Trip to Las Vegas

My work offered me an opportunity to attend a conference in Las Vegas, so I said, well, maybe......of course I said yes! I was honored to go, and it was a great conference on working with veterans and their families who served in Iraq. Larry went too and we turned it into a mini-vacation before and after conference hours. We went to a couple of shows, gambled a little (very little), and enjoyed some time together away from home.

Where we stayed and view from our room The Bellagio Fountains

Had lunch at the Venetian shops. Love this living statue. Only can tell he is real by those red eyes!
Creative window dressing....

Here was the crazy part. We're in the lobby of our hotel, and a young blond guy walks by, and I told Larry, that looks like Blake! and I took off following him (I do these weird things once in awhile!). Finally he turned sideways where I could look at him, and sure enough, it was Blake Rawlings, our niece Chelsey's boyfriend, and lead singer of the Tastydactals (check them out at www.myspace.com/thetastydactyls), a great rock band, from home. They are on tour, and happened to be in Vegas that night only, so we went to see them! Of all the hotels in Vegas and the not so often times we spent in the lobby, we happened to run into Blake. Fun to get to see them in Vegas!

Blake Rawlings, great guy, BF of Chelsey, our great-niece, and lead singer of the Tastydactals

I think they are still on tour. You can find them on MySpace and Facebook

We also saw Love, a Cirque de Solei show about the Beatles. As a theatre in the round, you're never far from the stage, and I loved it! Larry thought it was like watching a 3-ring circus, too much going on at once, but it was very well done. Another great show was 'Jersey Boys,' about Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. My friend Judy had seen them on TV and told us about them, or we otherwise might have missed them, but I'm so glad we went--great songs and story about how they became a great group.

Beatles Love at the Mirage

Jersey Boys at the Palazzo

Another thing about travel is getting there and back. Can we talk about airlines and travel issues when you book via your work? I booked my flight at work and Larry's at home, but with the plan to fly together there and back. However, somehow my flight plans got messed up, and we didn't get to fly together on the way back, not even on the same airline. He flew back through Houston; me through DFW. Both of us had slight hitches at Houston and DFW; his flight was overbooked and he nearly didn't get to get on; my gate got moved and they had to find a plane for us, so it was a bit dicey for a brief time. And we flew from Killeen, so it wasn't like we could just have friends pick us up if one of us got back on time and the other didn't. Geez, it was good to see Larry at the airport!

Thanks to Robin and Josh, Chassis, Charlie and Captain were well cared for while we were gone, and it was nice to be home. A week is almost too long in Vegas.