Blue Green Club, Las Vegas, Nevada
December 16th to 24th, 2018
We left on Saturday afternoon. It’s really hard saying goodbye to little Sebastian (and Lexi, too, of course). Such a sweet and happy grandson. (Can you tell we think he’s kinda special?) We drove to Tehachapi, about 250 miles, approximately 4 hours. We decided it would be a nice break and we wanted to use up our Wyndham hotel points because we wanted to cancel the card. The room was at the Baymont Suites.
Nice room but we could not believe all the railroad traffic (right outside our room). Very nice people running the hotel, no elevator, but the older lady behind the desk did say she would help us if we needed it.
Like I mentioned earlier, the railroad noise made for not the greatest sleep in the world but we somehow managed. We left around 9 AM and headed just a little bit away to get gas and some coffee. After that it was about the trek into Las Vegas. The part of the trip from Tehachapi to Las Vegas is my least favorite because it’s pretty boring desert scenery, with a few windmills thrown in. Traffic wasn’t the greatest due to the Christmas rush, so we were glad we had left a day early.
We got into Henderson and went by to see the kids for a quick hello. Was so good seeing them. We brought them a little Christmas tree and some stockings to hang. Their apartment is looking so cute and very homey. Was good to see our grandpuppies too. We left and got to the Bluegreen Club to check in. Check in was quick and simple but when we headed to the “Concierge Desk” to get our parking pass, we were tricked into a timeshare presentation. We really didn’t want to, kept telling the nice lady no and we would never buy, and she kept upping the ante until we said yes to $150.00 Visa gift card. We scheduled the presentation for Wednesday at 11:00.
Our room was on the 6th floor,, close to the stairs at the end of the hall. It was much larger than the one we stayed in last time. The only difference was the dryer that I could not figure out how to use and Michael had to deal with it when it came time. The room itself was quite lovely and comfortable. We did have issues in the early morning hours (2 am – 3 am-ish) when people would smoke in the stairwell and the stink of the smoke would drift up into our unit. Didn’t happen every night but when we would walk down the stairwell, we did notice many cigarette butts on the stairs. Lazy people.
The next day we went to Winco before we went to see the kids. Once we got to their apartment, I went to work making some vegan lasagna for them, along with a vegan cucumber salad, and a vegan apple crisp dessert. Everything turned out okay and the kids seemed to like it so….They keep saying how they only eat beans and rice when we’re not around (trying to make us feel guilty I think). We also stocked up their cupboards a little so they had a few more choices to eat. We visited and just enjoyed seeing the kids and dogs before we left before dark (around 4:30 PM). We hate driving in the dark and avoid it if we can. We are truly old.
On Tuesday we headed to the kids for a visit. When we left, we made arrangements for the kids to come by and get us so we could go to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to see their Christmas display that supposedly has a million lights. They came by to get us and we went to the nearby Whole Foods to get some dinner (Whole Foods has a vegan pizza the kids really like; I got a vegetable sandwich that was really good). The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is quite a ways out and it was a nice drive (Aaron was driving). We got there right around 5:30 so there was no congestion to speak of. The displays were awesome. There was a little bit of everything you could think of – peacocks, flamingos, trees, houses, polar bears aliens, flowers, flags…Was something you should do once if you’re in the area.
On Wednesday, we got up and lazed around until it was time to do the timeshare presentation. Our guy was a nice young man from Russia named Grant. Really enjoyed talking to him and we told him there was no way we were going to buy as it didn’t make financial sense to us. He tried, and even got his boss to try the high pressure stuff. No such luck. Glad when it was over and we have vowed we really don’t want to do these any more. Too much stress for our elderly hearts. After we left we got some food and then headed off to find Aaron and Arla at a liquidator place where they had bought two pallets of things that they sell on line. They are quite the entrepreneurs, those two. Gotta hand it to them for trying a little bit of everything. Was really fascinating seeing how the liquidator thing worked.
On Thursday, we headed over to the kids’ apartment and visited. Around 1:30 PM, we all went to one of my favorite restaurants in the area, Thailicious, and had linner. I kept telling myself I was going to try something new but the yellow curry kept calling to me. Sooooo good. We were back in our “home” at the Bluegreen Club by 6 PM.
On Friday the kids came over to our place and we headed off for lunch at a local vegan Mexican restaurant. Really good food. We all had burritos. Afterwards we headed to the Bellagio to check out the Conservatory. So beautiful. I had been there in October for their fall display and thought it could not be outdone. Boy was I wrong. The Christmas presentation was phenomenal. Loved the horses and the polar bears. Actually, I loved it all! We all enjoyed walked around, even though it was pretty darn crowded.
On Saturday the kids came by to pick us up and we headed up to Mt. Charleston with the grandpuppies. (They had to put on their winter clothes as it was pretty cold.) The drive was lovely and pretty easy. We drove to the end of the road and saw many kids sliding down the snow covered hills. We even stopped at the local library so Michael could take a pit stop (aka potty stop). Very beautiful. I now understand why people go up there during the summer to cool off. The dogs enjoyed their walk but Merlin doesn’t do cold very well so he was ready to get back into the car and go home to get warm.
On Sunday, We checked out of the Bluegreen Club and headed to Aaron and Arla’s apartment. It was Aaron’s birthday. Can’t believe how time is flying. My little boy is almost an old man. Anyway, we had made reservations to go to a place near the Rio Casino called “Blackout Dining in the Dark.” I was intrigued by the fact the server takes you to your table wearing night vision goggles, but before that you are given a locker key for your phones, watches, and other items so that when you go in there is absolutely no light allowed, or you could be asked to leave. Also, you are not told what the menu will be. It’s a set menu. Once you are seated, the server tells you where your water is located, your plate, what is on the plate, the utensils, and anything else you need to know. We had a five course lunch ($60.00 a person). Everything was excellent and fun and was very interesting having to rely on your other senses to try to figure out what you were eating. I loved it and I think Aaron and Arla really enjoyed it too. (Michael stayed out in the car and had his diet lunch.) Too fun. Once we got out to the lobby, we got to see the menu (but you couldn’t say anything out loud about it), you are told it’s totally vegan! We want to go again, maybe next year.
Once we said our happy birthdays, hugs, and goodbyes, we left Las Vegas and headed for Barstow for the night. We wanted to get a little start on the drive home tomorrow but we did want to spend time with our son on his birthday. In Barstow, we stayed on points at the Holiday Inn Express. Nice but it’s Barstow. We were quite proud that we were able to use up almost every single point before we canceled our card (some went to charity).