I haven't blogged in a few weeks because it was vacation prep then vacation and then a week of vacation blues trying to get back into real life.
So today was a local parade for work, a little relaxing and now trying to get into my laundry list of things to finish before a new week starts and I'm already behind.
But, like always, I want to try to recap the amazingness that was our vacation again this year. So let's begin at the beginning, a very good place to start.
We arrived in Las Vegas at about 3 p.m. local time, and hoofed it through baggage claim to the bus that took us to the rental car area. We talked to someone at Hertz --- an interesting experience in itself since the person we talked to was on video chat instead of actually at the rental car place --- and then made our way to the numbered parking space that held the black Chevy Camaro convertible.
The gorgeous car looked like it was almost brand new. I walked around it to document any scratches or dings before we took it out and couldn't find anything wrong with the vehicle, even the black fabric interior looked immaculate.
I was supposed to write down the beginning mileage on the little chart that they gave me, and I asked Nate to find it on the dashboard information. He pushed buttons and scrolled through information, finding the engine temperature, the 87 miles that was the latest trip, the fuel gauge...no total mileage.
Five minutes he scrolled through every possible piece of information about the vehicle before we realized the mileage was right in front of us all along.
87.
The vehicle had 87 miles on it.
Wow. OK, well guess we have to be especially careful with this one, because if anything is wrong when we get back, it will obviously be our fault since NO ONE HAS DRIVEN IT!
Although we had friends waiting at the VRBO condo we booked, we were starving, and that meant the first thing to do was to find food. I got on the map and started to look in the direction of our condo to see what we could pick up to eat quickly. Nothing was popping up. Pretty much everything from the airport to the condo was solid freeway.
But then as I scrolled a little farther east, I found it. The mecca of every hungry person near the west coast.
In 'N Out Burger.
Every time we head west, we know that we have to stop at this perfect fast food joint that has perfected simplicity, cleanliness, friendliness and deliciousness. We picked our meals from the very expansive menu including the choices of hamburger, cheeseburger or double cheeseburger, and onions or no onions.
We took our food outside, and giggled as we enjoyed our meal in the 110-degree heat. We knew people inside were most likely looking at us like we were crazy, but it's a dry heat, right?
The most comical part was that a hungry pigeon was meandering next to us, and as we dropped a few fries for him, we realized he obviously survived on nothing but In 'N Out. It was obvious not because he was fat, but because he looked like a cartoon character with his mussed feathers going every which way and an almost oily look to him, complete with crazy eyes.
So, maybe In 'N Out Burger really isn't all that healthy...
We made our way back to the MGM parking garage, and after finding a space --- which was a story in itself, as we drove around thinking we had an assigned spot and realized we could actually park anywhere --- we grabbed our luggage and headed on a walk to the nearby condo.
However, when we exited the garage, the sidewalk that we needed was closed for construction. Not exactly sure where to go, we decided to simply head to the next sidewalk and walk toward the shiny gold buildings we could see in the distance. We knew where we needed to go.
Block after block in the boiling hot sun, Nate carrying our 35-pound folding burrito bag and me wheeling our blue and yellow overstuffed suitcase, and we were both sweating. There seemed to be no entrance into this mass of buildings that would lead to ours. All we could see were workers with laundry carts and maintenance vehicles going in and out --- no public entrance.
A mile into the walk, the sidewalk ended. We still hadn't found an entrance, and there was nowhere to go but back the way we came or jump into oncoming traffic.
With the look on Nate's face, I think he was considering the latter.
Another mile back, sweat pouring down us, and a smile still plastered to my face as I tried to be positive enough to be sweet but not so much to annoy the bejeebers out of my husband, we took the "closed" sidewalk that at least led into a building.
A woman inside told us we would find escalators. Our friend, also named Nate, said they were waiting by Top Golf --- if we would just go outside once more.
So we walked.
Past a pool. Past more entrances. In more sun.
In the distance, we saw our friends walking toward us, and I laughed knowing how sweaty we looked. The sundress I was wearing was almost completely soaked, and the back of Nate's gray shirt was two shades darker than the front.
We made it.
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