Road Trip: Vegas and Southern Cali

One of my favorite things about the road trip is that I 

can be completely flexible and spontaneous.

The day before we were supposed to leave Roosevelt,

I decided we should make a stop in Vegas.

The kids and never been and I hadn't been since

we lived there in the summer of 2002.

I booked us a cute, affordable hotel

(that ended up being in a sketchy part of town...)

and we were off!

We covered the spectrum of landscapes and temperatures.

When drove back over the Wasatch Mountains,

among the pretty aspens.

The temp dropped down to a brisk SIXTY FOUR. 

Then we got back into the desert.

And the temp went up to ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN.

What????

And that was at 5 pm!

I mostly just wanted to walk around to the free stuff,

but told the kids we could do one splurge.

We decided to ride the Big Apple coaster at New York, New York.

So fun!

There is so much cool stuff to see in Vegas!

My favorite: The fountains at Bellagio

We got to watch it twice--

once on the way in and again on the way out.

Inside Bellagio

Amazing

Even though it was night, it was still HOT.

And poor Care Bear had a hard time keeping up with

the rest of us and our long legs. We made it 

to Caesar's Palace, but she was beat.

B had to carry her part of the way.

The next day, we hit up Dave and Buster's. Of course.

We even won the invader bonus without Drew.

Care Bear was rocking the claw machine.

We got to visit with Nicole, another

good friend from hygiene school that

I hadn't seen in years. So good to catch up!

That evening, we went back to the Strip.

We spent most of our time at Circus Circus. 

B was not impressed, but the girls and I had a great time there.

Our favorite game was Chicken in a Pot,

where you try to launch a rubber chicken

into a rotating platform of big pots.

Hilarious.

When we left, Caroline said, "I wish there was a 

Circus Circus close to us so I could have my birthday party there."

Both girls were good and ended up winning.

W won multiple times.

Go chicken!

After that, we walked down to the Venetian.

I love that place and wanted to show the kids the canals.

We also found a gelato stop there.

So pretty!

Outside of the Wynn

Inside the Wynn

So many cool things to see!

In the morning, we went to Sacrament Meeting

in a random ward in Vegas and then headed out to Cali.

I thought we should fill up along the way,

so we didn't get stranded in Death Valley.

But when I saw that gas was FOUR SEVENTY-NINE,

I decided we could wait.

Even once you get out of the middle of nowhere,

gas in Cali is still RIDICULOUS.

It was $3.79. Sheesh.

In Southern Cali, we stayed two nights

with Christian and Mandi and their kids.

First, we headed to Dana Point and watched the sunset.

It was a perfect night.

I think Southern California has lots of those.

I forgot to get pics, but the next morning, 

Mandi had reserved a tennis court for us and

we got to play doubles with some of her friends.

Yes!!!

Afterward, we headed to Laguna Beach. 

My kids are NOT used to the cold Pacific waters.

We got to see Harbor Seals, which was awesome.

The girls were brave.

B mostly caught rays on the sand.

We used to see the Peos regularly when they lived on

the east coast. But we haven't spent time together for years.

So good to hang out and catch up.

Caroline got along great with Claire and Izzy.

The teenagers didn't bond much.

I LOVED having some time with Mandi.

We were friends back in the Glenwood 

when we were first dating our husbands.

Love having life-long friends like her.

After our time on the sand,

the kids and I went to explore the tide pools.

Carolina Beaches don't have them.

It was cool!

California has SUCH a cool vibe.

I love visiting,

but don't think I could live there.

Splits across America

When we got home, we spent a 

little time in their backyard hot tub.

Christian and Mandi are great hosts and

I'm grateful we could spend some time with

them this summer!

When we left their house, we headed to LA.

Since this (probably) was B's last road trip with us,

I told him he could choose one place within a days

drive of Utah that he wanted to visit.

He picked Los Angeles.

The city.

The BIG city.

Oh, boy. What had I gotten myself into?

