When Melissa and I decided to visit the Pacific Northwest for our annual Flatt Family pilgrimage, we considered paying someone to take the RV out to California and have it waiting for us when we flew in. I had a better idea. I would road trip with Elizabeth to Vegas the week prior and work there! Plan hatched, we started to work on the logistics.
You already know the story of getting to Vegas. But, what happened in Vegas? Good news, what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas. So, here we go!
On the Tuesday of our arrival, Elizabeth and I headed down to the strip. Even though she is not 21 (only really excludes gambling and drinking), there are a ton of things and characters to see on the strip. We had a fabulous Thai lunch, wove in and out of casinos, were mistaken for a married couple like 7 times, did some high-end window shopping, and looked at a ton of art for sale. We had tickets to see Penn and Teller at 9pm and needed to eat before the show.
Elizabeth is my adventure eater. About a year ago I had the pleasure of eating at a little place named Nobu with my friends. It is a fusion sushi place and if you have the correct mindset, the server will fully prepare your menu for you. You get to taste lots of yummy things and, most likely, will have an opportunity to exercise your taste buds. Elizabeth was up for the challenge and we were able to sneak in for an early dinner before our show. When our server came by he asked us if there was anything he needed to steer clear from. I do not like the texture of salmon roe and Elizabeth did not want any urchin. That process over, he went straight to work. I will say, as soon as he walked away Elizabeth said, “I hope he doesn’t bring octopus,” and I thought, “Damn, I should have told him no internal organs.” Well, nothing to do about it now, the process had started. He brought us delicious tasting course after tasting course. Each plate only held 4-6 bites of any one given selection. Then it happened. Yep, you saw it coming. Little lettuce wraps with foie gras. Yep, that is liver folks. What did I do? Did I say no, no, no, you made a horrible mistake? Nothing for it, it went down the hatch. I only ate one of my two allotted wraps, but I did eat one. It wasn’t actually half bad. Like I said, exercising the taste buds. Two hours after the process began, the bill was paid, and we were off to see Penn and Teller. The show was awesome and as always, the guys waited for us in the lobby for pictures. When we left Caesars Palace, RIO looked so close and easy to walk to. It was still light out, so we set off down the street. We made it safe and sound, but there are some awful smelling places in Vegas. We found several of them on that walk. All in all, it was a very successful day.
On the 2nd day in Vegas, we decided to go check out a little thing called the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, there were no dam tours taking place. Nothing nefarious was happening, the dam elevator wasn’t working and hadn’t been for 3 weeks. Instead we watched a dam movie and then a 30-minute dam slideshow narrated by a dam tour guide. This was great! We were able to see all of the dam history and pictures of the dam hydroelectric plant from the comfort of our dam seats. After the dam slide show, Elizabeth and I stayed and spoke with the dam tour guide, one on one, for a little while longer. It was very informative, and I don’t think I really missed the dam tour at all. The sad thing is the dam cashier thanked us for not yelling at her about the fact there was no dam tour. We headed up to the dam observation platform and then took a stroll down the dam road to the Arizona side. Lastly, we looked at the dam spillway and then back to the dam garage to get the truck. The evening ended with our VIP tickets to the Kings Tournament at Excalibur. We were the only ones in the VIP section and the photographer really wanted to take a picture of the happy couple. Yet again, Elizabeth had to tell someone I was her father.
For our third full, and last day, in Vegas we went hiking in the Valley of Fire. It was really breath taking and I will post pictures soon.
So, after getting this far, you might be asking yourself, “Did Greg actually do any work?” The answer is yes. I met with some old friends and was introduced to some new. It was very productive, but I don’t really think you guys are reading this to hear about my work. On Friday we turned the RV towards California and cut right between the Mojave Dessert and Death Valley. The drive was uneventful and we made it safely to the next step of our adventure!