Sunday, October 27 to Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The usual Las Vegas trip: three nights, Chris gets to work, I get to do whatever I want.
Everybody does food photos now, no? So here’s mine: a photo of a jumbled counter at home reminding me of my breakfast the morning before the trip.
===== Sunday breakfast at home on 27th
peanut butter granola
oat crunch
last banana in house
last raspberries
last grapes
last kebab meat chunks from recent meal at Zaytoon restaurant
last chunk of tofu
last sweet pepper (orange)
coffee
soy milk
pills
dried plum, fig, date
In getting to the Santa Barbara Airport we cut our timing too close. United tells us to expect delay of almost an hour — and then takes it back! It’s not our fault we arrive later than we want.
Then when we finally arrive we find the nearby long-term lot is full!
But off-site lot #2 is only 4 min. away and the shuttle returns me to the ticket counters without any waiting, but still, this costs us about 15 minutes that we really aren’t sure we have. It’s not our fault! This is the same long-term lot I we used several times but years ago. I think the last time was before 9-11! Eighteen years ago! Do I have that right? (No, not the math! Whether it’s really that long ago since I used that lot.) Eventually our flight departs only 15 min late, and we’re on it. Phew!
We arrive in Las Vegas right on time. How are we gonna whine about that? Yeah, yeah, we see the big Welcome to Las Vegas mural and the slot machines that are tempting to many but I have to pee so stopping for even a minute to gamble is not one of my choices. (Best not to trifle with a 78-year-old prostate.) (Stopping to gamble would have been gambling squared!)
Then in Terminal 3 we find our ol’ bunny friend! The bunny’s location In Terminal 1 had been usurped a couple years ago by a Raiders team paraphernalia kiosk. What a good idea! I imagine someone with a vote in the matter must have mentioned the bunny isn’t generating much income.
Besides being adorable just because he’s a sweet little bunny, Chris and I used to find him very useful as a reference point: turn left at the bunny to get to the United Club; or Ruby’s Restaurant is down the hallway of Terminal 1 just past the bunny.
The bunny!
Groove vs. Rut distinction comes to mind for describing many routine activities during the rest of trip. A comfortable, efficient way of doing something might feel smooth and pleasant to one person but confining and in a rut to another.
Usual events on this trip, and candidates for being a groove or a rut:
LAX United Club;
Division of labor dealing with luggage getting on and off plane;
Renting car at Alamo: turn left as we walk in rental car facility, and bypass the jammed counter area because of our skip-the-counter-area printout;***
Leaving the facility for the routine drive to hotel, we know that of the three lanes leaving the facility I need to be in the middle lane and once I’m out on Gilespie I have half a block to get 3 more lanes left so I can turn left on Warm Springs.
Marty tells us our room number (#114 this trip) and because we have been here so many times we can then guess best place to park. (We’re correct!)
In our room we unpack efficiently (3 nights is worth unpacking for): no need to discuss side of bed, side of closet, whose drawers are whose; and, as usual, I go down to the front desk and request an additional set of towels and an additional bar of soap.
Take Chris to Biodermis in the morning without a word. Here, too, know proper lane to be in when ….
And from Biodermis back to hotel I know where to turn into the back driveway of that strip mall so I can get directly into the parking area at the back of the hotel, otherwise, half a block later, you can’t turn left where you expect to because ….
By now I’ve learned the back way (you know, the shortcut through that parking lot) from Biodermis to the nearest CVS.
In the hotel bistro that serves breakfast, Chris has made 2 friends of the women who work there, Elaine and Clancy; they seem delighted when they see her, and make a delight noise, and come out from behind the counter to give Chris a big hug; I got a couple hugs myself this trip;
For returning the car, we have another routine: fill up at Sunset and Sunset (that’s not a typo!) around 2pm on final day of trip; then an hour or two later on our way to the airport, we go down Green Valley Blvd to Warm Springs and then west to Gilespie; can finally turn left into the Rental Car Facility only after passing yellow curb and painted lines in center of road;
Yup, brings up the ‘ol Groove vs. Rut distinction some of us seem to like to ruminate on.
***Footnote or web note, whatever: Our grooveness and rutness was now considerably slowed by first the oldest and then the second oldest rental car employees in Nevada, first in finding a car, then in dealing with registering etc. so we could drive away. Yes, roll eyes, and maybe even shake head — whadaryagonnado.
