Adventures in Vegas - Day Seven

Okay, so basically this entire trip was about THIS day.  The big, giant book signing!  Woo-Hoo!!

There were probably about 600 authors there and it's a giant room and ticket holders come in and wander around and either buy books or bring their own to get signed.  It's awesome.  From 10-2 we sit and socialize and watch the craziness and meet and greet more people than you thought possible!  I love the energy in the room but I love it just as much when it's over and we can leave and go back to our room and kick my shoes off!  LOL!

Seriously, hubby was great because he knew when the signing was ending and he went to the bar and grill and grabbed us a table before the mass exodus could come through and crowd the place.  So all I had to do was walk that mile from the convention hall to the lobby!  I enjoyed my burger immensely!

As it was our last night in Vegas - the shuttle was picking us up at 5:25 a.m., I had wanted to go out with a bang, but I was mentally exhausted!  Getting old sucks!  So after lunch we relaxed a bit and then went and did a little bit of gambling, had a late dinner at Guy Fieri's again and then went back and packed.  I'm not gonna lie to you - I couldn't wait to get on the plane to come home.

Thanks for a great week, Vegas!!  I'm hoping to come back again just for the fun of it!!

The highlights:  The Grand Canyon was obviously the biggest one of the trip.  I would do that again in a heartbeat and next time I'd want to bring the kids.  Meeting so many amazing authors who I admire was next - Erin Nicholas, Candis Terry, Jennifer Bernard, Melanie Shawn, and Damon Suede (who I did NOT get a picture with but I'm totally crushing on!).  You guys ROCK!!!

Adventures in Vegas - Day Six

I seriously can't believe the week isn't over yet!

Friday was a weird day that turned into an awesome one.  We were able to sleep in this morning and pretty much skipped our trip to the Hash House a Go-Go.  I figured my scale would thank me.  I had a workshop to go to that my cover artist was leading so I got up and got ready for that and headed down for the long trek to the convention center.

And realized I should have grabbed a muffin.

My stomach was VERY loud during the presentation so I sort of slinked out and spotted my buddy Sara Humphreys and we went to grab a quick bite to eat before she went off to a workshop that she was on a panel for.  Hubby's debit card was hacked so while I was out being a social butterfly, he was walking all over the back streets of Vegas looking for a bank!  Yikes.  And didn't take his phone!  Double yikes!  Needless to say I was in panic mode when I couldn't find him anywhere and was THISCLOSE to calling the police.  Then he came strolling in two hours later like it was no big deal.

This was the face I gave him.

At that point, I was too annoyed to really do anything so we grabbed another quick bite and went up to the room to just relax.  There was plenty of stuff going on but this night we were going out with my cousin and his wife - who I hadn't seen in almost 15 years!  They live in Vegas so it was the perfect time to get together and visit.

They came and picked us up and we went to dinner on the strip and then went to the Fremont Street Experience.  If you haven't gone there, you should.  Old Vegas at it's finest and every stereotype imaginable.  Lots of crazy things to see plus a zip line overhead.  We skipped it since we were rock stars the night before!

All in all, another good day.  We were going to hit a few more sites but we gambled a bit - and I won a hundred bucks - but I was exhausted and had the giant book signing in the morning and desperately needed sleep.

Adventures in Vegas - Day Two

I am not going to lie to you - this was an AWESOME day.

For as long as I've known my husband, he has talked about wanting to see the Grand Canyon.  It's on his bucket list and it's really the only place he's ever asked to go to.  Well...we made it happen on this trip.  We took a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon with a champagne picnic lunch in the canyon.  How freaking cool is that??

So a limo picked us up at the hotel and I have to tell you, I kind of enjoyed the envious looks we got from the people around us!  It felt very decadent!  We picked up another couple and then we were off to the air strip.  Our helicopter held 7 people - including the pilot - and honestly, I thought the ride was smoother than a plane!  Totally impressed.

Neither of us - hubby or myself - had ever flown in a helicopter so we were a little nervous about how we were going to be.  For me, it's a heights thing.  For him, it's just the overall feeling of flying in something so small.  But like I said, the ride was incredibly smooth and there was so much to see that you sort of forgot to be nervous.

Although I did almost cry in the first minute when we made a turn and I realized there was nothing for me to hold on to!  But I powered through the fear and just went with it.

We saw Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and when we crested the rim of the Grand Canyon, the soundtrack turned to the theme from Indiana Jones!  It was awesome!  I looked over at my husband and he totally had tears in his eyes because this was a fulfillment of a life-long dream!  We landed in the canyon and had 30 minutes to walk around, take pictures and eat the lunch they had packed for us.  I wish that time - overall - had been longer.  An hour would
have been perfect.  We took so many pictures and just stood there in wonder that we ended up shoveling down our lunch in order to get back on the helicopter in time.

