The Hotel…

To say that our Hotel is nice is an understatement.  I have stayed in some swanky hotels but I think this two bedroom suite is the best!  The Nationwide Show is at the MGM Grand and we are staying at the MGM Signature – which is connected.

Our room is on the 12th floor and it is a corner suite.  Since this hotel is connected to the MGM Grand there is no casino – which is great.  It is really quite…and it is two blocks from the strip – it sort of doesn’t feel like Vegas. 

Here’s our suite.

The entry way and kitchen…

Here’s the guest bathroom….The living room with a balcony… I know I don’t get out much.  I was impressed there was no do not disturb sign instead you press this button!   John was impressed with the docking station for is I-Pod!Here’s the bathroom that you could play baseball in! As soon as we got back in the room from eating a Nathan’s Hotdog I immediately took a bath in the jet tub.  What a treat!!From the bathroom looking at the bedroom….    Here comes the television out of the desk!  The television disappears.  There’s New York, New York in the background.  This is in the bedroom.I never thought I had issues with balconies but I am not a big fan!  We are going to the Grand Canyon on the way back home and I thought I would do that Sky Walk thing….I am really reconsidering it. This day has come to an end.  We must go to bed early since Randy has a meeting at 7:30am. John and I are going to go to an aquarium, a lion exhibit, and ride the monorail from one hotel to another.  We are going to take John and Christin to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe tomorrow night – should be fun!

Do you think John has had an eventful day?

Arizona & The Hoover Dam

I never knew that the Northwestern part of Arizona was so beautiful.  I was expecting to see some Wilde Coyote/Road Runner looking landscape…but instead it mountains & trees!We drove over the Hoover Dam today and it was amazing!  I wish we had time to actually take the tour.  There was MAJOR road construction going into the Dam.  They are expanding the road from two lanes to four lanes and erecting a HUGE bridge across the Colorado River Canyon.  I guess that way people can bypass the Hoover Dam.  It was impressive to say the least.

There was a check point  before crossing the Dam…I assume they are looking for terrorist.  The truck in front of us was pulled over for further inspection.

   There’s Vegas!

Gallup to Winslow to Flagstaff

Good Evening Friends! 

Here I sit in a bathroom in Flagstaff, Arizona watching John take a bath thinking of you.  Today has been a great day.  I have determined I should have been a long haul truck driver.   I really love driving long distances – always have and I guess I always will. 

After a wonderful breakfast at LePeep’s Randy decided to let me drive since he did not sleep so well the night before.  As soon as we got up to speed on I-40 Randy and John were both passed out…sound asleep.  I plugged in my MP3 player to some of my most favorite songs and down the road I went – in my zone!  I did manage to grab the camera a take some photos while driving.  I would NOT recommend this but HEY…I want to share with you some of the beautiful scenery.

About 10-15 miles out of Albuquerque I topped a hill and it was amazing!  It was wide open spaces!!  In the distance I saw these clump of mountains – it was really pretty.

I wanted to share this view with someone in my car but this was the view inside the vehicle. Once we got to Gallup about two hours from Albuquerque Randy woke up long enough to visit a customer.  This store is owned by two sisters…we met one sister today and we will meet the other sister in Las Vegas this week.  Great visit!!I have been pretty stoked about going to Winslow, Arizona.  Since one of my all time favorite songs Take it Easy mentions Winslow…in fact this is the song that launched The Eagles.  Winslow is very small and just about dried up.  It looked like most of the town was at the Elks Lodge for some sort of gathering.  Here I am standing on a corner in Winslow. Arizona.Flagstaff was  less than an hour away and what a difference in the weather!  It was 60 and windy in Winslow and 38 with light snow in Flagstaff.  What we have seen of Flagstaff is really pretty.  It reminds me of Ruidoso/Cloudcroft – there is nothing for miles and then BAM – there’s mountains and tress and snow!   This is Flagstaff a few miles out.

Once we got checked into the hotel…unloaded the car…I surprised Randy and ordered pizza to be delivered.  I could not imagine going to a restaurant in a ski resort town on a Saturday night at 7pm.  Plus John needed to run around and be free instead of being forced to more rules and manners.  Once the pizza arrived Randy looked at me and said…”I love you so much”.  Yea – points for me!!

I am so tired and ready for bed.  Tomorrow should be eventful.  It is only 250 miles to Las Vegas but we have been told it will take about 6 hours due to construction and the Hoover Dam.  I am not looking forward to driving in Vegas…actually I will probably be in the backseat with John watching a video.  The traffic in Vegas is CrAzY!  Be praying for us!   I will be back in Vegas!

John says goodnight!

Albuquerque, New Mexico

After weeks of anticipation the first day of our Las Vegas vacation started today.  It is not really a vacation…Randy has to do business everyday but John and I get to tag along so it is a vacation for us! 

We are traveling about 4 to 5 hours everyday – that way Randy can visit with existing and potential customers.  We need to be in Las Vegas by Sunday evening for a meeting Randy has to attend.

We wanted to leave this  morning by 9:00am at the latest but I woke up at 4am with another one of my headaches – it was really bad.  I took some of my new medication and “iced” my head - my new medication is EXCELLANT but it makes me drowsy.  We finally left Amarillo by  noon and made it straight to Albuquerque in less than 4 hours.  John was great and did not whine at all.  He liked looking out the windows at the big  trucks and we were constantly looking for a moving train.  After that lost his interest he played with his I-Pod and watched some train videos.  I was surprised he did not nap at all! Albuquerque is really pretty with some on the mountains.  It doesn’t seem as cold as Amarillo…of course there is no wind.

This plain looking aluminum cactus is one of my favorite things about Albuquerque.  When Mom and I came here the first time (May 2009-when Dad was air-lifted here for heart surgery) we arrived at night and this cactus was lit-up.  It was so beautiful!  It glowed all sorts of color…it was so dark and the cactus really stood out!  I tried to talk Randy into going out there tonight but he said….”uhhh no way!”When we got to Albuquerque we checked into the hotel and Randy went to visit customers.  The customers were pleasantly surprised to see him and they were very gracious!

Randy was planning on seeing another customer but that customer only makes appointments with distributors at 2 or 3 in the morning!   How bizarre and strange and weird is that??

After the visits we unloaded our truck and went to eat.  After that we had to go to Wal-Mart to get some water and juice.  Now we are going to bed!  Tomorrow we are going to our most favorite place to eat breakfast – LePeep!  Then we are off to Gallup, New Mexico, Winslow Arizona, and stay the night in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Here’ some other pictures…

Randy’s Expedition has a hard drive in the stereo.  It is really cool but you have to rip the cd’s one at a time.  That is what I did all the way from Amarillo to AlbuquerqueLots of Starburst were consumed!  Randy’s favorite is red, John’s is yellow, mine is orange, and we all like pink!   I will be back in Arizona!