Spring Break Trip to Las Vegas

After DC, I left Gail and Ben, and flew out to Las Vegas to meet my sister Sarah for a couple of days of excess...we've done this a couple of times and had a ton of fun each time...this year may have been the best...


We both got in late Friday night, and played blackjack for a couple of hours before going to bed...the next morning, we got up early, grabbed some coffee, and made plans...some of which we stuck to...


We followed that up with a great breakfast at the buffet at our Hotel, the Hilton this year...they had good food and endless champagne...



After some blackjack and comped drinks (2 of my favorite things), we went for lunch at Tony Roma's...there's a ridiculous story about how we ended up at Tony Roma's instead of the best Thai restaurant in the Western US during our last visit to Vegas, but I'll spare you everything except for the fact that we both ended up signing up for Roma's email updates, which come as weekly reminders of a funny time...that being the case, we decided to go back and try it again...


Here you can see me poised to dive into a half-sized onion loaf...the waitress assured me that lots of people get them all the time, but Sarah and I couldn't finish the half-sized one between us...we had a great time at our lunch...


After lunch, we headed south on the Las Vegas Strip via monorail and played video blackjack (smaller stakes and they still comp your drinks) until it was time for our dinner plans...we both did well...


We went to the "Tournament of Kings"...a fun dinner theater experience at the Excaliber Casino...


Merlin came by our section prior to dinner to prep us on the show...


The "Kings" lined up and engaged in jousting and sword-fighting...there were good guys and bad guys and fireworks and magic...it was a blast!


Here is Sarah after the show with our King...the King of France...WE WON!!!


The next morning, Sarah and I were both a little dehydrated (probably the dry desert air), so we fell back on the time-honored cure-all of a power-breakfast at the Hilton's Buffet...forcing fluids and spicy foods fixed up right up, and got us ready for the day ahead!


We followed up the breakfast with Spectacular Bloody Mary's at a bar that I remembered at the MGM, which cemented the cure...


This lion tamer/player/worker was busy cleaning and organizing the lion exhibit at the MGM, inside the enclosure with the lions, and he went over for serious smoochies with this lion...the lion was genuinely happy to see him, and enthusiastic to give kisses...



We went over to Gameworks, a cool arcade that we had visited during our last visit, to shoot some zombies (you pay/play by the hour, not by quarters, which insures a great time)...they had lots of great games, one of the most fun was a ride-version of "House of the Dead 4"...we were strapped in after agreeing to lengthy health waivers, and the ride spun and vibrated and shuddered and blew on us and had google-phonic speakers and was beyond awesome!!!


On the way back to MGM, we stopped off at the ridiculous house of hats...Sarah found a great one...


I unfortunately couldn't find a silly hat...


Back at the MGM Grand, we found our favorite bar and blackjack playplace (not to be confused with MacDonald's playplaces), Centrifuge, a great bar with fun music and feel and wait-staff that dances on the bar every 1/2 hour...as per usual, as long as we were playing, our drinks were free...the last time we were here, a hugely pregnant waitress, likely bound by contract, danced in the corner every half hour while her co-workers danced up on the bar...it cemented the place as a classic in our Las Vegas lexicon...


We had a great time hanging out, people-watching, playing blackjack, drinking free bourbon, and...


...watching the "Centrifuge" dancers...we had a super time and/but missed our planned night out at the Stratosphere Tower restaurant and the topless vampire show, "Bite"...the explanation involves numerous comped bourbons as shown above, a late-afternoon nap, and a too-quiet alarm...we'll catch the dinner and "Bite" the next time we're in town...we still had a great night anyway...


The next morning, we headed down to the opposite end of the strip for some play (and free drinks) in the Stratosphere and the Sahara...we had a fun time until we found this computer/video animated blackjack machine, after which we had a phenomenally fun time...we both won a bunch of money, and had fun trying to engage the dealers...we named this one Penny for reasons which we'll tell you in private...

Sarah headed out around noon, and my flight went out later that night...I spent the intervening hours shooting a few more zombies and catching a movie...

Sarah and I had another spectacular time in Las Vegas, and plan to come back next year...I'm happy to be back in Lake Clear (although the constant snow is a bit of a bummer after the sun and 70s weather in Las Vegas), have finally caught up on my sleep and hydration, and spent the day snuggling with Ben and Penny and Cedar...

I like living like that for a couple of days each year, probably because it's so different from my life in NY...

Penny's Birthday

Our Labra-puppy Penny turned 1 today!!!

