Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Day 24 (Tuesday)

Staying over in Brookville, PA, boring drive homeward.

Day 23 (Monday)

Began trek home.
Ended the day in Joliet, IL. Looked for Elwood and Jake, but they were not there. Probably in Joliet Prison..

Day 22 (Sunday)




Visited the famous Wall Drug Store in (guess where) Wall, SD.
Headed to Badlands National Park, SD..
Quite the views.. Terry loved the prairie dogs. They were all over the place, along with Bison.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Day 21 (Saturday)




Went to Mt. Rushmore – AWESOME – What an undertaking WOW..
Went to Custer State Park to see the Buffalo, neat sight. True Americana!!
Going to see Rushmore lighting ceremony tonight..

Day 20 (Friday)


Arrived in Keystone, SD at the EconoLodge. We have the “Jefferson Suite”, very nice..
Went to Mt. Rushmore Caves and crawled around very neat cave. If you are claustrophobic you would have a big problem.

Day 19 (Thursday)

Checked out and headed to Wyoming. Arrived in Rock Spring, WY around 5PM.
Tomorrow will head to Keystone, SD where Mount Rushmore is. 780 miles from here. Going to be long drive..

Day 18 (Wednesday)

Spent walking from casino to casino spending money. Had buffet at Paris Casino. OK but, not great.

Day 17 (Tuesday)

Did more gambling – won some, but gave it back plus some --
Went to see Cirque de Soleil's KA. Amazing what they do. The stage pivots 360 degrees in one plane and 90 degrees in another to create various types of effects.

Days 13 thru 16

Drove around Vegas. Walked to different and gambled casinos. Terry went to Bodies-the exhibition.. Bunch of skinned body parts on display, I wasn't interested and didn't want to lose my appetite for dinner.

Day 12 (Thursday)


Breakfast at “50's Diner” again. Went to Red Rock Canyon and took the 13 mile road tour. Obviously, lots of red rocks :)
Went to Riviera Casino and saw Jay White. He is a Neil Diamond impersonator. Really good show, if you like Neil Diamond.

Day 11 (Wednesday)


Went to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Took a cruise on Lake Mead. Saw Hoover Dam from both sides. Went back to Palm's Casino and made a donation. Had pizza at Sofia's, not bad for a Mexican Pizza Joint.
Went to Hilton to see Terry Fator .... Absolutely best show. Very funny. He is great. Would definitely go back and see him again. He is an extraordinary ventriloquist that is very unique.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Day 10 (Tuesday)


Went to Fifties Diner, off strip, for breakfast. Good food and inexpensive. Stopped at Palms Casino and Rio Casino, off strip. Won $100 at Palms :))
A friend, Rhonda, told us about a free show at Bill's Casino, on strip, called BIG ELVIS. This guy that weighs about 375 lbs. sings Elvis songs and sounds just like him. Greatest free show we have seen. If you're ever in Vegas go see him.
Went to Buca di Beppo, off strip, for dinner.. excellent Italian restaurant and resonablly priced.
Then for a show went to see Jersey Boys at Palazzo Casino. Life story about Frankie Valle as he became famous with the Four Seasons.. Excellent show with great music and action.

Day 9 (Monday)

Went out exploring the “suburbs” of Las Vegas. Very nice places. Liked Centennial Hills area. Had dinner at MIMI'S. Excellent restaurant. Went to TI (treasure island) to see free Pirate Show. Was good but, not great, but free. Made another casino donation..

Monday, September 15, 2008

Day 8 (Sunday)


Took a ride to Sam's Town Casino which is about 10 miles east of the Strip. More of a local place. Has a western theme with a Shepler's Store inside.
Sunday night we went to see Cirque de Soleil's LOVE. This is a musical legacy of “The Beatles”. It was fantastic show, we had front row seats – could touch the stage :)

Day 7 (Saturday)


Today we went and did the fun task of finding a laundromat and doing the laundry. We did find a good coffee/donut shop called Winchell's. It was in the Mexican area. It was like being in a foreign country with everyone speaking Spanish.
Found a 99 cents store that was the size of a large supermarket. Made Terry's day!!
Also found this store in the picture above....
For dinner we went to the Stripburger and had a sandwich and drinks. I had a drink called the “KING” made with Bombay, Grapefruit Juice and Basil Leaves. Was interesting and good. Went to a couple of casinos – made our donation and called it a night.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Day 6 (Friday)







