Vegas, Baby!

Hi, there!

I'm back! I've been back since Sunday, but in typical Penny form, I haven't posted. Oh, didn't I tell you my name is Penny? It is. It's not Penelope. I was grateful for that. I was also very grateful to my mother, who insisted that they NOT go with my father's choice for my name...Effie Mae. Yeeeeaaaaaaahhh. I like my name. Not everyone has it. I wish I had red hair. I have reddish highlights in the sun, but my hair is brown. And a little gray here and there. But I digress...

We had a good time in Vegas. If any of you go, I would strongly recommend staying and hanging out on Fremont Street. It's the original "strip," I guess, but it is much smaller than "The Strip." It's also not as mobbed and crazy.

We stayed at the Golden Nugget. The pool was awesome! It was doughnut-shaped and in the middle was the shark tank. Above the whole works, and through, was the water slide. I went down once and nearly passed out. The instructions said to lie down with your arms crossed over your chest. Yeeeeaaahh...if you want to go down the slide at 65 mph and have water spraying into your face so that it's difficult to breathe. It looked too small to sit up in, and I'm a little claustrophobic, which I'm sure didn't help! I should have done it again, in more of a sitting position. I'm not usually afraid of stuff like that, but I'd spent all of breakfast looking up at the slide tube, thinking, "that doesn't look big enough to sit up in."

I was going to treat my friend and I to pedicures, but they were $65 each--ahh! I'm used to paying $16.99. We each got a massage in the Aquamassage machine at the Stratosphere, instead. We also went up into the top of the Stratosphere to the observation deck. It was neat. I think it's something like 1,000 feet up. My ears popped in the elevator! We then took the monorail to the far end of the strip and started our intended trek, which was to walk through all of the casinos.

Did I mention the Strip is large? We made it about halfway. We stopped for dinner/breakfast at 1:30 a.m. and decided to go back to our room, because we had to drive back the next day. I can honestly say that once you've seen one casino, you've pretty much seen them all. Tables, machines, smoke, loudness, flashing lights, cocktail waitresses. Yup, that's it. I can live without seeing every casino in Vegas. It's cool. Next time, I'm going to slow down and enjoy myself more. By the pool. Or reading in my room. Or playing my penny- and nickel-slot machines (the most I'll play is a nickel...I'm a serious gambler, man!). Or hey, maybe I could see a show next time.

My son is sitting next to me drawing the foundation for a house. He's decided he wants to be an architect. Cool!

My kids and husband are leaving tomorrow for a backpacking trip on the Mogollon Rim in
Arizona. They'll be gone until Wednesday. I'm planning to nap, knit and watch movies, and perhaps paint the hallway and living/dining room. 'Cause I'm exciting like that. Oh, and I'm going to shop for comfortable shoes. I nearly killed my feet last weekend, walking all over Vegas in my $13 Wal-Mart Special shoes. Ow!

Well, speaking of Ow!, my lower back and left arm have been hurting all day, and it's time for another hot shower. Be well, do good, and I'll see you back here soon!