We are back and I don't even know where to begin! We had an absolute blast and saw and did SO much in the last 8 days! We topped our own record for picture taking...I have a total of over 1000 pictures to develop!
Okay, so we left last Friday and flew to Chicago and on to Phoenix. A two hour delay at the Chicago airport put is later to PHX and so it was 2 am our time by the time we fell into bed. Our Hilton resort was very nice, I just can’t find fault with a Hilton property! Phoenix was a little more commercial and built up than Tucson so not as much desert but you could definitely tell we were in the desert! We got free breakfasts for three days as Hilton Honors members, a $60 value! Gotta love that!
We awoke Sat morning to a beautiful breezy, sunny day. Saturday was scrapbook store day...gotta love a husband who will drive you in an entire circle around the Phoenix area and suburbs hunting down the scrapbook stores that had been mapped out! (I'm all about Mapquest now!)
First stop, The Scrapbook Barn in Gilbert. Great store!!!! Then on to Mesa, where I dumped, I mean dropped, Tim off at an Arizona Natural History Museum and zoomed away to Scrapbooks Etc. owned by the Bazzill owners (not my favorite store, surprisingly, but still plenty of goodies!). Next was Ribbons and Lace, an entire store devoted to ribbon! Just like in NYC but much more affordable! Back downtown to the historic district where I devoured a yummy sandwich and met up with Tim. We then had quite the adventure trying to track down this guy named Dana whose wallet Tim literally tripped over by a bank ATM machine on his way to meet me. Thankfully he had a very unusual last name and we had his driver's license from Indiana of all places! I called info in a small Northern Indiana town and found his grandma who put me in touch with his brother who gave me Dana's cell phone who was nearby in Mesa trying to find his wallet! He had recently moved there to attend college and put his wallet in the pocket that was really there for deco only due to the large hole at the bottom. He thanked us profusely and we apologized for ruffling thru his wallet in our attempt to find some id and/or a phone no! We felt like good Samaritans.
Then on to Mystic Paper there in Mesa and it ROCKED!!!!!!!!! Both owners were there and they were super nice and friendly! The store was full of found treasures, antique cabinets and display pieces and incredible mini albums and projects! WOW! Here’s the link to their blog: http://www.mysticpaper.blogspot.com/
We went to a really nice Antique mall across the street in an old Newberry's building. On to Recollections in Glendale which is a chain Scrapbook store. Very nice too! I loved finding all these new stores with such great, new product!! That empty suitcase I took came in very handy for all my newfound scrapbook treasures!
We ate at a local New York style pizza joint called Yo Pauleys and Pauley himself was there and he was quite the character! Yummy garlic knots and thin crust pizza!
It was pitch black by then as it gets dark at 6:15 out there, not fair! We trekked back to the resort where I believe we passed out, still suffering majorly from jet lag!
Sunday was R&R day but it was too chilly in the morning to hit the pools or the lazy river so we decided to go antiquing instead! Spent a couple of hours in the historic Glendale area which was cute and found a couple of goodies there! Tim posed for a picture by the world’s second largest polar bear which he thought was super cool and very Addams Familyish. We then went on a hunt for drapery rings with the cutest clips on them at a place called Anna's Linens. One of the booths in an antique mall had hung them from wire and then clipped old photographs on them! Can you just imagine the possibilities, scrapbooking or otherwise??
After that we decided to go ahead and hit the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall so we wouldn't have to come back out later, although it was open till 9pm. It was only ok...lots of new stuff and flea market type stuff mixed in.
Dashed back to the resort and changed into our bathing suits, ran down to the water slide and got to go down it 4 or 5 times before it closed for the night! Never did get to be lazy and do the lazy river which was kind of a bummer as that was pretty much why I picked this resort! We hit one of the pools but soon left when two guys poured their beer in it on some kid's head. Nice. We ate a late, or was it early, or whatever (we were so out of wack!) dinner at the resort and it was crazy but they have these stray cats that come up on the outside patio because they know they will get fed! They also prowl the resort's outdoor corridors because people set their room service discards out by the doors! They were cute, scurrying about! Two little guys came and hung around near us!
Monday we checked out and headed to Williams in Northern, AZ. We stopped in Flagstaff, a college town on Rt. 40/Rt. 66 and Tim went to the Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered while I checked out the historic area and another scrapbook store! This one was called About Memories and the owners were super nice and they too had some great product!
