At 4 am we were all seated in the hotel ( motel really) lobby awaiting our shuttle.
United ran such a well oiled machine, (clearly calling up and loading passengers onto the plane in small efficient batches) that we actually left San Francisco early!
After flying over the majestic snow-capped Sierra Mountains, we landed smoothly.
We came straight out of the airport and I ordered my very first Uber.
We checked in to our gorgeous 2 bedroom unit at Holiday Inn Vacations Desert Club just behind the Strip.
The concierge handed us a $20 voucher but told us she would make it $100 if we would attend a timeshare seminar the next morning. Sorry, lady- the voucher would have to have a few more zeros for me to endure a hard sales pitch!
We have a lovely apartment with 3 TVs to eke our our jet lag in front of; but the older boys and I had our focus set on groceries.
We ubered to the closest Vons a couple kilometres beyond and behind the Strip. everyone kept telling us that that area is really dangerous and we cannot walk there.
We thoroughly enjoyed our first grocery shop in the US! And got quite a few sugary products.
The Vons security guard asked us to stay inside until the return Uber picked us up as it is so dangerous!
The boys settled in to watch Sunday football so Kara and I left for the Strip at 11 in the morning to go find Bath & Body Works. My favourite scent in the world, Vanilla Bean Noel ( I hate vanilla scent but I love this particular scent somehow) was being showcased with all the other Christmas flavours. We spent ages, sniffing testers and doing Christmas shopping.
The location we were at was the Miracle Mile shops, full of fancy stores and as you progress further in, its covered ceiling had a cloudy sky scene that changed to stormy with lightening and a rainstorm even ensued, splashing water down into a pond. It was quite beautiful.
Just as we were leaving, we unfortunately ( read ME) fell prey to an attempted sales pitch and it was hard to escape. To be fair, the lady pretended she was a Bath and Body Works employee handing us a free item, and the entice me into a chair. So I feel less silly for trying to cooperate with her. So crafty! The guy she had working with her ended up being rude when he realised that we would he purchasing nothing..
Our planned dinner at Margaritaville was definitely not going to occur; everyone was zombie-like and heavy lidded at home. The guys had booked Penn and Teller but that wasn’t until 9 pm! Could they make it?
We had Sonic burger delivered by, you guessed it, Uber Eats!
By 7:30, the guys had stumbled wearily into the night to Uber to Penn and Teller and we went to bed.
Dory the Explorer 