My vacation started late last Friday night. I was coming back from break around midnight, and as soon as I sat down at a Pai Gow game, the last two people decided to color up, leaving me at a dead table. About that time the boss decided to close it up and let me get out early. So I did the usual game-closing rituals, signed my name on the proper forms, clocked out, and hit the door running. I had to be at the airport by 5:30 am.
I got home, did a last load of laundry, finished packing, did a little housecleaning and websurfing, then took a shower and headed out the door. I was thinking of driving myself to the airport and just parking in the long-term economy lot, but at $12 per day, that would end up costing me $60. And the fact that the shuttle bus doesn't drop you off anywhere near the departure area, forcing me to schlep my luggage about a quarter mile further than necessary, well, that was a deal-breaker. I called a cab.
Of course I got the dumbest cab driver in the history of Vegas dispatched to pick me up--he drove by me twice, and then missed the on-ramp to the 215. Once he finally got his ass turned around, he drove at a max speed of 50 mph on the freeway, causing me to be 20 minutes late and earning himself a more-than-generous sixty-cent tip on a $24 fare.
But there was no line at that hour, and I checked my bags and did the looooong hike from the Southwest counter all the way out to gate C-20.
Being a 'Gentleman of Stature', I bought the extra seat, which also earned me a pre-board pass. No worrying about an 'A' pass, no sitting in line on the floor, no cattle call. So I was the first one on the plane, took a window seat in 1-A, put my 'Reserved' sign in seat 1-B, and enjoyed all the legroom that comes with sitting behind the forward bulkhead while the huddled masses piled on behind me. It was as close to being in First Class as one could get with America's favorite discount airline.
We didn't have nearly a full flight, so we got an early start once everyone found a seat. The flight was very smooth, and I even managed to catch a catnap for about a half-hour. I also had a pocketful of drink tickets, compliments of one of my generous readers, and I used them up, starting with screwdriver to kick off my morning. One taste, however, indicated that not only were they not using top-shelf vodka, they weren't even using top-shelf orange juice. So after that I just drank Budweiser Select for the rest of the flight (Hey, my only other choices were Miller Light, Bud Light or Heineken--and I hate that skunky Dutch shiat).
I was the first one off the plane once we arrived (about 10 minutes early), but my luggage wasn't nearly as lucky. But as soon as it showed up, I hustled outside and Cyndi was waiting for me in her smooooove Lexus.
The plan for the day, I thought, was that she was having a party that night, so I figured I'd get to her place, take a nap, a shower, and be ready to go around 6:00 pm. Well, word around the campfire was that it was an all-day affair, and people (Reverend Dave) were going to start showing up around 3:00. So once we got to her place, which is waaaaay the hell out in the boondocks of Spring Hill, I had just enough time to take a shower and change clothes before everyone started showing up.
Between family and friends, there must've been about 30 people attending. We spent the day with college football playing on the big-screen, while we milled about inside and outside with cocktails and snacks. We played horseshoes, Bocci-ball, and some other game that involved tossing two golf balls that were tied together with a string, trying to hang wrap them around a three-tiered goal thingy set about 30 feet away. Nobody knew the official name of the game, but at some point we just adopted the name 'Horse-balls' and it stuck. And it was a huge hit with the drunks at the party.
Not only was it a great party, but the weather was extremely cooperative. It was sunny, breezy, and cool--around 78 degrees--quite the improvement from the 100 degree heat I'd been putting up with in Vegas for the past three months. Just a perfect day all-around.
It was also nice to see the whole family again--I hadn't been back to Tennessee in two years, so we had a lot of catching up to do. I met Cyndi and Amy's new dudes, Tim and Scottie, and we hit it off immediately--both are cool guys who survived the initial meeting of the whole family and still decided to stick around. And I also got to see my beautiful grand-niece baby Brynn, who I hadn't seen since she was just a couple months old.
But it was a fantastic get-together, and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. My sister Amy, who is a complete goofball, had me giggling all day long. Between her, Cyndi, me, and Reverend Dave, talking in our 'sibling shorthand', not only did we have constant laughs, but I'm sure we drove Mamasan to the brink. (Not a long drive, mind you, but still...)
Later that evening, Tim fired up the grill and we had hot-dogs and hamburgers to soak up some of the booze we'd been consuming all day. We also lit up the Tiki torches and built a fire in the chiminea, so the party just kept on going. Scottie and Amy busted out the guitars while we sat around the fire, and their duet of 'Bobby McGee' was a huge crowd-pleaser. I even picked up the guitar for a bit and embarrassed myself for a few minutes before giving up in disgust, realizing that I hadn't played in almost five years. The calluses on my fingertips were no longer there, obviously having moved to my palms...
Anyhow, the die-hards stayed up late, sitting around the campfire, smoking cigars, and telling stories till the wee hours. It actually got so chilly out that everyone was huddled together wrapped in blankets, and about the time we ran out of firewood, we called it a night. Of course, most of the die-hards ended up just crashing in various places around Cyndi's spacious home, and I was lucky enough to score a queen sized bed all to myself, while Reverend Dave and his gal Carrie slept in the bunkbeds in the kid's room. Heh.
