Las Vegas - Chad's 41st Birthday (Nightclubs, Nightclubs & more Nightclubs!)

Chad's birthday is August 1st, but he decided to celebrate it early this year. After his business trip ended on July 19th, he extending his hotel stay in Vegas and invited us to join him. At first, Tori could not come along since her sister was visiting from Florida, but everything worked out when her sister decided to stay with friends in LA for that weekend. Thursday morning, Tori and I rented a Chrysler 200 and drove out from San Diego, arriving in less than 5 1/2 hours.




Chad had a great room at The Mirage, right above the pool with a nice view of The Strip from Caesar's Palace down to the MGM Grand. This is the first Vegas hotel I have stayed at where the windows open so I was able to take some great photos of the skyline without annoying glare from the glass. After a champagne toast and a few beers with Chad, we headed over to the MGM Grand for dinner at Fiamma. Chad and I ordered the Gnocchi; Spinach and Ricotta for me and the Tirolesi for him. Tori probably had the best tasting dish of the night with the Roasted Petaluma Chicken. Very tender! It was a great meal.




After dinner, we took a taxi over to Bellagio where Chad's friend, Jessica, got us on the list for Bank. We skipped the long line outside the nightclub and went right in. I liked the design of the multi-tiered club with the dance floor at the bottom. We found a nice spot on the upper-level railing where we could set down our drinks and dance. After I bought the first round of expensive drinks ($52 dollars!), Chad found Jessica who gave us 8 drink tickets. Sweet! We ended staying to around 1:30am.




I had a minor hangover Friday morning, but a Bacon, Egg, and Cheddar Biscuit down at The Roasted Bean cured me. (No more Coronas for me! Ever!) Chad, Tori and I spent the afternoon at the Mirage pool. After a heat wave the week before, the temperature in the high 90's was perfect. In the shade under the waterfall, it was even a little bit cool. Between relaxing in the water and reading on the lounge chairs, Tori taught me a couple of hand-balancing positions: one where she stands across my bent knees while her other foot hooks behind my neck and a second pose where I lifted her in the air behind my head as she pulled her legs into splits.




After picking up our tickets at Treasure Island for Mystère, the original Vegas Cirque du Soleil show, and relaxing in the room, Tori and I went down to Stack to meet up with Chad and his dinner date, Andrea. I have been here before. Ordering several of Stack's delicious appetizers and sharing is the way to go. We started with the Garbage Salad and then the Pan Seared Dumplings, Adult Tater Tots and Crunchy Steak Fries. The Inpeared cocktail is probably one of the best I have had in a long time. For dessert, Chad recommended the Jelly Doughnut "Munchkin" Holes. They were awesome!




After dinner, we took a taxi over to The Cosmopolitan hotel where we met up at the Chandelier Bar to pick up our A.W.O.L wristbands that would get us into all the best weekend clubs and pool parties. Chad's friend upgraded us for free so we received the VIP cloth wristbands instead. At 10:30, we skipped the line with the A.W.O.L group into the Marquee Nightclub. Compared to Bank, I didn't care for the club at all. It had a confusing layout and there was no place to stand in one spot unless you wanted to pay a fortune for table service. After trying to dance on the extremely packed dance floor for a couple songs, Tori and I left early. Tori rested her feet in the casino while we played slots, winning enough to pay for the taxi back to the Mirage.




Before heading over to Tao Beach on Saturday morning, the three of us went for breakfast at B.B. King's Blues Club where I ordered Chicken and Waffles for the first time. Then it was a short walk across the street to the Venetian where we were able to enter Tao Beach quickly because of our wristbands. After the huge pool at Hard Rock's Rehab last year, I was surprised to find such a tiny pool here. It was blazing hot but we lucked out and found a shaded spot under a small palm at the edge of the pool. Chad's friend, Jessica, from Bank joined us and we had a fun time watching the drunken revelry for several hours before heading back our room to get ready for Cirque du Soleil.




Since Tori is a flying trapeze instructor, we were really excited to see the new trapeze act that is the grand finale of Mystère. It was great having Tori identifying all the different tricks the eight flyers were throwing in rapid succession to the two catchers, including simultaneous triples. Leading up to the show, I had heard many people complain about the crying baby on the stage, but it didn't bother me and I thought the women playing the baby was very entertaining. I was also impressed by her driving skills, speeding her small cart through the narrow gaps of the undulating stage and along the theater's aisles.




I have seen "Love" and "O", but I think I prefer this show's original cirque format the best. Beside the trapeze, the Aerial Cube was an amazing first act and my favorite. I also enjoyed the Chinese Poles, the Bungee, and Ginger Ana Griep-Ruiz's solo Aerial Tissu where she spins and swoops from hanging fabric. I have seen the Hand-Balancing routine on television before but it is even more impressive in person where they perform on a rotating dome. I enjoyed the humor used by the acrobats performing on the Trampolines, Korean Plank and Fast Track. After the show, we had a nice dinner at Phil's Italian Steak House in Treasure Island. (The bread with cheese and bacon baked right in was mouth watering!) I tried an Old-Fashioned for the first time, but I did not like it. I guess I don't care for the smokey taste of Whiskey.