I took some pictures of old motel signs, went to a couple of antique malls and a Christmas shop where I found the first ornament of the trip for our tree. Had a slice of pizza at Alpine Pizza and was eating when Tim called and said he had finished up. He was there about 2 hrs and loved it! I picked him up and we made a stop at Barnes and Noble for local books and Baskin Robbins for a treat! Then on to the Meteor Crater about 45 minutes east. Tim thoroughly enjoyed this, something he'd heard about all his life and we had seen from an airplane a couple of years ago! I sat in the car, saving my $15 admission fee for scrapbook stuff! I read some of my Nicholas Sparks book, Dear John, which is a great book by the way! It was getting darker when we left and headed back to Flagstaff where we stopped and got some pictures of the old neon signs all lit up.
Still had a bit of a drive on to Williams which was our destination for the next two nights. There weren't a lot of properties in the area and I had booked us at the Quality Inn Mountain Ranch Resort. Okay, not a resort like the Hilton and my hubby has gotten majorly spoiled (and so have I!) staying at Hilton resorts in AZ for the last two years! All in all, whatever they want to label it, it was still a Quality Inn! But the room was big and the bed was fine and they had props for a photo shoot the next day! Wigwams and an old western town front! How perfect! So, the next morning in the 50 degree temps, I donned by Cowgirl seeking a Cowboy shirt and Tim donned the plastic cowboy hat I had gotten free from Texas Roadhouse and we took lots of pix! Oh, and the wigwams were a great backdrop for our feather pictures!
We then changed into warmer attire and headed to downtown Williams to check out the old Gateway to Rt. 66. It was cool! Lots of old neon signs for me and we had an absolutely delicious sticky bun at The Red Garter Bakery and Inn, a true bordello from the late 180os. It was open up until the 1940s. Good choco chip cookies too!
Yeah, we eat a lot of junk on our trips!
Checked out the little museum at the visitor’s center, wandered around town, took pictures and then headed on toward the Grand Canyon, an hour north. Tim's big surprise was on the way in Valle, AZ.....The Flintstones Bedrock City! Let me tell ya, this was GREAT!!!!!!!!! Yabba Dabba Doo! He loved it and laughed and laughed as we pulled into the parking lot! For $10 we had the best time! We spent almost 3 hours there taking pix and acting like big kids! We rode the little train and had the entire park to ourselves until one other couple finally showed up. The lady had been there 31 years ago when she was 6 years old! We had a great lunch in Fred's Diner and bought some more tacky souvenirs. What a blast!
Unfortunately, this property and the 40 acres that goes along with it is for sale. For $6.5 million though it still may be there another few years!
On to the Grand Canyon a 1/2 hr up the road. More photo ops at the entrance sign and then on to see it! It was breathtaking, it was incredible and it was cool to see as up close and personal as we could get. But, honestly, in our eccentric book, it paled in comparison to Bedrock City. You just could hardly top that. Tim got some great pictures though, especially the one of me on the cell phone after I had seen what I needed to see.
We headed back to Williams in the dark and fortunately only saw two bucks along the road and they stayed put. We ate at Rod's Steakhouse in Williams, a Rt. 66 icon from way back. It was very crowded and cold but I thought the steak was great. It's hard to beat Texas Roadhouse in our book and they didn't but for a regular steak it was yummy!
Wednesday came and it was already time to check out of Williams and begin our drive on historic Rt. 66! We stopped for another sticky bun and a Christmas ornament depicting the Grand Canyon and headed toward Seligman, AZ! Visited Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive In and it was a sight to behold! Crazy! Old clunkers in the back lot, now with eyes painted on their windshields like in the movie Cars, toilets in phone booths, business cards wallpapering the entire inside of the place, jokes galore as you tried to order an ice cream cone, and lots of tacky souvenirs next door!
More old signs to take pictures of and then on toward Kingman. We stopped at the Hackberry General Store in Hackberry and it was another roadside oddity. More old, rusty clunkers, old signs, a great restored old car, old gas pumps, you name it, they had it! Finally arrived in Kingman in the afternoon and had lunch at a 50s style new restaurant called Mr. D’s (finally, a salad) and then went to the Powerhouse Rt. 66 museum and gift shop. Took pictures in town of more neon signage, loving that!
Next stop Chloride, which was mostly a ghost town, but did have some residents including the ones in the quirky cemetery. I am definitely not one to normally tour cemeteries but the lure of the telephone and dishes on the graves sucked me in. It was definitely odd.
We had somehow missed the Santa's Land Ruins along the main hwy so back we went 5 miles to see it thanks to the directions of the waitress at the one and only restaurant in Chloride. It was super cool and we even sat in the old kiddy train and got pix, now covered in graffiti and faded to pink. The little buildings where Santa once sat and fudge was sold were in ruin but there were still some photo ops. We loved every minute of it and got there just before it was too dark to take any good pictures!
