Fortunately, a nice gentleman showed us the procedure. We decided that from now on, since the gals had to drive the car, we were going to make the guys pump the gas. The two of us were the drivers for the entire trip since only our names were listed as drivers on the rental agreement. We had to stop at Hoover Dam as Homeland Security was checking cars, but we got lucky and we were waved on by. I guess a couple of gals traveling together weren't much a threat to anyone! Didn't they see "Thelma & Louise"?

After getting lost in Las Vegas, we finally found our way to the Mirage Hotel. While we waited for the guys to arrive, we decided to get a drink in the bar. I ordered a glass of wine and Terrie had a martini and the bill was $28.00!! I am sure glad I enjoyed that one glass of wine! After meeting up with the guys, we checked into our room and then went to dinner at the Venetian Hotel, which of course, has an Italian theme. We ate on Vatican Square. After dinner we had show reservations to see Terry Fator, the ventriloquist who won "America's Got Talent" contest and does a terrific show. He (they) had us laughing until we cried! After the show, we decided to check out the town. Since Terrie had been to Las Vegas a few times, she was appointed our official tour guide. She took us to every hotel on the strip and each one of them has their own "theme". The casinos that I liked the best were New York, New York, where I felt like I was walking down streets in the city of New York. They even had a roller coaster that ran around the entire hotel. I also liked the Bellagio with its huge waterworks display. We also visited the "old town", the original downtown, where they have a two-block long "above-the-street" screen where they show a video. After all that, I can now check Las Vegas off my travel list. It was very expensive and I felt like they were trying to gouge us every time we turned around. I loved the experience, but it may be a while before I go back!

We checked out of the hotel in Las Vegas and drove an hour east to Mesquite, Nevada, where we were going to be staying in a condo and using it as a base for the rest of our vacation. Mesquite is right on the Arizona border and is quite a little town with nine golf courses and four big casinos and a few smaller ones. A lot of people move there to retire. We went to the casino the first night and played a little one-arm bandit. I came out even on my spree, but Terrie won $1,000 on one spin! She is the lucky one out of the four of us. I won a $100 raffle at another casino and hit a few lucky turns on the slots and came out ahead with $175, so that was fun.

The four of us packed our backpack and headed for Zion National Park the next day. After we arrived, it started to rain, that was something that we hadn't planned for, but we decided to take this 2-mile hike to Emerald Pools anyway. It started raining even harder as we got closer to the top and we got absolutely soaked from all the rain. The trail was slick and goopy and we had a terrible time getting back down. The wet clay on the trail was slicker than walking on ice. When we got back to the trailhead, we scraped the mud off, got in the car and drove up the Zion Canyon but it was real hard to see anything because of the low clouds and rain. So, somewhat discouraged, we headed back to Mesquite and more gambling!

Our master plan had us going back into Utah the next day to see Bryce Canyon, but that rainstorm that chased us out of Zion was all snow up in Bryce, so we elected to sit around the condo in Mesquite and take it easy for a day. It was disappointing, but we knew we would have been even more disappointed to drive up to Bryce Canyon and not be able to see anything. That's what happened to us at Grand Canyon a couple of years ago.

We had reservations in Moab, Utah for Sunday and Monday so we could explore the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It was a six-hour drive to Moab from Mesquite, so Terrie and I took turns at the wheel. We drove for miles and miles and there was not a lot of town in between. We finally stopped in the little town of Richfield for lunch. When we finally got to Moab, we found out that there was a Jeep Safari going on and everywhere we looked, we saw Jeeps. The town was crawling with them. And that was just the beginning. They told us there would be thousands of them in town by the end of the week. I guess if you're into Jeeping, this is like the Indy 500. Good thing we got in and out of town before the biggest bunch of them arrived!

We explored Arches National Park first and were amazed by all the sculptured rock scenery and the sky that was so clear and blue. We hiked on several short trails and spent most of the day exploring all the wonders. We were getting tired and had made most of the stops by early afternoon, so we decided to head over to Canyonlands for the remainder of the afternoon. That park is made up of three sections, the Island in the Sky, the Maze and the Needles. There are many hiking trails and you could spend a good week or two and still not see everything. We took the easy way by taking the car, but got to see a lot of beautiful scenery anyway.

