Vegas!

Derek got an email requesting blog updates so here I go trying to make-up for being a slacker (Hi Aunt Lynn.) It has been just about a month since we went to Las Vegas, but I figure that is where I will start.

Ever since moving out to California Derek and I have been talking about taking a trip to Vegas. I had never been before and Derek had only gone for a work convention. We found out it is about a five hour drive from Carlsbad so why not go when it is so close?

We took off after work on Thursday night and drove the five hours. Derek had gotten a nasty cold and wasn't much good for driving. I am notorious for falling asleep in the car so at the end of the work day I drank some coffee and then had a soda with dinner. I managed to stay wide awake and drive to Vegas, but then couldn't get to sleep. I expected late nights, but not by tossing and turning desperate to sleep. (Oh in case anyone is wondering we didn't do a fancy Vegas hotel, we stayed in the Holiday Inn, across the highway from Mandalay Bay.)

The next day we went to tour the strip in the daylight. We looked through many of the casinos and just took in the architecture and crazy people. I loved the giant lions outside of the MGM Grand.
Then there were the real lions inside. Pretty sure this guy just likes showing off that he gets to hang out with lions all day. He didn't really interact with them, just sat there letting everyone know his job is cooler than ours. This picture is for my Aunt Jackie. It is the prettiest chocolate fountain I have ever seen. The fountain and this tree were located inside the Bellagio. The tree was funny because they had him talking and at one point he stops and says, "Would you like a picture? I will smile for you." Then he stopped talking and smiled.The second night we were there we got tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show "O." Before the show we decided to play Black Jack. I have only played slots and video poker in a casino before. I was nervous not wanting to upset the other players, but we found a really good table with a dealer who helped me with the odds. I made about $45, but Derek lost most of his money. It was fun, but I am no gambler. Too big a wuss to bet anything.

We saw one of the Cirque travelling shows in Baltimore and were really excited to see another. "O" was absolutely amazing. I can't get over the power Cirque performers have. I would recommend anyone going to Vegas to see this show.

The next day we drove around and sat by the pool. I figured out really quick there isn't much to do in Vegas during the day. There were plenty of day excursions like the Hoover Dam, but since we were only there for the weekend I wanted to make sure we weren't tired for the night life. Oh, and by this point Derek had given me his cold.

Saturday night we started at Fremont Street (where the Golden Nugget and older casinos are.) There is an LED display connecting the casinos in this part of town. Every so often they play a song have animation that goes along. Since it was so close to Halloween they played the Time Warp.
It was pretty funny. There is a strip club in this part of town that has big screen advertisements for the passers-by. They cover up anything they aren't allowed to show with funny adjectives. We had to take a picture. We didn't last too long in this part of town. I will simply say there were more unsavoury people in this part of town than the strip. After Freemont we arrived back at the Bellagio just in time for the fountain. It was so cool to see the show since it is in so many movies.
We then went to the Rio to watch Penn & Teller. They put on a great show and even stood for pictures and autographs outside of the theatre when it was over. We got Penn to sign my ticket stub but Teller was mobbed so we didn't really bother fighting the crowd to get to him.

After the show we went over to the Palms. Derek had gotten us some passes that got us entrance into the four clubs they have. Two of them are roof deck bars and were really pretty, but not very exciting. One of them was they Playboy club which is pretty much more about saying you went there than you had a good time there. They had high end poker tables and that was clearly the activity you were supposed to partake in.

The best club was Rainn. This was the actual dance club. They had a pretty well known DJ spinning and lots of performers. They had fabric hanging from the lighting fixtures and many people doing all kinds of tricks. Of course, we dressed up so I didn't want my big old purse and therefore had no camera. I am a little disappointed over not having pictures, but we had tons of fun so in the end that is all that matters.

Last observation: I was surprised to find the Welcome to Vegas sign is in the middle of the freeway. There is a small parking lot to get out and take photos, but we decided I would just try and get it while driving by. Hence the bad photo...

Sea World

I was just looking at the blog and realized this is my 39th post. I started it so that everyone in MD would be able to see what we are up to, but it really is like a trip diary and it is a nice way to go back and see everything we have done. Not really a point to this more of a, "wow I am still keeping up with the blog and haven't lost interest."

On to the fun stuff! Jen and Mark flew out from Maryland to spend a few days with us. For those who don't know it was Jen and Mark's wedding back in June that we flew home for. Jen put dibs on Sea World so that is where we went! It was a blast!

Here is a sea otter swimming along on his back. They are so darn cute!At the Seal and Sea Lion exhibit you can buy small fish and feed the animals. I like the "King of the Mountain" Sea Lion, he does not beg for fish like the other pions. Naturally the birds have caught wind of this and joined in. Below his belly you can see a woman holding a tray of fish. Shortly after this photo a bird swooped in and helped himself. This guys tactic was to say "ahhhhhh" (he really made that sound) the whole time and have people just throw the fish right in his mouth. This one was a little more proactive in his begging.Here is "Biff" from the Sea Lion show. He danced around to a bunch of t.v. theme songs before the show. Here he is dancing to Miley Cyrus. Here was the real star of the show. I think this was Clyde.Here are two photos from the Shamu show. This was the best part of the day. Seeing these massive animals jump so high out of the water is incredible.

Movie Night

Last night Derek and I went to see Young Frankenstein. We didn't take a camera since I didn't think it would be particularly memorable, however now I am blogging about it and wish I had taken it. We were invited last month by Derek's friend Kurt's sister. She lives up near Venice Beach and she and her husband were planning to come down to San Diego county to watch this movie and so we decided to join them.

