Daily Archives: July 15, 2006

the wedding?was ever so much fun! Meeting folks who have only been names on emails – priceless! Jayne made a gorgeous bride. Mark was smashing in his bright pink shirt gifted to him by his workmates – who did NOT believe he was actually getting married, that he just wanted to be off to frolic for a bit!

The “children” of the couple – dashingly handsome (the young men) and beautiful (the young woman) and so very, VERY polite. They asked questions and nodded their heads and paid attention to answers – even those that were drawn out and unending. Mark and Jayne have done a lovely job with those young folks and have much to be proud about.

photos hopefully tomorrow.

I left some money in the casino – and quickly grew tired of the bells and whistles of the place. I was VERY tired of the cigarette and cigar smoke that just permeated the building and me before I left.

the heat was UNbearable! 112 degrees yesterday! I am not cut out for that at all. So nice to be home in the 60 degree temps, I can say. I took a too-longish walk yesterday afternoon while killing time before my flight. Started in the morning when the sun had not come over the buildings yet, but oooooh, it was still H.O.T! I kept to the shade where there was some and slipped into and out of doorways when there was no shade to be found. I bought and drank bottles of water along the way. I visited the M&M building and purchased gee-gaws for the grandchills – but no M&Ms because, I don’t care WHAT they say, those puppies woulda melted IN my bag. Found an internet cafe along the way – and used it?- there’s a first time for everything – guess you CAN teach an old moose new tricks. Purchased 15 minutes for $5 which didn’t seem too bad of a deal to me – it was long enough to check my email accounts and take care of all of the spam. And, found the email another wedding guest had sent me – too late to contact her pre-wedding. We did meet up at the wedding. 😉 But we were both just about done in by the heat and did not get extra time after the wedding feast to visit.

(back at the hotel) Found a chair in the restroom and sat there to recover from the heat of the walk – sat there for a couple of hours. There is no seating in the lobby!! And, I had to check out at 11 am and had until 7 before the shuttle would pick me up for the transport to the airport.

btw – two things you should ALWAYS have when you go to Vegas – your return ticket AND a way to the airport. Oh – I also had set aside $20 for the taxi ride from Anchorage airport to my friend’s house where she had allowed me to store my car. These can be very important things after a time spent in front of the bandits.

They WERE bandits, too. I support Vegas’ school system!

I treated myself on the way home – the leg between Vegas and Seattle I had an aisle seat. That’s not TOO unbearable, but not all that comfy, either. But it is a great deal better than the seat assignment I had for the Seattle/Anchorage leg – middle seat! ARGH!

Arrived Seattle at 1:30 am and found my gate and plopped to try to rest – all around me were folks doing the same thing. Many of them are better able to rest/sleep in a public place than I, however, and I only catnapped. A woman and her three VERY noisy young “adult” children woke me up and I went to wash up a bit. Checked the reader board and discovered that I was at the wrong gate – not only that, I was in the wrong terminal!!! They had changed the gate.

So, I double checked the data with a gate agent and then sprinted for the other terminal. Made it in plenty of time and sat to work on a crossword puzzle and regain my breath/composure – the gate agent made an announcement that there were several stand-by folks for the flight. She also said that there were “possibly” some first class seats available if anyone would like to upgrade.

I waited for a bit then said – why not! I need to be pampered, too! So I offered my “b” seat for a first class upgrade – for $100.

Best $100 I’ve spent in awhile. Verry nice – VERRY nice. Must try to do that another time. 😉

But not in two weeks when I return to Vegas for a conference.?My way?is being paid for by CALCASA?and I am not sure that I would be able to upgrade those seats. I certanily cannot afford to do it 4 times for $100 each, that’s for sure.

wow – got way off topic again, huh?

the wedding was wonderful!!!

>..<