By now, the breathtaking views of this beautiful country were leaving us feeling very small and insignificant. Unfortunately, we have had this cold virus that we have been passing among us. First Dave was sick, then Stan and I have been fighting it. But we have been real troupers and made it through. Terrie was the only one who seemed immune and she was our cheerleader - urging us on!

Because we were able to do both Arches and Canyonlands in one day instead of two, on our drive back to Mesquite, we decided to take a detour and tour Bryce Canyon and go back through Zion by way of a tunnel carved through the cliffs. It was a fascinating drive with lots of high country and a number of old farms and homesteads just collapsing into the ground. Dave and Stan were eyeing some of those huge old timbers and trying to figure a way to get them back home without getting a truck - or getting shot trying to get them! Bryce Canyon was beautiful but again, there was just not enough time to explore everything. Some of the places we drove to in Bryce Canyon were over 9,000 feet in elevation. I expected the oxygen masks to drop down from the top of the car! The air was a little too thin for me to be climbing up and down the canyon but fortunately, most of the views were within driving distance. We were glad we were able to make it to Bryce Canyon after being snowed out a couple of days before. It was breathtaking.

We had an uneventful trip back to Mesquite, where we stayed for the final day. We got some things wrapped up that needed taking care of...things like the pictures I picked up in Phoenix for our bedroom. I had been carrying those things with us ever since I bought them, hoping that we could find someone driving to our neighborhood to volunteer to carry them in their car. That didn't happen. The largest of the three was too big for the suitcase, so we finally had to "bite the bullet" and go to the UPS store and ship them home. I bought the pictures on sale, so we ended up spending more to ship them home that what they cost me! Oh well, at least they're out of my hair and they're supposed to be delivered on Monday.

On Thursday, we hit the casino buffet one more time - put one last dollar in the slot machine and headed for the airport. Wow, what a trip! We allowed ourselves three hours - one for the drive and two to get the rental car returned, get our baggage checked and get through security. The only thing we didn't plan for was a MAJOR traffic jam in Las Vegas. They're in the process of widening the freeway, and we got stuck right in the middle of all the construction congestion. It took forever to get through downtown and get to the airport. Then we had to try to find the rental car return, which turned out to be on the far side of the airport! After we checked the car in, we went to get a shuttle back to the airport. By this time, we're starting to get a little nervous, because our plane loads in a half hour and we're still miles away from it! The icing on the cake came when they put us in line for the shuttle, and then let other lines go before us. The airport guy that did that little trick just about got lynched by those of us in the line! He finally flagged down a shuttle and got us onboard. Long story short, we made it to the gate with 5 minutes to spare. I know there are some people who plan it that way, but we're not them! That was cutting it too close for us! Really, the only thing that saved us was that Dave was carrying his cane (which he no longer has to use) because it was too long for a suitcase. One of the guards at security saw the cane and opened the wheelchair access for us - completely bypassing a huge line for the security check. We didn't say a word...we just went where they sent us! I'm sure that saved us 15 or 20 minutes going through the regular line!

The flight left early and we had a tailwind, so we arrived back in Portland about a half hour early. Lara picked us up and we were back in West Linn by 6:30. We'll stay here for a couple of days. Dave has a game broadcast tonight, and tomorrow we'll celebrate Paige's 7th birthday, Jadyn's 6th birthday and Easter with the family before heading home.

I'm looking forward to getting home; I've been gone more than 4 weeks. We're just going to have time to water the flowers and get the mail though, because we have to come right back into Portland on Monday. Dave has the final two broadcasts of the regular season on Monday and Wednesday, and I have a much-needed haircut appointment on Wednesday. As of right now, we don't know what our schedule is after that. The Blazers made the playoffs, but we probably won't know the playoff schedule until the last game of the season on Wednesday.

Sorry this is so long, and that I couldn't post at the regular time last week, but hopefully I'm back on schedule now...at least for a while!