I slept like a rock for a good eight hours, not moving an inch. It had been a very long day, and I was very much in need of some relaxation anyways, and I took full advantage of the fresh air and comfy bed.
The next morning, everyone started stirring about the house. Tim took off to head to the Titans/Colts game with Sherry and her man Steve, while the rest of us had plans to go to Monel's for Sunday brunch. But once Cyndi put the coffee on and we were all sitting around in the living room chilling out, we decided to skip getting dressed and doing brunch. We sent Amy and Scottie down to the grocery store with a pile of money and instructions to buy breakfast food.
When they got back, Scottie fixed us a wonderful feast of banana pancakes, sausage, bacon, coffee, and juice. From that point on, all we did was kick back in the family room and watch football all day. One by one, the siblings took off for home, leaving me, Cyndi, Tim, and Jake the dog to ourselves for the evening.
Our plan was to sit out by the fire again, but we just couldn't find the motivation.
Tim and Jake capture the essence of Sunday night at the end of a long weekend.
The next morning, I had to get up early. Tim and Cyndi both had to go to work, so I headed north up to Nashville proper. Tim dropped me off at a Cracker Barrel on the side of the freeway about halfway between their place and Mamasan's at 7:00 am, and she was waiting for me there in the parking lot. We stashed my gear in the trunk of her car and we went inside for a nice relaxing breakfast with just the two of us.
Breakfast was great, as usual, and we enjoyed coffee and good conversation for an hour or so before heading back to her place.
Monday was quite relaxing--we didn't do anything but play cards all day. I also tapped into her wireless network and was able to use my computer for a bit of websurfing and emailing that afternoon.
The plan for that night was dinner at Maggiano's. Originally we had reservations for a party of ten, but as the day wore on, people dropped out. It turns out that five of us ended up going--me, Mamasan, Amy, Scott, and Sherry.
We got there first and had drinks in the bar, but everyone else arrived shortly thereafter and were seated immediately.
Maggiano's is a huge hit with the T2V crowd, and the restaurant here in Vegas is one of my favorite places. The Nashville offering, however, left much to be desired. Our service was slow, our waiter farked up my order twice, and the food just wasn't as good as expected. Of course, the company and conversation made up for it, and the spinach salad and the 4-cheese ravioli were excellent, but our main courses were less-than-impressive, and we also had a bottle of wine that didn't quite cut it (but we remedied that with another bottle of Merlot...).
I have no idea what the total was for the five of us with two bottles of wine, salads, appetizers, and dessert, as Scottie insisted on covering the tab. I *knew* there was a reason I liked that guy... Actually, he's very cool and I swear he and Amy make the perfect couple.
This is the only picture I could find of Scott and Amy together--Saturday night at the campfire.
Anyhow, dinner was still a great time, and the meal was good if not spectacular. Afterwards, it was straight home to sleep off the food coma.
Tuesday was more of the same--the rest of the family had to go to work and whatnot, so Mamasan and I hung out at the house being entertained by her two cats, Max and Jack, while we played cards most of the day. We'd planned on going to Bob Evans for breakfast, which was a monthly tradition we had back when I lived in Nashville, but we decided to just hang out at the house instead, and she made some great grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, using garlic bread instead of regular wheat or sourdough. Damn, they were tasty. We also went to the grocery store and spent about fifty bucks on party supplies.
Yep, that night we had another get-together scheduled at Mamasan's place--this time just the family. She's got a big backyard with a couple of huge trees and a nice firepit, so the plan that night was to do a weenie roast and then make smores.
So that afternoon was preparation time--we gathered the firewood and folding chairs, refilled the tiki torches, and I spent an hour with a pair of pliers and a pile of wire coat-hangers making my special tried-and-tested hotdog/marshmallow roasters.
Everyone showed up after they started getting out of work, and we hung out in Mamasan's backyard for several hours, eating, drinking, laughing, and telling stories. It was a highlight of my week. Oooh, and Amy, cool chick that she is, brought over a HUGE bottle of Mt. Gay rum, which coincidentally she decided last year was one of her favorites too. So the party was a huge success, even though everyone seemed to like to make their smores with Reece's Peanut Butter cups instead of my Hershey's Extra Dark 60% cocoa chocolate. Heathens, all.
I don't have any pictures of that last get-together, but I'm hoping some members of the family will email me some. There was some funny shiat going down, I'm here to tell ya, but sadly no photographic record as near as I can tell.
But as much fun as we were having, everyone had to go to work in the morning so we didn't get to stay up too late. After cleaning up and saying my goodbyes to everyone, Mamasan and I played cards for about an hour before calling it a night.
We had breakfast and coffee the next morning, and she took off for her part-time job that she does, leaving me there alone with the kitties while I finished up my laundry and packed for the journey back home to Vegas. Amy came and got me on her lunch hour and dropped me off at the airport, and just a few hours later I was back in Vegas.
Funny, this was the first time I wasn't so excited to get here that I was going crazy watching the clock. But it was nice to get home and back into my normal routine.
And Vegas did just fine without me for a few days.
Mikey
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