Had breakfast buffet at Imperial.
Bought an all day pass for the Monorail (pricey at $12/day). Went to Hilton to pick-up reserved tickets for Terry Fator show. Went to Riviera and bought tickets to the Neil Diamond Tribute starring Jay White. Walked to Circus Circus and watched the free circus acts. Walked to Sahara to pick-up Monorail to head North to Balley's, then to Paris, then walked - to Bellagio, then to Miracle Mile Shops and Planet Hollywood, then to Monte Carlo, then to New York New York, then took Tram from Excaliber to Manalay Bay. Walked to Luxor, and back to Excaliber.
Wanted to get dinner. Terry remembered they had a Carnegie Deli at the Mirage. So back we walked to the MGM Grand to get the Monorail to Harrah's and walked to the Mirage.
I had a corn beef Rueben and Terry had a Turkey Rueben. It was so giagantic that everyone around us was hysterical and asking, “What the hell is that!”. Terry and I could not eat more than about one-quarter and brought it back to the hotel for breakfast tomorrow.
We returned to room to drop our stuff off and went to the casino to gamble. As you probably know you get free drinks while your gambling (you have to give at least a $1 tip/drink to the scantily clad waitress). Well, we got feeling pretty good and left the casino around 1 AM. Knowing Terry real well, She started laughing in the elevator to the room and I said, “Now Don't Piss in Your Pants!”. Guess what happened as we laughed all the way to the room....

Friday, September 12, 2008

Day 5 (Thursday)




Heading to VEGAS BABY!!


Went to Valley of Fire State Park northeast of Las Vegas. Took some short hikes (actually walks). Very colorful RED rocks that had neat formations from the wind and rain.
Checked into our hotel, the Imperial Palace [across Las Vegas Blvd from Caesar's Palace] at about 2 PM. Visited the Venetian/Palasso. Had delicious Gelato – lime and mango. Went to Ceasar's Palace and had dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant in a square with the “Fountain of the Gods”. Had dinner there 5 years ago..
Gambled at the Imperial Palace after dinner.

Day 4 (Wednesday)


In Utah, went through Capital Reef National Park. Absolutely gorgeous.
Then onto Bryce Canyon National Park (got in FREE with National Senior Pass :)). Bryce Canyon is where all the Hoodoos are. There was a controlled forest fire going on—they closed the road just after we went by because of all the smoke on the road.
Next was Zion National Park (also free) which is quite a winding drive through rock tunnels and up close bright red rock formations. What a sight of natural beauty.
Arrived in St. George, UT at 8 PM and stayed in motel.

Day3 (Tuesday)

Headed to CO in morning, went through Denver following the Colorado River. Beautiful Mountains and scenery. Had lunch in Aspen, CO.
Arrived in Grand Junction, CO and stayed in motel. Had dinner at restaurant called Peppers which served Mexican food.

Day 1&2 (Sunday & Monday)

First gas fill-up was in Seekonk, MA. While waiting in line for rest room, I recognized the guy in front of me. It was the movie actor William Hurt. Now I can say I pissed where Hurt did...
Drove through to Ohio and pulled into a Bob Evan's Restaurant parking lot at 2:30 AM. Waited until they opened at 6 AM and had breakfast.. Got about an hour of sleep.
After getting gas in Indiana, went by Notre Dame, but did not see Larry from True Value :) But did see Golden Dome..
It was neat the way Guadeloupe automatically updated the time when we crossed each time zone.
Arrived in North Platte, NE @ about 6 PM CDST and stayed overnight in motel. Had dinner at Whiskey Creek Restaurant and has excellent steaks.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Gettin Ready to Go


We will be leaving from Cape Cod Sunday morning, hopefully, by 10AM. The only reservations we have are at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. So the rest of the time we will improvise as we travel.

I will be driving a 2006 Honda Ridgeline. Gas mileage is not great, but hopefully gas prices will continue to drop. I have a navigation system which we named "GUADELOUPE". When looking at the route she programmed she said 2400 miles and 41 hours to Las Vegas. We are going to Canyons in Utah & Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota on the return trip.