We still had about an hour drive or more on to Las Vegas from that point but I tell ya, that was my kind of road, that old Rt. 66. Like almost no traffic! Nice scenery too! We drove over Hoover Dam in the dark, only seeing it from the backside. Did see a desert fox at an observation point waiting to check out the dumpster and trash cans. He posed for pictures and off we went. It was windy and dark and a little creepy.
Approaching Vegas was quite the sight of lights. It was also the worst for stressful driving. Tim was convinced there was not an exit for the Strip and I was convinced we were gonna get rammed by the crazy drivers! We finally found the Las Vegas Blvd. exit and were thankful to arrive in one piece! We came in through downtown so our hotel was not far. We checked into the Sahara in keeping with our desire to stay at the "old ones" before they are gone. Oh the city! I love it there! I love the neon, the excitement, the tourists from all over the world, the craziness of it all! We went across the street to the Bonanza Gift shop, which claims to be the biggest one around! And, it probably is. More souvenirs for our growing collection and overflowing suitcases. My favorite was the light up blinking Las Vegas sign! We were really exhausted by then so back to the hotel we went and called it a night!
Thursday morning came and Tim said he’d drive me to Scrappin’ Time, the one scrapbook store I wanted to hit again after going to it two years ago. I could have driven over there okay myself but it was nice having a chauffer! GREAT STORE! Got in the most trouble there, the girls were nice and I got $20 worth of free stuff as I took my started punch card from 2 years ago! That was fun! It was really windy but getting warmer as the hours passed.
We ate lunch while we were out at a little sub shop called Capriotti’s that we discovered last time. YUMMY cheese steaks!!!!! I had been craving one the entire trip and never could find one! Then it seemed like everywhere we went in Vegas had them on their menu! Is it too much to ask for that here in Louisville or So. Indiana? I know we have Penn Station but it’s just not the same! Anyway, we savored every bite and then went back to the hotel. Tim wanted his R&R that had been promised to him from day one (sorry honey, maybe next year!) so he took the afternoon off, took a nap, and then spent some time at the beautiful hotel pool. I, on the other hand, hit the Strip!
I walked quite a ways up to The Mirage/Venetian area stopping in to see some of the hotels we missed last time. I thought Circus Circus was pretty cool, they have a Midway complete with carnival games and a circus act! I won a stuffed monkey with long arms and a belly button at the Camel Chase game! He tied on to my waist pack and was my companion the rest of the afternoon.
Went in to the Wynn which was still under construction 2 ys ago, saw the now closed Frontier, the site of the old Stardust which was also still there last time, and then hopped a bus to ride down to Mandalay Bay. It took forever, stopping so often and the traffic was pretty heavy. But it was getting hotter and hotter and my feet were tired! I got off at Luxor and checked it out and then headed over to Mandalay Bay.
First stop, The Chocolate Swan for my hot fudge smothered ice cream. Another repeat from two years ago but oh my gosh, that is like the best hot fudge sauce every! I’m undecided if it’s as good if not better than the recipe we make! I just sat there enjoying every spoonful and talking to myself about how good it was! I then picked up the Las Vegas Jr. League cookbook that mom had asked me get for her at the little bookstore there. I had a nice chat with the employee about quirky roadside attractions and then discovered that my heat wrap had literally burned and blistered a spot on my back! OUCH! That had never happened before but I think the strap from my waist pack was hitting it and pushing it closer to my skin! So, one of my war wounds from the trip! (Along with the sunburn I got at Bedrock, ouch!)
Walked across the street and headed up the strip on foot for a bit, stopping in at Coca Cola World. Caught the bus on down a bit and went back to the hotel. Thursday night was the night we had tickets for Barry Manilow at the Hilton! I was so excited! He was on break 2 years ago so I really planned our trip dates around his schedule this time. We hiked it over there from the Sahara, in the wind and uncomfy shoes only to discover upon our arrival that he had CANCELLED the show that night due to illness!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness we had not booked a show for Friday night, planning to see the Freemont St. experience this visit. So, we stood in line and exchanged our tickets, which were now cheaper (bonus!) for Friday night, keeping our fingers crossed that he would perform. So, that meant we had to go to Freemont St. Thursday night and it was now 9:00! Hiked it back and caught the bus downtown. Let me just say, Freemont St. was COOL and I can’t believe we didn’t go last time, although I don’t know how we could have time wise! The neon was great, we went to a local NY style pizza place that the security guards recommended, bought more tacky souvenirs, saw street artists, a motorcyclist in the globe of death, the incredible light/music show they do in the ceiling as well as getting to see all of the restored old neon signs that the Neon Museum has on display there. FUN!
