Day Seven, June 2

 Today turned out to be a lovely day. I woke up at 5 AM not because there was noise in the hall, I  just woke up naturally at that time. I didn’t leave the room until about 10 o’clock. I Ubered over to Paris because Mike and Terin and I are doing the Eiffel Tower brunch at noon.  I went to the Caesar’s Rewards desk and had them make me a voucher. I don’t usually do that for a restaurant where they take our rewards 2  to 1 but I figured what the heck, I will go ahead and do that today.

While I waited for the kids to arrive at Paris, I saw several Mo Mummy slot machines and I went to play one of them. I was only building $.75 a spin. But that was the same thing I was betting at Fontainebleau a few days ago and I hit many bonuses.  This particular machine wasn’t going to bonus at all at $.75 a spin. The kids came and then we went up to the Eiffel Tower restaurant to have our brunch.

The Eiffel Tower restaurant is beautiful with an incredible view of the fountains. We were given given a good table in front and could see the fountains going off every half hour. The first course is appetizers. Terin chose Yogurt Parfait , Mike chose Shrimp Cocktail and I had Onion Soup, which was absolutely delicious. For our main courses Terin chose French Toast, both Mike and I both had Lobster Eggs  Benedict. It was all yummy. For dessert Michael and I both chose Baked Apple Strudel with ice cream and Taryn chose something called a Chocolate Crunch Bar that also had ice cream on the plate. Michael had a few glasses of wine and Terin and I finished off our meals with espresso martinis. Everything was wonderful. I will happily go to that restaurant again. I think MotherWolf  needs to take a lesson from Eiffel Tower . The music at the Eiffel Tower restaurant, was soothing, piano music in the background, and while the place was full, and there was people talking it didn’t sound like the bedlam that was MotherWolf. 

After we ate Mike and Terin were returning to NY NY to change.  I wanted to go play at Harrah’s because I saw a Mo Mummy there.  Also because I just had to walk across the street when I got tired.   I contemplated walking it, even though it was 95 degrees, but I was wondering if the elevators on the walkway between Horseshoe and Cromwell would be functioning.   Mike offered to have his Uber to drop me at Harrahs, so I agreed to that.  I happened to see an Out of Order sign on the elevator so it is a good thing we Ubered.

The kids ended up going downtown.  I got myself situated at a Mo Mummy.   It didn’t want to bonus for me at .75 or at $1.50 but when I switched to 2 cent denomination at 1.50 it went crazy!  I wound up winning back all the money I spent that day.  Yippee!  I love when that happens.

I was getting tired around 6 pm so I went a bought a slice of pizza from Buddy’s Pizzacake for my dinner.

I am in for the night at 7pm.  I am such a party animal. (That early wake up has me bushed.)

I steal some of Terin’s pictures sometimes.  Every time you see a really good picture, it is hers.

Day Six, June 1

 

 

 I was awoken by people talking at the top of their lungs in the hallway at 5 AM this morning. You would think they would be more considerate of people sleeping, wouldn’t you? I was awake for about an hour, but then I drifted off to sleep again and slept in until about 9 o’clock.

I attempted to use this handicapped shower. I love the toilet. The toilet is very convenient, but the shower is something else. It was very awkward to try and wash my hair with the handheld thingy. I tried it sitting on the bench and that didn’t work very well. So then I tried propping myself up against the wall and I managed that way. But as I suspected there was water all over the bathroom floor. I had to use the bath towels to mop it up. 

I didn’t leave the room until around 11:30. I have been concerned about my UTI and my antibiotics ran out on Thursday. A board member had suggested a type of medicine I could buy at Walgreens. So I walked across the street to the Walgreens across from Mirage and found that medicine and hopefully if I take it my UTI won’t come roaring back before I get home. Or maybe it won’t come back at all.  Maybe I’ll be really lucky. 

