Tommy came to visit!

Tommy came out this past weekend for a high-school reunion and we hung out together on Sunday (2/25/07).

We started the day with a trip to Red Rock Canyon and the 13 mile scenic drive. The rock formations were very interesting, apparently some of them were once sand dunes. There were climbers on some of the rock walls. We walked the Willow Springs Trail because it was ranked "easy", 1.5 miles long, and ended up running into a trio of women. The following was our conversation with them:

Lady #1: Are you guys are the Willow Springs Trail?

Tom: Yep

Lady #1: We didn't see any willows, any spring, or any pictographs!

Tom: Well, did you walk a mile and a half?

Lady #1: No

Tom: Well...the trail is a mile and a half long

Lady #1: (pause) oh

Tom and I: ok, see yah, good luck!

Tommy and I noticed some fences that were along the path and then finally ran into a sign explaining the fences. The pictographs were on the rock faces behind the fences. We managed to find one of them for sure (it was faded but you could still see most of it) and noticed a questionable one of a hand, then another hand, and then the initials "JC". We wrote the two hands off as vandalism.

We also stumbled across a spring during our walk that is one of the few places a certain type of snail lives. After we finished our walk, we took another path, hoping it would lead back to our vehicle...it didn't, so we ended up walking up the wash until we found the trail we started off on. I don't like leaving the designated trails, but since the wash was just gravel, it was o.k. this one time.

We still had about 6 miles to go on the scenic drive and about 3 miles from the end, there appeared to be a traffic jam of some sort. When we passed the trail/scenic overlook pull-offs, we would slow down to allow for cars pulling into our lane of traffic. This traffic jam was in the middle of the road, there were no pull-offs nearby. As we got closer, I noticed that there was a burro right next to a minivan and the minivan had their passenger side sliding door open. The burro was sticking his head into the passenger compartment of the minivan. Both that burro and the second one about 50 yards ahead were completed surrounded by people. I'm not an enviromental nut, but some animals are domestic, some are wild, and some (like dolphins in exhibits) are somewhat of a mix. Regardless of the level of domestication or mental function, people need to realize that they are dealing with an animal and animals can be unpredictable. Don't feed the wild ones, they will expect it from every car they see pass by. Weren't there some problems when the bears got used to getting food from people in National Parks?

I'm thinking of getting a year pass to Red Rock, iirc it is only $20. The area out there is very beautiful, with plenty of trails to explore.

After hiking around for about 2 hours, we headed over to Red Rock for lunch and met up with Liz. We figured this was the first time since 2nd year that Tommy and Liz have hung out/seen each other. Apparently, my god-kid, Michelle, has been asking about me because I haven't been up at their house in the past few weeks due to work-related activites. Michelle and I should be able to get together this upcoming weekend and hang out for a bit. Liz and I will be staying at the Luxor Friday night (thanks, Mark) and then hanging out with everyone Saturday and Sunday (Liz' folks will be in town starting this Wednesday). After we ate, we played the penny-slots for a bit and Tommy and I are happy to announce that after putting in $7, Tommy won $25 (Tom won the Pharaoh's Fortune!! total gain of $18) and after I put in a $20, I won $50 (total gain of $30...ah, the Luck Lionfish machine; he gave me $40 one time after I put in one of Liz' $1 bills). Liz played the gem penny-slot she likes and unfortunately, she did not win anything :( But we all got free drinks :)

Tommy and I had been discussing the Cirque de Soleil (sp?) shows they have out here and settled on seeing Love after we found out it would finish in time for Tommy to catch his red-eye home. We self-parked at TI (after missing the turn for self-park at The Mirage) and took the tram over. I DO NOT like driving around TI and The
Mirage, the speed bumps are wacky and no one pays attention to the stop signs.

The show was interesting, first one by the Cirque group that I've seen. The Beatles' music remixes were good and the acts that accompanied the tracks fit pretty well, imo. The blackbird skit was dumb. The opening was good, Octopus' Garden was neat, but lighting effects during Revolution made me kinda sick to my stomach. The guys on the roller blades with the furry leg-warmers kicked ass, as did the guy doing flips on the one-man Berserker (Berserker=pirate ship at Kings Dominion that swings back and forth, then finally takes you all the way around). It was neat to finally see one of their shows, but this one was kinda pricey (yes, Tommy, the check is in the mail when you send me your addy). Guess I'll have to check out some of the other ones to fully form an opinion.

