My apprehension of the trip was quickly replaced with excitement in just the first few minutes of being around my travel-mates. I was happy to see them and the feeling appeared to be mutual. Even while being in the garage of a past life, I felt at peace and it would help fuel the journey into the high desert.
Our bus was huge! I had seen pictures, but they certainly didn’t do this vehicle the justice it deserved. It could have seated more than twice the people we had, which gave us all gobs of room to lounge and move about to visit with each of the passengers. Each seat even came equipped with two Oh Shit handles, which would turn out to be useful when trying to navigate the aisle.
The bus left Manhattan Beach around 9 in the morning. Most of the people on the bus were people I knew. Jason was there, along with Aaron and his wife, Natasha. Charlotte and Adam came along. Brandy was there, as was Aaron Braskin, Chris Brandt, and of course Greg and Tanya. Cindy Locken with a friend, Asha were passengers. The people I did not know included a guy named Tom Muleady and a Russian couple, whom I honestly can’t remember their names. They were lovely, though.
Ken transitioned into our tour director and the bartender pretty quickly. He was whipping up drinks and laughs in the back of the bus while I hung out with Brandy, Cindy and Asha. I think on the trip out, I was able to visit with everyone for a bit. I bonded with Charlotte over kid stuff. I talked to Natasha about her shop and knitting. I discussed movies with Aaron, Chris and Jason. For someone like me, who loves this kind of quality time with people, I was in heaven.
We stopped in Barstow for In and Out. It was confirmed for me that In and Out, although not gross, is certainly not worth the hype. But it was nice to stop and stretch our legs. I also was able to touch base with the boys who were about to start their soccer game.
In some ways, the conversations were very easy. I felt like I hit it off with Asha pretty quickly, and although I have not been fortunate enough to spend gobs of time with Tanya, when we talked I knew this would be a person I could call a friend for a very long time. I struggled to understand internally why it is that Charlotte and I drifted apart since I really enjoy her company now. She is positively delightful. And Natasha! She is a doll and you just want to hold her tight and not let her go. Very sweet and funny and I was thrilled to see her and Aaron having such a nice time together.
My interactions with Jason and Aaron were a little more stiff on the way out to Vegas. I felt like I was trying to hard and at times I worried that they thought I was boring. But even though normally this would have freaked me out, it didn’t. In fact, I was really happy with this. I love them both, but in truth, I don’t spend my time with them. I don’t have to impress them and vice versa. Once I embraced that, I think it was better. I know the trip home we talked a lot more and I enjoyed it tremendously.
Of course, the big question is, how was it hanging out with Greg. It was actually fine. I don’t know that we talked a lot and he and I didn’t have any sit down gab sessions, but it wasn’t too awkward and I felt like even though I don’t think he will ever understand my crazy, he and I seem to be able to be in a good place. I really enjoyed how much of the connection between he and Ken was still intact.
We arrived at the hotel with plenty of time to beautify ourselves for dinner and the show. Our room was nice. It was really one of the only places you could sort of escape the horrid stench of cigarette smoke.
I think I looked ok. The dress worked, but once again, I am questioning whether or not I can pull off this blonde thing. Some of the conversations on the bus were about hair. Cindy does some amazing things with color on her hair. We were discussing the idea of rainbow hair. Asha thought the rainbow bright thing would be fantastic. I may need to look into this further.
I am glad I went with the dress. I was starting to second guess being so dressy, but in reality, even though the dress in my opinion was still a little prommy, it was perfect for the occasion. The corset worked wonderfully and I have to say, I did not feel fat at all! This is a huge accomplishment for me.
We went to the Rio via our chariot (read: bus) and we headed to the steakhouse we were eating at. It was called the VooDoo lounge. It was a pretty nice place, and it looked like we got there as it opened because there were very few patrons.
I sat between Ken and Tanya and across from a sweet couple who lives in Vegas who met us there. This was Jeanie Muleady and her husband. I chatted with them quite a bit and I also talked a lot with Tanya. This is where I will admit, I was an idiot. I had been drinking on the bus. I came to the restaurant with a nice buzz, and by the time I was cutting into the main entrée, I was another 3 long island iced teas into idiocy.