We were there till midnight and then caught the bus back to the Sahara. It was 2am before we went to bed that night but well worth it!
Friday morning wasn’t our best. I had the great idea to go down to the Venetian and take a gondola ride. By the time we got down there on the bus and walked the 20 minutes (so it seemed) from the street into the actual hotel, Tim was hungry and we’d found out that the outside ride was closed anyway. Then we couldn’t decide if we should do the inside ride, eat, or do Madame Tussaud’s which was right there.
We didn’t like the menu at the restaurant there, so we hiked it miles and miles around to get literally across the street to Treasure Island for their buffet which had been recommended to us at the Venetian! By the time we got there, they had stopped serving breakfast and nothing appealed to us on the lunch buffet. So, we ate at the Coffee Shop which was only okay although Tim did enjoy his French Toast but not worth $40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, all I got was a half a sandwich and French Onion Soup! He got French Toast, Bacon and Orange Juice for the bargain price of $35, plus a $5 tip, and then I succumbed to the dozen “warm, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies” you could buy at the check out. They were not even warm and had no taste. That made the entire deal $50 and I was pretty sick about that!
Oh well, live and learn, get taken by the Strip sooner or later!
We then needed to head back to the Sahara, having done neither the gondola ride or Madame Tussaud’s! Oh well!
We got our car and drove past Freemont St. to the Neon Museum for our Boneyard tour! I was so excited about this and it truly lived up to all the expectations we had!!!!!! The group was large, about 20 of us, armed with cameras. The tour guide was great and narrated the entire time we toured the two yards housing old neon signs from around Las Vegas. How cool to stand inches away from the original Golden Nugget signs, the skull from the old Treasure Island and walk amongst the piles of pieces of the Stardust sign they had acquired before it was recently imploded. I was in heaven and it was one of the most enjoyable and interesting things I’ve ever done!!!!! We got a lot of great pictures and the tour lasted about 1 ½ hrs! We visited with the two girls who worked there for a bit and one of them told us about the Pinball Machine Hall Of Fame that was somewhat nearby.
We had time so off we went in search of yet another quirky place! We found it and I took tons of pictures of the old machines, LOVED the graphics, and Tim played some of them as all were operating and just waiting for quarters to be fed to them! I played the Centipede arcade game from the 80s and realized that it is a lot harder now! You have to have really good eye/hand coordination or that mean ol’ spider will get ya!
A quickie stop at Baskin Robbins (yum!, my favorite!) and then on to the hotel to get ready for another attempt at Barry. This time we wimped out and took a cab over to the Hilton. We had plenty of time to eat dinner at Quark’s, designed like a Star Trek spaceship and super cool! The food was great and much more worth the money we spent there than at TI. Barry showed up and while you could tell he was raspy still, it was overall a great concert and show! Had to walk back as the cab line was long! Hung out at the casino a bit and Tim tried to win a car. He, of course, didn’t but total losses were minimal.
Our alarm sounded at the early hour of 4am Saturday morning and we got ready and headed out to the airport for our 8:39 am flight back home. Originally, we had booked a noon flight but somewhere along the line, it got cancelled and they stuck us on this one! UGH! We found the car return easily this year and turned over our PT Cruiser with longing (we SO want one! This was like the fourth one we’ve rented!) They shuttled us over the airport, we got some breakfast and then it hit us just how tired we were! However, the flights were all pretty much on schedule and flying through Dallas/Ft. Worth was a breeze. Definitely the shortest flight times we’ve ever had going to or coming from out west. Note to self: AA through DFW is the only way to go to Vegas or anywhere in that vicinity!
We both fell asleep on both flights so that helped a little. We landed in L’ville right on schedule at 5:20 but didn’t get out of the airport until 6pm as our four bags were almost the very last to come out! But, at least they came out! We found the car and headed back home, arriving at 6:30 to a very happy little Garden Kitty. All was now right again in her little furry world although Rosie and Ann took very good care of her and she had a special visit from her Granny midweek.