On the trip home, we flew right over the Strip and saw all of the hotels!  So really, I could say in all honesty, that I saw everything!  Seeing it from above was pretty damn cool.  Actually, we saw so much on the flight that it was hard to take it all in.  While wearing the headset, you listen to a running commentary on the sights and every once in a while, the pilot would chime in and share points of interest with us.  In between the dialogue, music played.  So it was both informative AND entertaining!  The pilot said we'd be able to hear one another talk if we spoke into the mic, but I didn't hear anyone but him!  Back at the airport, we got a wonderful plaque with our picture in front of the helicopter as a souvenir - and it is now sitting on our mantel in our living room!

And because that wasn't a magnificent enough day, we went to dinner with our friends again (LOVE them!) over at the Venetian at Carnevino - Mario Batali's restaurant.  We had the best steak dinner!  Funny story - we have the same anniversary date!  Found that out last year when we met at the RT Convention in Dallas!  So we went out to celebrate - especially since we had our hubbies with us this time - and even though it wasn't the "official" wedding date, we thought it would be cool to celebrate together.  We were dressed up and really, it just felt like we had stepped into someone else's life for the day!  It was a little "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"!  But hey, it was only for a day so why not?

Adventures in Vegas - Day One

So I just got back from Vegas.

That's a sentence I never thought I'd write!  Lol!  But it's true, I just got back from a week in Las Vegas.  It was part business, part pleasure and totally exhausting!  I was there for the RT Booklovers Convention and my hubby and I decided to also make this our trip to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary - which is technically next month.  :)

Our first day was spent primarily getting to Vegas from North Carolina.  We landed at around four in the afternoon and then took the shuttle to the hotel - the Rio.  It was off the strip which was a little disappointing, but considering we'd never been to Vegas before, we were kind of okay with it and just happy to be there.

Our room had a great mountain view - not what you'd expect when you think of a hotel in Vegas - and we were excited to see it from the fourteenth floor!  Actually, we'd never seen a casino or a hotel quite as big as the Rio so we were totally walking around like dorky tourists for the first few hours!

Then I was so excited because a very dear friend - who I happened to meet at last year's RT convention - was already in Vegas.  She's a blogger and she's awesome and her husband was there with her too!  So we all met up for dinner and we went to Guy Fieri's place - El Burro Borracho - for dinner.  VERY yummy!  I'm a foodie so I was pretty psyched to go out and eat at some of the places Vegas had to offer and this place was wonderful.

After dinner we drove up and down the strip just to see what there was and to get an idea of where we wanted to start when we weren't so full - or tired! - and could walk around for more than a few minutes.  And even though we spotted someplace for dessert - Serendipity 3 - we never stopped.

Back at the Rio, we walked around and got the lay of the land and scoped out where the convention was going to be held and I was so excited to see the window cling that I was on going up!  And it was in the main hallway!  EEK!!  I went in on a promo group with Erin Nicholas, Candis Terry, Jennifer Bernard, and Melanie Shawn.  Can I just say what a HUGE fangirl scream I let out when I got asked to join that group of girls???

All in all, we didn't do a whole lot, but I knew we were off to a great start!

Come back tomorrow and hear all about our Grand Canyon adventure!!

RT Booklovers Convention Roundup - Part Six

Last day!!

I was so ready to go home and after a very scary night - bad storms, tornado watch and warnings, a flash flood alarm that woke me up at 3:30 in the morning - I was sorry that I didn't have an earlier flight.  But I got up, got ready and managed to get my giant box of stuff down to the FedEx office to be shipped out.

I didn't have anything RT related to do today BUT I was incredibly excited because a dear friend was coming to visit me!  We had never met in person - we kind of worked together back when I still had an office job.  I worked in NC and she was in Texas but we talked via email every day and this was going to be our first time meeting face to face!

She came early and we got me checked out of the hotel and I was able to have them hold my luggage and then we went and walked around downtown Dallas.  FINALLY!  There I was in such a great city and I didn't really get to see it!  The hotel was only three blocks away from where JFK was killed so we got to see the Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll.  It was very surreal being there and seeing that it's not as big of a spot as you would think it is.  What I thought was kind of bizarre is that there are two "X"'s in the road that mark the two shots.  And people actually stand on those spots and get their pictures taken!  What in the world???  I mean, I'm all for taking pictures of historical spots but that just seemed to cross a line to me.

We ate lunch at a fabulous Mexican restaurant (restored my faith in Texas cooking) and then just hung out and visited with one another.  While we were hanging out in the lobby chatting, the head of RT came over and talked to us!  That's always cool.  Kathryn Falk is probably the most gracious person I've ever met.  I had the opportunity to be on a radio show with her a few weeks ago and she remembered me!  She let us in on how she's thinking of someplace really amazing for the 2018 convention - I can't say what it is because I don't think it's public knowledge yet.

Next year's convention is going to be in Las Vegas.  I have a cousin there so I am definitely going to go.  PLUS, it will be my anniversary again and I told my hubby that we have to renew our vows in one of those wedding chapels with an Elvis impersonator!  I may make a party out of it and invite the fans!  Who's with me???

Overall, it was a great week. I have so many great memories and if you are a fan and a reader, you should really consider going to one of these if they come your way!