Category: 2011.04 – Ssshhh…It’s a surprise!

As the title suggests, I’m off today to Edmonton to spend the weekend with my mom, step-dad, and grandma. I managed to do some more work on a cross-stitching project I’ve been working on for four and a half years now on the plane. I was watching the clock, expecting to land in Edmonton around 2:50, keeping an eye for when I should put my project away in preparation for landing. I was also plugged in to my music, so if they announced that we were going to be landing 10 minutes early I didn’t hear it. So just as I’m getting ready to put my stuff away and tray table up I look out the window and realize that we’re already on approach and I can see the runway coming up beneath me. Yikes! How did I get away with that?!

Got my car and met Mom and Andy at Red Lobster for dinner. Excellent Ultimate Feast, as usual. Tomorrow’s plan: visit Grandma and do some shopping.

Today’s plan was to go visit Grandma Lafrance before going shopping for a few things. Which is exactly what we did, although with less than satisfactory shopping results.

Grandma seems to be doing pretty well. She’s not in as much pain as she was and she is getting around with her walker, although she can’t go very far. We had a really nice visit though, reminiced about the past, had a nice lunch in her building’s meal room, and played two games of dice (I won once and Mom barely sneaked past Grandma in the second round).

After that Mom and I went shopping. Other than an entertaining incident with a cookie, I picked up a couple of items but was not successful in finding certain birthday gift items I was hoping to get. May try again tomorrow.

Dinner, as you can tell from my photos, was at Red Robin. Didn’t need a whole lot of armtwisting to get the parental units there. Apparently I had worn Mom out with the shopping by 6:00 and nobody felt like actually cooking…

Later!
Adelle 🙂

Grandma Lafrance and I I love this woman! She is amazing!

Mom and Andy My parents in front of Red Robin. I love these guys too!

Red Robin’s Secret Spice Mom got a hold of my camera, so I thought I’d ham it up a little bit.

In order to partake of the pancake breakfast at Mom and Andy’s church I had to actually attend mass with them this morning. Yes, this is penance in my book. I haven’t gone to church for anything in probably years. At least I got to see Christine, whom I haven’t seen in literally years, and her parents, George and Rachelle, as well as Micheal, Debbie, Megan, Kaci, Logan, and Tatum. And breakfast was worth it, too.

Some more relatively unproductive shopping this afternoon was followed by an excellent chicken supper prepared by my Mom and a short visit with Grandma. Just a couple more things to finish off before bed and tomorrow’s adventures. Stay tuned!

After a day spent getting a manicure (which I managed to damage within half an hour of getting it done), visiting with Micheline, Alcina, Kim, Ben, and Ashley, going for lunch at Formosa’s (the Oh My God best pizza ever!), I made it to the airport to go to Las Vegas. It’s supposed to be a surprise for Cheryl, but I’m pretty sure she’s figured out that I’m coming. That’s what I get for doing a countdown on Facebook and actually putting my endpoint on this blog map. I just can’t keep my own surprises!

My visit with Micheline was really great, but for some reason Alcina didn’t like me. Apparently she’s been pretty moody for a couple days, so let’s blame it on that. We’re pretty sure she’s teething.

Formosa’s is an authentic Italian pizza place. They are just amazing! I had a Margharita Pizza with Roasted Mushrooms. The sauce is authentic tomatoe, really light. For desert I tried the Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt Gelato. It was such an interesting taste, very unique. I really liked it, but couldn’t have very much at a time. Delish!

The flight from Edmonton was uneventful, and the other fliers were quite friendly. I guess that happens when most of the people are going on holidays. Even had a nice conversation with a trio of ladies about the cross-stitching I was doing and materials I used.

The taxi line at the LV airport was huge, but well managed and the wait wasn’t as long as the line up implied it should have been. It reminded me of the check-in line for the cruise in 2009.

