eh, Vegas

Our friend Rolin turned 30 and we surprised him (with the help of Becca) in Las Vegas at the Bellagio buffet (which is absolutely splendid.) Word of advice; when you get to the buffet the line is horrible. There's a 2nd line to the right...walk on past all the folks waiting & say you're going to sit at the bar instead of getting a table. Hopefully there will actually be a space at the bar, but if not, just pay for the buffet and wander the almost endless displays of various types of food while waiting. Bottomless champagne comes with. Very yummy.

The stunning colored glass ceiling in the Bellagio.

And they have this neat faux farm-forest display in the... I'm not sure what it's supposed to be called but it's like an indoor arboretum. It has all these fountains dripping onto metal sculpted trees and running into a little river past dozens of real flowers and other plants.

The world shines on Jason.

And of course Becca has the gift of making trees smile at her. Yes, the display includes two animatronic trees.

Then it was off to wander a sculpture gallery of nude bronze acrobats and the Cirque du Soleil gift store. I'll drink Becca's mad hatter tea anytime. I'm wearing the SAW XV: Cirque du Soleil mask. Really, doesn't it look like it?

No one will ever guess my real secret identity w/ this! Possibly a cousin of Minnie Pearl? (And yes, there are 3 digits on that price tag before the decimal point.)

Becca eyes!

Yes, when I get 3 hours of sleep, drive 5 hours to Vegas, eat a huge breakfast w/ endless glasses of champagne, I'll just start dressing up in stores.

The boys almost pull it off better than Becca & I.

I guarantee you that if you buy these shoes you have too much money. Plexiglass + gilded lion + leopard print = HOT! And I forgot to take pictures of the Barry Manilow gift store!

This is some weird hybrid room of Star Trek and Star Wars in the Hilton where we stayed. Such heresy! We went out walking on the strip; We wandered in & out of so many casinos, I barely remember them all. But we did get to see an excellent Michael Jackson impersonator, a rather good rock band, and lots of top-on dancers all for free. $1 Margaritas were somewhere in there along w/ going to some giant arcade place for Jason & I to have our next face-off in air hockey.

The Michael Jackson impersonator w/ his "sister" Janet in the background. Dude could dance.



Paris Las Vegas is really pretty but all faux sky w/ the clouds messes w/ my mind as to the time of day.



These guys were really fun and would play any rock song request from audience. There was some audience among the empty chairs...we were just all hiding in the back.



Even Elvis needs a taco sometimes.



Jason's face as "Mario" for Mario Cart.



The shimmering endless chandeliers at the Hilton.

And it's time to leave. One last slot...just one more...

Just like LA will start to show its ugly belly after the sun goes down, Las Vegas shows its shortly after the sun rises. But the sun rising onto the mountains is just a spectacular sight. Vegas isn't really my sort of town but it is still incredibly interesting.

Family after four years

It had been over four years since I'd been to Michigan; six for Jason! Obviously much too long. Touching down in Chi-town

My bro, nieces, and parent eatin' dinner. Yay sloppy joe!

The farm-field view from the back of the house.

My seven year old Logan-berry reminds me of myself at her age. She's such an awesome goofball.

And my other sweetheart, Reagan.

My hometowns pretty marina. I remember taking our dog for a walk here about 14 years ago. He was so nervous for some reason that he kept pooping on the sidewalk and of course I didn't have any bags so I non chalantly kicked the poop down the hill. Some tourists kept laughing at me.

The bridge: why build it taller when you can just have it split?

The little red light house is the symbol of the town.

And gets its yearly graffiti fix.

I miss the nice sand of the beaches there. California sand is super coarse...like the difference between sugar and rock salt.

Every sunset is pretty, though smogless.

And we got lucky with a bit of a storm.

This is my Richard Misrach shot.

Why yes, we are the self-proclaimed blueberry capital of the world. It has been years since I've eaten South Haven blueberries. It is all Northwest berries over here.

I didn't remember what great houses there were in my hometown. My memory was so filled with those awful cookie cutter mc mansions of the past 30 years that I forgot the great old characters many homes have.

And of course my favorite place to get coffee ever.

And my former boss that went with that place. Best boss ever.

So Guy kept buying me Cosmos and I kept drinking them. Then went to the Saugatuck brewery with my brother and cousin, which was followed by going over to a friends house for more beer. I'm an ultra light weight and apparently at some point in the night announced that I was going to take a nap. Around dawn I woke up in one of the hostesses beds lying next to a shotgun. I've never been a violent drunk so I wasn't worried, more surprised. Plus, it is Michigan and most people have a shotgun under their bed. The moment of surprise passed quickly and I went back to sleep. I'm not sure if it was my brother or cousin who took the picture of the smoking deer.

Back in Saugatuck, a lovely swan in the Kalamazoo River.

And down the Blue Star, a standard trip to Sunset Junque, a wondrous world of rotting forgotten estate sales. Mostly overpriced for Michigan but I guess affordable for a visiting Cali.

Many a road in Michigan looks like this.

As it was September, the lovely changing leaves fall.

There was a side trip to Kalamazoo to visit Eric & Sarah at an awesome cafe, The Strutt:

http://www.thestrutt.com/

Everyone who graces the M-43 knows this building. Jason remembers when it caught on fire in the early 90's and bullets around the area. This shot is for a certain Sergeant. And this photograph doesn't really show it, but I forgot how foggy the roads can be at night there. But we had the success of hitting zero deer on the trip home.

Picking up my Loganberry from school. We met a new friend with a cute garter snake.

The moment we drove out of the gas station to drive back to Chicago, a torrential downpour began and continued on and off all the way.

Back in Chi-town, we got to see Guy again and Nathan. This is us careening around town in typical Chicago traffic on a Wed night. I forgot how bat-shit crazy people drive there.

The yummy and colorful Thai dinner I forgot to take pictures of was followed up by the most fabulous martini bar. Now we know Guy+drinks+Pam= someone else always needing to drive me home and remember the night for me.

Because I have the memory of a gnat, I don't remember exactly what Guys neighborhood there is, but it's filled with the usual old beautiful brick with wood floors & molding homes on sweet tree lined streets.

Plus there is an scrumptious breakfast place around the corner. I ordered pancakes w/ mascarpone and figured that'd just do a pathetic slither, but NO! I got probably half the jar. Happy belly!

That day I was sweet & Jason was savory.

And the bathroom had the smallest sink I've ever seen.

One of my favorite museums is the MCA. See the cute lil' koi at the bottom?

So I'm thinking a good job for me since I like to travel and see some touristy stuff, but not ALL of it is that I should hire myself as "the tourist friend" to locals in big cities. You know how people in big cities will live there for so long but never see most touristy things because they're too cool to be seen in such places? You hire me, we'll go see whatever local tourist attraction that you've been wanting to see but are just too cool for. And when one of your friends or someone who's a local but total stranger asks why you're there, you can just say you're with your visiting friend who wanted to see it. I take good pictures and I'm not a spaz, so I would be an excellent hire. And here, we have the view from the Sears Tower: (I know it's called something else now, but I found out the company didn't even buy it they're just renting a large portion of it & part of the rental agreement is naming rights, so it is still Sears Tower to me.)

My tootsies from 103 stories up on the sky walk.

It took some persuading, but I got Jason to go out on it w/ me.

The actual structure of it.

And before one leaves Chicago, a good Italian beef sandwich is in order. Yum, I gained some weightage on this trip!

Then back home to SD...

And the sweetest little kitty ever happy to see us.