My vacation...

the vacation started after a cancelled flight and more time than originally planned on various planes and in various airports. My flight went from a four-hour direct flight to Vegas landing about 2:20 pm to leaving Chicago about 2:00 (like it left on time) flying to Dallas. Having a two hour layover in Dallas before getting on another plane to Vegas. However it was an "enchanted" flight, so the time went quickly. I like it when they spontaneously show movies on the plane. I was the last to join my friends in Vegas at 8:00 pm on Thursday. All being tired and jet-lagged we had a late dinner and went to bed.

The fun started Friday. The girls spent the morning at the pool while Tim hit the casinos. The weather was perfect. It was so beautiful about 80 degrees, mostly sunny. A few light clouds in the sky, which were welcomed by some more than others, provided a brief break from the sun. We chit-chatted, read our books, and had a beer. We also did some people watching. it's a very fun thing to do. We noticed the ages of people, what people were wearing or not wearing. Very entertaining. Sharon’s cousin was also staying at the hotel. She came over and taught us about craps. Early afternoon we were tan, warm, and hungry, Tim joined us and we went inside for lunch. After lunch with a foo-foo drink topped off with a fuzzy palm tree, we headed inside to prepare for the game.

Kris drove. Tim navigated. We followed the back roads and ended up in the back parking lot of Cashman Field right next to the batting cages. A few Mariners were batting around. Matt Murton was chatting with the cubs hitting coach. We peered through the fence for a few minutes and headed inside the park. We found our seats and squeezed into them. They were benches with backs located on the third-base side. not bad. What was bad was getting a hot dog. About the fourth inning Sharon and i decided to go at the end of the inning and get hot dogs. This was a mistake. after a quick trip to the ladies room we stepped outside into the very long concession stand line. We waited. Fifth inning... in the book. Sixth inning... in the book. creeping along… "take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd..." then we finally got to the front of the line, not sure why it took so long, we picked up our dogs and checked out. We got back to our seats feeling like we missed half the game. Didn't miss much. the score was 8 to 2 at that time. Two more runs were given up by the Cubs before the misery ended. 10 to 2. Beaten by the Mariners. We quickly slipped through the crowd and made it to the car, which Kris parked in an excellent spot right next to the exit. We did try to stop at CVS and Walgreen's on the way home. no luck. So we found a Jack in the Box and filled our stomachs with giant tacos (if you do come across a Jack in the Box, i highly recommend the tacos) and then back in the car to find a 7-11 and back to the hotel. I was feeling a bit headachy and didn't want it to be a migraine so i stayed in and the others went to check out the casino. Some were luckier than others.

Saturday started out rather slow. No one wanted to get out of bed. With the game at noon we knew we couldn't linger too long. We dressed, worked our way through the casino (you have to walk through the casino to get any where) to the parking lot, a quick stop at Starbuck's for breakfast and 7-11 for more suntan lotion, we were back again on the back roads working our way to the field. This game was way better. Even started out with the Cubs in the batting cages. I almost got run down by Mark DeRosa, which wouldn't have been a horrible thing. Got a few pictures snapped but no one through of bringing a ball to get an autograph. We had lawn seats for the game. It was great. Beautiful sunny day sitting on the grass watching the Cubs win. and i was only gone an inning and a half when I went for a hot dog. how more perfect could it be?

Back to the hotel for showers and comfortable clothes. The evening was spent exploring the strip. we took the monorail to the south end of the Strip to MGM. Starting there we went through the Luxor, Mandalyn Bay, Excalibur, and New York before heading outside to Bellagio, and Paris. At the Bellagio we stopped for a look at the inside gardens and a card game. Outside we got into position for the famous water/light show to only find out that it was cancelled due to high winds. What Vegas movie doesn't show the water/light show at some point? We missed it. We stopped at Le Cafe inside Paris for a late dinner and wandered back to Treasure Island. We knew there was a pirate show there... again upon arriving to see the show it was cancelled due to high winds. We were really out of luck for the free shows this weekend. After some time spent in the casinos we head back to bed, again some luckier than others.

Sunday started out lazy, torn between wanting to relaxing and having to get up to check out of the hotel on time, while seeing a bit more of the strip. Headed just north to the beautiful Wynn, beautiful is almost an understatement to this new hotel. Then we split up before meeting and heading to the airport. I choose to wander around the Venetian and the Mirage. I also checked out Casino Royal. Ok it’s not the most glamour casino on the strip but we were told they had cheap craps tables and I decided I needed to give it a try. I had learned it so I needed to test my knowledge. I walked away even, which I would say was a good thing. We met and headed to the airport. We had heard some nightmarish stories of long security lines at the Vegas airport, so had planned to arrive plenty of time before our flight. Kris’s luck from the weekend must have still been with her because we nearly flew through the long security lines and had plenty of time to sit around and wait for our flight… which left late. Got to love flying. Arrive back in Chicago about 11:00 pm, not much later than scheduled but to a cold and rainy evening. Talk about a wake up call after a nice vacation.