So when a three-day-weekend arose, and we found out Bobby's mom and step-dad would be coming out, we decided to make the drive south to gambling haven.
It was slightly atypical.
Friday night, our arrival, consisted of dropping off our belongings at a complete stranger's home. Bobby's friend Joe's mission buddy's parents were housing us for the first night until Bobby's mom's cousin would allow us to sleep on her floor (long story). We then headed out the door ("we" being Bobby, Joe, Bobby and Joe's friend Brock, and myself) to hit the strip and meet up with another mission buddy of Joe's, and his wife. Turns out the new buddy and his wife are vying for a position on the Olympic Speedwalking Team for 2012. We went from New York, New York (for those of who you are familiar with the strip) to the Bellagio going at about a 5.5 mph pace. The intent was to go to the front of the Bellagio and look at the pretty flowers, but we instead went in the wrong way and could not access the front. We made it out of the back of the Bellagio, and went at about a 6 mph pace until we were back at New York, New York, while I asked myself the entire time when we were actually going to go into some store/casino/hotel to look around. Never happened. By the time we made it back to New York, New York, we were sweating profusely and could scarcely breathe. Thank you, speed walking champs.
So we went back to where we were staying and crashed.
The bonus of the strangers' home was they are dog lovers. They had four little mixes, and one of them only had one eye, so I was in doggie heaven. I snuggled and got kisses and snuggled some more, making me miss my little girl a little bit less (just a little bit).
The next morning, Bobby went on a bike ride with Joe and Brock, and I went to the Las Vegas Temple.
Of course, I had decided on a whim to go, so I didn't have my recommend, and since I live in Happy Valley, my bishop didn't remember me by my name when they called him (I've only been in the ward for two months, and with new people all the time, it's hard for names to stick). I had to go into great detail about what I do and what Bobby does before the bishop remembered me. If you're ever in Vegas, definitely go to the temple. It's beautiful. The Celestial Room is probably my favorite of all I've seen.
Of course, later that evening when we met up Bobby's mom, step dad, Bobby's mom's cousin and her husband for dinner, I was informed that the part of town where the temple is happens to be where all the shootings happen. I'm glad I didn't know that prior to going.
After the temple, I went back to where we were staying to grab Bobby and go to one of my favorite places on earth: the animal shelter. It's very sad to go if you really think about it, so I choose to just focus on giving homeless pets some love. The NSPCA is a great facility for cats. They have several rooms filled with kitty condos, cat trees, and ledges that the cats can just roam freely in. No cages! I fell in love with two kitties- one with a squidgy eye infection, and the other one's inner eye lid was fused together on its right eye, so it had a permanent glazed over look. I like animals with deformed eyes. I think it's because that makes them special.
That evening was a lot of quality time with Bobby's mom, step dad, and Bobby's mom's cousin and her family. Lots of tongue biting ensued.
Bobby's mom's cousin has a dog who lives outside. We already know I'm anti outdoor pets, so I need not go into how I feel about the dog living outside. The dog's name is Sam, and she's a black lab heeler mix. She's 8 years old, but has all the energy of a puppy (heeler mixes tend to always be energetic). When Sunday rolled around, church didn't start until 2, so I spent a lot of time playing fetch in the back yard. Bobby and I ended up letting Sam in a bit more often than her usual allotted time (she sleeps inside the house), and it wasn't long before she knew who to follow. Why have a dog if you aren't going to give it constant loving? I tried to make up for it in the short time I was there.
Church was... weird. The lessons and talks were really good, the usual good churchiness, but there was a lot of big hair. Really big hair. I was very easily distracted by it, which is definitely all on me, but it certainly needs commenting on. Weird.
We went back to the strip Sunday night to walk around, and if you didn't already know, never look down when you're at the strip. There are lots of people who don't speak english handing out cards with pictures of naked women on them, which is very sad. As a result, there are lots of these cards on the ground, and it's hard to not feel sorry for the women in the pictures, and for the people handing them out trying to make some money.
We went to MGM, where I had to see the lions. I was told I must go see the lions, especially when I said we couldn't do anything that cost money. There was ONE lion, and it was sleeping. Some guy was petting it, which was pretty cool, but it was still slightly disappointing. We went back to the Bellagio to see the plants, and I was impressed. They made pandas out of leaves, and the baby panda was adorable. When we walked out, the fountains started going off, which was really impressive. When we went back to pick up Bobby's mom, we went through Paris, which was FANTASTIC. Seriously. I ached so badly to hop on a plane and go to the real Paris. The whole floor was transformed into a little Parisian village, with shops and food, et zut, je voudrais voyager a Paris maintenant! Mais non, je doit aller a KU pour trois semestre, et je n'ai pas l'argent pour mon voyage. En temps, je pense.
Monday morning meant quick shopping with Bobby's mom and my pleading to go home as soon as possible so we could get Peli. It was the longest I'd been away from her, and it was all I could do to not call my boss every three minutes to check in on her. We picked her up at 11 p.m. Monday night, just in time for her to pee on Ronda's couch. Fantastic.
My favorite parts of Vegas? The temple. And the animal shelter. Next time, I think I'll avoid travelling so far to get my fix.
No comments:
Post a Comment