Whoever thought it was a good idea to put an AFB in Vegas is a genius, or completely out of their mind. I haven’t decided which it is yet. And the funny part is, when the Viper Pilot had to be there for training with a few other dudes, they stuck us in a hotel just a block from the strip. Silly AF, what were you thinking?!
The view from our hotel. |
The drive to Vegas from Phoenix was a bit boring, so I passed the time by snapping pictures of the scenery flying by. {I’m easily entertained if there is a Nikon in my hands.}
Lake Mead |
When we are travelling, finding time and a place to work out is tough. The gym at Luke AFB in Phoenix was huge but usually packed with all the AF boys all day long and it was stinky. I’m not a fan of those kinds of gyms, plus I am a germaphobe and I don’t like using equipment that everyone and their uncle have used. It was definitely too hot to do anything outside. I usually pack up my dumbbells in a little roller suitcase and deflate my stability ball and take them along with me on trips. (Note: label which suitcase has 60+ pounds of dead weight in it or your husband could stub his toe and rip off a nail…this happened…oops.) A typical hotel room is large enough (after a little rearranging) if the gym isn’t any good or nonexistent in some cases. The gym at our hotel in Vegas was nice, even though it was 80+ degrees in there) and I spent a few hours of my days in there.
I’m normally a strengthening/cardio/tabata circuit workout kind of girl, thanks to previous experience with Supreme 90, but it felt really good to rediscover those running and biking muscles. Now I’ve got the running itch and may have to start training again once we get to Germany.
When the Viper Pilot and the other pilots in his class were done with work, we went to dinner after attending the complimentary happy hour (free drinks and chips and salsa makes me one happy lady) at the hotel. The strip in Vegas is definitely something worth checking out if you’ve never seen it before. I was here back in 2007 so I feel like I’ve “been there, done that” and don’t really have any desire to spend much time on the strip. It’s too wild for my style and it seems like everyone has their hand out for something or other. It’s just a very dirty place — and I mean that in more ways than one. But it is a very cool place to photograph. 🙂
We went to dinner one night at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. I had meh fish tacos and an awesome marg (which is to be expected at such an establishment…).
Other pictures taken on the strip:
The fountains at the Bellagio are my all-time fave. It’s beautiful and if the right song is playing, a bit romantic. The song playing while we watched was Lee Greenwood “Proud to be an American” and all I could think about was All-Iowa honor dance team back in high school.
The view from our hotel was really neat at night. We were on the 15th floor but didn’t have a balcony so I took a picture through the window. If you look past the parking lot and the construction, it’s pretty cool.
Vegas was our last adventure before the long trek home. It took us three days to make it back to San Antonio but we finally did it. We drove from Vegas to Albuquerque (9 hours), Albuquerque to Alex’s grandparents near Fort Worth (another 9 hours) and then 4 hours back to San Anton. His grandparents kept the wedding gifts we received for us so once we got the car packed up with everything in it, we were loaded. Top to bottom, front to back…you couldn’t see out of the rear view mirror. And we have an Expedition. That’s a relatively large (soccer mom) vehicle. But we made it home after 7000+ miles and being gone for 44 days safe and sound. My bed never felt so wonderful.
So I guess I have to rephrase a statement I made above…we had an Expedition. We went from having two nice trucks to a Mazda 6 rental car. Yep, we are now officially a no car family. We sold both of our vehicles within one day of posting the ads. (We got lucky, we were expecting to have to take them to Iowa to have our parents sell them for us.) To our relief the same nice couple bought both and will take excellent care of Tina and Thomas, but I’m definitely going to miss them. We loved those cars and have a lot of great memories touring the country in them.
You probably won’t be hearing much from me in the next few days. The movers are coming tomorrow to start packing up our belongings to put on the boat to cross the pond. We have to sort out what appliances aren’t 220v (here in the states we use 110v, but in Germany they use 220v and the last thing I want to do is blow up my nice new appliances!) and they will be stored in a basement at our parents’ houses in Iowa. Then we have to sort out 600 pounds of our stuff that will be air lifted to Germany (sheets, towels, pots and pans…the essentials). We won’t get the majority of our stuff that is going over on the boat until September-ish but we get 600 pounds right away. That’s not as much as it sounds. I’m getting frazzled just thinking about this. On top of it all, we have no food and will not be getting any, either. We’ve been gone for 44 days and we’re moving to Germany. It just doesn’t make sense to stock the fridge. What I would give for some fresh fruit salad and fresh veggies for a stir-fry right now…maybe an arm? both?
The Viper Pilot is doing a little routine maintenance and spit shining Tina, the Expedition, for her new owners and my to-do list for today looks something like this:
- unpack from the 6 week trip we just returned from
- do laundry
- separate out items in the entire house that will be going to Iowa (there is a lot of this stuff because most of our kitchen stuff got replaced by gifts from our wedding)
- pack it all up and load it into the trailer
- sort out the 600 pounds of essentials
- put it in a bathroom and close the door so the movers don’t mix it in with the stuff going on the boat
- pack our bags for 1 week in Iowa (90ish degree weather), a long flight across the pond and a few days in Germany (60ish degree weather) before our 600 pounds arrives
- put it in the other bathroom and close the door so the movers don’t mix it in with the stuff going on the boat
Tomorrow will be an early morning and a long day. We have to go to the base to tie up some loose ends and pick up my official passport (that allows me to live in Germany) and get back before the movers show up at 9 am. Fortunately, the movers will do all the packing for us, but we’ve heard some horror stories about stuff getting broken or even stolen (God forbid) and I’m going to watch them like a hawk. I feel like some cookies and lemonade for the movers might sweeten the deal a bit…