I know everyone on the sidewalk hates me when I am trying to walk anywhere.  I am so slow. I staggered over to Harrah’s and went to their Fulton Street food hall and bought a yogurt parfait and a fruit cup and had that for my lunch. 

Then I grabbed an Uber down to Mandalay Bay. I haven’t been there in many years.  Was it always this dark?  I love the light though.  They are so sparkly.  

I got to Mandalay around one. I played about 15 different machines in Mandalay Bay, but I couldn’t really get anything going. They mostly just hoovered up my funds. I spent the afternoon there because we were going to the Michael Jackson One show that night. And also, I wanted to give MGM some play so they’ll continue to offer me the occasional free room.

Michael and Terin joined me around 630 and we went into the show and we all absolutely loved it. It was fantastic. It’s I love it as much as I love LOVE. I would see this one again for sure.

After the show I get grabbed yet another Uber back to Mirage and went to Snacks again and got some chicken fingers and fries for my dinner since  I hadn’t had any.  Really wish they would give you half the food for half the money.

Day Five, May 31

 There isn’t much to tell you about today.  I asked for a late checkout from Planet Hollywood, so I took my time getting dressed and packed up. I liked the Resort room.  It was very spacious.  The bathroom is sparkly and gorgeous. The things I didn’t like were the ugly art over the bed, the sexist art on the entryway wall, the useless narrow bathtub, the slippery floor and the low toilet.  Also if PH was smart they would put a lighted mirror over the desk so we could use it as a makeup table, like Harrahs has. Another thing I find odd is that there are no makeup mirrors in either Planet Hollywood or Mirage.  Why?

Actually I was pretty glad to leave the Planet Hollywood casino behind. I am really not a fan of it.  I am perpetually lost in there.   I only played a total of three hours in four days.

  I decided to do the virtual check in thing to Mirage and I was surprised that it worked so well.  They sent me an email when my room was ready at about 1:30 pm.  I grabbed an UBER over to Mirage and went to the kiosk and it spit out my key. Amazing!  I was very pleased that it worked  because the check in line was super long.

I put my things away and went down to play.  I spent a few minutes trying to get my MGM card to work in the slots!  DUH! 

I was looking for Mo Mummy but they don’t have it! Sniffle.   I asked a slot attendant and he said it was an old machine and they got rid of it.   I don’t think it is old?  Since I couldn’t find that I played Karma Kat, Rich Little Piggies, and a kind of Wheel of Fortune I have never seen before.  At one point I was up but I played it back down.

At dinner time I got a cheeseburger and a piece of carrot cake from Snacks.  After eating I was tired and came back to the room for the night at 7 pm.

I bought a nifty thing from Temu for travel.  It is laundry soap in sheets.  I washed out a few things with it.  Very handy. 

Mike and Terin are running around of course.  They went to Ole Red for lunch and Blue Man Group and Carrie Underwood.

Day Four, May 30

 I took my time getting ready this morning. I didn’t leave the room until about 11 o’clock. I went downstairs to Cafe Hollywood and there wasn’t a lineup for once so I decided to go in there for some breakfast. I had a lovely plate of chicken and waffles. It was delicious. 

Then I attempted to catch an Uber to take me down to Fontainebleau. An Uber came and it was a Chevy Suburban. I discovered that I am unable to climb into a Chevy Suburban, so I had to pay the cancellation fee and order another one and hopefully this time it would be one I could get into. The next one that came was manageable and we had a nice drive down to the Fontainebleau. 

I think Fountainebleau is most beautiful casino I have ever seen. I love the high ceilings and the fresh cool air.  The music is all recognizable tunes, but not so loud that they blast your ears off like at Planet Hollywood. Everything is perfectly clean. There’s staff everywhere to answer any questions you might have. I’ve never seen such a well maintained place.