After dinner we went back over to the Venetian for the Tao nightclub. There was a huge crowd waiting to get in, but we slipped right in through the back entrance with our wristbands. (Chad told us that it normally costs $100 dollars for a "Front of the Line" cover on Saturdays.) I liked Tao much better than Marquee, but Tori and I didn't stay for very long since the music wasn't our favorite. Chad closed the club, making it back to the room around 5am. After sleeping in Sunday morning and eating a quick breakfast with Chad, we hit the road at 11:30am. We stopped at Buffalo Bill's on the Nevada border to ride the Desperado coaster, but it broke down just before our turn. Maybe next time. Except for a hour of stop-and-go traffic before Barstow, the traffic was not too bad. With Tori using Maps on her iPhone, we were able to escape the last leg of bad traffic on the back roads.



p.s. Mr. Miyagi

4th of July - Neptune Parade & Trapeze BBQ

Chad came down from Los Angeles to spend the 4th of July with us. It was unusually overcast but that was fine since we weren't going to the beach on this holiday for once. Instead we were heading to Escondido for a barbecue at Trapeze High. Before driving out, we walked up the street with my brother and his family to watch the Neptune Avenue Parade. It is yearly event in Leucadia held by the Neptune Yacht Club where the neighborhood turns out and drives, bikes, scoots or strolls down Neptune Avenue. Everyone is free to join in or just watch.

We found the sunshine out at Trapeze High and Tori introduced me to quite a few of the club flyers that I hadn't had a chance to meet yet. Since I am still using a safety belt, I needed to wrangle up a line puller who was sober. The board was crowded with experienced flyers and I got in a few swings before having a drink myself. It was Chad's first time out at the rig. He enjoyed watching, but I couldn't convince him to attempt a swing. Maybe next time.

As the party winded down at twilight, the conversation turned to previous attempts to catch the Piggy Hocks. It is a two-person trick with the second flyer jumping on the first flyer to ride piggy-back before flipping off to be caught by the catcher. With Chris (Hot Dog) in the catch trap, Deena attempted it with Wayne a couple times without success. Kenny volunteered and after several timing adjustments with Wayne, Chris caught him on their 4th attempt.

2012 San Diego County Fair

Another summer, another San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, CA.


Tori and I went this Saturday and once we made it inside, we made a beeline to Pignotti's for a meatball sandwich. This year I tried the Meatball and Spaghetti Sandwich. It was good, but the wetter noodles made the normally toasty garlic bread a little bit soggy. Tori ordered the smaller Meatball Sliders to save room for other fair food. I think I will try those next year.


I watch the Mark Yuzuik Hypnotist Show almost every fair, but this was Tori's first time. A lot of the show's elements are always the same, but seeing the different reactions from those under hypnosis never gets old. I took this photo showing a great range of activity within one frame. From left to right, you can see three girls rockin' out, a young boy about to perform as Carrie Underwood, two guys playing Patty Cake, a lady re-attaching her butt, and two more dudes howling at the moon.


It has been a long time since I have been on a ferris wheel so I wanted to ride the Grand Wheel with Tori at sunset, but the sun had dropped below the horizon before the hypnotist show ended. Since twilight was fading away by the time we made it to the top, it worked out great anyway because we had a wonderful view of the fair all lit up at night.




Since we had extra tickets, we also rode the Sky Flyer. I have always enjoyed the smaller Wave Swinger and this was like an extreme version of it with double seats.



After the rides in the Fun Zone, Tori and I checked out the Photo Exhibition to look for the class projects she entered. They were hard to find but we eventually discovered that she received a 1st Place Ribbon for the photo restoration of her grandmother as a baby and a 3rd Place Ribbon for her mosaic image.


Even though we ate a cinnamon roll and an apple tower earlier, we still had to share one of the new food items at the fair, Deep Fried Trix. It tasted pretty good, like a doughnut with crushed up Trix cereal inside. Here is a photo of Tori finishing it off as we wait in line for some Kettle Corn to take home.


The fair was unusually crowded this year. We departed just in time, getting in the line for the shuttle bus before it stretched out across the parking lot behind us. Even then, it still took us over an hour to get back to my Jeep.

Mesa Verde National Park - Pueblo Cliff Dwellings

While camping in the small Colorado town of Mancos for a friend's wedding, I didn't know the Mesa Verde National Park was only seven miles away. When I spotted a postcard in the local grocery store that displayed the iconic Pueblo Cliff Dwellings, I knew I had to visit before I left. After the Saturday festivities, I woke up early on Sunday and drove over to the park before my evening flight home.




On the long winding drive through Mesa Verde, I stopped first at Park Point, the tip of the highest mesa overlooking Mancos. It was a great view from 8,427 feet, but I wished the puffy white clouds crossing the sky on Friday and Saturday had hung around for one more day. Continuing on, I reached the Far View Visitor Center. The name perfectly describes the vista stretching deep into the park from its deck. While there are a few cliff dwellings visitors can walk to on their own, the best ones can only be reached on ranger-guided tours purchased at Far View. With my flight at 8pm, I was able to purchase tickets ($3 each) for Cliff Palace at 2:30 and Balcony House at 4:00. If the park is too crowded, they will limit visitors to only one tour.