We’re a little more rested, five loads of laundry are under my belt, the suitcases have been unpacked and stored back in the attic, the many souvenirs have been spread out on the front parlor table, I’ve gotten Tim his three gallons of milk for the next week and a half, and it seems like we never were gone!!!!! Except for the three little flash cards sitting in front of me filled with over 1000 memories waiting to be printed tomorrow…
Okay, so we left last Friday and flew to Chicago and on to Phoenix. A two hour delay at the Chicago airport put is later to PHX and so it was 2 am our time by the time we fell into bed. Our Hilton resort was very nice, I just can’t find fault with a Hilton property! Phoenix was a little more commercial and built up than Tucson so not as much desert but you could definitely tell we were in the desert! We got free breakfasts for three days as Hilton Honors members, a $60 value! Gotta love that!
We awoke Sat morning to a beautiful breezy, sunny day. Saturday was scrapbook store day...gotta love a husband who will drive you in an entire circle around the Phoenix area and suburbs hunting down the scrapbook stores that had been mapped out! (I'm all about Mapquest now!)
First stop, The Scrapbook Barn in Gilbert. Great store!!!! Then on to Mesa, where I dumped, I mean dropped, Tim off at an Arizona Natural History Museum and zoomed away to Scrapbooks Etc. owned by the Bazzill owners (not my favorite store, surprisingly, but still plenty of goodies!). Next was Ribbons and Lace, an entire store devoted to ribbon! Just like in NYC but much more affordable! Back downtown to the historic district where I devoured a yummy sandwich and met up with Tim. We then had quite the adventure trying to track down this guy named Dana whose wallet Tim literally tripped over by a bank ATM machine on his way to meet me. Thankfully he had a very unusual last name and we had his driver's license from Indiana of all places! I called info in a small Northern Indiana town and found his grandma who put me in touch with his brother who gave me Dana's cell phone who was nearby in Mesa trying to find his wallet! He had recently moved there to attend college and put his wallet in the pocket that was really there for deco only due to the large hole at the bottom. He thanked us profusely and we apologized for ruffling thru his wallet in our attempt to find some id and/or a phone no! We felt like good Samaritans.
Then on to Mystic Paper there in Mesa and it ROCKED!!!!!!!!! Both owners were there and they were super nice and friendly! The store was full of found treasures, antique cabinets and display pieces and incredible mini albums and projects! WOW! Here’s the link to their blog: http://www.mysticpaper.blogspot.com/
We went to a really nice Antique mall across the street in an old Newberry's building. On to Recollections in Glendale which is a chain Scrapbook store. Very nice too! I loved finding all these new stores with such great, new product!! That empty suitcase I took came in very handy for all my newfound scrapbook treasures!
We ate at a local New York style pizza joint called Yo Pauleys and Pauley himself was there and he was quite the character! Yummy garlic knots and thin crust pizza!
It was pitch black by then as it gets dark at 6:15 out there, not fair! We trekked back to the resort where I believe we passed out, still suffering majorly from jet lag!
Sunday was R&R day but it was too chilly in the morning to hit the pools or the lazy river so we decided to go antiquing instead! Spent a couple of hours in the historic Glendale area which was cute and found a couple of goodies there! Tim posed for a picture by the world’s second largest polar bear which he thought was super cool and very Addams Familyish. We then went on a hunt for drapery rings with the cutest clips on them at a place called Anna's Linens. One of the booths in an antique mall had hung them from wire and then clipped old photographs on them! Can you just imagine the possibilities, scrapbooking or otherwise??
After that we decided to go ahead and hit the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall so we wouldn't have to come back out later, although it was open till 9pm. It was only ok...lots of new stuff and flea market type stuff mixed in.
Dashed back to the resort and changed into our bathing suits, ran down to the water slide and got to go down it 4 or 5 times before it closed for the night! Never did get to be lazy and do the lazy river which was kind of a bummer as that was pretty much why I picked this resort! We hit one of the pools but soon left when two guys poured their beer in it on some kid's head. Nice. We ate a late, or was it early, or whatever (we were so out of wack!) dinner at the resort and it was crazy but they have these stray cats that come up on the outside patio because they know they will get fed! They also prowl the resort's outdoor corridors because people set their room service discards out by the doors! They were cute, scurrying about! Two little guys came and hung around near us!
Monday we checked out and headed to Williams in Northern, AZ. We stopped in Flagstaff, a college town on Rt. 40/Rt. 66 and Tim went to the Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered while I checked out the historic area and another scrapbook store! This one was called About Memories and the owners were super nice and they too had some great product!
I took some pictures of old motel signs, went to a couple of antique malls and a Christmas shop where I found the first ornament of the trip for our tree. Had a slice of pizza at Alpine Pizza and was eating when Tim called and said he had finished up. He was there about 2 hrs and loved it! I picked him up and we made a stop at Barnes and Noble for local books and Baskin Robbins for a treat! Then on to the Meteor Crater about 45 minutes east. Tim thoroughly enjoyed this, something he'd heard about all his life and we had seen from an airplane a couple of years ago! I sat in the car, saving my $15 admission fee for scrapbook stuff! I read some of my Nicholas Sparks book, Dear John, which is a great book by the way! It was getting darker when we left and headed back to Flagstaff where we stopped and got some pictures of the old neon signs all lit up.
