Birthday...

At my age, I guess birthdays should be celebrated even more than when one is younger.... so why in our society do we want to forestall getting older? The alternative to getting older is..... unthinkable!  Therefore, from this point forward, I will CELEBRATE my birthdays!

Starting this year.

My son offered me an airline ticket...where would I like to go?  The condition was that it couldn't be too terribly far, and he would prefer it be before the end of the year.... My birthday weekend would be great.

Waiting for my plane to show up. It did.
So the first thing that popped into my head, was a recurring idea that I would like to make some short trips to visit some cousins that I had not seen for a long time. One lives in the Las Vegas area, and flights there are often cheap.... so it was done!  I went ALONE to Vegas.

So off I went; on a gloomy, snowy day, I left Chicago.  Just about broke my heart to leave.... NOT!



The weather was much nicer there!

On cousin's back patio. Just a bit too cool (67F) to swim.




















Going to Vegas alone sounds auspicious, doesn't it?  But it was not your typical trip to Vegas, because I am definitely NOT the "Vegas type"!  I went to visit my cousin and she is a wonderful person who just happened to follow her husband as he accepted a job offer there.... 28 years ago!  He has recently passed, but with her daughter and family settled there, she is staying - even though it is the last place on earth that she would choose to be!

We had a wonderful 2 days! As you might guess, we talked a mile a minute! And she was a wonderful hostess.  She took me to visit Hoover Dam:
Looking across from the Arizona side.  We were parked in the stair-step garage building.

Token pic on the Dam.. I was in Arizona!

And one of her favorite places up in the mountains outside of Vegas, where we had my "birthday dinner".
And then we went back to her home and watched "Meet me in St Louis" a classic Christmas movie.

The next day, we stayed in until afternoon, then ran some errands and ended up at The Bellagio to get just a taste of the Vegas strip, watched the fountains, and drive up and down just once, to see all the lights! 

Looking across the Bellagio fountain pool, across The Strip, to the other side.
The Belaggio Fountians, one thing I wanted to see.  it was cool!



Inside The Bellagio Atrium. All kinds of Holiday decorations... and people!


 Dinner was at a Casino buffet (I did NOT eat too much) and then she MADE me play a gambling machine, just to say I had done it... her money, not mine!  I won her a dollar and quit!

This is only about 2/3 of the buffet!

Home for another movie night - perfect for two older ladies.

It was a lovely, restful, interesting time.  This old lady isn't too old to find her way around airports; read signs to tell which gate she needs, get her skates on and run to make connecting flights!  Guess that birthday wasn't too bad!

Glad I didn't choose my California cousin this time!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A post of his own

Image
 At last, the search has ended. We -or rather I- had given up.  We even went to the local shelter to see if we could find a suitable companion for us and for Archie, but (fortunately), no dice. And then I got a message from a friend.  They were at the Afghan Hound Club of America National Specialty.  I had jokingly sent them a message the week before to have a good time - and "find me a dog", never imagining that it would happen.  You don't go to a dog show to get a dog.  No one there wants to place out their dog.... or so I thought.  They sent me a message that said "we found the perfect dog for you!" It has taken a month, lots of messages back and forth, a major transportation hurdle, but he is here! Meet CHINO Chino, age 'not yet 3 years'.  Just as promised, he is delightful.  Sweet, calm, friendly.... everything we wanted.  He gets along fine with Archie, even if they are not quite ready to cuddle up together. sharing the sofa and snuffling about in
Read more

Adjustments

Image
 September has been a season of adjustments.  Adjusting to a new school year, and with that, the adjustment of managing grandchildren after school.  This year both of the 2 youngest kids have new "schools". Grandson #2 has moved to public school kindergarten, and that left Baby Girl the only one at the day care that was 5.5 miles from my house.... so my DiL was able to get her into their church's preschool/daycare program, which is located very close to the boy's school - both of which are geographically half-way between their home and ours.  PERFECT!  I can leave baby girl (who is no longer a baby, but almost 4) at her school until 6, but I don't.  Why make an extra trip? So I have all 3 for about 3 hours every afternoon. In addition to after school care, the boys have "activities" that necessitate either a large snack or supper before 5:30pm, so some weeks I feed them dinner 3 nights.  Not a big deal, but it does require planning.  Children do not like
Read more

Summer's End

Image
 Summer has been.... summery.  We have had HOT dry weather in May and June, and then in July we started getting the occasional rain shower and some cooler weather ... mixed in with the hot and dry.  I was able to turn off the sprinklers and only set them to go manually on a few occasions... good thing as the water bill for June was double what we usually have to pay!  But while it did not flourish, the City water did keep the garden alive so when the rains came, it took off! I believe this was our first good rain, on July 4, of all days! Rain to celebrate the 4th Jim got to work on his garage project, starting with using all the insulation that he stockpiled two years ago! Hanging insulation. After the rain, it's starting to look like a garden, finally! In July, Archie had a bout of Pancreatitis, and while he had a rough time, he is recovered at last! This was a pretty sick doggie! But he took time off from rabbit chasing to recover... for a bit.  Then he was tempted to chase a bun
Read more