While I am completely comfortable driving

for thousands of miles on interstates and 

navigating hotels, nationals parks, museums, etc,

I am WAY out of my comfort zone when it

comes to big cities.

The traffic intimidates me.

I'm worried I might get mugged.

I never know where I'm supposed to park.

Not my favorite.

But, my son is not like me.

So, off to LA we went.

There are a couple of his favorite designers

that only have stores in a handful of cities,

including Los Angeles. So we were mostly 

there to go shopping.

We started out at The Grove,

a very cool outdoor mall.

They even had a red carpet.

This lobby reminded me of Vegas.

We grabbed some food at the Farmer's Market.

And....

I realized that MY WALLET WAS GONE.

Aaaaggghhhh!

All my big city nightmares were coming true!

I was FREAKING OUT.

I was 2500 miles from home.

How in the world was I going to get 

back home with NO WALLET????

Before we panicked too much 

(even though I had butterflies in my stomach),

we went back to the van to see if it was there by any chance.

AND IT WAS!

PHEW!

Panic attack resolved.

Another store B wanted to visit was GOLF.

It was within walking distance of The Grove.

So we walked.

You can ALMOST get a little peek inside the place.

Shopping here was different than ANY OTHER 

shopping I've ever done.

First, there is a line outside.

It took maybe 15-20 minutes of us standing

there before we were allowed to go in.

Then, when it's your turn,

a big bouncer-type guy comes to the door.

He gives you a lecture that goes something like this,

"No phones. No pictures. Don't take anything 

off the hangers. If you have questions, ask an employee."

Yikes!

They take their shopping seriously!

B found a shirt and a couple of stickers that he wanted.

Then it was back to the Farmer's Market for lunch.

One of the repeated occurrences from the road trip was

people giving Caroline more food than we paid for.

We decided it was because she's so skinny. Ha!

It happened again at the Farmer's Market.

We paid for a 2-piece chicken strip meal for her lunch.

When they handed it to her, they told her,

"We gave you a little bit extra."

Maybe it's because she's so cute?

Anyway, she ate well on the trip. :)

The next part of our day was my favorite part of our LA excursion.

Another of B's favorite designers is Yohji Yamamoto

and he also has a store here, called Y-3. We headed over in that direction.

I wasn't sure how crazy parking would be, so when I found

a free spot in a nearby neighborhood, we took it and walked

the half mile to the street where the store was.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we had so much

fun walking the streets and taking in the sights.

Like the angry snowman behind bars,

The Exploding Kittens Headquarters,

and beautiful succulents planted along the way.

It was the best!

We did a little shopping at a vintage store.

Loved this rack of shirts.

And, eventually we made it to Y-3.

I was paranoid after our experience at GOLF,

so didn't take any pictures.

But I copied a couple off the internet.

Very simple looking storefront.

Clean, simple interior.

B-train LOVED it.

He bonded with the employees.

Felt totally at home.

Didn't actually find anything that he wanted,

but was glad that we could stop by.

I think part of him dreams of working at a place like this.

Next stop: Hollywood and Highland,

another shopping mall, where I heard you

could get a pic of the Hollywood sign.

They had a cool Japanese exhibit.

We got to wear these masks that interacted with their technology.

Kind of hard to explain, but we liked it.

OK, this is the spot where you can 

supposedly see the Hollywood sign.

It's WAYYYY back there.

Teeny tiny.

Maybe you can see it if you use a magnifying glass?

Or zoom in with your camera.

Outside of this place is where you can see the

stars on the Walk of Fame.

We stayed that night right in downtown LA.

It was an affordable, cool hotel that we all liked.

And I survived my day in the big city!

I still don't like it.

Mostly the parking.

We paid $24 to park at our two diff spots that day.

Sheesh.

But I'm so glad we could get a glimpse

into some of the things that B likes.

It was a unique experience and I'm happy

I could share it with three of my favorite people.