You wanna talk about feeling LOVED!?!
After our trip to Punta Cana and then the loss of TJ, Matt and I decided we wanted to try to travel to see as much of the country as possible. That adventure began with a trip "out west" to visit Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, and the Minute Man Missile Silo, Wall Drug, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park in South Dakota. It was a great week!!!
We'd mentioned on more than one occasion that we could fly to Las Vegas for cheap and see some more sights in that area… but no plans were ever made…
Our bumpy ride of 2013 continued when Dutchess reached her last days and we found ourselves without a canine companion to consider which allowed a DC getaway to happen. We came home from that weekend without a dog and headed into the week.
I had a 2 day sub job lined up for Monday and Tuesday… Monday was a great day of teaching Math and Social Studies. I left school excited to come back to the same classroom the next day. I called Matt on my way home (he was working night work) and he asked me a few questions about things on the schedule later in the week and then informed me that I needed to pack a bag for 2 nights in a destination that was someplace sunny and 75.
WOAH.
Stuff like that never happens to me.
Spontaneous getaways… hubby taking charge of travel plans… (ok in his defense he does normally book the beach house that we find together- but I planned both the Punta Cana and out west trips.) I did my best to pack- what do you pack when you don't know where you are going?!?
Tuesday morning I headed to school and freaked out made sure Matt had all my stuff ready to bring with him when he picked me up after school. It wasn't until we were arrived at the airport that I learned we were headed... Vegas.
Yes ladies and gentlemen… my wonderful hubby planned a surprise 2 night getaway to Vegas.
The plane ride there was full. We were loading group C for Southwest (aka the last group) and lucked out to score aisle seats across from each other.
We arrived in Vegas, picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel. New York New York. Hotel- smotel… this place was like a resort.
By the time we were settled it was late, even in Vegas time. So we took a peek around, grabbed some pizza, and then headed back to our room to plan our adventure for the next day. All the planning must have exhausted Matt because he crashed hard.
We woke up early and headed to ihop. (It was my first time ever- YUM!) While we were there I got a text message from Matt…
It's hard to see, but there was a man in uniform a few tables over.
On to the Hoover Dam.
We spent the morning here. We walked across the dam bridge and I failed to get a "welcome to Arizona" sign picture. We drove over the dam, looked for dam parking that didn't cost an arm and a leg, walked around the top of the dam, looked at the dam clocks (again failed to capture in picture), and literally walked between time zones. We did not take the dam tour…
Have the dam jokes gotten old yet? Yes, we continued with them the entire time we were there… and we laughed every time.
Hunger started to set in, so we hurried on our way to find food and then seek out our next destination: Valley of Fire state park.
Valley of Fire is pretty nifty. The rocks are a beautiful red clay and if you catch them when the sun is just right they live up to their name. We spent some time hiking and pretending to be rock climbers here.
The sand pile in-between my sneaks is the sand the I dumped OUT of my shoes after our hike back to Mouse's tank.
We decided to wrap up our day and headed out of the park at sunset. Pictures do not do it justice!!!
Our plans for the night included dinner, touring the strip, and trying our luck on the penny slots.
Lesson learned… Vegas is not quite our cup of tea. It was neat to see all the lights and nice to have had the experience but we won't be putting a stay on the Vegas strip on the top of our travel lists.
You can't go to vegas without "pressing your luck" and well given our luck this year we decided we should limit our luck pressing! We headed to the penny slots under the agreement that we'd each play $1- just to say we did it… and if we won anything we had a friend who was going to benefit. A few button pushes, some crazy lights and spinning that we didn't understand and we had 20¢. I printed my ticket and called it a night… but… we forgot to get a picture… so I played another game that looked a bit more exciting. because exciting means you'll win more One more dollar played… and Matt snapped a photo for your enjoyment.
No, we didn't win anything else… $3 in… 20¢ out… sounds like winning to me. We came, We played, We decided not to go broke!
This time I was the one who was beat. Back to the room and I was soon fast asleep.
Our second real day in Vegas was also our last. We had a red eye home so we decided to make the most of the day. Back to ihop for breakfast- it's a good thing there isn't one close to home!
Pleasantly stuffed, we headed for:
The views in this place are breathtaking!!!
Never before can I remember experiencing the sound of NOTHING. No cars or trucks, running water, rustling of trees or wind blowing. No animals making noise or even people. It was absolutely silent.
The little clicks are me moving… there is literally nothing to hear.
We also visited the lowest point in the USA.
Daylight was fading and our time "in Vegas" (which was really not spent in Vegas) was coming to a close. We headed back towards the airport, but not before snapping 2 more pictures for you:
I was so glad to come home and see gas was $3.25/gallon.
Packed up and ready to go… we returned to Vegas, grabbed some food and an amazing smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe, returned the rental car and then found our flight home.
The flight home was an experience… but we made it home in one piece.
Men: You wanna make your lady feel Loved? Plan a getaway! It doesn't have to be a crazy last minute trip to Vegas… something simple will do!
Three states in two days with no real planning ahead made for an awesome time with the Love of my Life.
Thank you Matt for making sure I know that I am Loved!!!
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