Next Stop: Las Vegas!

Hello, my dear friends!!

Hope your Sunday is going well.  I can't believe I've managed to crank out a post EVERYDAY for the month of October, so far.  I took the challenge banner down because it made me nervous. I kept thinking....what if I get sick and can't do the post for a day?  I have failed the challenge!  It was getting to be ridiculous, so bye-bye banner!  I feel a lot more relaxed now and can actually enjoy blogging again.

I remember when I very first came out West to live with my grandma.  She lived in Yuma, AZ, about 5 hours or so from Vegas.  She had me fly into Vegas as I'd never seen it before and she hadn't gone in a long, long time so she thought it would help me with my homesickness to go some place fun. So Las Vegas it was!!!

I remember flying in at night time and seeing all the bright lights.  The pilot didn't even have to mention where we were.....it was pretty obvious!!  The Strip was lit up like a million Christmas trees.  I had never before seen so many lights and hotel-casinos.  Even McDonald's had lights strewn all over it and Motel 6, too, which is where we were staying.  My grandma brought her friend Betty along, too.  Or actually shall I say Betty INVITED herself along on this time.  Betty was a widow, too, and she kind of adopted my grandma as her best friend.  And my grandma was too sweet to not hang around Betty and read her menus at restaurants (Betty had macular degeneration) and take her places in Betty's car.  I remember Betty running right into the front plate glass window of a convenience store with her car.  That was the end of Betty's driving days, let me tell you!!  Then Betty got lung cancer and died, and she willed her trailer over to Grandma.  Grandma couldn't believe it!!  And that will talked about Betty having three kids we knew nothing about.  She totally shut them out of her will.  So we don't know what happened there.  But Grandma really enjoyed the new (to her) trailer as her old one was falling apart all around her!  The trailer was over 20 years old, so it was time.  The funny thing is that Grandma sold it to a neighbor and then he sold it to this kid that made it into a meth lab!  The FBI got wind of that and carted the trailer out of the park as it was the scene of a crime!  Poor trailer.  It's demise has to be on the back of a FBI truck!!

OK, back to Vegas.  Here's some photos I took while I was there.  You know me and photos!  If your gonna be someplace new, you want to capture the memory with a picture!!  That should be made into a law!!! :0)

This casino is called The Excaliber.  I loved the front of it with all the pointy roofs.   I bet it costs a fortune to stay at any of these casinos.  When we went on this trip it was 1993, so many things have changed, I'm quite sure!

Here is the Mirage, my favorite casino in Vegas.  The registration desk is the length of a big room and behind it in the wall is a gigantic aquarium!  It was so neat!  I wish we could have seen the white tigers and Sigfried and Roy, but it wasn't in the stars for us to go that trip.  Maybe next time!

I LOVED the fountain in front of the Mirage. It is so pretty!  And it adds to the decor of the casino.  You always think of "mirages" full of water...or at least I do!!

Here's the water fall right up front.  I should ask that guy there if he's enjoying the view as much as I was!!

Here's a panoramic view of the waterfall, trees, and some of the casino.  I bought a panoramic camera before leaving for Vegas.  Those suckers are expensive!  I'm so glad the camera I have now has that feature all ready built in.

 

Now we move on to Treasure Island!  This has a very cute fountain and aquarium on the outside of the casino.

The attractive lady right smack dab in the center of this photo is none other than Grandma!  She's trudgin' along and I'm keeping up with her at the same time taking pictures galore!

Here is the outside of Treasure Island.  It is very elaborately decorated like a pirate's nest.  Every so often (on the hour, I think) they do pirate shows on the water that is very cool!!

Another view of Treasure Island.  I just couldn't get over all the decorations!!

More Treasure Island!  I wish we could have seen the lil' show they do every hour, but we were there for a long time and it was pretty warm and we were tired, so we kept on our journey down the Strip.

Grandma going down the Strip.  It just goes on and on for miles, it seems.  We walked a very good portion of it, then just couldn't do anymore so we stopped at the casino where Betty was and told her we were going for dinner.

We stayed in Vegas for a few days, then Betty wanted to stop in Laughlin, NV for a night.  She said she would pay for it.  We took her up on it!!  While she was in registering us, Grandma said she couldn't wait to get home.  Betty just drove her nuts with her always having to right and she wore incontinence pads that "crinkle" all night and drives Grandma nuts.  I've never heard the "crinkling" but then again, Grandma was always closer to Betty than me.  My grandpa couldn't stand Betty.  He called her the "Bulldog" and now that I think about it, she DID have a resemblance to a bulldog.  How interesting!!!

My new life had just begun October 31st, 1993.  I was scared, nervous, excited all rolled up in one.  I knew I could count on Grandma.  She has been my rock of stability my whole life.  I love her (and Grandpa and Gramps) so much, words cannot adequately say how much I love them.  They have always been there for me and my mom and dad.  I'll never be able to pay them back for all they have done for me, even if I live to be 150 years old!!!

So, I'll say it like this:

I LOVE YOU, GRANDMA CHURCHILL!!!!! 
Thank you for taking me under your wing when I was first starting out my new life and job in Yuma.  I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for you!!  God bless you forever!

And to my loyal blog buddies, God bless you, too.  It's so nice having people I've never met in person, but over the internet care about me so much.  I care about all of you, too!!

God bless ya!
Until next post,