STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22447: Christmas Chronicle

December 26, 2008 on 12:09 pm | In On The Road, Family, Travelblogue, Homefront |

I’m taking advantage of some “down time” away from the family this morning to do an update. Lou & Dawn have gone “thrifting” (big surprise), and Don is at the RV geeking. There is not much to update work wise, but a lot of family stuff.

Tuesday, the 23rd. I was up before the roosters today. I left Fontana at 0500. I allowed myself 2 hours to drive the 60 odd miles to the consignee in Rancho Dominguez (Compton). My appointment was at 0700. Unbelievably, traffic was light. I arrived 45 minutes early and had to wait around for them to open. The unloading went well and quickly. I settled in at the back of their lot to wait. About 1000, I decided to take a chance and drive to the Shipper in South Gate. The Dispatch said that the load wouldn’t be ready until midnight (it is a drop/hook load). I tried a couple of times to call and ascertain if the load would be ready early, but all I got was that intolerable nuisance; voice mail. Again, amazingly, traffic was light. It took only 15 minutes to drive the 11 miles. When I checked in with Shipping I found that the load was indeed ready. It had just left the dock. Good timing. I did the drop/hook, caught up on my paperwork, and left South Gate at about 1130. I drove to the Pilot truck stop in Hesparia, CA. Swift has a deal now with Pilot and Love’s truck stops anywhere in the country where we can take our trip-packs, bills, and ‘logs’ in and have them “scanned”. This is in order to facilitate more prompt payment. Good for Swift, and good for we drivers as well. Anyway, I decided to give it a try. It worked like a charm. The whole process took literally seconds. I ate a small lunch, and set off for Vegas. I arrived around 1600. Don and family arrive shortly thereafter from Bakersfield. We met up at the WWW and went to Black Bear Diner for dinner. It was yummy as usual. Lou and Dawn shared an immense Cobb Salad. Don and I had Chicken Fried Steak. Don had the “normal” sized meal, but I opted for basically a senior sized portion. The only difference between the two meals is that the senior sized steak a bit smaller. You still get two side dishes and soup or salad. It was just enough for me. After dinner, we returned to the WWW. They were intending to stay there (the WWW) in the RV for the night, but the noise and work lights from the construction going on in the WWW lot drove them over to the Orleans Casino.

Wednesday. I drove over to the Orleans for a pancake and smoked sausage breakfast in the RV. After breakfast, they went shopping and exploring, and I returned to the WWW. I just kicked back for most of the afternoon. For dinner, we met back at the Orleans. We decided to eat in the food court there. I had a Fuddruckers ½ lb Bacon Cheese Burger and Steak Fries (I skipped lunch). They all shared a meal from Sbarro. We all were delighted with what we had. After dinner, we ‘toured’ the Orleans. I then returned to the WWW and called it a day.

Christmas Day. Christmas was grueling, but in a nice way. I treated the family to breakfast at the WWW (I had a coupon). After breakfast, we went to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. I paid the admission because, being a local, I get a substantial discount. It cost me about $55.00 for the four of us. Had they purchased the tickets, it would have cost nearly $70.00.
Being gluttons for punishment, we didn’t stop after seeing Shark Reef. After taking a short break at the WWW to pick up the MMM, we next went to The Habitat at Flamingo Las Vegas. It was a pleasant place to relax. After spending a couple of hours here “absorbing nature”, we decided to have Christmas Dinner at the Orleans. The Christmas Buffet was delicious yet reasonably priced. We all ate too much. By the time dinner was over, we were all pretty much “done in”. We all retired to our respective abodes. I went into the WWW and wished everyone a Merry Christmas, Kicked back in the truck for a while, then went to bed and slept the “sleep of the dead”.
Friday, the 26th. After a morning of fending for ourselves, Don and went to lunch at Slots-A-Fun Casino. We ate at the Hot Dog stand there. They are the best Hot Dogs in Vegas, although the price has gone up. After lunch, I took Don back to the Orleans, and returned to the WWW for more geeking. We decided to meet up at the Fremont Street Experience later in the evening. Once again, in all the years I have lived in Vegas, I have never experienced the Fremont Street Experience. We first went to dinner the Great Moments Cafe in the Vegas Club Casino. We all had sandwiches. D,L,&D had the $2.99 half sandwich and soup special. The soup was clam chowder. Since I don’t eat Clam anything, I had a grilled ham & cheese sandwich that wasn’t really grilled, but toasted. The ham was cold in the middle, and the cheese wasn’t melted. It was OK, but not what I was craving.

After dinner, we mostly loitered around the Golden Nugget. It is centrally located, and as good a place as any to watch the Vista Vision shows. Inside the Golden Nugget is an aquarium they call The Tank (above right).


Vista Vision is the largest TV screen in the world. It uses umpteen bazillion LED lights. The picture is actually quite good considering it’s size. It encompasses the entire roof, which is 5 blocks long.

Above left is a good picture of the Plaza Hotel. It is located across from the west entrance to Fremont street. Above right are Dawn, Lou, and Don.
We left Fremont street about 2000 and went to Jerry’s Nugget for desert. I wanted Strawberry Shortcake, but was disappointed. They were out, so I had to settle for Banana Cream Pie. After desert, we all went back to our separate lodgings for the night.