24 Hours in Vegas

November 28-29, 2012
Las Vegas, NV

I’m off on a quick trip to Vegas for my Global Entry interview. As a 1K United offered to pay for my membership in America’s expedited customs entry program. The program also supposedly has domestic benefits but they are currently only available in limited US airports.

I left Eugene on the early flight to SFO and made it to Vegas at my scheduled arrival time of 10:40AM. My interview was scheduled for 12:40PM so I had two hours of time to kill. I spent the time looking out this lovely window towards The Strip in the United Club.

I wasn’t sure what to expect during the interview. Sometimes customs guys when returning to the States can be pretty gruff, so I was ready to be on my best behavior. It turns out I didn’t need to be. The guy asked me two serious questions. Why I travel and what I do for work. We spent the other 14 minutes of the 15 minute interview discussing football. Somewhere in the midst of our banter about the Ducks and Penn State he took my fingerprints. I’m now cleared to rush through security and customs checkpoints as I choose.

I was quite tired after this, since I was running on three hours sleep, but I still packed in a full day. I returned a shirt to Nordstroms, grabbed some food court lunch, thoroughly explored the Premium Outlet Mall, visited Gold and Silver Pawn Shop (home of Pawn Stars), explored Ross and still managed to make it to my hotel room that was one room from the end of the ginormous hallway without passing out.



This morning I was up early to enjoy a traditional Las Vegas breakfast buffet before heading back to the airport. I stayed at the Monte Carlo this trip because the room rate was a whopping $36. The hotel was totally fine. The only annoyance was that it is redoing its buffet restaurant, so the buffet was in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. I still decided to give it a go. My made to order omelet was tasty. It was also a good protein hit before I visited the dessert table. I only wish I had more conspirators for this meal, so I could have tried everything.



My return to the airport was uneventful. At the airport I had ten minutes to kill before boarding, so I decided to do my first gambling of the trip. My dad gave me $5 to play for him. Walking toward my gate I spotted a Star Wars slot and decided I should play it. On my fourth pull I won 15 times my money! The only down side was that my bet was 10 cents. Regardless I cut my losses there. My dad is now the proud owner of $6.15.



When I arrived at my gate for my flight to SFO, the agent announced it was delayed. I spent the next two hours killing time in the United Club. Upon landing in San Fran I ran to try and catch my delayed Eugene flight. Currently many Eugene flights at SFO are running out of terminal one, which means you have to take a bus to get there. Unfortunately that was the case today. As the bus pulled up I could see that my flight was still there and they were still loading bags. I ran upstairs only to see the agent closing the jetway door. I’ve now had two more Eugene flights cancelled and am going on my fifth hour sitting in San Francisco. My fingers are crossed the last flight of the night will go and I will get to sleep in my own bed tonight. If not, I may just stay in SFO until Tuesday when I’m off to Asia!

Until then,
Katy

Bear Beat Down

November 9-12, 2012

Sacramento/Berkeley, CA 

This weekend Ben and I went to the Bay Area for work and play. He worked and played and I played. We left the Eug early Friday AM and flew to SFO. I left Ben there for some meetings and flew on to Sacramento to go and see my friends the Smiths. After a quick nap I spent the afternoon playing with the kiddos and Dnelly. In the evening Joel’s parents Elaine and Andy arrived. Joel made it home from work a little early which was awesome. We had fun hanging out and enjoyed a nice dinner at the house. 

Saturday Joel, Dnelly, Ben and I attended the Oregon vs Cal game along with 50 of Joel’s closest friends. That’s an exaggeration but not by much. We met up with the Elk Grove crew at a bar called Henry’s. It was an excellent place for a football prefunc. I had fun catching up with some of Danelle’s family and Joel’s friends who I hadn’t seen since the Cal game last fall. Ben was a good sport meeting a bunch of new people. He even enjoyed Joel’s attempt at grilling him, although I think he wished the interrogation lasted a little longer. Seriously. 

Since our friend Mikey didn’t make it down to the game Ben and I had two open seats by us. Danelle sat with us for the first half, which was awesome because it gave us more time to chat. In the second half we missed both her conversation and her body heat. As the crowd thinned out with the Duck dominance of the third and fourth quarters it got quite cold. 

All four of us spent Saturday night in Berkeley. Sunday Joel, Dnelly and I went back to Elk Grove, while Ben went back to SFO for more meetings on Monday. On my way back up the Five I hit the outlets for some early Christmas shopping. I again enjoyed dinner and conversation with all the Smiths. Monday I spent the day playing with the kids and Dnelly before catching a flight back to SFO where I met Ben for our flight back to the EUG. 

I’m actually home for a full two weeks before I make a quick 24 hour run to Vegas...

Until then,

Katy 

Out of This World Football

November 2-4, 2012
Los Angeles, CA

This weekend Mom, Dad, Ben and I went to LA for the Ducks vs USC game. We arrived late Friday evening. Saturday morning our friend Micah and his girlfriend Stacey met us for breakfast. After grabbing a bite in a fun 50’s like diner called Pann’s, we took a short trip to Venice Beach. I’m not a huge fan of the weedy environment but the waves and beach were beautiful, especially since it’s early November. From the beach we made our way to the game.

The game was a 62-51 Oregon victory. As the score indicates it was a lot of fun to watch. We burned many calories cheering, so post game we ate at the Cheesecake Factory at Marina del Rey.

Sunday at noon we met up with two of Ben’s friends, Jeremy and Elisabeth, for lunch at Umami Burgers. The burgers and sides were both delicious. I highly recommend it to any future LA visitors. After lunch we engaged our inner nerds and went to see the Endeavor Space Shuttle at the California Science Center. It was a really neat exhibit. It was especially fun to see it with Ben as he has a ridiculous knowledge base in regards to most space related things. I particularly enjoyed the exhibit on pooping in space.


The Endeavor Space Shuttle's toilet, vacuum and all. 

After the Endeavor we wandered a little more around the science center grounds before saying our goodbyes to Jeremy and Elisabeth and making our way back to LAX. I’ll be home for four days before heading off to Sacramento to see the Smiths!

Until then,
Katy