I did the tier match thing and got my Fountainebleau card. First I  sat down to play at a Wicked Wheel slot but there was a big crowd of people around it so I wasn’t enjoying that. So I left and wandered over to a MO MUMMY machine. I have never played this before. I kept getting enough bonuses to keep me alive. I was on that machine for hours.  I ordered a gin and tonic and was amazed that it came in a gorgeous glass glass!  I enjoyed my afternoon there very much.

 I did have one mishap though.  I visited the men’s washroom again.  Yes it was occupied and yes I got some weird looks.  I maintain that the sign out front is very misleading.  I will share a picture of the sign.

At 5:30 pm Mike and Terin joined me for dinner at MotherWolf.   I have been hearing many Vloggers rave about it so I wanted to experience it.  I would never go back to this restaurant again.   It was literally the noisiest restaurant I have ever been in. And to add to that they have pounding music like it was a nightclub.  The staff was very pleasant and they made efforts to try and explain the incomprehensible menu to us.  We decided on some meatballs and a plate of prosciutto and bread as appetizers.  Then we each had a plate of pasta.  Both Mike and I had carbonara and Terin had something else.  We also ordered a sliced up steak to share.  The steak was awesome.  I wasn’t all that thrilled with the rest of it.  For dessert Terin and I had a delicious pudding thing and Mike had some gelato.   It was a beautiful room but the noise level is insane.   It was a “one and done” for me.  

Next we took another Uber back to Planet Hollywood where I turned in and the kids went to a comedy show at the V theatre.

Day Three, May 29

I had another fabulous long sleep.  Woke up around 8:30 and got ready for the day.  The first thing I wanted to do was visit Miracle Mile Mall because I haven’t been there in ages. I don’t really remember how big this thing is, so I was hoping I wasn’t going to regret this decision. I walked for a while and then I was thrilled to see the store that I used to visit all the time about 15 years ago. It’s called Shemoni and it has been in this mall for 22 years the sales ladies were telling me. Unfortunately, the products have changed. They used to have the most gorgeous good quality jewellery that was done with marcasite.  I had bought about 10 pieces of that jewellery over the years and I was looking to get a replacement for a piece that I seem to have lost.  It was a necklace that had an oval clear stone that was surrounded by marcasite. I really liked it and I was sad that it was gone.  But they don’t have the abundance of marcasite jewellery anymore. Covid hit them very hard. They still had a lot of pretty things and even though I need jewellery like I need a hole in the head I had to buy one piece just for old times sake. I will take a picture of it for you.

After that fun experience, I kept on trudging and trudging. I stopped into something called an H&M store and looked around a bit. I’ve heard that they had large women’s sizes there but nothing caught my interest so I left. As I walked along, I was accosted by no less than four cream sellers, one of them being a man surprisingly enough. I was also yelled at by someone selling phone cases (of all things) and there was a woman trying to sell me fake weed products.    Like so many places this mall seems to have gotten bigger to me. 

I finally stumbled across one of the ABC stores and I went in and bought some blueberry parfait yogurt ,some nuts and some sugar-free vitamin water for snacks. Then I continued wandering and trying to find my way out of this maze. I walked through the construction part which was pretty unpleasant but finally I could see the Earl of Sandwich in the distance so I knew I was getting close to an entrance. 

I decided to go back to the Buffalo Deluxe machine that was nice to me yesterday. I wondered if I could eat my yogurt at the slot without someone getting annoyed and I managed to do that. As it often happens the slot that loved you yesterday, hates you today. The Buffalo machine sucked back all the winnings that it gave me yesterday unfortunately.

I returned to my room around 1 pm to rest before we went out again.  At 4 Mike and Terin joined me at Gordon Ramsey Burger for dinner.  The burgers were delicious but once again, dessert stole the show. They put ice cream in the middle of his sticky toffee pudding.  So YUM!

