Bright Lights, Big City

I don’t figure any of you are interested in the conference, so Tuesday, after a day of talks, I was pooped. The conference was having a reception with zip-lining on the 51st floor. I had no plans to zip anywhere, so I took a shower, called mom, and fell asleep during NCIS (I know!  Unheard of!)

Wednesday morning, I was up at 5. I decided to go downstairs, get some coffee, and go sit outside where I knew they’d be serving our conference breakfast and maybe get some writing done. But as I’m going down the elevator, it stopped on the 8th floor and the thought flit through my mind, “I wonder what the odds are of it being Shannon.” After all, there were ten possible elevators. But sure enough, the doors open and it was Shannon! Spooky, I know. We hit Starbucks where I tried the salted sea Carmel mocha thing and it was wonderful. When we got to the patio, the breakfast was already being served. We found a table in the shade and chatted and were soon joined by some people, one of whom was a women who kept mentioning that her daughter was the “Instagram Cat Lady,” who was publishing a book this fall, who were telling us about the zip-lining.

Holly showed up and nabbed a couple of chairs saying someone was joining us. Turns out she’d met this person from Indy the night before while zip-lining named Melody. Shannon had to fly back to Charlotte, so she’d be leaving that morning, but Melody wasn’t leaving until the next day, so she joined our merry band and spent the day with us.

Again, I know that no one is interested in conference details, but I will say that Wednesday’s keynote speaker was a guy named Jon Acuff. He talked about ways to get to finished, as in getting some of our many goals, projects, etc, finished. He was hysterical and the conference was giving us his book for free, so we got in line to get the book and he was signing them. (Making this the second book signing I’d been to in five days).

At the end of the conference, they were giving away prizes, a two person hammock. Well, those who know where I live know that I live in a condo with a 3rd floor balcony. So of course, I won a hammock. Better yet, each winner had to go up on the stage to get his/her prize and then they had to draw the name of the next winner. I had to draw at least 5 names before we happened to find someone who was present.. and they wouldn’t let me leave the stage until I picked a winner; oiy!

By then, we’re hungry and Matt (sales rep) was supposed to take us to In-n-Out Burger. But then he conveniently couldn’t go because he “had” to “fly home” to his “family.” He did make it up to us, though, by getting us tickets to the Ferris Wheel and getting Holly and me (I?) tix for another performance of Love. So, he’s forgiven. (Matt, you know we love you!)

We did find our way to In-n-Out Burger with the first of many Uber trips on Wednesday - it was good.  The food reminded me of a really good Rally's burger, only with the special In-n-Out sauce - similar to Big Mac sauce.  The highlight of the visit was Josh, the very friendly/informative person behind the counter - he explained the whole In-n-Out experience to us three newbies, and he even agreed to have his pic taken with Gnate.  Generally, just a great advertisement for the business.

After lunch, we had to go back to the hotel, because Melody and I had an appointment.*  We hit it off really well, both paralegals, from Indiana... who wanted to get...  well now, long time readers know I like to get souvenirs when I travel. I went to Charleston to visit Donna and got one; then when Natalie and I went to Gulf Shores, we both got one; so now, here in Vegas, both Melody and I got one. Of course, I’m talking tattoos. Holly was too chicken to get one. I kept telling Matt that it was going to say I (heart) Matt, but I figured Don, our software trainer, would get jealous, so I came up with something else.

After a wee rest in our rooms, we rejoined with plans to go visit "old Vegas" or Fremont Street.  Now, having grown up in the 70's, and having watched the TV show Vegas, starring Robert Urich, I expected to see Vegas like it was... and I was not disappointed.  Flashy neon signs, men is strange outfits, women in skimpy outfits with feathers, and slot machines!

Frankly, a couple of times, my innocent eyes were quite shocked!  (There are no pictures of those moments.)

After a while, the sun had set and we were ready to make our way to the ferris wheel to see the city by night.  Again, we Ubered to the Linq hotel and hopped aboard the ferris wheel.  I was expecting your usual ferris wheel, but turns out it was like the London Eye - where 30-40 people ride together and it takes 30 minutes to make it all the way around.

After the ferris wheel, I (the eldest of our little group) was getting tired and we had an early morning ahead of us.  Little did I know that by the end of the day the pedometer on my phone would say I'd walked 5.8 miles that day!  Anyway, we started to make our way toward the Bellagio to see the fountain.  We saw several other cool hotels on the way.

The fountain was very fascinating, and we ended up seeing it go off several times while we waited for our Uber back to the Rio.  I attempted to upload a video here, but it didn't work, so here's a link to my FB page where I posted it, in case you'd like to see.

Once we returned to the Rio, the youngin's went to go get some dinner.  I went to my room for a muscle relaxer, a hot shower, and bed.  It had been a busy day.

*Addendum:  I'm told, by Melody, that the tattoo shop where we got ours done is owned by a guy who has a "Counting Cars show" on the History Channel.  I'm guessing that means it or he is famous!  Cool!