Bright Lights

My Mom and I and Baby had some free time one afternoon while the other boys were doing some other things. We decided to take advantage of this time and go in search of the Neon Sign Boneyard. It took us a while to find it and most people didn't really know it existed and weren't much help. But we were diligent and found it. We had to go to the end of Fremont Street. We were looking for an actual old yard with signs littered all over the ground. But we found this instead. Signs hanging all over an abandoned mall. The recession has not been kind to this town.

Some signs were in great shape.

Some were fun and fast.

Others reminded you of a more glamorous time.

And some were worse for wear.

And my Mom remarked that almost every town had a Strand theater at some time or other.

And I loved the action in this sign.

I don't know what restaurant this boy was above but he would kind of scare me away.

I think this was a precursor to Coyote Ugly.

Trader Bills just sounds like Old Las Vegas.

Here's a buff milkman going about his morning run.

I'm assuming this was before the days of central heating. I don't know what Steamed Heat is but it doesn't sound real comfortable. But it's better than being cold.

This guy was watching over an intersection. At this point we left Fremont St. Tourist Area and headed onto Fremont St. Local Area. Much more colorful, abandoned, sketchy, and shady. We didn't go far.

But these old signs were to awesome to miss.

More dancing girls. I think they were a theme in Vegas from the start.

And drinks of course.

Aladdins Lamp was from the early 60's. Next time I'll go back at night and hopefully it'll be lit up like a candle.

That night we were watching TV and we saw one of the local newscaster's walking amongst a bunch of old signs in a big yard and we both jumped. "That's what we were really looking for! Where is that?" Of course the commercial was over and we had no idea.

Until the next day. We accidentally drove by this area of town. First we saw this old slipper and stopped to take a picture. And when I turned around. . .

The Real Boneyard!

It's only open by appointment. But I can hardly wait for our next trip!

Sightseeing

My children are all different. Wonderfully different. This last weekend we went to the Bellagio and took in the Chinese New Year gardens. Afterwards we strolled around the stores. That's where I found these delectable things.

They were so yummy and delicious and scrumptious. We also wandered into the Garden Store of the Bellagio. They sell stuff related to the big garden display. Olaf instantly found something he wanted.

He begged and pleaded and I gave in. He loves Terra Cotta Warriors. But so do I. So it wasn't a lot of pleading. And when the saleslady told him they were half off, we were sold. Baby saw what he had and wanted some too. So off they went. When they came back and Middle Child saw that Baby had bought something he had to buy something too. He said he wanted some Warriors also, until he got into the shop and saw some other items available for purchase, half off. Apparently it's The Year of the Rabbit.

Our Bling Bling Child had to have the sparkly thing. We joke that he's like a crow. They love shiny things and bring them home to incorporate into their nests. His bedroom shines, and not from cleanliness.

These rabbits were so bright and shiny that it's hard to tell what they look like.

And speaking of Bright and Shiny things, I was on a quest to find the Neon Signs Boneyard. I'll tell you about that in another post because it's pretty cool.

But I was on a mission to find some new things in Vegas. So I found some Old Things that were really cool. Like an old Las Vegas Grammar School, Mission Style. hee hee

It's across from some new-fangled really cool building so my Dad had never noticed it before. But we got out and took pictures because it is so beautiful.

It's been restored and while I don't know what is in it right now, it apparently has some mission-type services in it because the park outside was full of homeless people. Or Hobos as Baby calls them.

This is only about a tenth of how many people were there. I kept shushing Baby as he would use the word Hobos. I don't know if that's politically correct or anything, but I didn't think they would like it and I didn't want to start a fight with a homeless person cuz we know I wouldn't win, I don't have a clue as to how to fight properly, or even how to fight dirty. I missed out on that training.

Here's my Mom and Baby underneath the arches to the largest part of the structure, probably an old gym.

I was excited to find this neat building. Supposedly somewhere around this area are some old railroad homes. Next time I'm finding those. Watch for my upcoming post about Neon Signs. They were cool. Although not as plentiful as expected, because it is Vegas and that's the one and only thing I remember about Vegas as a child, the Bright Lights.