Still had a bit of a drive on to Williams which was our destination for the next two nights. There weren't a lot of properties in the area and I had booked us at the Quality Inn Mountain Ranch Resort. Okay, not a resort like the Hilton and my hubby has gotten majorly spoiled (and so have I!) staying at Hilton resorts in AZ for the last two years! All in all, whatever they want to label it, it was still a Quality Inn! But the room was big and the bed was fine and they had props for a photo shoot the next day! Wigwams and an old western town front! How perfect! So, the next morning in the 50 degree temps, I donned by Cowgirl seeking a Cowboy shirt and Tim donned the plastic cowboy hat I had gotten free from Texas Roadhouse and we took lots of pix! Oh, and the wigwams were a great backdrop for our feather pictures!
We then changed into warmer attire and headed to downtown Williams to check out the old Gateway to Rt. 66. It was cool! Lots of old neon signs for me and we had an absolutely delicious sticky bun at The Red Garter Bakery and Inn, a true bordello from the late 180os. It was open up until the 1940s. Good choco chip cookies too!
Yeah, we eat a lot of junk on our trips!
Checked out the little museum at the visitor’s center, wandered around town, took pictures and then headed on toward the Grand Canyon, an hour north. Tim's big surprise was on the way in Valle, AZ.....The Flintstones Bedrock City! Let me tell ya, this was GREAT!!!!!!!!! Yabba Dabba Doo! He loved it and laughed and laughed as we pulled into the parking lot! For $10 we had the best time! We spent almost 3 hours there taking pix and acting like big kids! We rode the little train and had the entire park to ourselves until one other couple finally showed up. The lady had been there 31 years ago when she was 6 years old! We had a great lunch in Fred's Diner and bought some more tacky souvenirs. What a blast!
Unfortunately, this property and the 40 acres that goes along with it is for sale. For $6.5 million though it still may be there another few years!
On to the Grand Canyon a 1/2 hr up the road. More photo ops at the entrance sign and then on to see it! It was breathtaking, it was incredible and it was cool to see as up close and personal as we could get. But, honestly, in our eccentric book, it paled in comparison to Bedrock City. You just could hardly top that. Tim got some great pictures though, especially the one of me on the cell phone after I had seen what I needed to see.
We headed back to Williams in the dark and fortunately only saw two bucks along the road and they stayed put. We ate at Rod's Steakhouse in Williams, a Rt. 66 icon from way back. It was very crowded and cold but I thought the steak was great. It's hard to beat Texas Roadhouse in our book and they didn't but for a regular steak it was yummy!
Wednesday came and it was already time to check out of Williams and begin our drive on historic Rt. 66! We stopped for another sticky bun and a Christmas ornament depicting the Grand Canyon and headed toward Seligman, AZ! Visited Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive In and it was a sight to behold! Crazy! Old clunkers in the back lot, now with eyes painted on their windshields like in the movie Cars, toilets in phone booths, business cards wallpapering the entire inside of the place, jokes galore as you tried to order an ice cream cone, and lots of tacky souvenirs next door!
More old signs to take pictures of and then on toward Kingman. We stopped at the Hackberry General Store in Hackberry and it was another roadside oddity. More old, rusty clunkers, old signs, a great restored old car, old gas pumps, you name it, they had it! Finally arrived in Kingman in the afternoon and had lunch at a 50s style new restaurant called Mr. D’s (finally, a salad) and then went to the Powerhouse Rt. 66 museum and gift shop. Took pictures in town of more neon signage, loving that!
Next stop Chloride, which was mostly a ghost town, but did have some residents including the ones in the quirky cemetery. I am definitely not one to normally tour cemeteries but the lure of the telephone and dishes on the graves sucked me in. It was definitely odd.
We had somehow missed the Santa's Land Ruins along the main hwy so back we went 5 miles to see it thanks to the directions of the waitress at the one and only restaurant in Chloride. It was super cool and we even sat in the old kiddy train and got pix, now covered in graffiti and faded to pink. The little buildings where Santa once sat and fudge was sold were in ruin but there were still some photo ops. We loved every minute of it and got there just before it was too dark to take any good pictures!
