Back at Home

After a long week in Vegas, it’s wonderful to be back in LA tonight.

Ariella arrived late Thursday night, and we checked out of the Alexis Park hotel on Friday morning. We got a cheaper (and nicer) room at the Monte Carlo, so we checked in, walked along the strip, and enjoyed a leisurely brunch at the Flamingo buffet. We were hoping to see the last few minutes of Comdex, so we took a taxi over to the convention center. We arrived at around 2pm, and the place was deserted. Oh well.

We ran around Friday afternoon getting ready for Shabbat — bought some sandwiches for a picnic lunch, donuts for breakfast, purchased movie and show tickets. By the time we got back to the hotel, we had just enough time to order room service for dinner and then made Shabbat. After dinner, we saw the Blue Man Group at the Luxor.

Saturday we had some donuts for breakfast, davened Shacharit, saw the new James Bond movie, then ate our now-soggy sandwiches for lunch. We took our usual afternoon nap, then woke up just in time to visit the pool and hot tub. After the pool closed, we headed back up to our room and made Havdalah. We went out to a bar and got some 99 cent margaritas. They were watered-down, but it was fun nonetheless.

This morning we rented a car and went to see Hoover Dam. It’s an engineering marvel. The real deal. Definitely worth the 45-minute drive from Vegas. Next time, perhaps we’ll get to see London Bridge (in Arizona).

On our flight home, we were surprised to see cousins Diana & Baird board the plane. We’ll see them again on Thursday for the traditional T-day dinner in Malibu.