It's a Birthday!

Last weekend I made a whirlwind trip to see my Sister. It was a quick one. I flew in Friday afternoon and left Sunday evening. But it was perfect! It was short enough that I could keep her to myself, mostly, and not make her family feel left out. Altho we did go out to dinner with them once because it was her birthday! I even made her a present.

It's this cute Hedgehog apron. I spent a lot of time making the bias tape. And afterwards I found out about this nifty little contraption that speeds up the process tremendously! Lesson learned, I now own the aforementioned contraption in several sizes. It was fun to make this apron and now I'm going to make my own. But the best thing? Spending a whole weekend with my Sister! Happy Birthday Sis!

That Evil TSA

I've flown on the airlines recently. Amid all the hullabaloo about the Patdowns the TSA is doing to beef up security at the airports. I, thank goodness, was not stripped of my shirt like that little kid the TSA Agents wouldn't let through. I didn't get my "junk" patted down like that one guy who decided not to fly, or was he not allowed to fly? Not sure. I guess it depends on who you ask.

But when I came home from DC I had to go through one of those new-fangled scanners. I've been through them before without incident. No pictures showed up online of my image. No one stopped me and requested a full body search. I've gotten pretty lucky so far. I guess I'm not old enough to fit the "Grandma" stereotype that always seems to get frisked.

But when I came out of the scanner waiting to be cleared for my flight home, I saw the guy talk into his radio and walk off. And then a female employee approached me. Oh, that's not good, I thought.

"We're gonna have to do a patdown. Just the top half," she told me.

What?? I'm not wearing anything weird that would show up on the scanners, I thought.

She did a quick patdown. It was fine and not even slightly embarrassing or exciting. Made me kind of wonder what all the buzz was about.

When Olaf caught up with me I told him about the patdown, he'd been in a different lane. He asked if I knew what was suspicious looking. By this time I'd had a little time to think about it.

I decided it was my super-duper padded, add-a-cup size bra. Nowadays with all the boob jobs the TSA Agents don't know what all that padding in a bra looks like.

Glorious Spring Break

This year, Spring Break landed on Easter weekend. We've never had any days off around Easter. So this year we headed to Sunny Las Vegas. And I'm so glad we did because at home they woke up to several inches of snow on Easter and for several days afterwards.

While everyone at home was wrapped up in their flannel jammies, we were eating Easter Dinner on the patio.

The Eater Bunny even thought about hiding eggs in the yard, but decided there were too many thorns in the yard. So the Easter bunny just hid them at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids had a good time finding them all over.

The day after Easter was Olaf's 40th birthday. Since we weren't home and I couldn't throw him a big party with all his friends, I took him on a Mob Tour of Las Vegas. Lesson learned: The Mob is really Mean and Violent, don't join. But a monument was placed behind the Flamingo hotel and it's the only monument to a Mobster in the whole US.

Earlier that day we went to the International Boy Scout Museum, also in Vegas. I told Baby to pose like he was looking at stuff and he struck this pose. While I'm sure he thinks it's akin to The Thinker, I think it makes him look like a monkey.

Here's the whole family including my Mom. And Flat Stanley. He's going back to California in a few days so he went on vacation with us.

Then we headed to Arizona to visit my Bestest Friend and family. I've never been in Arizona, other than the airport, which doesn't really count. So I enjoyed watching the countryside.

Loved the numerous Joshua trees and Saguaro cactuses.

My friend has a pool. So my boys didn't waste any time jumping in the water even though it wasn't quite 80 outside. The Arizonans still feel like it's too cold to swim, but my boys, still in the throes of Winter back home, thought it was plenty warm.

We headed to Tombstone. The Rowdiest town in the West!

Here's my and my Friend with a Man from the Past. I think he was headed to the Bird Cage Theater to cause a ruckus.

We stopped at the Boot Hill Graveyard. The graves were all covered with rocks. Once I explained to the kids what was under the rocks they quit trying to climb all over the rocks.

There were a few tombstones with entertaining epitaphs.

