Vegas - Day 1

Our hotel, The Luxor, in the foreground. That beam of light shooting out of the top can be seen in space they say. Whatever.

"All Continental flights have been canceled."

Those are the first words we heard when we got out of the car at the Rochester airport departure zone at 4:30 am. We sent Simon to wait in the Cell Phone Parking Lot while we went inside to sort things out. They put us on a US Air flight that left only an hour later than our scheduled flight. So I called Simon with the okay-to-go-home call and we were off on our adventure!

In retrospect, I think it's good we didn't check our flight before leaving for the airport. I have visions of getting stuck in a queue on the phone forever awaiting help to switch us to another flight. Since our alternate flight left only 50 minutes later than our original, we would have to hustle to the airport anyway. I'd rather be there, checked in and relax & stitch until boarding time. But that's me. :-)

Our new flight went through Philadelphia instead of icy Newark (the reason for our canceled flight). Both flights were uneventful other than the plane was uncomfortably hot, even with the air blowing on me. I slept and read, didn't even try to stitch, though I stitched in the airports.

Oddly, I have been so screwed up time-wise this trip. I don't remember the 3 hour time difference being that big of a deal the last time we came here. I think it was because of the flight change, not that the flight was an hour later but because we talked about the time so much, figuring what time we'd arrive, etc. I tried to stay hydrated throughout the day. Dunno.

We checked into our room in The Luxor, both surprised to see we'd booked a room that had a Jacuzzi in it. This is where middle-aged absent-mindedness is a good thing - it was a pleasant surprise - oh yeah! Look what we did!

We rested for a bit, then went to dinner at the highly recommended Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay. Thanks John - the food was outstanding! We walked around a bit and I bought a Mandalay Bay shot glass for Simon. He has a bit of a collection, mostly provided by me in my never ending effort corrupt his morals. I only bring him shot glasses from hotels or cities in which I've stayed overnight. Yep, I have rules for even that. (I don't think I bought him one from Mandalay Bay when we stayed there 2 years ago or maybe he'll have 2 now.)

We made use of the Jacuzzi and boy, I was ready for bed! Except it was 6:30. Steve wanted to watch a movie so I begrudgingly gave in. We found a movie we'd wanted to see in the theater but never did, Pelham 123. What a good movie! I can prove it because I watched it start to finish, without stitching. I never do that! Denzel Washington is always excellent and John Travolta played an excellent bad guy. As I'm writing this, Steve is watching a football game and there was a commercial on just now for another movie with John as a bad-ass. As I said to Steve last night, "Who would have ever thought that Vinnie Barbarino would have turned into such a good actor?"

We slept like babies.