Bright lights, big city

Last week was my first huge company meeting - and the first one in person since Covid for this company. I flew to Las Vegas on Sunday. My first evening there, upon hearing that I’d never been to Vegas before, my manager took a group of us out sightseeing. This was our free night - so it was non-work related. We started with dinner and a pitcher of Margaritas. Then a walk through the casino of Mandalay Bay to the Luxor for an inside look at the pyramid. After that we emerged, dazzled, onto the street to walk the strip. We ducked into the Cosmopolitan to have a drink in the famed Chandelier Bar. Then walked to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show.

So much of what they say about Vegas is true. It’s the city that never sleeps. The people watching is fascinating. There is a constant barrage of lights, sounds and smells. The sensory overload was almost overwhelming for me. Our conference center rooms were about a 12 minute walk inside the hotel and through the casino. I got in a huge (for me) amount of steps! Unfortunately they allow smoking in the casino so most of us had scratchy throats all week.

I’m not a gambler. I have nothing against it, I just don’t really like the casino experience. But when in Rome - I mean Vegas…. I placed the 0.25 slots a few nights. A friend asked me to play a quarter for her. I ended up winning a whopping $6 off that over a few days and then lost it. I played $10 for myself and over the course of a few days was up $30. So I cashed out and stopped there. But we had fun at least. They got a kick out of me getting excited at winning.50 or 1.00. 😂 What can I say? I’m a big spender. 😂

Sadly, I didn’t make it to any shows. They kept us tightly scheduled every day and planned dinners/events each night. One night was neon night. Another was sparkle night. Another was red or black night. There was an awards dinner, a tech fair, and a night at House of Blues.

I had a blast seeing colleague/friends from across the U.S. Learned a ton. Enjoyed the socializing and dressing up. Walked miles and miles. Didn’t go outside once from Sunday night to Friday afternoon. And came home exhausted. Even my liver is tired. 😂😂😂

Tomorrow, I’m off to Oregon for the week - toward the coast. Although I have a friend staying with me and we did drive an hour Saturday to Ontario - Ontario, Oregon that is. We visited the Four Rivers Cultural Center. Apparently this city is founded around the confluence of four Rivers - Snake, Payette, Owyhee and Malheur. The culture in the area comes from white, European immigrants off the Oregon Trail, Mexican Vaqueros, Basque immigrants, Chinese immigrants from internment camps who were given the opportunity to work farms to get out of the camps and later immigrants from the Middle East. Really fascinating museum.

I’m off to pack my suitcase again. It doesn’t stay idle for long! As always, thanks for reading.

Take care and go explore when you can! There’s so much to see and experience out there!

Gypsy Jules

😘❤️