The hotel we’re staying at is Hooter’s Hotel and Casino. It’s not the fanciest place, and smoking is allowed in the lobby, but then the lobby is also an open casino. The room is alright and appears to be clean. It sure doesn’t seem like a relatively new hotel, though. But you get what you pay for, right? I’ll feel more comfortable once the girls are here.

Anyway, getting tired as it’s late, so I’ll sign off for now. Oh yes, there’s no business centre for me to access the internet in private, so I’m posting this on my phone. Frustratingly time consuming and might look for another way to do this tomorrow…*

*I’ve found internet access at the hotel next door, so I’ve updated this the next day.

Arrival

Only in Vegas… This ad was in the airport terminal. I just shook my head when I saw it.

Place of Temporary Residence

Another View from My Room

The View from My Room

I met the girls – Cheryl, Michelle, and Ruth – at the airport this morning, intending to surprise them. Ruth came on another airline, so I actually didn’t get to see her until we got back to the hotel. But Cheryl and Michelle came in as expected and, geek that I am, I waited at the bottom of the escalators with a sign that had their names written on one side and “Happy Birthday, Girls” on the other. It made them laugh.

Needless to say, this trip is a 40th birthday gift for Cheryl and Michelle. They had planned this between themselves in January and then Michelle called me on the side to see if we could surprise Cheryl with my attendance. At first I couldn’t commit to going due to other family travel plans, but those plans changed a couple of months later and in conversation with my family they gave me permission to go. Unfortunately I totally suck at keeping surprises like this to myself. I was just so excited about going that I posted a countdown on Facebook, and when I originally set up this blog I actually entered the full itinerary before leaving. Cheryl’s a smart cookie, so of course she put two and two together and figured out a couple of days before leaving that I was coming. Oh, well, we still played along.

I treated Michelle and Cheryl to a limo ride back to the hotel from the airport. It was very cool, a stretch limo, and Cheryl had never been in one before so it was perfect. Complimentary bottled water and everything.

After settling in to our rooms and waiting for Ruth we ventured out for a walk. We stopped at Wolfgang Puck’s for lunch, which was expensive but lovely: crab cakes, cuban pork sandwich (a little heavier than I would have liked), and some kind of raspberry martini. Yes, I had a martini. Or I should say I had about a third of a martini.

During our walk along the strip we stopped and got tickets for Cirque du Soleil: Mystere, and then we took The Deuce (a double decker bus) to Treasure Island, and from there we walked back to our hotel before having to head out to the show.

Mystere was amazing! I can’t even begin to describe it. Just go and see it if you can. WOW! Great eye-candy too 🙂

Supper was at Kahuna something or other’s. I can’t remember the full name and my receipts are at the room. Anyway, supper was again really tasty, no complaints.

We walked over to watch Bellagio’s fountain show. We ended up staying to watch two of them, one to the theme song for On Golden Pond (I think) and the other to an Elton John song that I am currently drawing a blank on. Beautiful!

By this time it was late, the girls had been up since 5:00 a.m., and everyone was exhausted. Michelle was actually still battling strep throat, too, so we headed back to the hotel for much deserved rest.

More to come when I can get back to a computer!

Oh, photos will have to wait because I can’t upload to this computer…

Adelle 🙂

The Girls Surprised them with a limo ride to the hotel. Thank you to Lance, our driver.

The Statue of Liberty

New York Skyline

Drinking Martinis at Wolfgang Puck’s I didn’t actually finish this, but it was a raspberry martini.

Crabcakes at Wolfgang Puck’s

The Deuce This is a double-decker bus.

The M&M Store

A Giant Coca-Cola Bottle

The Hard Rock Cafe

Caesar’s Palace

Us at Caesar’s Palace

Images of London Had to get this photo with a cheers to our London/Italy high school travel club trip. While at the London Bridge there was a mime of similar nature to this one.