We came back to my room for an hour then we went downstairs to catch an Uber or Lyft to make our way down to the Neon Museum for 7:30 pm. It was then that our evening went south.  We got in a white Lyft and made it out of the PH garage and into the traffic on Las Vegas BLVD right in front of PH when the car died.  The driver tried repeatedly to start it.  It would vibrate like mad but it wouldn’t move. He tried over and over. Finally we started to tell him “Look you have to call the cops or something. We can’t just sit here in the middle of the road indefinitely!”

He called 911 but his English was so poor that he couldn’t make himself understood so I took over and was explaining why we needed help.  Then we sat for what seemed like forever, with cars beeping at us and swirling around us.  We REALLY wanted to get out.  He kept attempting to start the car.   Terin was starting to panic.  But we were in the third lane over.  The young people might have been able to scamper through the traffic without getting killed but I sure couldn’t and I needed to get my walker out of his trunk.

After what seemed like an eternity some cops appeared. Mike had just started to call 911 again. I was never so happy to see uniforms in my life.  They stopped the traffic and helped the driver push the car over to the side of the road where we could finally get out safely.  I was shaking I was so upset.  We were all super relieved to escape.  I posted a picture of the Lyft. 

 We walked over to the taxi stand at Paris and got another cab.  This guy drove like a bat out of hell down highway 15 which I hate but we did make it to the museum just as our tour was starting.  We did the nighttime tour and then the Brilliant show which we all enjoyed.  Then we got a nice relaxed Uber driver who drove us calmly down LV BLVD all the way to our hotels.  Thank God for drivers like that.

Too tired to gamble, just headed right for bed.

What a day!

Day Two, May 28

 I got a solid nine hours of sleep last night. That’s incredible for me. When I woke up the clock next to me said 5 AM. Then I went to look at the window and saw that it was broad daylight, so I figured that couldn’t be right. So I checked my phone and saw that it was 6 o’clock but I don’t know how to change the time on this clock next to me so I’ll just ignore it.

 I decided to shower and turned on the hot water. I waited and waited but the water never got any hotter. I realized that I was going to have to take a cold shower for the first time in my life. I was not looking forward to it.  I really had no choice. I was grubby and needed to clean up. So I stepped into the shower and suffered the icy cold water running down my body. But after another three minutes or so it finally started to warm up. So there is a cautionary note for you if you are staying at Planet Hollywood make sure to let the shower run for about 10 minutes before you step into it. Another issue for me is the marble floors in the bathroom are slippery when wet.   I have to be very careful.

After I got presentable, I went down to the casino. I needed some new Caesars cards because mine had expired. I find the Planet Hollywood casino to be a maze.  I can wander around there forever trying to locate things.I was planning on going to Hollywood Cafe for breakfast because I have some room comps but it was packed.  So I went over to Starbucks.  I got a water, a yougurt parfait, and a slice of banana bread.  The water was $9!!!   This had better be the best water I have ever tasted.  Ha!

I tried a few of the more modern games that I’ve had fun on before but nothing was hitting for me today. I just bounced from the machine to machine, $20 here $40 there.  Then I noticed off in a corner my old friend, the Buffalo Deluxe.  I decided to go say hello to my old favourite and finally started getting some bonuses, even one for about $300. While I was playing the fire alarms went off. I’m always confused as to why the staff doesn’t make an announcement while this is happening. They should say “we’re on fire run for your life” or “please ignore this annoying sound”,  but they never do anything at all.  I was near an exit so I figured it was as good a place as any to wait it out.  It went on and on for the longest time but finally they just turned it off and there was no explanation. Weird.

It was about 1130 this point so I decided to go up to the room and rest until I had to go out again so I didn’t burn myself out again. They said they would clean my room daily but no one came this morning.  ( They did come at 3)

I  left the room around 3 and went over to Paris. I played a tiny bit while I waited for Mike and Terin to join me for dinner at Bedford.  It is a lovely restaurant. So relaxing and elegant.  We all chose the Fixed Price menu for $119.  We all enjoyed the salad and the pierogis.  The chicken was tasty but mine was a bit dry.  We also ordered a side of Mac and cheese but I found it pretty bland.  But dessert was highlight of the meal for all of us.  It was amazing.  It was an upside down lemon meringue.   Delicious!  I would return just for that dessert.

