. . .With Nothing but a Dance Belt and a Tube of Chapstick-Part 2

Sorry about the delay. I really shouldn't break these things into two days. I never get around to doing the second day!!

Congrats to Lisa Nielsen for getting the movie quote right!! Waiting for Guffman is one of the best movies of all time. Made by the same people that made:"This is Spinal Tap" and "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind". Genius. If you have ever done local community theater or SEEN a play done really badly, you will love this movie. So as her prize she gets dinner made for her like promised. Name the night, Lisa, and I'll be there with Food 'O Plenty.

Anyway, I got to "watch" this movie as I was driving down to L.A. By watch I mean put on headphones and listen to it on our DVD player. It really made the time fly by and kept me wide awake. I would recommend anyone drive that way.

Ok, so after we got back on the 10, we pretty much were out of there as fast as we could go. Luckily we got out of there around 12:30 or 1 and so we didn't have much traffic. There was just one accident that we had to deal with, but it wasn't a huge back-up. It just slowed us down for maybe 7 minutes. And then we were GONE.

But the problem was that since we left in such a hurry, we didn't have a chance to find a good hotel online. I had to call my mom and then call the hotel and we ended up at the SARAHA. Now the thing about the Saraha is that it was a SUPER fancy and great hotel. . . back in the 1960's. See, Elvis and Frank Sinatra and The Beatles all built it/stayed there and so you know that the only people there are people that wanted to stay at the same hotel where ELVIS stayed!!

The hotel has tried to appeal to a younger demographic, so they have put this hideous looking roller coast in the front of the building. But at the same time they haven't bothered updating the rooms. There was a strange greasy film on all the window sills of my room, and the carpet had tears/iron burns in it.

But the worst part was the bathroom. I present for you pictures. This was what the toilet looked like WHEN WE ARRIVED. This is a supposedly "clean" toilet:


I almost died right there. But it gets super better. Here is a picture of the leaky faucet that dripped all night and kept us awake. And the peeling wallpaper in the bathroom.














But the best part? Hands down it was the shower. See, several years ago, the thinking tank that IS the Saraha Planning Committee decided to change the knobs on the shower and convert to a more "simple" one knob system. The problem? They didn't bother to fix up the other handles. They just left the copper nubbins there in the shower!! I'll show you:


The old farts that keep coming back to the Saraha year after year "Cause Sinatra built it!!" couldn't quite grasp the concept of the one handled system. That, plus the fact that the "nubbins" were still there meant that the front desk was getting call after call from Auntie Mae and Pa Josiah asking how to use "this new-fangled water system. I got out my wrench to use on those little stubs but it don't seem to be workin'." This inevitably lead to the nice sign you find BETWEEN said nubbins.

Ohhh. . . is that some contemporary Gothic script you got going there? I'm very impressed. It really bodes well with the rest of the "Oasis" theme you got working at this hotel.

We got out of there ASAP. And we went to Marcelo's favorite place on the earth: The Buffet at Mandalay Bay hotel. Why? Why the King Crab Legs, of course. Here he is trying to get Evi to enjoy one:

She looks, and touches it to check it out. But then she catches on that it's not as cool as it looks. And so she tells it so with her eyes:















She tells dad in not so simple language that she prefers her cantaloupe, thank you very much:















She did have a great time at the hotel. We were all so tired that we crashed after dinner and didn't get up until 9 am the next day.

So that was it, that was our lightning fast trip to Las Angeles and then Las Vegas. I'm so thankful it's over and that we don't have to do that ever again. But I am grateful for Marcelo and his spontaneity. I don't think I would've done it that way if he hadn't suggested it.

And I'm glad I don't have to do it EVER AGAIN.


P.S. Here is a picture of Evi and Marcelo at the water fountain. She LOVED it so every time I told her to turn around and look she had a huge smile because she was just laughing at the water. Enjoy!!