Oog.
I had forgotten how much quick-turnaround trips can take out of you. But, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Why? Because I (finally) got to see my mother and stepfather for the first time in far too long. Sometimes it just takes an emotional recharge to get things back in order. The change of scenery didn’t hurt either. Both were overdue. Long overdue.

Friday:

  • Slept in.
  • Had lunch with Jess’ mom
  • Hit the road! The ride down wasn’t bad – there were a couple of slow-downs through construction zones.
  • Found our hotel.
  • Talked with Mom… discovered that ‘tonight’ would be difficult to get together. Made plans for her to call in the morning.
  • Got something to eat and wandered around the casino.

Saturday:

  • Woke up (which is always a good way to start the day) when Mom called. We set up a time to get together.
  • Observed the hygiene rituals and then..
  • Met up with the folks!!! They met us at the MGM Grand… and I saw the funniest site: My mom feeding quarters into a slot machine. It was cute. (I wasn’t aware until a little later that this was her first trip to Vegas.) We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in the MGM and then tooled around for a while. We wound up at the Boulevard Mall so Mom could look for an outfit to wear to the football game that she was in town to see. Shopping with Mom is… an experience. I believe that Jess said that it was “interesting.” But it was fun/amusing, nonetheless.
  • We split up again: They went to their game, we went back to our hotel. Somewhere in there, I fell asleep-ish for a while.
  • We got together with the ‘rents again around 10:30. Headed to Caesar’s Palace. Not many things can shake/surprise my mother. Vegas did. She was stunned by how active The Strip was at 10:30. She was shocked again around 12:30, when we left Caesar’s… and The Strip was still quite active.
  • We dropped them back at their hotel and said our goodbyes. I’ll be seeing them again around Christmas. Hoo-AH!
  • Headed back to our hotel and wandered around the casino for a little bit… and then called it a night.

Sunday:

  • Slept well… until Mom called at 0710. To ask if I had left something at their hotel. I hadn’t. *sigh* But, it was a chance to speak with her and say “Goodbye” before they flew out. Sleeping after that, however, was difficult.
  • Woke up, handled the hygiene rituals, packed up and got on our way again.
  • This leg of the trip was made more amusing by taking pictures of the signs with some of the more… unusual names of the towns in Utah. Why pictures? Because if I just said “I passed a town called (name)….” most non-Utahns would think that I made them up. (There are also pictures of the St. George LDS Temple and the Virgin River Gorge and a few other signs that I found amusing.) I was talking with earlier and noted that the sexual repression around the predominant culture here is apparent in some of the town names:
    • Beaver
    • Fillmore
    • Harding

    Does it really take a rocket scientist to see this?! I think not.

And that’s how I spent my weekend, more or less. I am rather tired. I think that I’m going to sleep in and make an abbreviated workday of it… if I go in. I will most likely go in, but I did say that there was a chance that I wouldn’t be back in the office until Tuesday. We shall see…

…but for now, sleep.

Namaste.