Viva Las Vegas!!!

Bright light city gonna set my soul,
Gonna set my soul on fire…

One of the perks of my job, I guess you could say, is having to attend a national conference. They usually have a lot of good information and most of the time they are in a better place than West Texas. This year was no exception. The conference was in Las Vegas! Yeah, baby!

Blurry picture from the shuttle.

This time Alan was able to go with me so while I was doing the conference thing in the daytime he was doing…well, I don’t know what he was doing. After sessions though, we had a lot of options.

The National Finals Rodeo was in town. A friend of mine, who was also at the conference, was able to get us tickets for a couple of nights of the show. We were able to see it in person two nights then watched on a big screen TV in one of the lounges another night.

We went two nights with our friends.

This is it!

I don’t follow the rodeo on television or anything, and only know a few of the famous cowboy names. But being there in person is something else! The animals, the action, and the cowboys, keep you on the edge of your seat. The first night included a real treat. Reba McEntire sang the National Anthem! It was a surprise, to us anyway, and of course, she was great.

Reba

 

The rodeo in Las Vegas runs like a well oiled machine. The cowboys and cowgirls ride out for the welcome, the events are held without a hitch, the winner circles the arena and the next activity starts. It’s impressive. It’s scheduled to be in Las Vegas through 2014 then there’s a chance it could be somewhere else. I just can’t think of anywhere as exciting and nice as Vegas. I guess we’ll see.

Light show. Did I get pictures of the events? No...

 

Because it’s Vegas, there are a few other things to do! Cowboy Christmas is going on in at least three different places. The convention center happens to house the largest one so that was really convenient to just walk through while we were there. If you like cowboy or western type stuff, this is the place to be. There is a bit of everything including livestock aids, trailers and trucks, furniture, clothes and jewelry. There’s food and drink and odds and ends galore! And my personal favorite, lots of back views of very nice Wranglers! ;)

We rode the monorail one day, to another hotel, but there’s something about Vegas and distance that don’t jive for me. It’s almost like a mirage. It looks like it’s just right there but in reality it’s miles! It sure seems that way when you are walking anyway. It took so long to get where we thought we wanted to go that by the time we got there we had to turn right around and go back to make it in time to catch the shuttle to the rodeo.

The musical comedy, Nunsense, was showing and we got tickets. It was a fun time and the cast was very talented. Their credentials were extremely impressive. I don’t know how it works when you are in a show like that but I wondered if they also have day jobs or if this is how they make a living. Interesting to say the least.

The only downside of the trip was that I lost my driver’s license, credit and debit card. I had them in a cute little case my friend gave me. It’s a dark haired girl with blue eyes, knitting. She said it was me. The whole thing is a pain to cancel, renew, wait, wait and wait. But I’m really sad over losing the case. On the bright side, if there can be one, there was no activity on either card before they were canceled.

If you find this cute little case please return... :(

If you’ve never been to Vegas, you should go, at least once, just to see it. The lights, the action and the excitement are a high you need to experience. Just don’t be drawn in. There’s a lot of sadness and hopelessness and you can actually see it on some people’s faces as they put their dollars and pennies in the machines. They don’t call them one armed bandits for nothing. Luckily, I’m not a big gambler so that part doesn’t entice me. I’ll do my few dollars, lose it and move on. I’d rather have something material or food or drink with my money! But it is an event you won’t forget. And if you ‘have’ to go to a conference there’s not a better place!

The strip.

Someday I ride this roller coaster. Nah...

Viva Las Vegas with your neon flashin',
And your one armbandits crashin',
All those hopes down the drain…
Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime
Turnin' night into daytime
If you see it once
You'll never be the same again

The only knitting I did on the trip was Ty’s scarf. It’s coming along but it still seems to be a slow knit to me. I mainly knitted on the plane or in the room. There was too much going on to get it out elsewhere. I had to catch up on knitayear when I got back, hence the late post. But I’ve caught up and am going to try to stay that way! Day 242, November 28 was the day we came home from Ruidoso. As we are homebound I’m already missing the mountains. I picked dark green from Bryce’s gaiter because it reminded me of the forest. Day 243, November 29 was just another manic Monday for lack of a better term. Lots going on. I had an interesting meeting that could lead to a unique opportunity. I used a mixture of yarns that were wound into one ball. This was yarn from Beverly J’s shawl. It was pink furs with maroon and was a little bit thick but it worked. November 30, day 244 was a day spent trying to get loose ends tied up before the trip. It was also my late night. I was diligent and got enough done to be gone. I chose white thick yarn with strings of thread hanging off it. Day 245 is December 1, and I’m excited to go to Vegas. I chose gold fur because it reminded me of the money and the lights and the general excitement involved. Day 246 was December 2. I’m curious as I look around and see all there is to see. It’s a sensory overload. There are people from everywhere. As I listen, at the conference, I realize that even though we live in different places we are all much the same in our teaching and struggling with career and technical education. I used red worsted to remind me to stop complaining and get busy and do what I can do to make things better. Day 247, December 3 is another day in Vegas. The time change is a killer but getting up two hours later than real time is grand! It’s a mind trick because it’s the same amount of hours but if it works, then hey, I’ll enjoy it! I chose blue worsted. It’s a rich blue, bright, probably considered a primary color. It will remind me of the good times here. Day 248, December 4 is Saturday. It’s fun but I’m tired. You can only experience Vegas for so long and then it’s time to go! And it’s close to time. I used a thick maroon yarn and it reminded me of a rope, just hanging on! Day 249, December 5 is the day to go home. I’m thankful for kind TSA agents in Las Vegas who let me get on the plane without identification. It most likely wouldn’t happen in Midland. We are prepared and get to the airport in more than enough time. But it was a good thing because it seemed like the floodgates opened just behind us. I picked a pale green with a white thread running through it. It’s a peaceful color and the white roams through brightening it up. Then we are on the plane heading back to reality. It’s good and there are no regrets left behind. Who knows…we may even come back sometime!

Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas.
Viva, Viva, Las Vegas…