Memorial Day weekend was supposed to be relaxing, but I ended up being so exhausted when I went back to work Tuesday that I almost didn't make it until the weekend. The weekend was our planned weekend to Vegas, so we planned on a relaxing weekend to make-up for the previous weekend. It didn't work!

Emilie and I both had an incredibly stressful Friday morning and we ended up leaving work later than we planned. We were supposed to meet Lisa and Sam at their house at 12:30p, but we didn't get home until 12:15p and we hadn't even packed yet. We threw our stuff in a bag and jammed on over. I was frustrated because I couldn't get my geocaching query to work, so I wasn't able to take any caching info with me to Vegas.

We got to the airport only to find out that our flight was canceled. The next flight to Vegas wasn't until 8:30p that night. We probably would have scrapped the trip except that we had purchased tickets to Blue Man Group several months ago and we couldn't afford not to go. We were able to get a flight on SouthWest, but it cost as much for a one way ticket as it did for the round-trip ticket on America West. It turned out that we were meant to fly SouthWest because as we were getting ready to board the plane we spotted Gallagher getting off the same plane we were getting ready to board. That's right: Gallagher flies SouthWest.

We got to Vegas, got our rental car and got to the hotel just in time to check-in, go to our room to drop off our luggage and go to the show. We didn't have time for dinner, so we got two bagels to share and four small waters, which cost us almost $20. Yikes!

The show was AWESOME and was worth every penny. I hope that we'll be able to go back and see it again, whenever that may be. After the action-packed adventure of trying to get to the show I was so exhausted that once we got back to the hotel room I just passed out.

The next morning we got up and decided to go to Hoover Dam. I've been there three times now, but it never ceases to amaze me. I can't even comprehend how they built the dam, let alone 70 years ago, let alone in only four years. If you've never been, you must go.

A detour sign caused us some confusion and end up sending us the wrong direction while on the way to the dam. We ended up in Searchlight, NV. We asked the lady at one of the businesses whether everyone loves Harry Reid as much as they say they do in the campaign commercial. The lady said that they say that, but that no one really likes him. She said that they feel obligated to say nice things, but confided in us since we are from Reno and she knows that he isn't very popular in Northern Nevada. So there you have it: 100% of the people surveyed in Searchlight say they don't like him.

Nevertheless, they had quite a stunning tribute to the Senator from Nevada in the casino/gas station:

After visiting Searchlight we went to the dam (using the correct route) and then headed back to Vegas. On the way back we took a quick helicopter ride since none of us had been in a helicopter before. We went out over Lake Mead and then back. The helicopter ride was only about three minutes long, but it was fun.

Once back in Vegas we walked the strip and I was able to get a couple cache coordinates thanks to Mike text-messaging them to me via Yahoo! Instant Messenger. I was able to do the IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST and MM MM Good caches. I might have the Eiffel Tower cache, but I wasn't able to take the required picture (it was $9 to take the ride up) and I'm not sure I have the right information for the question. I'm waiting to see if they'll respond to my pathetic pleas. I missed a lot of caches, but got three (possibly) thanks to Mike.

Wow. This post is long...

So, we walked the entire strip and ended our journey at Maggiano's, where we ate dinner. The food was okay, but they were SSLLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWW. They took so long that at 10:15p we were still there and we were supposed to be on our plane by 11:59p.

We grabbed a cab since we wouldn't have been able to make it back down to the other end of the strip in time, but we ended up with a crazy cab driver that we couldn't understand. We know he's from Cuba and has been in the United States for 41 years and Las Vegas for 31. He enjoys baseball, but was frustrated that Carson City's team could never win. He was excited to find out that we were from Reno, New York since New York is where he came into the country. He informed us that his headlights were burned out and the high-beams wouldn't stay on so he had to hold the lever. We were just happy that he roared along at speeds that almost exceeded 20 MPH since we were in a hurry.

We finally made it to our car, booked it to the rental car place, dropped off the car and got to the airport with miraculously some time to spare. Our plane was a Bombardier CRJ900, which CRUISED so we got home very quickly.

By the time we got home it was about 2:00a or 2:30a and I got to bed about 3:00a. I slept until 11:00a and we ditched church, but we went to sacrament meeting at Emilie's parent's ward. After church we went to Lisa and Sam's to reminisce about the previous day. What fun.

The evening was spent at my parent's house with the family. That brings us to today. Yay! I'm still tired, but slowly catching up.