As promised, I would treat my eldest Sistahud and her kids for a mini vacation as soon as I have a free time during my late summer California adventure. For this trip, we decided to go to the City of Lights - Las Vegas, Nevada.
Prior to our trip, the whole family met us a week earlier at the Kapatiran's venue and they brought home with them the pasalubongs from Atty. Ador and the goodies that I brought from Manila. Want to know what? Wahahaha!
I got them rellenong bangus, ubeng halaya, chocnut, batangas coffee and another kind of coffee that I can't remember the type and a mini mouse for their laptop. I believe the rellenong bangus was devoured as soon as they got home. The last time I saw the kids with Rachelle was last October 2006 and seeing them now, Axel has grown into a big boy and dearest Kyla is still very pretty. Nanay Charing is still the same and of course, my sistahud - Rachelle, is as always a radiating beauty.
Rachelle, Kyla and Axel fetched me at our La Palma residence last Friday and we said our goodbyes to my Mom and Tita Tess and happily started our long drive to Nevada. Traffic going out of I91 was terrible that day, it took us two hours just to pass Corona, whew! The usual travel of 4 hours from our place to Las Vegas took us close to six hours. You can imagine the state of our butts.
With a rest stop for a few minutes at Burger King, we continued the long drive to Las Vegas. We dozed off for a few minutes while Rachelle was kept in company with her tall cup of coffee but as soon as we entered Nevada territory, I woke up the kids so that they can enjoy the City of Lights.
Eventhough, I've been to Vegas for a number of times, the lights from the Strip still gives me the ultimate high. The Strip's totally different from the last time I visited, 2.5 years really was a big turnaround for the place. We strolled through the whole Strip before proceeding to our dinner reservation at New York New York's Il Fornaio. The Italian Restaurant of the hotel and the workplace of one of my favorite relatives, Tito Noel.
Dinner was good though I wasn't able to take pictures of our main course because I was busy chatting with Joaquin Hagedorn, (want to know Rachelle's comment about Joaquin, go here) but I had plenty of pictures with the three kinds of desserts.
After a full meal, we decided to call it a night, hahaha, who am I kidding, we got to the apartment at past 1am and dozed off at around 230am. Whew, what a day.
With ample sleep to recharge ourselves, we started our escapade by hitting the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. Ha, ha, ha! You guessed the casino, right? Not yet. I want to buy some stuff at Big Dogs and I got a good deal. After shopping, we're starving for some of the famous buffets.
Since Kyla and Axel are both underage, we went to Circus Circus, had fun with the international buffet and we really satisfied ourselves with the amount that I paid for the buffet. Whew! Tummy full!
The kids played in the arcade, we window shopped, I played a few at the slots and enjoyed people watching. After a few more rounds, we went to the Stratosphere Tower. What a ride! After paying for the elevator/ticket rides, we took the flight up. Whew! Check my pictures. My knees buckled for a few minutes before I could reach the outdoor deck.
Much as I love riding thrill rides, I chickened out with the sight of the three rides on the top of the Stratosphere. With 900 feet from the ground, I was thinking of the possible scenarios that could happen. However, Kyla braved the Insanity, considered as the second highest thrill ride in the world, it dangles riders over the edge of the tower and then spins in a circular pattern at approximately forty miles per hour. Whew! The ride itself is not scary its the dangling over 900 feet that gave me the goosebumps.With too much adrenalin from the thrill rides, we went back to the Strip and invaded M&M's World and the Coca-Cola Store. Of course, we got our favorite M&M colors and a few Coke souvenirs. Kyla and Axel really enjoyed the place and was busy with the different souvenirs. I got myself a few candies and my cheeblings favorite colors. After a few rounds, I opted to seat outside and watch the sights. The weather was humid and though its close to 10pm, it was still nice to people watch.
After a full day of sightseeing and tons of walking, we decided to call it a night and head back to the apartment. We even forgot to eat proper dinner with the activities. When we reached the apartment, ate a few sandwiches and dozed off.
For our last day in Las Vegas, Tito Noel and Tito Judith treated us for Thai lunch before we parted ways. I enjoyed our short stay with them but I promised I'll visit them soon and maybe longer so we'll be able to have more bonding time, oops, before I forget, all the time I was in the apartment, I was still busy helping them out with the connections of their internet/digital cam/printers and they loved what I did to make their day-to-day life easier.
Having Thai lunch was great. I enjoyed the steamed rice, pad thai noodles and bbq chicken. Rachelle enjoyed the sticky rice with mangoes and tapioca balls. After lunch, we said our goodbyes and had another stroll along the Strip and last picture taking before heading back to California.
I'll see them again after my sidetrip and Kyla promised to take a leave from her work and maybe spend the day at Magic Mountain or maybe at Knott's Berry (just 3 minutes from our house) or just bum around.
I will definitely miss Kyla and Axel. Before they migrated to the US to join their Mom, I can see them in Binan whenever I go to Tagaytay. We'll go to Highlands and have fun, now I have to take the red eye just to see them. Maybe, in a few months, we'll be able to have another mini vacation. I wonder where our next destination would be?