I know I got weepy. It was mostly in check, but of course, I was drunk so do I really know how retarded I sounded? I am not going to stress about it since I know that I was real and if you can’t be real with friends, who can you be real with, right? And I think I got that all out of my system.
My meal was yummy. I had a Caesar salad and steak. I even had the chocolate cake at the end at Tanya’s urging. My blood sugars were fine, and guess what? I had taken zero pills! I checked it a couple times through the day and night and it was always under 100. I am very pleased with my pancreas.
We wandered the casino a bit and checked out different things as we killed time between our dinner and the Penn and Teller show that was starting at 9. I ended up talking to Chris quite a bit and cleared up an amusing misunderstanding. I was telling him how I was glad we were friends now and how I had hated him before. He laughed and told me that actually the reasons I hated him were incorrect. Turns out, the person who had seemed degrading towards my wife status was Matt Williams, not Chris, despite them both being in the room at the same time. I thought this was very funny and I liked that we both could laugh at it.
We had amazing seats for Penn and Teller. We were only a couple rows back. Sadly, it was the most mellow time after a lot of stimulation. I know I drifted off a couple of times. I was thankful that Charlotte told me she did the same thing. LOL! But I will say, some of the tricks they did were just incredible. At one point, Teller turned a bunch of coin into fish. I have seen tricks like that on tv, but to see it right there in front of you, I am telling you, was chilling.
Their finale was the trick in which they get two audience members to sign bullets and then they fired them at each other. The bullets supposedly traveled through a pane of glass and then they were both holding the bullet in their teeth. I watched it. I studied it. I winced at the sound of the shots. I left there in utter amazement and awe of their slight of hand and skills as performers.
Oh, and as a side note, Teller is kind of cute in person.
We boarded the bus and went back to the Nugget where were staying. People went to their rooms to freshen up and then were meeting back down at the bar. After we went to our room, Ken accompanied me to the downtown area so I could find some food. I was starving with full on drunk munchies. Thankfully, even though it was midnight, there was a hot dog vendor in one of the casinos. They were quite busy, not for their hot dogs so much as their deep fried sweets including a deep fried Twinkie and deep fried Oreo. Eww.
Even though I was able to consume some food, I was wiped out. I should have probably tried to stay up and visit, but I was done. I said goodnight to everyone and went up to the room to pass out. I think I am glad I did because it allowed Ken to play some more craps without worrying about me and he could hang out with people and not have me around.
Ken got in around 2. Sleep was not the best as the beds were mighty uncomfortable. The pillows were blissful, but those only work so well when coupled with a rock mattress.
I know I was out of it. When I first got to the room and was what I thought was sleeping, I noted that I was having a conversation with people. I had some kind of funky hallucinations of people in the room with me and was talking with them. Probably a good thing I was alone.
I also had made the mistake of putting the giant tube like pillow next to my side of the bed. It fell down towards me at some point and I on more than one occasion through the night kept thinking this pillow was Luna.
Ken left the room again at like 6 to go gamble. He had been down and wanted to redeem himself. I hung out for a while and then showered and dressed and went down to meet him. He and I were going to hit up the buffet but it was $20 a person!!! Unless this food somehow made you feel like superman and then helped you lose 20 pounds right there, no buffet is worth $20 a person. Especially since really, all I wanted was pancakes to hopefully soak up the liquid demons that resided in my gut.
We ended up walking down to McDonald’s and took our food back to the room. After breakfast, the gambling gods were calling to Ken again so he went back to the tables, and I went to the souvenir shop I had seen in downtown. I found a couple of fun keychains for the boys which turned out to be perfect and they loved them. I considered wandering around more, but opted to go back to the room where I napped, hoping it would settle my angry stomach.
The nap certainly helped. I was able to sleep until we checked out at 10:30. We headed down to the bus where the first few of us there worked on cleaning up some of the party. I know we had some silly string and poppers, but I don’t remember having so many! Confetti was everywhere, so we started picking up what we could. We got a good chunk of it cleaned up by the time most everyone else arrived. Charlotte handled the rest with a broom she had found under the bus.
I was a little embarrassed that the first question out of everyone’s mouth to me after the morning greeting was, “how are you feeling?” But I am going to take it as a good thing. I mean, they could have just distanced themselves, right?
