Las Vegas, Nevada: Dave arranged to have our RV washed this morning, and the guy actually showed up on time and did a fabulous job. Yeah! Dave rode his bicycle for an hour and then we spiffed-up and Ubered to The Venetian Resort and Casino to meet Mary, and her youngest Cory, for lunch with a group of Cory's gal-pals. This weekend Cory is celebrating her bachelorette party in Las Vegas with her friends - and her mother. Random luck we were all in town at the same time.
Vegas is just so over-the-top, isn't it? The Venetian has gondola rides in "canals" and even a miniature St. Mark's Square.
(years ago, with Cory's parents!).
We had reservations for the whole gang at Yardbird in the Venetian. It is a fried chicken + waffle place, but they have a large menu and most of us had brunch items. It was so great to catch up and talk about the wedding with The Bride. Did we take photos together? No, we did not. Just as well, we are all so attractive, the photos would probably just shut-down the internet.
The Bridal Party had to fly back to Portland this afternoon, so we said goodbye after lunch. Dave and I just started walking and walking - much like yesterday but more steps and more mileage. We walked through all the shops in The Venetian and all the fancy shops in the Venetian, then out the front door of the Venetian and headed down the strip. It was ONLY 101 degrees, with basically zero humidity, so it didn't seem that hot. When we reached the now-closed Margaritaville restaurant, there was a closure notice on the door. On the bottom of the poster, a singular Jimmy Buffett line, It's Been a Lovely Cruise, one of his greatest songs and one I always sing the last night of an ocean cruise. The memory brought a tear to my eye. DT snapped my sad face so I could send it to Brother Steve.
We crossed to the "shady" side of the street in front of Caesars Palace and continued to The Bellagio Hotel to see what was going on in the conservatory. Yuck. Just more plastic stuff and so many fake flowers (and lots of real flowers in pots along the floor).
At this point DT stopped for gelato and we sat down for a few minutes. Nice break... then we headed over to the Aria Hotel, walked through the hotel to the Park MGM to "grocery shop" at Eataly. I don't know what is going in Las Vegas, but Eataly had very few groceries and Italian delicacies. We were here in March for the (last) Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament and the shop had a TON of fun stuff to buy. Today it was mostly canned things and candy. Where aisles/shelves of groceries had once been, there are now dining tables for gelato customers. The restaurant portion of Eataly (most of the space) was hopping, as the food served in Eataly is simply delicious and everything is so fresh and made right in front of you. Pastas. Breads. All sorts of cured meats. Pizzas. Sandwiches. Desserts. Sit-down restaurants and take-away places. I can't imagine really too many come to Eataly to actually buy groceries, especially if they are flying in/out of Las Vegas. Possibly sales were not great, so they are going to shut-down the grocery portion of the restaurant?
It was getting towards 5p, so we Ubered back to our RV for another quiet evening of watching NBC's taped Olympic coverage and scrounging for food.
Turns out, I did not have to make yet another appetizer plate, nor another salad. This RV park has a restaurant and they make a very decent (we ordered cheese) pizza and it was only $15. Win Win - plus lunch tomorrow on the road!
There was a little knock on the door as we finished our pizza. Reader Cindy knew we were at The Oasis Resort, and she was also here with her husband in their motorhome. She found our RV and knew it was the right Navion due to the OREGON DUCK license plate wrap. Cindy lives in San Diego and was very sweet. We appreciated her stopping by so much. Nice to meet you!
DT plans to be on the road at daybreak tomorrow. I hope he remembers to wake me up before he pushes the button to close the Murphy bed.
Until my next update, I remain, your "headed home" correspondent.
Campground Information: Oasis RV Resort - Several miles from The Strip. This place has everything. Family pool, adult pool, hot tub, store, restaurant, bar with live music, laundry, dog runs, horseshoe, pickle ball, putting green, bath house, free wifi and cable television. We are paying about $100 per night for a paved full-service pull-through site. Note: near the flight path of the airport and on the I-15... which we cannot hear over the roar of our ceiling air conditioner.
It was so nice to meet you and DT yesterday, you are a great writer and I always enjoy reading about your travels and family. Your new RV is beautiful! Like you we are home now. It was a great two months on the road !