We still had about an hour drive or more on to Las Vegas from that point but I tell ya, that was my kind of road, that old Rt. 66. Like almost no traffic! Nice scenery too! We drove over Hoover Dam in the dark, only seeing it from the backside. Did see a desert fox at an observation point waiting to check out the dumpster and trash cans. He posed for pictures and off we went. It was windy and dark and a little creepy.
Approaching Vegas was quite the sight of lights. It was also the worst for stressful driving. Tim was convinced there was not an exit for the Strip and I was convinced we were gonna get rammed by the crazy drivers! We finally found the Las Vegas Blvd. exit and were thankful to arrive in one piece! We came in through downtown so our hotel was not far. We checked into the Sahara in keeping with our desire to stay at the "old ones" before they are gone. Oh the city! I love it there! I love the neon, the excitement, the tourists from all over the world, the craziness of it all! We went across the street to the Bonanza Gift shop, which claims to be the biggest one around! And, it probably is. More souvenirs for our growing collection and overflowing suitcases. My favorite was the light up blinking Las Vegas sign! We were really exhausted by then so back to the hotel we went and called it a night!
Thursday morning came and Tim said he’d drive me to Scrappin’ Time, the one scrapbook store I wanted to hit again after going to it two years ago. I could have driven over there okay myself but it was nice having a chauffer! GREAT STORE! Got in the most trouble there, the girls were nice and I got $20 worth of free stuff as I took my started punch card from 2 years ago! That was fun! It was really windy but getting warmer as the hours passed.
We ate lunch while we were out at a little sub shop called Capriotti’s that we discovered last time. YUMMY cheese steaks!!!!! I had been craving one the entire trip and never could find one! Then it seemed like everywhere we went in Vegas had them on their menu! Is it too much to ask for that here in Louisville or So. Indiana? I know we have Penn Station but it’s just not the same! Anyway, we savored every bite and then went back to the hotel. Tim wanted his R&R that had been promised to him from day one (sorry honey, maybe next year!) so he took the afternoon off, took a nap, and then spent some time at the beautiful hotel pool. I, on the other hand, hit the Strip!
I walked quite a ways up to The Mirage/Venetian area stopping in to see some of the hotels we missed last time. I thought Circus Circus was pretty cool, they have a Midway complete with carnival games and a circus act! I won a stuffed monkey with long arms and a belly button at the Camel Chase game! He tied on to my waist pack and was my companion the rest of the afternoon.
Went in to the Wynn which was still under construction 2 ys ago, saw the now closed Frontier, the site of the old Stardust which was also still there last time, and then hopped a bus to ride down to Mandalay Bay. It took forever, stopping so often and the traffic was pretty heavy. But it was getting hotter and hotter and my feet were tired! I got off at Luxor and checked it out and then headed over to Mandalay Bay.
First stop, The Chocolate Swan for my hot fudge smothered ice cream. Another repeat from two years ago but oh my gosh, that is like the best hot fudge sauce every! I’m undecided if it’s as good if not better than the recipe we make! I just sat there enjoying every spoonful and talking to myself about how good it was! I then picked up the Las Vegas Jr. League cookbook that mom had asked me get for her at the little bookstore there. I had a nice chat with the employee about quirky roadside attractions and then discovered that my heat wrap had literally burned and blistered a spot on my back! OUCH! That had never happened before but I think the strap from my waist pack was hitting it and pushing it closer to my skin! So, one of my war wounds from the trip! (Along with the sunburn I got at Bedrock, ouch!)
Walked across the street and headed up the strip on foot for a bit, stopping in at Coca Cola World. Caught the bus on down a bit and went back to the hotel. Thursday night was the night we had tickets for Barry Manilow at the Hilton! I was so excited! He was on break 2 years ago so I really planned our trip dates around his schedule this time. We hiked it over there from the Sahara, in the wind and uncomfy shoes only to discover upon our arrival that he had CANCELLED the show that night due to illness!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness we had not booked a show for Friday night, planning to see the Freemont St. experience this visit. So, we stood in line and exchanged our tickets, which were now cheaper (bonus!) for Friday night, keeping our fingers crossed that he would perform. So, that meant we had to go to Freemont St. Thursday night and it was now 9:00! Hiked it back and caught the bus downtown. Let me just say, Freemont St. was COOL and I can’t believe we didn’t go last time, although I don’t know how we could have time wise! The neon was great, we went to a local NY style pizza place that the security guards recommended, bought more tacky souvenirs, saw street artists, a motorcyclist in the globe of death, the incredible light/music show they do in the ceiling as well as getting to see all of the restored old neon signs that the Neon Museum has on display there. FUN!