The next chore was getting a cab to the Sphere.  Paris has moved the ride share to their parking garage while they are building the new walkway.  We got a pleasant but kooky driver who chose to drop us off way behind the Sphere.  Security guards came running and told her she couldn’t let us off there but she just ignored them and we got out.   Then we had a long trudge to the Sphere entrance but we were an hour early so we just had to stand there for eons.  Finally we got inside and got to observe the talking robots for awhile. It is a confusing layout but we made it to our seats.  I was happy I put us in a wheelchair row and we didn’t have to go up or down those crazy steep stairs.   We loved Postcard from Earth except for the first and last few minutes.  The rest was just incredible!  I really enjoyed it but I was very tired and ouchy and getting back to my hotel took forever.  I had to walk a long way to an area beside the Sphere and both the ride share area and the taxi area were packed.   They need a better way of getting people to and from the attraction.  Why do they dump you out the front doors when all the transportation is in the back?  We finally got a cab and the kids came back to my room with me and I gave them most of the stuff in the fridge.

Once again I am too tired to gamble.  This is the least amount of gambling I have ever done in my first two days in Vegas!  I am off to bed.  I made it to 10:30 pm tonight.

I am exhausted, but I am so happy to be here! May/June 2024

 The first day of our vacation was an exhausting one. 

Mike ,Terin and I left the Comfort Inn at 10:30 am and took a free shuttle over to the airport. For some unknown reason Delta at Detroit airport is one hot mess! On our last trip we had to go up to the sixth floor to check into Delta. When we got there we saw that we had to tag our luggage ourselves and bring it over to them and we managed to teach ourselves how to do that. But today when we got to that same location the Delta area was all closed and we had to go to the third-floor. Also I wanted a wheelchair, but there was no wheelchair assistance up there so we had to go down to the third floor and walk for ages and stand in the extremely long, long, long line.  There was this crazy dude in front of us who apparently did not realize that luggage had weight limits and he had his luggage super overstuffed. And he kept taking things out and stuffing them in another bag, and that just went on and on. Finally  the line got so long that someone from another area waved us over and helped us thank God.

 But then we had to go wait for a wheelchair and we were starting to get worried because it was only an hour before boarding time. So we grabbed a wheelchair ourselves and Mike pushed me and Terin pushed the walker and the rest of the luggage and we managed to get through security and walk 400 miles to the end of the terminal to get to our gate.   I gate checked my walker and we got on the plane. The  flight was fine, except for the woman that tripped over my toe and fell in the aisle. Poor thing.  But we made good time and we landed and we had a really nice fella pushing my wheelchair this time . He took us to the baggage claim and then out to the taxi line because I knew that if you were in a wheelchair you got priority.  Not only did we get priority but he also made sure that we got a large vehicle since we had three people, luggage and a walker. So I gave him a good tip.

We made it over to New York New York, where I proceeded to get in line to check the kids in.   However, the lineup was so unbelievably long and I was already in a lot of pain from all of the goings-on of the day  so while I was standing there, I attempted to try and do the online check in on my phone and I was not doing it correctly.  But I left the big huge line and went to a little line that was for people who checked in online and when I got up to the front, I explained to the fella that I thought I was messing up but thank God he was kind enough to help me anyhow.  So then the kids and I went up and took a look at their room. It was what they call a Soho king and it was a nice room. Looks like it will be fine for them. We were all starving so I decided to try the America restaurant. I have never tried it before, but I noticed that I had a large of assortment of different kinds of food so I thought it would please all of us. Michael really loved it. I had salmon and green beans, and Mike had a club sandwich and Terin had chicken quesadillas. We all decided we needed some New York cheesecake and it was all very yummy. I was impressed with the place. I will definitely go again. I think Mike and Terin will end up going there for breakfast tomorrow. 