Ben and I started off the day by sleeping in, a startling rare occurrence in our household...we eventually got going, and headed into town to do some chores and some playing...our first stop was the laundromat in town...I have a monstrous sleeping bag which smells like trolls have been wrestling in it all winter, hitting each other with dirty-wet gymsocks...it filled our washing machine to capacity and beyond, so I figured that I would let the industrial -sized machines in town handle it, which they did, admirably...it now smells like princesses have been playing badminton in it (sedately), using potpourri instead of birdies...



Next to the laundromat is a playground which we have always referred to as, "the crappy playground next to Stewart's", which I found out today is a misnomer...it's a pretty great playground, with lots of fun and challenging elements...{{{for those who may be wondering if all of my clever names for places in downtown Saranac Lake are misnomers, the Chinese restaurant that we refer to as, "the shitty Chinese place" is justifiably named}}}


Ben was dressed in Adirondack Spring Casual, which means mudboots, shorts, pile-lined Carhart jacket and a t-shirt...it was 15 degrees this morning, and 55 this afternoon, so it worked for him all day long...


Lots of climbing and running around later, we went back to check on the sleeping bag...it was fine, but the laundromat stank strongly like propane...I mentioned this to the sleepy woman behind the counter, and she countered with, "It gets worse as the day goes one, you should be in here around 5, when we close."...nobody should, but someday it'll go boom, and you can say that you heard it here first...


After changing the sleeping bag into a huge dryer (Ben and I could have both fit inside it, no problem), we went off in search of a newly approved geocache not too far from town...it was a small container disguised like a rock hidden somewhere along a ginormous wall of rock...the one Ben is holding is not the geocache, that's just a rock...my plan is to post this picture on the geocaching.com website to get someone to look for this rock instead of the actual container...I'm just mean like that (Ben isn't and has no idea, either of my evil nature or my plan, so don't tell him)...it was a fun hunt on a gorgeous day, and Ben found it when I was about to give up...we were the first to find this particular geocache...yay us!

Auntie Gladys was asking about geocaching, so I assume that other readers of this blog might have similar questions...the best place to learn about it is through geocaching.com and/or to read their FAQ on Geocaching...


We went back to the laundromat, and I held my breath to run inside while Ben stayed in the car, and when I found that the dryer needed 20 more minutes, we went back to the playground, with Ben losing some layering in the heat of the afternoon...


He had a great time at the playground and geocaching, and when the sleeping bag was dry, we went shopping for birthday supplies for Penny...



Traditionally, Sheffield dogs get their birthday cakes at the table, and it's normally carrot cake...but Penny is a princess, so we varied the formula a bit, and got her an aggressively pink layer cake, and she loved it...


She was very happy when we started singing to her, but a little "whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?" when the plate with cake started descending towards her mouth...


She got over her trepidation quickly though, and wolfed the whole piece amazingly quickly...she was a little more ladylike on her second helping...

Ben's asleep, Penny's asleep, Cedar's asleep, and Vinnie's asleep...there is snoring coming from every nook and crannie of this house, and it (or the full weekend) is lulling me to an early bed...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fun Weekend #218

Ben had no school on Friday, so I took a personal day and we made a long weekend...it's been great so far...


Friday morning at about 9am, I picked up Ben's friend Brennan and we headed north to Plattsburgh...the boys played with toys and listened to Brennan's MP3 player in the back...


We played in the McDonald's Playplace for almost 2 hours, and the boys took a quick break for some lunch before heading over to the movie theater...

We went to see, "Race to Witch Mountain", which was a blast!



After the movie we did a quick shop at Petsmart, got some treats for the dogs (even Brennan's), and then headed home...

This morning, Ben and I headed over to Paula's Airport Cafe, at the nearby Lake Clear Airport, to meet our friend George for breakfast...we had a nice time and George handed off an Apple Ipod Touch, one of about 15 which Apple are letting some teachers in my district (myself included) play with for a while...I suspect their trying to get me hooked, but in the meantime, it's fun...

Ben and I spent much of the day geocaching, which was nice given the perfect Adirondack weather...about 10 degrees when we got up this morning, and about 50 by this afternoon...blue skies in all directions and lots of sun...


Ben gave me this cagey look when he had spotted our first geocache of the day, and was certain that I had not...


Our second cache of the day was next to Lower Saranac Lake, and the whole time that we were hunting for the hidden container, the lake was groaning and cracking and shifting, so Ben asked if it was safe to walk out on...I've seen trucks parked on the lakes by their owners' fishing shacks, so I felt confident that Ben and I would be safe...


He was, as always, a big help while looking for the geocaches as well as while homing in on them while using the GPS receiver...


By our fourth geocache of the day, we were in the groove, getting used to the outdoors, and starting to get hungry...


