blue artichoke: Kosher Gentile: Some Memories...

I do want to write about the entire Cross-Country for Dummies experience, but for now I can only comment on Vegas.

After being followed, and ultimately passed, by natural and unnatural disasters, Blue Artichoke and I found ourselves speeding across California heading for Las Vegas. We were pretty sure we'd hate it and agreed to stay for just a short time. We called White Mackerel's parents in Oklahoma and told them we'd be there in two days -- after all, we didn't want to be in Vegas and it was only because it was something we "had to see" and it was on the way.

We rolled into Vegas sometime mid-day, didn't we?

We parked at Mandalay Bay after driving all the way up the Strip and all the way back. It was a gaudy masterpiece of surrealism -- seriously, a large city in the middle of the frickin' desert.

We got on the little tram and rode until we reached New York, New York. We had lunch there -- I had a burger/chicken sandwich. It was nothing memorable, but it was in the sandwich genre of foods. We went to the Luxor, because if you're in the desert, you should have a pyramid. And if it's the desert, why not also make it BLACK?

Anyway, BA and I dropped some coins into the slot machines. I had $1.25 on me, so that's what I spent... and despite getting up to almost three dollars, I lost it all.

Blue Artichoke had much better luck, but she had a better reason to play. BA had a goal -- retiring at age 23 -- and she was going to win those retirement funds in our stopover.

It would have needed to be a frugal retirement -- BA walked away with $6.25, and I'm pretty sure that was a win, overall.

We decided against staying in the glitzy Motel 6, which was oddly expensive compared to the other hotels in Vegas, and found some random motel on the edge of town. We had hoped to go much farther and be well on our way to Oklahoma, but we really wanted to see the Hoover Dam, so we stopped for the night before reaching that.

The next morning, we took the dam tour, but the free dam tour, not the costly dam tour (which was $30 if memory serves me correctly).

We lamented the short time we spent in Vegas, as we had a blast. Six hours was definitely not enough. We were surprised, too -- but we went in with REALLY low expectations.

Getting to Know All About You: Have you ever been someplace you didn't think you'd like, and ended up loving? Or went someplace you'd always wanted to visit and then ended up hating it?

Posted by Red Momo, aka the Kosher Gentile on January 15, 2008 11:40 AM | Permalink

Comments

I didn't *HATE* it... but I didn't end up liking Seattle nearly as much as I thought I would... of course, I was there for a conference and didn't get to sightsee as much as normal... but still, I saw the highlights and in my opinion, it wasn't all that...

Posted by: Blue Grilled Cheese | January 15, 2008 07:47 PM

Disney. The one in Florida. I somehow made it to adulthood without ever visiting. I think everyone I've ever known had been there as a kid or teenager and *loved* it. I thought perhaps I had aged out when I went, that it was a place for toddlers and easily-impressed teenagers, but I was wrong. Though I did spend a lot of time doing kiddie things with my nephew, there is a whole lot of fun for adults too.

So, I thought it would be OK, but it far exceeded my expectations. I liked it a whole lot. Not as much as Vegas, of course, which is the sinful adult-Disneyland, but in a good, wholesome fun sort of vacation.

Posted by: Blue Artichoke | January 16, 2008 02:08 PM

By the way, Red Momo, kudos on remembering the details of our trip. Did you keep a journal? Or is your memory just that good?

You could have made it all up, for all I know. And I was there.

Posted by: Blue Artichoke | January 16, 2008 02:10 PM

We started to keep a journal for our book, but in the end, it went the way of the dodo when my computer was the victim of an unfortunate milk attack.

I would like to blame China and their lactose intolerance, but the truth is I was simply clumsy and spilled milk on my laptop. I didn't cry, though, over that spilled milk. I was strong.

So I just remember what we did. I will try to write the entire thing down if I can... I know we were driving across the country and taking Beggin' Burros AND Braum's Burgers and Ice Cream, amongst other things (Jack in the Box! Jack in the Box! Jack in the Box!!!).

Posted by: Red Momo | January 16, 2008 02:42 PM