LAS VEGAS 2024

The first weekend of October, we took a trip to Las Vegas! We have friends who invited us because they had free rooms - because, apparently, they spend enough when they go to Vegas to get lots of freebies and perks! We got a gorgeous king suite at The Venetian - with a view of The Sphere!

We flew Frontier from Orlando directly to Las Vegas. I absolutely hated the flight. I felt like the seats were miserable and uncomfortable.  I wish we had paid more money for upgrades or something.  It was a mistake to take a five hour flight and just leave comfort to chance. 

On our first day, we met up with our friends - they had a gorgeous king suite at The Wynn. They sorta showed us around and we walked all around the two hotels. Our friends said - welcome to my world -  because they are Vegas frequent visitors! The rooms are amazing - beautiful and so much attention to detail! Our friends love to gamble, but for both Aaron and I, we just didn’t really get into it. Maybe another trip we will try more gaming, but we were both more anxious to sight-see and have experiences, rather than park at a slot machine! But it’s a good thing our friends do enjoy gambling, because that is why we had a free hotel room! 

The next day, we walked around the strip a little bit. We went to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. I am just amazed at the details and how immersive all the locations are.  I am also astounded at the number of expensive designer stores, everywhere you look are stores with guards standing outside. I cannot imagine the money flowing in Vegas to support this many exclusive stores. 

That evening, we had a lovely dinner to celebrate our friend’s birthday at SW Steakhouse in The Wynn.  And after dinner, we went to see a show - Awaken at The Wynn.  Everything was outstanding and we had a blast! My favorite thing was that they brought me a tiny chair to sit my purse on! I think every restaurant should have that!

On our third day, we found out that another friend of ours happened to be in Las Vegas - so we made plans to meet up with him and his group. He goes to Vegas often, and knew his way around so well! He took us all around Vegas and pointed out sights and even took us to the Hoover Dam. We had a very busy day and I am so glad he was in town to really show us around!

On our fourth day, we went to Area15 so I could go to Omega Mart! I hadn’t done a ton of research about things to do in Vegas, but I knew I had to see The Sphere and go to Omega Mart! It was crazy and unique and just a must see experience.  

Later that evening, we had another dinner to keep celebrating our friend’s birthday! This time we went to Four Sixes at The Wynn. It was a cowboy themed restaurant, it wasn’t as fancy as the other restaurant, but it was very nice.  I asked for a tiny chair for my purse - and they brought me one! I just love the tiny purse chairs!

 

Sadly, this fourth day was basically our last day because our flight left quite early the next morning. We went back to our suite and packed to get ready to fly home.  That flight was just as awful as the other one. But it was great to be home! I would love to go back again - but I would stay longer so we could see more of the sights and have more fun!

My thoughts and reminders from this trip

Before we left, about a week prior, I started taking immunity vitamins and multi vitamins.  I was so worried about getting sick, considering we would be in two airports, on airplanes, and in hugely crowded casinos and hotels.  I carry a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol, and I used that a lot - to both spray our hands or spray whatever we were gonna touch. And can you believe it, we did NOT get sick! I think all my hard work paid off!

I was able to successfully pack into a carry one suitcase. I was proud of myself! But I felt like, after about the third day, I needed to wash some stuff. I took it into the shower with me and cleaned them. I was able to hang them on a railing in the room. I was glad I did this. And it reminded me to buy some kind of sink laundry product or a detergent sheet. 

I bought my usual Christmas ornaments. And the stuff I bought for gifts were easy to pack. 

I was happy I did not pack shoes I wasn’t willing to wear. Yes, I want to wear cute and fun and sexy shoes. But will it? Probably not. So I just decided to pack ONLY what I knew I would wear. Great decision!

I packed a lot of jewelry which I used to switch up my outfits. I wore nearly identical outfits, but changed it up with jewelry. That worked great and didn’t take a ton of luggage space. 

There was a huge Walgreens outside of our hotel. And we were able to get just about anything imaginable! Plus good whiskey! I probably could have traveled with less supplies and just bought them at Walgreens instead. 

But I will say a without a doubt, that not getting sick was the best part of the trip! 

NEW YORK 2024

A summer trip to New York for a wedding. The plan had been to take the Lance with us and enjoy the ride up and back by camping in new and fun places.  Unfortunately, my husband's work got in the way, and our planned 3 week trip turned into a 2 week trip, so taking the travel trailer was out of the question. What a huge disappointment. So we decided to just drive up and make it a 2 day trip instead of the 4 days we had planned for driving if we towed the Lance.

We drove all the way from Florida until we got to Pennsylvania - in ONE DAY! We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Chambersburg, PA.  It was a very long drive, but we did good. After an overnight hotel stay, we arrived at Cornell University to visit our daughter, Ahnika, during her Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates. We stayed just for the afternoon at Cornell, doing quick sightseeing and grabbing a great lunch at Collegetown Bagels. We checked out her dorm a the Von Cramm Cooperative, aslo known as Redbud Collective. Then we were on our way up to Theresa, NY.

When we take our car, I never worry about what I'm packing because I pack anything and everything since its just in the car and I don't have to be careful about my luggage. I think that is why I enjoy roadtrips so much, I think they are very freeing in a lot of ways. You don't have to worry about luggage and you don't have to have an "appointment" at the airport.

Arriving in Theresa, we started helping out with the wedding preparations. We went to all the stores in multiple towns to pick up supplies and anything needed for the wedding and reception. 

We went to Alexandria Bay for dinner at Cavallario's Steak and Seafood House. After, we headed to Clayton to have drinks with friends at The Channelside. It was lovely to sit outside on the deck and watch the ships pass by on the Saint Lawrence River. 

We also toured a very old church that was for sale, but it was in terrible condition, so not even worth trying to buy it or fix it up at all.  The interior was gorgeous, but it was not structurally sound.  

Finally, the day to depart has arrived.  The wedding is over and it was beautiful and a big success. We're going to head back to Cornell to visit Ahnika before we head home. We got a hotel room at The Argos Inn, it was very cool and a beautifully restored massive, old house. A boutique hotel. We had dinner at a restaurant on the Ithaca Commons and had drinks at the hotel bar of the Argos.

In the morning, we walked around and had breakfast at Paris Baguette - yum! We hiked around and looked at the Cornell Botanic Gardens, looked at some small waterfalls and even hiked up to the Observatory. We met up with Ahnika and she gave us a longer tour - I finally got to see the library I was dreaming of - The Uris Library! It was very cool, but a lot smaller than I expected.  We saw the outside of her building, The Carl Sagan Institute in the Space Sciences Building. We shopped at the gift shop and got a couple small trinkets. I got my obligatory Christmas ornament! We had lunch at the Amit Bhatia Libe Cafe inside the John M. Olin Library and then got on the road to try to make it as far as possible. I think I got food poisoning from my lunch! A long stop at a gas station restroom was, unfortunately, in order.

We stopped in Harrisonburg, Virginia for the night, staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton Harrisonburg. The next day, we drove all the way back home. It was a long drive and we were both so happy to be home! The new Ram truck gets amazing gas mileage and has a huge gas tank, so we rarely had to stop for gas. We were so relieved to be home when we arrived! My mom watched the pets and the house and had some food prepared for us - joy!