Spruce Tree House is the best preserved and third largest (216 wide, 89 feet deep) of the cliff dwellings. Since it is self-guided, I was able to hike the 100 feet down into the canyon and check it out for myself before my tours started. I have always wanted to see the Pueblo ruins since I was a child and Spruce Tree didn't disappoint. Constructed between 1211 and 1278 AD, 60 to 80 people lived in this cave's 130 rooms. (Discovered in 1888.) I took a lot of pictures and I was able to climb a ladder down into one of the 8 kivas, covered underground pits used for ceremonial purposes. To prevent visitors walking on the sacred floor, the park put down a foot of dirt to protect the original surface.




After visiting Spruce Tree House, I cooled off from the 90 degree heat in the Chapin Mesa Archaeology Museum perched on the plateau above. The Ancestral Puebloans lived in the Mesa Verde area from 550 to 1300 AD, but only constructed and lived in the cliff dwellings during the last century before migrating down to Arizona and New Mexico due to severe drought. Besides rainfall, their only source of collected water was from seep springs emerging from a layer of shale a hundred feet down. Most of the park's 600 dwellings inside the sandstone alcoves are located near these water sources at 7,000 feet.




After visiting the museum and eating a tasty Navajo Taco for lunch, I drove south along Cliff Palace Loop where my afternoon tours were located. The one-lane road circles the top of Chapin Mesa with shear drops along the side and nice turnouts to stop and enjoy the view. Before resettling down into the cliffs, the Pueblos lived on top of the mesas alongside their fields of corn, beans and squash. Because of a huge fire in 2000, several areas had large expanses of dead trees creating a very dramatic landscape.




Cliff Palace is the largest and most iconic of the cliff dwellings. The ranger-guided tour started high on the overlook with a great view down the long Cliff Canyon into the famous dwellings below. The ruins were only 100 feet down, but the access path was narrow with uneven stone steps and five ladders. With 150 rooms and 23 kivas, the ranger said Cliff Palace may have been the administrative or ceremonial hub for the surrounding communities. Constructed between 1190 to 1260 AD, 100 to 150 people lived here before it was abandoned in 1300. While Spruce Tree House had been in the shadows, at this time of day the sun lit up the interior of Cliff Palace. Looking through the tiny door of the four-story Square Tower House, a rare pictograph of red paint is still preserved high up the interior wall.




Balcony House is the park's most adventurous tour as the cliff dwelling is high up on the cliff face with steep drop to the canyon floor below. We had to clamber up a 32-foot ladder to enter and crawl through a narrow 12-foot tunnel before another climb up a 60-foot open cliff face with stone foot holds in the rock and two more 10-foot ladders. Constructed around 1278 AD, Balcony House has 40 rooms and only 2 kivas. (Discovered in 1884.) Standing on the ledge of the cliff dwelling, there is a great view of Soda Canyon. As the ranger was talking about the small spirit hole at the bottom of one of the kivas, four large ravens began swooping back and forth and cawing just outside the cave. She took this opportunity to tell us the Pueblo's creation story that involves the raven spirit. As we were leaving, strong gusts of wind kicked up dust and dropped pebbles on my head.




Mesa Verde was a great way to end my weekend trip to attend Laurel and Nicholas' wedding in the Mancos State Park where most of the other guests were camping as well. Driving from the Durango Airport on Friday, I had enough time to set up my tent and explore the small park before joining everyone for dinner at the Absolute Bakery and Cafe. We all then headed over to the Historic Mancos Opera House to watch Nicholas' band, the Afrobeat Minions, perform. I finally crawled into my sleeping bag around midnight.




The weather on Saturday was beautiful, bright blue skies with large puffy clouds overhead. In the morning, the fathers of the bride and groom served a nice brunch over in the picnic area. (The Chicken and Smoked Gouda Quiche was soooo good.) While waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin at 4pm, I hung out with Melissa and others down at Jackson Gulch lake, paddle-boarding and relaxing in the shade. I also went over to check out Tim who was roasting an entire pig in his wood-burning smoker for the wedding reception. It smelled delicious!




The dramatic white clouds floating overhead with a soft breeze rustling through the trees provided a great atmosphere for the wedding ceremony. It was very musical with drums at the beginning and Nicholas' brother, Michael, closing it out playing the guitar. During the reception, it was my turn to help out with drink-serving duty. After the entire food line passed through, I got a chance to eat and I overloaded my plate. The roasted pig tasted as good as it smelled.




After the reception, the night ended with an open mic talent show, an eclectic mix of singing, poems, dancing and drum/guitar playing by the guests. My favorite performance was Laurel's friend, Amanda, singing a couple of funny songs with her ukulele. The second one was about a mad scientist living on Skull Crusher Mountain who crossbreeds a strange creature (part monkey / part pony / part monster) as a gift that is rejected. (Too many monkeys, not enough pony.)