After the show, we walked back to the car because the tram was broken (in reality, it was probably faster to walk), and headed west on Spring Mountain, 15 south, 215 east, through the tunnel, and arrived at the airport around 9:15 p.m. Somewhat of a roundabout way, but I wasn't sure what the traffic would be like on the Strip nor Trop.

As of 10:12 p.m., Tommy made it through security but was waiting to see if he would be on this flight. The lovely airline overbooked the flight.

Wouldn't airlines that serve Las Vegas take a look at what happened last Monday and Tuesday and scale back on their overbooking flights out of here? Last Monday, day after NBA All-Star game/Chinese New Year/President's Day weekend/MAGIC, the line for Southwest started at Southwest and extended 3/4-1 mile down the sidewalk to Terminal 2/International Terminal. It got worse during the afternoon and had yet to resolve itself by Tuesday morning. Overbooking makes sense to a certain extent, but what does the airline do if everyone booked shows up (see entry about Tommy and Jess' Wedding, our hotel overbooked and we were sent elsewhere, but we still had a room)?

Right now, 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, I'm not sure if Tommy is on his way back to D.C. or in a cab on his way to the Luxor to crash with some other friends from out of town. I called, his phone rang a few times and then went to voicemail. I'll learn in the morning what happened.

Monday 2/26/07: Whelp, turns out at 11:30 last night, Tommy was trying to get himself a seat on a flight out today. He left the airport at 3:00 a.m., arrived at some hotel/casino, stood in line with everyone else that was bumped from their flights, and arrived at his room at 4:30 a.m. This allowed him time for a quick shower and a one hour nap before heading back to the airport. When I spoke with him at 12:15 p.m. Las Vegas time, he was somewhere in Texas, about to board his next flight. Apparently, the airline gave him a free flight voucher. Tommy said this was the worst travel experience he has had. He finally made it back to Washington-Dulles around 8:00 p.m. east coast time.

Oh, and we took pictures, just on Tommy's camera because mine requested more batteries. They'll be up after he emails them to me.

P.S. Thanks for visiting, Tommy! I had a great time playing around Red Rock Canyon, hanging out at Red Rock, and seeing the show with you. Next time you visit, bring Jess and we can check out the Valley of Fire, Area 51, Death Valley, or Lake Mead/Hoover Dam.

Tommy's Wedding, July 15, 2006

>>>we're working on it here now, cut us some slack, lol<<<

We all got the email, Tommy and Jess were getting married. This was months ago, and somewhat surprising because we had always figured Tommy would be the last of us to get hitched. Jess is a good match for him, she is on the absolute opposite side of everything from me when it comes to politics, but is a sweetheart, she is really cool.

The day after the Cincy Poison show, I left on my way to DC. The plan was to stay at Rob and Scotty's that night, then the four of us, Rob, Scotty, Rashmi, & Me, would commute down 95. Rob and I had made reservations at the "Duke of York" in March, right after we got our 'Save the Date' notices. Got to Rob and Scotty's around 10pm and started uploading our pictures from Vegas, which took longer than I thought it would.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

I woke up, due to Scotty and Rob talking, and moved into another room to continue sleeping. Rob popped in a bit before noon, "What the hell are you doing, you're still asleep, get in the shower now, we have Tommy's wedding to go to."

Rob: "How many UVA grads does it take to wrap a couple of wedding presents. Apparently more than 4, seeing as we have now run out of wrapping paper."

We left, around 12:45-1:00pm, and took the back roads to 95 South. Rob and I grew up in this area, so we knew where we were going, although I didn't see the "Prison-View Estates" sign when we passed Lorton. Made it onto 95 South near Woodbridge.

Rob and Scotty were sending text messages back and forth, when suddenly, Scotty had to go potty. Rashmi motioned wildly to me (she was behind me, I saw her in the rear view mirror), so we took the next exit. Rob and I were talking about stopping at a McDonald's or a WaWa (I wanted a fountain soda, they are so much better than cans or bottles), when suddenly, her car took on a life of it's own, appearing out of nowhere in front of us, jumping around corners and whatnot, kinda like a cartoon. I guess she hit the Go Go Gadget Wheels button on her SUV. She dropped him off at the door of some Panera Bread joint and he ran inside. We got lunch to-go at Panera.