We were there till midnight and then caught the bus back to the Sahara. It was 2am before we went to bed that night but well worth it!
Friday morning wasn’t our best. I had the great idea to go down to the Venetian and take a gondola ride. By the time we got down there on the bus and walked the 20 minutes (so it seemed) from the street into the actual hotel, Tim was hungry and we’d found out that the outside ride was closed anyway. Then we couldn’t decide if we should do the inside ride, eat, or do Madame Tussaud’s which was right there.
We didn’t like the menu at the restaurant there, so we hiked it miles and miles around to get literally across the street to Treasure Island for their buffet which had been recommended to us at the Venetian! By the time we got there, they had stopped serving breakfast and nothing appealed to us on the lunch buffet. So, we ate at the Coffee Shop which was only okay although Tim did enjoy his French Toast but not worth $40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, all I got was a half a sandwich and French Onion Soup! He got French Toast, Bacon and Orange Juice for the bargain price of $35, plus a $5 tip, and then I succumbed to the dozen “warm, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies” you could buy at the check out. They were not even warm and had no taste. That made the entire deal $50 and I was pretty sick about that!
Oh well, live and learn, get taken by the Strip sooner or later!
We then needed to head back to the Sahara, having done neither the gondola ride or Madame Tussaud’s! Oh well!
We got our car and drove past Freemont St. to the Neon Museum for our Boneyard tour! I was so excited about this and it truly lived up to all the expectations we had!!!!!! The group was large, about 20 of us, armed with cameras. The tour guide was great and narrated the entire time we toured the two yards housing old neon signs from around Las Vegas. How cool to stand inches away from the original Golden Nugget signs, the skull from the old Treasure Island and walk amongst the piles of pieces of the Stardust sign they had acquired before it was recently imploded. I was in heaven and it was one of the most enjoyable and interesting things I’ve ever done!!!!! We got a lot of great pictures and the tour lasted about 1 ½ hrs! We visited with the two girls who worked there for a bit and one of them told us about the Pinball Machine Hall Of Fame that was somewhat nearby.
We had time so off we went in search of yet another quirky place! We found it and I took tons of pictures of the old machines, LOVED the graphics, and Tim played some of them as all were operating and just waiting for quarters to be fed to them! I played the Centipede arcade game from the 80s and realized that it is a lot harder now! You have to have really good eye/hand coordination or that mean ol’ spider will get ya!
A quickie stop at Baskin Robbins (yum!, my favorite!) and then on to the hotel to get ready for another attempt at Barry. This time we wimped out and took a cab over to the Hilton. We had plenty of time to eat dinner at Quark’s, designed like a Star Trek spaceship and super cool! The food was great and much more worth the money we spent there than at TI. Barry showed up and while you could tell he was raspy still, it was overall a great concert and show! Had to walk back as the cab line was long! Hung out at the casino a bit and Tim tried to win a car. He, of course, didn’t but total losses were minimal.
Our alarm sounded at the early hour of 4am Saturday morning and we got ready and headed out to the airport for our 8:39 am flight back home. Originally, we had booked a noon flight but somewhere along the line, it got cancelled and they stuck us on this one! UGH! We found the car return easily this year and turned over our PT Cruiser with longing (we SO want one! This was like the fourth one we’ve rented!) They shuttled us over the airport, we got some breakfast and then it hit us just how tired we were! However, the flights were all pretty much on schedule and flying through Dallas/Ft. Worth was a breeze. Definitely the shortest flight times we’ve ever had going to or coming from out west. Note to self: AA through DFW is the only way to go to Vegas or anywhere in that vicinity!
We both fell asleep on both flights so that helped a little. We landed in L’ville right on schedule at 5:20 but didn’t get out of the airport until 6pm as our four bags were almost the very last to come out! But, at least they came out! We found the car and headed back home, arriving at 6:30 to a very happy little Garden Kitty. All was now right again in her little furry world although Rosie and Ann took very good care of her and she had a special visit from her Granny midweek.
We’re a little more rested, five loads of laundry are under my belt, the suitcases have been unpacked and stored back in the attic, the many souvenirs have been spread out on the front parlor table, I’ve gotten Tim his three gallons of milk for the next week and a half, and it seems like we never were gone!!!!! Except for the three little flash cards sitting in front of me filled with over 1000 memories waiting to be printed tomorrow…
3 comments:
...I need a vacation after all that... "sigh"...
Hey, you just HAD a vacation, 'member? :] The wife.
It sounds like you guys had an absolute BLAST! Love the photo of you as Wilma and Fred, and of course, the wigwam shot.
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