And we finally found the Birdcage Theater. The most Haunted Building in the US. Next time I come to town I'm taking the Haunted Tour of Tombstone. Plenty of people died here, I should see at least one ghost.

Then we headed to Kartchner Caverns. They found the bones to a sloth so we had to get a picture of the fake sloth at the visitor's center. Love extinct beasts.

Here's the kids climbing all over one of the stalagmites. But this one isn't real, it's fake and in the visitor's center. They are very careful inside the cave to keep it living. Yes, Mother Earth is real.

We have been having so much fun on our trip. It'll be sad to go home in a few days. But Tank will be glad to see us!

Our Final Day & a Half or All the Famous People we Saw

Our trip was coming to an end. We only had a day and a morning to fit
in the last of what we wanted to see. First off was Battery Park.

This globe was at the World Trade Center when the towers fell. You can see the damage.

Here we all are at the wharf.

MiL & I with that Famous Statue in the background.

We decided to take the ferry out to see it. We discovered it's quite large.

SiL & I at the entrance to Battery Park

This is Fraunces Tavern where George Washington bid farewell
to his troops after the Revolutionary War.

The New York Stock Exchange. It amazes me how it's just squished
in between some buildings on a little street.

SiL with George Washington where he was sworn in as first President of the US

Trinity Church. Absolutely gorgeous but it is also squished in between
a bunch of buildings and this was the best picture we could get.

The side of the church. There's a lot of famous people buried here
including Alexander Hamilton and Jerry Orbach.

Spongebob on the Street!

SiL with a firefighter that is featured in the 2011 Firefighter Hunks Calendar

MiL and I with the same guy

NYC Fire Department Ladder Co #10. I don't know if it's operational or not
but there's a lot of remembrances for the fallen firefighters.

The scene of the World Trade Center as seen from the 2nd floor of the adjacent Burger King

Next we went to Paul's Cathedral.

This is where the Rescue Workers from 9/11 rested. The first room has
been turned into a memorial for the rescue workers, the fallen,
and the support they received from around the world.

There was such a feeling in this room. I couldn't handle it for very long.

All of the mementos of the rescue effort and the fallen was just too much to bear.

I love how everyone always comes together in a crisis.

Guess what? The NY Yankees won the World Series while we were there!

Remember the Ticker Tape Parade we missed?

Even though the city had been cleaned up, not everything had been
gotten yet and we could see remnants all over.

These are right in front of City Hall

Me & SiL with some parade mementos

And then, of course, we had to hike the Brooklyn Bridge

We're such tourists. I'm not sure why a local would come here but there were
runners and bikers crossing this bridge and fighting all the tourists who were
busy snapping pictures and not watching who was coming at them full speed.

An awesome shot of all those wires

This is where they film Law & Order, one of my favorite shows.

Over on the left you will see a white-haired gentleman. That is John Slattery from Mad Men. He was filming a new Matt Damon movie in the bar. Unfortunately Matt Damon wasn't around.

And we had to visit the Paul Frank store. This flag is rather weathered
and I almost thought someone had just hung it off their balcony.

A Suit of Armor and I

As we were headed home for our last (sob) night (sob) we decided to get some pics of the Play sign. Guess what!?! Daniel Craig & Hugh Jackman were leaving! SiL snapped this pic of Daniel Craig, just like everyone else, hand held high and no idea of what is in the frame. Daniel Craig has the black beret hat on his head, just in case you didn't know. And yes, he's sporting a hideous, monstrous mustache.

Hugh Jackman was a little more elusive. He is wearing the NYC hat.
He waved and told everyone Thank You before getting in his car and racing off.

Our last morning, we got up early and headed west to see the USS New York,
made from World Trade Center steel.

It was only in town for a few days and we didn't have time to see it, it was only open
twice for a few hours each while we were there. It really is a magnificent ship.

And of course the USS Intrepid was pretty awesome also.

The propellers are huge!

And the last shop before we headed home was the cupcake shop!
If I could have brought one thing home, the Cupcake Shop (sigh), Crumbs.

Goodbye NYC! I love you and will be back as soon as possible. I will not be a fickle lover!