We went to the Stone Brewery in Escondido and sat in their beer garden where they had a screen set up. Here is the image they have on their website so you can get an idea:So you bring your own blankets or chairs and sit under the stars watching a different movie every Wednesday. As the sun started to set there were bats flying over head and everything was decorated with plants and stone so it is a really pretty atmosphere. We watched the movie and had a fun time sitting outside with everyone laughing at Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. Next week they are show Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. What makes the showing so special is the guys who did Mystery Science Theatre 3000 will be there with microphones cracking jokes throughout the movie. We are going to try and make it back there for that one.

Betting on the Ponies

Last Saturday Derek and I went to the Del Mar race track. We have been talking about going for a while now and finally had the perfect opportunity. After the last race they were having a free Flaming Lips concert.We have been to both Laurel race track and Pimlico, and aside from Preakness those two places are like ghost towns. Del Mar on a normal Saturday was thriving. It was packed with people and many of them dressed as if it was Preakness or the Derby. I was surprised by the number of women wearing high heels and their best dresses wanting to stand around smelling horse poop all day. There were also many men who thought they were hot stuff, but we kindly disagree with them. Example:Here is the general admission:The start for the mile and a quarter race:Here I am really making an effort to place a bet. Of course, I didn't win a single bet, I am going back to picking based on names and odds. So after the races we went to the infield for the concert. The Flaming Lips are known for their stage show so we were a little excited to experience it.
As he is known for the lead singer came out in his huge plastic bubble and went crowd surfing. The microphone had a camera attached so during some parts you got images up the lead singers nose. I added this picture not for his boogers, but for the people on the sides. They had people come out in costumes and dance to the music. They were a lot of fun to watch.
We had some computer problems and are now running Linux now instead of Windows. This means I am still getting used to the differences and the pictures may be smaller than normal. I will keep playing with it.

Jess and Aaron's Visit Part Deux

The day after visiting the zoo we took a trip up to LA. We started at the Griffith Observatory. Here are some photos overlooking LA and of course the Hollywood sign.Inside of the Observatory there is a cafe. Since I have started reading Douglas Adams I got a kicked out of the name.They of course have plenty of information and displays about the solar system and star gazing. Here was one computer screen set up showing infrared and Derek stood below and took a picture. I thought it turned out pretty neat. After the Observatory we went to the walk of fame. Tons and tons of names I have never heard of and some I didn't really think had accomplished enough to have a fan club let alone a star. This however was pretty awesome:And this is what Michael Jackson's star looked like a couple weeks after his death. Funny because we never would have taken a picture of his star and technically all we wanted was to capture the craziness. Poor Queen Latifah getting no love.Kurt's sister lives up in Santa Monica and we had plans to have dinner with her (Nancy) and her husband. Here is the infamous Muscle Beach...We had a lot of fun with Jess and Aaron and now I know there really isn't much to LA that I care about. The stars were neat, but the novelty wears off pretty quick.

Jess and Arron's Visit

I have been talking for two weeks about getting caught up with the blog and how exciting it will be to post about things in a timely manner again. I have been talking about it, clearly I have not been doing it. Today I will share with you some of the things we did while Aaron and Jess were in town. I worked a lot of the time they were here so I don't have as many exciting stories as I did when Vinnie came to town. Also, we went to a beautiful spot called Point Loma and my camera batteries were dead so I have no photos to share. Instead of photos of beautiful cliffs I will start with the San Diego Zoo.


This was my second time visiting the zoo and Derek’s first. The layout is a nightmare because there is no single path you can follow to see all of the animals. This works in our favor so that when everybody comes to visit we will get to see new things every time. This guy was pretty cool and I am not sure what he blends in with in nature since he was in a desert enclosure.These are swamp monkeys, they share an enclosure with otters. We were not able to capture it in photo (I know Jess and Aaron did and will try and get a copy) but these monkeys would play with the otters. The otters swam around taunting them and the monkeys would grab their tails and hold them for a couple seconds.
Here I am as a scientist. There is a new exhibit called Elephant Odyssey that gives information about animals found in San Diego thousands of years ago and compares them to animals of today. The craziest part of the trip was the lion. The sun was going down and the camera's flash refused to cooperate so I do not have a photo of him. This lion was pacing the length of his enclosure and started growling. He then started pacing in a small five foot circle. Jess then pointed out a service dog standing outside of the cage. The lion was in great distress and wanted to make that dog his dinner. The woman with the dog apparently got a kick out of this and stayed there for quite a few minutes driving the lion crazy. She then walked away and remarked, "he wanted to make you his lunch."


The zoo also has a bunch of peacocks that roam freely. This one got on top of a building and the green bulb lit him up beautifully.

4th of July

On the Fourth of July Derek and I invaded enemy territory. We got two tickets to the Angels/Orioles game in Anaheim. We were invited by the brother of one of Derek’s coworkers so before the game we went tailgating with some new people. There were hotdogs and hamburgers, lots of yummy goodness. I also learned that “hotlinks” are awesome and must be present at more cookouts. We had some live music being performed right next to our tailgating spot.Here we are with our O's hats (you will have to take my word for it on Derek's) in front of the stadium.They brought out a big flag for the National Anthem.Fly overEarly in the game we were up by four points. Here is a photo of Brian Roberts scoring. By the end of the game the Angels took it 11 to 4, losing it O's style. They have a really cool bubble maker in the stadium that realeases these halo A's above the outfield.They turned out most of the lights for the fireworks display.Most of the crowd stuck around so we weren't able to score better seats for the fireworks. We could see most of them, just a few low ones we missed.

The Angels fans were a ton of fun. We got a few heckles but they were all in good fun. One of the hecklers even bought us a pretzel! According to one my super pale skin is the dead give away that I am not an Angels fan.