The plan was to go to this place called the Peppermill for food. I didn’t realize it was on the strip. It looked like a normal coffee shop on the outside. We parked in the back. Ken, Brandy, Tom and Aaron went to 7-11 while the others had went around to the front. Chris and I ended up walking in through the back door. I swear, it looked like we had entered a strip club! Not a bad thing, mind you, but it was nothing like I would have expected. This was apparently the lounge area and where we were waiting until our tables were ready. There was a small pool of water with fire in the middle with benches all around it. It was a very fluorescent pink atmosphere with lots of music and mirrors. I want my own lounge like this.
The portion sizes there were insane. I wasn’t very hungry, but ordered a sampler just so I could have some mozzarella sticks. I had more food than I would eat in a day! Brandy had ordered a fruit plate, and I swear, she had her own farmer’s market.
Jason, Chris, Ken and I ended up chatting about card counters and the burning of medical waste. These were some of the more normal conversations that happened over the weekend. LOL!
After breakfast, we lost several of our passengers. The Russian couple was heading to the airport, so we said goodbye to them at the restaurant. Charlotte and Adam were staying an extra day at the Bellagio for their recent wedding anniversary. We dropped them off at their hotel.
We then began the journey home. I kind of anticipated sleeping much of the trip. I also kind of assumed that there were be a lot of comatose passengers. Shockingly, we all were rather alert and chatty. I know some people drifted off a bit, but mostly we had some fun chats, including finding out about a lot of Jason’s fetishes that he has listed on OK Cupid.
I talked with Natasha and Tanya about babies. Natasha had such a rough time until Ethan was 3. I had no idea! Tanya, too, didn’t enjoy a lot of babyhood. Tanya did have the euphoric breast feeding experience I had, but she was less than enchanted with everything else. It was nice hearing such honesty from women. I know they adore their kids, but they also know why they each only have the one.
I also found out Natasha is having breast reduction surgery in about a month. She is happy to get her large breasts that are causing her so much discomfort and so many issues worked on with this new procedure that I guess adds some kind of tendons. The end result is almost like having an internal bra. I am excited for her!
We stopped in Victorville for food/iced custard at some place Tanya and Greg are familiar with. I didn’t eat since I didn’t really think I needed sweets, and I really was not hungry. I didn’t end up eating anything until I got home, and all I had was a bagel.
At one point we were listening to awesome punk covers of 80’s songs, which were all very happy making for everyone. Aaron even emailed us last night with a link to a bunch of ska and punk versions of songs for us to be able to download. I am looking forward to this ear candy.
We got into Manhattan Beach at a little before 7. I said my goodbyes to most of the group and I headed out with Jason. I was going to take him to the airport. We stopped by my parents’ house first to gather my children. They were funny while we took Jason to LAX and I think he was amused. It was nice visiting with Jason for a little bit of time before he had to go.
The boys and I then headed back to the Thompsons’ to pick up Ken and Brandy. The boys got to meet Tanya and Greg, which was nice. I like showing off my kids. Especially when most people only get to know them in pictures on Facebook.
I would have given anything to stay in bed for another 3 hours. I was comfy and content. I didn’t bail on work, though. I know I have a half day on Friday, so I need to be here today. I will manage. I have had coffee, which made me ill, so I moved over to tea, which has made me feel very, very good.
The trip was good. I think I am pleased with spending that much money on it. Was it extravagant for us? Yes. But every now and again I think it is good to get together with old and new friends like that. It did make me appreciate my love for them and it did make me appreciate the people I spend more time with. I have an amazing set of people in my life. I always use the idea of a funeral to determine the kind of people I have. I know that if I died today, it would be standing room only in the facility that my service would be in. I also know that most of them would not be there because they felt obligated. I know that they would be there because they loved me, too.
It was a bus ride of epiphanies. I think that some of my most favorite things to do on the bus was to listen to the ideas and stories that these people were talking about. I loved that they all come from different yet similar backgrounds, and all of them somehow intertwine into mine.
I know I took a lot of pictures, but of course unless I wanted to be even more zonked this morning, I did not have time to go through them last night. Hopefully today I will have a chance. There are a couple of plans for the afternoon and evening which include making the AYSO deposit, homework with the boys, a viewing party at Chris’, and taking inventory of what Ken brings home from Sandra’s house. My life is once again the fully engulfed candle, but you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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