Viva Las Aftermath

The trip to Vegas was great, but it turns out I'm not quite the party animal I thought I was and the most frightening part of that for me is that I'm okay with it. I'm the one who used to close the place down (well, in a non-gambling, non-drinking, non-prostituting kind of way) and I was never expected at home before three or four in the morning. Today I was excited to get back shortly after 7:00 p.m. so that I could give my granddaughter the new sandals and twirly princess dress I got her before she went to bed. The times, they are a-changing...

The components were set up to be the same - fun friends, dinner, a show, hotel overnighter, shopping - but the execution was decidedly different. First of all, I miss my Suburban and even (gasp) my Dodge Grand Caravan because we didn't have a vehicle big enough to accommodate the eight of us driving down together. Half the fun is the road trip and we missed out on that. We ended up going in three separate cars that divided us up right from the start and in the end, the "young 'uns" got split up from the "oldies." I'm pretty sure you can guess where I fall in that division.

I knew going into this trip that food and eating out was going to be my big challenge, thus my preemptive blog post. So I wasn't thrilled when it was decided that we would meet to eat at Cheesecake Factory in the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.  I've never really been a fan of that place, mostly because they have one of the most extensive menus I have ever seen, rendering it painful to pick just one thing from the menu. Then, when I finally decide, it ends up not tasting nearly as good as I thought it would. I don't think I've ever eaten a meal there that I truly enjoyed. Nobody else ever seems to rave about their meal there right after they have eaten and yet it remains sooooo trendy and popular. I'm going to be bold and call it out as a case of "the emperor's new clothes." I'm saying that is one naked restaurant. Blech.

It didn't help that rather than being able to get a table for eight, we ended up with two tables for four with a table and a column in between us so there could be no social interaction between the two groups. The waiter had a tough time understanding my salad order when I tried to get all of the dressings on the side and he was completely dumbfounded that I didn't want to order cheesecake. Apparently trying to be a sensible diner is not expected at a place where, despite their ginormous menu, they have to insert an additional "skinny" menu for me and the supermodels. Ugh.

I survived the first food hurdle and the Beatles show was great for us "oldies" but the "young 'uns" didn't find it as great as we did. I'm thinking that as popular as the Beatles' music still is, there is a generational gap in the interpretation of the music and since the show followed the progression of the Beatles' music, it was obvious how drugs influenced their music over time. It did get pretty weird the longer it went on. This was my first Cirque show so I enjoyed the visuals, but those in our group who have been to other Cirque shows say the acrobatics in this one paled significantly in comparison to the other shows they've seen. Ignorance was bliss in my case because I thoroughly enjoyed it. AND, I made it past the concession stand with the tantalizing smell of movie popcorn. That was a feat!

After the show, the youngies bolted while the oldies went to Carnegie Deli, the place we wished we had gone for dinner. More food choices. Urgh. New York cheesecake is their specialty, of course, but I settled on one of the most delicious bowls of chicken broth, noodles, and matzoh ball soup I've ever had! Two desserts were ordered at our table but I limited myself to just tastes of both and left it at that. I realized I was kind of starting to get good at this being-in-control stuff!

I did get some exercise in by parking at the Mirage (where the show was) and walking to Caesar's Palace (where dinner was). They may be right next to each other on the Strip, but to get from point A to point B is a trek and I worked up a bit of a sweat, although honestly, that's not really that hard for me to do. I did use valet parking, but only because I've had a car stolen in Vegas before, not because I'm afraid to walk to the parking garage.

We headed to the hotel after I did a drive-by of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in North Las Vegas. My daughter pointed out to me that not everybody loves Pawn Stars on the History Channel like I do so she provided a hyperlink when I mentioned Chumlee in my last post. Hopefully you all read up on it and understand, just a little bit, my love for this show. The Old Man reminds me so much of my dad and I like to think that my house full of junk actually contains valuable, historic artifacts that I could pawn for millions of dollars. But I digress...

I slept like a rock and like the seasoned mid-life person I am, we didn't wake up and get ready until about 11:00 a.m. but it also gave my exhausted legs time to recoup for the shopping exercise later. We hit the inevitable buffet for brunch, but I was locked, loaded, and ready for bear. The salad bar was awful, but I filled my plate with fresh fruit, scrambled eggs that actually had flavor, a little bit of corned-beef hash (as opposed to my usual plate of the ultimate breakfast comfort food from my childhood that we called "dog food" because of its appearance - we thought it was pretty cool to eat "dog food" for some reason...) and then lots and lots of peel-and-eat shrimp. I can't tell you what was on the dessert bar because I never saw it and I didn't go looking for it. My dessert was one roll with one pat of butter and I was satisfied. I did have a moment where I thought, "Load up and get your $16.95 worth," but then I remembered how expensive shrimp and fresh fruit are and felt like the quality of my choices compensated for the quantity. Now there's some food maturity for you!

Our shopping after that consisted of everything we dreamed of - Marshall's and Smart & Final. This was yet another reminder to me that my wild Vegas shopping days have evolved considerably. Maybe that will evolve, yet again, when I lose enough weight that I can actually walk into Victoria's Secret without having the sales clerks instinctively guide me to the lotion section because it's the only stuff in the store that fits me, but in the meantime, I found killer deals on stuff I didn't know I needed until I saw it.

The crowning glory of success came for me on the very last stop of the day. Not once, but TWICE, I walked by the Girl Scouts selling cookies in front of Smart & Final. I don't know if you can fully comprehend how difficult that is to do for a woman who budgets about $75.00 a year for those cookies, but it's huge. A neighborhood girl will miss out on her quota this year because of me.

I conquered social eating on this trip and proved that what happens in Vegas doesn't necessarily need to stay in Vegas, and all I can say is that I better lose "Samoa" weight...  Viva Las Vegas, indeed.