So we stopped in at Ben's favorite McDonald's, in Lake Placid...his spot, and he's always annoyed if someone else is in it, is a benchseat in front of a fireplace...we got lucky today, and we shared a lunch of chicken nuggets and fish sandwiches...food of the geocaching gods!


Our final geocache of the day was all the way down in Wilmington, past Whiteface, along the West Branch of the Ausable River...it was gorgeous, with huge chunks of ice both floating and stranded...we walked about a mile in the woods, with the sound of the river never leaving us...we saw lots of great prints in the snow, crossed semi-treacherous ice-fields, forded frozen streams, and found the treasure in the end...


It was hidden up and away from the river by a few hundred yards, in a pretty hollow filled with big trees and glacial erratics, and piles of deer poop every few feet...


On the way back, we had to cross a frozen over stream at a wide and rushing and scary point...ok, we didn't have to cross there, but we wanted to...it was a challenge, and one which we were equal to...


This is the victory picture...you can still see the residual traces of fear and/or stress in both of our faces...we had crossed the fearsome stream and stayed dry...nature, see our opposable thumbs and tremble!!!


This is the "bridge" that we used to cross the stream...it may not look too daunting from the safety of your living room, but in 30 degree weather, with a half-mile or so back to the car, you don't want to get soaked...we sang songs after the crossing...songs of brave men and insufficient obstacles...

When we were most of the way back to the car, we paused to rest a minute while Ben check out stuff in this brook sharing our path...the grass up to his left is an overgrown beaver dam that runs for about 200 yards, you can see an old lodge in the background, and Whiteface in the distance...

It was a great day of caching, and then we got home, took it easy, and played with the Ipod Touch for awhile after dinner...no plans yet for tomorrow...

J

Down South Sunday

Ben and I headed down South today, to Long Lake and Newcomb and eventually even as far as the ghost town of Tahawus...


We stopped off in Long Lake to do some geocaching, and grab some lunch at the Long Lake Diner (also known as "woods")...


After lunch we drove to, and through, Newcomb, on our way to Tahawus, an old mining town that closed up decades ago...lots of the buildings are still standing today...it was a beautiful day for a drive through this remote part of the Adirondacks, and up into this amazing setting...with tall mountains and intact empty houses standing in the quiet forests...


Ben has been helping me make a movie for a couple of months...mostly sound effects and stuff, but today he told me that he was ready to enter the arena as an actor...so today, he became Timmy the zombie...he was awesome!!!


I'll be coming back down to Tahawus with some friends in April to do some camping and exploring...the state recently bought about 10,000 acres, and Tahawus and beautiful Lake Henderson are right in the heart of it...exploring the woods and waters of the area, especially some of the intact houses up in the woods (which have grown up around the town since it was abandoned) is going to be lots of fun...


We'll be watching scary movies in, or against the wall of, one of the houses...it should be cool...


There is a gorgeous and huge old mansion across the Hudson (which is only yards across at this point in its journey to the ocean), which looks to be in perfect shape, and should be pretty once we get a closer look...



Making movies and exploring ghost towns is hard work, so Ben and Penny took it easy on the drive home...I cranked back both of their seats in the Element, and it made a perfect full-length snuggling bench...


At one point Penny decided to come up and visit me, which required that she crawl across and over Ben...this pleased everyone involved...


We stopped off in Long Lake for a short play and pee time (Ben played and Penny pee'd) at one of the best tiny playgrounds in the known universe...


On the way home, between Long Lake and Tupper Lake, Penny went to sleep on her piece of the bench, and Ben looked at the cool geocaching cards that we got from our friends Shane and Doree in Long Lake...the guy behind us blew by us about 10 seconds after this picture was taken, and was pulled over a minute after that...HA!

It was a great Sunday!

Cornwall Weekend

We headed down to Connecticut to visit with my parents and sister last weekend...we brought down Penny and Cedar, and my parents' dog Maggie was there, so it was a dog-tastic weekend...


Ben loved showing D, and others, how to watch movies on Netflix using his computer...


He made a cool spy gadget with Anti-Sarah...


The dogs would play hard and then nap like crazy, sometimes filling whatever room they ran out of gas in with canine wreckage...


Ben and Muz made cookies for the dogs, Muz made all sorts of cookie shapes, Ben preferred to stick to bones, because...they're for dogs...


Saturday night Anti-Sarah and Gail and I stayed home to put flame to some steaks and made some Cornwall-politans and watched a crappy movie after Ben came home and went to bed...


Sarah had fun playing with (and being assaulted with kisses) by Penny and Cedar...

It was a fun weekend, and nice to see everyone...