Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sat Feb 26, 2011

Woke up this morning to enough snow that Ted had to get the snow blower out. We left home just before one oclock and arrived safely at Al & Arlene’s in Leduc before 3. Had time for a wonderful piece of Arlene’s freshly baked Banana cake with cream cheese icing. Mmmmm. . . .


Ted dropped us off at the airport about four fifteen. What a song and dance one has to perform when going to the USA these days. I was the only one of the four of us that didn’t have to go through a full body scan. Then we discovered our flight was delayed 25 minutes. The other gals eventually ought sandwiches then informed me that they now charge for snacks on Westjet flights. I decided to go to a vending machine so I could choose my own snack, where the machine promptly ate my money and refused to cough up a snack. Signs of things to come in Vegas? I hope not

Arlene goes through the body scanner
 Took a photo of Carol sleeping on the flight . . . payback for her & Kim putting up rabbit ears in Arlene & my photo! Later the two of them blamed the man in the window seat for doing it . . .


Las Vegas Blvd upon landing
It always seems like you have to trek all the way through the entire airport to collect your baggage . . . then wait & wait until it slides down the shute.  Arlene didn’t waste any time putting money into the slot machine and promptly lost $20 before we even left the airport!
 Limosines and shuttle buses & vans line the street outside the baggage area. We didn’t have any trouble finding a van to take us to the hotel. I must say Vegas has changed since 1966 and I’ll admit that the thrill that I felt as we drove down the main street in Las Vegas back then, all lit up with millions of lights still remains. Las Vegas Blvd is several lanes across and each of the huge hotels lining both sides of the street are maizes of roads and driveways with the actual hotel way back from the main road. We watched as the other passengers were dropped off in underground parkades and driveways that were several lanes deep and it was necessary for a traffic director to keep things running smoothly. Although our driver was very nice, I don’t give her a good star for letting us off at the door farthest from the registration desk. Picture four of us dragging our luggage all the way through the hotel casino to reach the front desk and stand in a lineup similar to the airport. We are staying in the Tower 2, so had to drag those bags all the way back through the entire casino to find our elevator.

Raylene, the beggar, gets to stay on a roll-a-way cot for $20 a night . . . not bad. We left our luggage in the room, which has a lovely view of some towers, even though we are in the back. Then Arlene & I headed downstairs to look for her sister Carol. We found her right away! Sister’s intuition! Then we set out to do a little gambling on the penny machines, where I had my first lessons on how to play. Once I was down $5, I decided to do some snooping around the shops etc. Wow! Everything costs a lot here – popcorn $6.50!!

Back to the casino for a little more play, then upstairs again. Almost 0030 hours. No cot yet, so I called down to the desk to remind them. Then I discovered I had lost the keys to my suitcase lock! I found a giant paper clip and fiddled with it until it magically opened the lock! Jammies, here I come!

Cot was delivered. Clothes were all put into the drawers, laptop set up and I uploaded my pictures and began my diary. Shortly after, Arlene came in, then later Carol who was up almost $300.