For Sunday evening dinner Kim and Marty choose Great Greek rather than the customary Sammy’s. I’m flattered they choose, or even want, to spend as much time with us as they do. We’re familiar with Great Greek. It’s good, and it’s hardly a hardship, besides, Marty is paying.
Monday, crack of dawn, it’s time for Chris to begin slaving away, and unfortunately it’s time for me to do some slaving to set up her computer. We use the Biodermis monitor, keyboard, and mouse that live in the conference room that Chris takes over for her command center. The heavy, black, wire clips from my empty coffee bags turn out to be a hit and are barely visible in bundling her black cables.
It’s Sammy’s for Monday evening dinner. If we were in a rut, we would find this difficult because Sammy’s is for our day of arrival. We, however, adapt admirably.
During our meal Kim and Marty both take exception to the possible suggestion of a friend that I may not be doing much in my retirement. My friend had simply asked what I’d been doing those 11 or 12 years and I didn’t have a ready answer. Now, a couple years later, I appreciate the question and am working on a reply. Of course, the reply is mainly for me. Her question is a very useful reference but I’m still flattered Kim and Marty take exception.
I’m slightly lost when I find this gate and sign blocking my way. I’m not looking for Ethel M Chocolates but I just want to … oohhhhh never mind. Takes me a few seconds to figure it out and I’ve been smiling about it since. My guess is the Ethel M chocolate company heard too many visitors grumbling about Google’s directions to their factory/showroom that they figured out the situation and paid for this sign to be added to the gate.
I was just now thinking, that because I’m retired and maybe bored out of my mind I’d ask Google for their suggestion of a route to get from Biodermis to Ethel M Chocolate. So I ask Google Maps for directions and sure enough, they suggest I go right through this gate.
Because I’m sooooo bored I then ask Google Earth for directions for walking, bicycling, and driving. Different routes are suggested but none suggested I go through this gate. Yay! for Google Earth.
Because I’m sooooo very very bored I asked Google Earth for the area of the dark rectangular area between the red and green dots on the sign. I happen to know it’s a huge solar array. Well, it’s my idea of a huge solar array. Ahhh, that’s why the controlled gate. Google Earth says the array is over 500 feet along the long side, and the total area is about 2.6 acres.
The biggest single event of my Tuesday is Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area. For being so large and close I’m surprised at how almost tricky it is to find. I wind up being so desperate I wind up using my phone’s map and GPS capabilities. I take the Petroglyph Trail, one of two trail choices, but I don’t make it to the petroglyphs. It’s a nice day for a hike: upper 60s °F, sunny, light breeze, no bugs, few hikers.
Tuesday evening at Kim & Marty’s:
Special dark beer appears that Marty bought with me in mind because he was sure I’d like it (he was right!): Great Basin Brewing Co. 412 Scytale Barrel-aged Imperial Stout; 13.1% alc/vol. Oldest brewery in Nevada established 1993? Prohibition ended in 1933 so what about those 60 years? No older breweries in Nevada than that?
From Wikipedia: The company was established in 1993 after Nevada brewers, including company founders Tom Young and Eric McClary, successfully lobbied the Nevada Legislature to allow for brewpubs in the state.[5]
OK, there was a law changed allowing brewpubs but what about breweries that made the stuff and sold it to distributors, bars, … ,? Yeah, but I ran out of steam on this question and didn’t pursue it. Oh well.
We end this post with a couple of gratuitous images of Hoover Dam and the nearby Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. The dam and bridge are 37 miles from Las Vegas so they’re close and I’ve visited couple of times but not this trip. I seem to need a fix of some sort every now and then. You may also remember that I’m bored out of my mind, and that I like Google Earth a lot.
One more final thing. How could I have almost forgotten? The nearly required safe-arrival-home photo. Yes, it’s actually the morning after but the light level and the photographer’s energy level are much better than right as we walk in the door at 12:30am when it’s dark and cold and really tired out.
The photo is taken pretty much at the crack of dawn if you didn’t get to bed until 1:30am the night before and were worn down by 3 days of slaving away at Biodermis.
The photo also features Chris’s two attack cats who are happy to see their mom is back. They’ve put aside their occasional petty differences and are doing their part to ensure her arrival is indeed safe.