After we picked up lunch, we quickly returned to 95 and I was instructed to "step it up a notch." I found a Marine (he was driving an SUV with a couple of Marine stickers on his back windshield), "yo, this Marine will serve as our pace car." The Marine was cool, he was going 80 mph, although we were a little concerned when he got on his cell phone and I never got to wave "goodbye" to him (we lost him in traffic). He got us all the way to Richmond.

Me: "I feel like we're playing a real-life game of Frogger."

Made it to 64 eastbound, a drop of rain hit my windshield, and traffic came to a complete halt. The last 5 miles took more than 45 minutes. So, we're sitting on 64, listening to Appetite for Destruction, My Michelle comes on and Rob makes the comment, "So, I guess this will be the Daddy-daughter dance at Michelle's wedding." And I comment back, "No, this will be the Auntie f/Miss Michelle party dance at her wedding."

After moving two car lengths, then sitting for 10 minutes, repeatedly, we made it to our exit. Rob was talking with Nadia and Ana, who had both just made it to the hotel. So, we made it to the Duke of York, Rob and Scotty go to check-in. They gave our room away. Read that sentence again, they gave our room away...Rob and I made our reservations in March, and they gave our room away. We called that morning to confirm our reservation and they gave our room away.

Read my entire blog and the following bit is the only instance you will find of any real profanity, they gave our fucking room away.

I went in to find out what was taking so long, Scotty told me,"They gave our room away, we have to go someplace else."

My reaction, directed at the girl behind the counter..."You have got to be fucking shitting me, we made these reservations in March, we goddamn called this morning to confirm. Listen chick, we have a wedding to go to, I'm getting my clothes and I'm changing in your goddamn bathroom. Got it, honey?" I think I may have scared her, but I was mad, really mad, so mad my hands were shaking. This was Tommy's wedding.

So, we ended up at the Yorktown Motor Lodge, after driving through a battlefield.

Rashmi: "I don't think my car has heard so many "Oh my god's" since I got him."

The folks at the Motor Lodge were pretty cool, the guy behind the desk was really helpful, although when Scotty and I got back from 7-11, some folks were giving the two of us some really odd looks. I felt like telling them off, "Yeah, I live in Cincy and I'm hauling around a New York Italian Jew, got a problem with that?" Scotty cautioned me not to, so we went back in to see how Rashmi's "getting ready" process was going. We had assured her that there would be plenty of time to get ready at the hotel, although Rob, Scotty, and I bathed prior to leaving NoVa. It was proceeding as planned and since there had been some rain, the wedding ceremony had yet to take place.

And then Ana called. Her car was apparently overheating and she wanted to know if they could catch a ride with us. We told her it would be fine, get yourselves over here, and we'll go. While we were waiting for them, Rashmi and I dolled ourselves up even more, I think that was the most amount of make-up I have worn since I went as Daphne in a Halloween parade. 20 minutes later, she called back...Could we pick them up at the Duke of York (the place that gave our rooms away)? We were ok with it, but starting to really panic, and told her to get directions from the front desk chick (the one I yelled at). I'm not being critical here at all, just commenting, Liz and I managed to get my overheating Chevy from South Carolina to DC in about 10 hours while we were in highschool (prior to any bus experience), you turn the heat on full-blast, open the windows, and stop every once in awhile to let the car cool off.

After driving back through the battlefield, we made it to the Duke of York, again. To be honest, I was expecting the two of them to be sitting on the curb waiting for us, Rob had to call them. I felt kinda bad when I made the comment, "So, are they showing up sometime today or what?" when they were right behind me. The directions Ana was given were faulty, we got lost, then drove through another battlefield, found out we missed the ceremony, drove through a swamp, and finally some cornfields.

Rob: "Christ, I feel like I'm out in Iowa again."

We finally made it to the place around 7:30pm (we knew we were on the right track when we saw Tommy and Jess signs indicating which way to turn).

***more coming soon***