Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
11:00 am PT - Timing perfect, we wait on the Powell Street platform for only a minute or two before an SFO Airport Train pulls into the station. Thirty minutes later, we exit BART and go to Terminal 2 where we breeze through security and stop at Peet’s, across from Gate 50, for a coffee and scone.
We depart McCarran via taxi and $18 later, are at the front door of the Cosmopolitan. Just our luck, the guy checking us in was a big Patriots fan, and the boys mesmerized him with enough Boston football small talk to get us upgraded to a corner suite on a high floor. Thanks to the boys, and perhaps, my platinum status, we are spared a crappy, city-view room on the 4th floor.
7/31 11am PT - “CDQ,” a.k.a., “cool, dark and quiet” kept us in bed until almost 11. With the curtains drawn and A/C on full-blast, one would never know it’s a raging summer day here in the Nevada desert. Once we collected ourselves, we went down to one of the hotel’s mega-restaurants called Wicked Spoon, for a spectacular all-you-can-binge buffet. Fortunately, the brunch was free due to platinum status, otherwise, it would have cost almost $30 per person, even for Peter, who will only eat a croissant or or bowl of cereal.
2pm PT - Next, we collected the rental car from the Hertz desk in the lobby. All they had was a tired, smoke-smelling Camry with 45,000 miles. We drove “grampa” to the airport for a swap. Again the frequent business travel profile paid off; they swapped the old Camry for a new Mercedes GLK350. Big difference. Driving to San Diego and LA will be actually pleasant.
4:30pm PT - Driving through Boulder City, the boys spotted a Taco Bell, so we stopped for lunch. They ate, I watched. They were also mesmerized by the A&W Root Beer stand (a brand not found in MA), so we got two classic root beer floats from the drive-through. Using the car’s bluetooth feature, we listened to the WEEI broadcast of the Sox game back in Boston through my iPhone. Peter noted it was weird hearing Giant Glass radio ads in Nevada.
Thursday, 8/1/13, 8am PT - Rabbit rabbit. Peter is still asleep and Charlie is stirring. The boys served their one-hour reading commitment, then the on-line summer math homework.
2pm PT - Laundry complete, bags packed, we walked across the street for a quick bite at the restaurant posing as a commercial for the movie Forrest Gump, and then return to load the car.
2:45pm PT - We pull the GLK out of the garage and head south on LV Blvd., right on Tropicana and left on I-15. The GPS says we will be in San Diego by 8pm. Traffic is light (for this road), and we make really good time. We stop for a break in Baker and i introduce the boys to the joy of In-N-Out Burger. Peter said it was amazing. From 4pm onward, we listen to the Red Sox game via my MLB app and the car’s bluetooth connection. The Sox enter the bottom of the ninth down 5 runs, 7-2. Six electrifying runs later, the Sox win with another walk-off. What a season they are having.
8:45pm PT - despite some traffic in San Bernardino and two stops, we made great time and pulled up to the Marriott Gas Lamp Quarter five hours and forty-five minutes later. After checking into our room on the 19th floor, we took up a corner table in the bar, played a few hands of Mao, nibbled on some light fare, and watched SportsCenter go on and on about the amazing Red Sox win. Good Night.
Baseball Trip 2013
AT&T (#5)
O.co (#29)
Petco (#30!!)