The Eiffel Tower

The show, not the liquor! Although that was available too…

Spent the morning with Cheryl finding the Internet access at the Tropicana and going for a most excellent breakfast there before sitting by the pool at Hooter’s waiting for Michelle and Ruth to wake up. Didn’t realize it until much later that I actually burned my shoulders and chest while waiting. It was windy today (and got much windier and colder throughout the day), and I didn’t notice the sun’s heat. It was nearly Noon by the time the girls came down.

Lunch was at The Cheesecake Factory as it was Cheryl’s birthday. Very good food and of course the cheesecake desert was to die for. We all got different types of cheesecake for desert, each their own level of decadent. Cheryl’s was free as a birthday gift and, much to her chagrine, the wait staff sang for her. He-he.

Anyway, this evening we went to see Absinthe, which has been described as Cirque and Rocky Horror combined, but I think a better description is to call it burlesque and variety. It was amazing! An adult show and totally worth the money we paid for it. There was singing, dancing, acrobatics, a truly adrenaline raising strength performance, amazing bodies to behold, and very comedic host and hostess. It was a lot of fun in a very intimate setting under a tent in front of Caesar’s Palace. Very cool!

Followed this with munchies at Cabo Wabo (Sammy Haggar’s bar) where we were inundated with the sounds of bad karaoke. Well, one guy was actually really good, but you know…

Anyway, I’ll sign off. Again, pictures will have to follow when I get to a computer I can use my SD card at.

Adelle 🙂

Mario and Luigi

A Couple of Elvis’s

The Pool at Hooter’s

On the Way to The Cheesecake Factory

Inside Caesar’s Palace

Cheryl and her Birthday Cheesecake

A Picture Made Entirely of Flowers

Absinthe 1

Absinthe 2

Absinthe 3

Absinthe 4 This woman managed to completely insert herself into the balloon before popping it to get out.

Absinthe 5

Jelly Bean Liberty This Statue of Liberty was made entirely from Jelly Beans.

Michelle and I decided this morning to take Cheryl out for breakfast to the Grand Buffet at MGM Grand — and yes, it was grand! — followed by surprising her with a trip to the salon at MGM Grand for a haircut. She had been hoping/trying all week to find someplace reasonable to get her hair cut and we hadn’t made it yet, so Michelle and I thought we’d treat her and just take her for her birthday. We  had the good fortune to arrive at a time that Juan had open and while we drank mamosas Juan did a great job on Cheryl’s hair.

The rest of the afternoon was spent roaming New York New York, eating sushi, touring Excalibur and Luxor — Luxor is amazingly cool — and seeing the Bodies exhibit. The Bodies exhibit was really something to see and I’m glad we went to it. For those who don’t know, they used real cadavers (many of smokers) to show how the body works, head to toe, inside and outside. The very last room had a body that was literally sliced, giving the idea of how an MRI works. It was really quite amazing.

The evening we lucked out and were able to get into Bobby Flay’s Mesa at Caesar’s Palace for supper. Truly amazing meal, absolutely excellent service, but no Bobby Flay. Ah, well. Can’t have everything.

After supper was Cirque du Soleil’s The Beatle’s Love. Wow! There was so much going on at the same time throughout this show it’s hard to follow it all. I know I missed some aspects of it, but what I did catch was a lot of fun. The under the ocean scene was my favourite. And all to the sounds of the Beatles. Very cool!

A monorail ride home ended the evening for me as I had to leave early the next morning. Great day!

Left Vegas this morning, but after a week of less than successful results at the various slot machines, no more than two minutes before being called to board my flight home did I win $250 on Wheel of Fortune directly in front of my boarding gate. Very cool.

Spent the afternoon after arrival in Edmonton doing a little shopping before going for supper at Mikado Japanese Restaurant — an excellent supper! — and going to see a movie. That movie ended up being Your Highness, which was crudely entertaining and would have been exactly Dan’s type of movie.

Home tomorrow! Had a great time and here’s to hoping the three of us can do this again in a year or two.