Next I got into a Lyft  and made my way over to Planet Hollywood. I was happy to see that the Diamond check-in was open. I checked with no issues.  I begged for a room that had a view of the fountains and he gave me a half view of the fountains. But I have a really lovely view of the Eiffel Tower, so that’s good. 

I dragged myself downstairs and was thinking about trying to play but I wandered around and I was just so exhausted  that I concluded that  this is futile. I am not going to enjoy myself. I decided to give up and come back to my room.

So it is 6 PM and yes I am in bed. This sounds familiar, eh? I think I’ve done this on other trips. I will get a good night’s sleep tonight, and hopefully have some energy to tackle tomorrow!

Christmas Alone

I imagine when you look at this title you might think this is going to be a sad and depressing story. On the contrary, I want to express how much joy I feel during my "lonely Christmas".

I have been on my own for four years now. My son lives with me part time but I do spend a fair amount of time completely alone. I am ok with this though. It doesn't cause me any stress. I believe my childhood in Montreal prepared me for this.  There was a fair amount of hostility towards the English during the sixties. The FLQ wanted Quebec to separate from the rest of Canada.  Mailboxes were blowing up all over the city as a protest of some sort.  I can vividly remember attempting to play with the French kids and having a pail of sand dumped on my head and being pinned against a brick wall by a girl on a bike until my leg bled.  So I learned to amuse myself on my own.  I lived in my imagination.  I played on the train tracks and in a deserted factory. (No one cared about that kind of thing back then) I constantly wrote poems on little scraps of paper.  And the teachers at my school gave me a special dispensation to use the high school library so I spent a lot of time there. So being alone is something I am Ok with.

In my "former life" I used to go to great lengths to prepare for Christmas.  I decorated for days. I baked 10 different kinds of cookies and squares. I shopped months in advance trying to find suitable, reasonably priced gifts for my family. But as the years passed I started to get tired and frustrated at how much effort went into Christmas.  One year I discovered that the top half of our large Christmas tree would fit into the base and therefore I only had to decorate half a tree so I starting doing that.  I baked less. Who needs all those calories?  I made the suggestion of pulling names out of a hat and only exchanging gifts with one family member instead of many but that was nixed. I was attempting to lessen the "holiday load".  Typically this falls on the "moms" of the family.  Moms do all the shopping, all the decorating, all the baking, all the meal prep, all the clean up, all the un-decorating etc etc etc. It is exhausting. Unless you have had to do this task for many, many years I don't think people realize how taxing it can be. My Mother in Law discovered I could cook a turkey back in the 80's and from that moment on it became my job. Mind you, she cooked other dishes to go with it, but every holiday you could see Facebook posts about how much I hated ramming stuffing up a turkey's ass. Do I miss sitting at a long table attempting to converse with relatives that I rarely ever see?  Not really.

When I moved out in 2020 I realized that I couldn't bring all my millions of Christmas decorations with me. My small apartment had no space to store them and no room for a tree. I began to analyze what it was that I REALLY loved about Christmas and I came to the conclusion that is was basically the decorations:  the lights, the sparkly things, the shimmer and shine!!!  Things that looked plain and ugly the rest of the year looked glorious at Christmas. BUT just because I had no room for all these trinkets and lights doesn't mean I can't go out and enjoy other people's! Yes occasionally I will feel a pang when I see a picture online of something that was mine, but I remind myself that IT IS NOT IMPORTANT!  What is important is that I am in a safe, comfy apartment with an incredible view and I am AT PEACE!

So that is what I wish for everyone reading this...PEACE.  Don't turn Christmas into a stressful, expensive nightmare. Be content with simple things.  I raised two kind, considerate children who will visit me over the holidays and I am perfectly happy  with that.

Merry Christmas everyone, 

no matter how many or how few people you are spending it with.