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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving--Portland Style!

For Thanksgiving this year we drove up to Las Vegas, hung out for a few days, and then flew to Portland. While in Vegas we saw two shows: The Lion King and Mystere. If you have the chance to see either, it's worth it. The costumes and sets are amazing in both. The signing is really good and so is the acting. The story line is a little slow with The Lion King, but I decided that it was probably because we grew up with the cartoon version and the musical pretty much follows it exactly. We also did lots of other Vegas-y stuff that you do when you don't gamble or drink or go clubbing (i.e. walking around and seeing free stuff). We went to the Bellagio to see the fountains and indoor gardens, Caesar's Palace to gawk at the outrageously priced blue crocodile handbag ($10,000 for the medium and $4,000 for the clutch!), a buffet, Coke World, M&M World, and hung out at the pool. We also fed the slot machines about $9.00. We won some and lost everything we put in which was kind of the point. Once all that was done, we headed to Portland on one very tiny, cramped airplane courtesy of Spirit Airlines.

While in Portland, we spent most of our time hanging out with family. There was a nasty virus that went around which kept people in bed (my mother) or at bay (her sister) for most of the trip, but we did all manage to get together on Thanksgiving day for some quality turkey time. My dad, my sister Melissa, Spencer, and I went to the Muppet Movie. Melissa, Rachel, Spencer, and I went to burgerville (try the chocolate cherry shakes!). My husband and my grandpa hung out and watched football and grandma baked at least 6 pies over the course of 3 days--possibly more. I am now addicted to pie and have been going through withdrawals since I left on Saturday. Spencer, my sister Melissa, and I drove down to Cannon Beach and the Tilamook factory and had some wickedly good ice cream and cheese. My sister Rachel hung out and did home work a lot, but I guess that's how life as a student goes. My mom's other sister and her family were around, but were experiencing a tragically sick beloved cat so we didn't see to much of them. I decided it would be wise to go running in the pouring rain at least twice and came home soaking wet. In other news, Wisconsin has officially ruined my ability to properly experience temperature's so where most people would feel downright freezing, I only felt slightly cold. On the other hand, ever since I've been back in California, I've been freezing in the mornings because our water isn't set that hot and our heat is out so it feels REALLY cold when I take my morning shower.

And finally, several last pieces of advice I picked up on our way home via Vegas: restaurants that existed in casinos 5 years ago may or may not exist there presently (in our case not) and if you plan on driving home to California from Las Vegas on a Sunday, it's best to do it early in the morning or your 3 hour trip will at least double. Also, the road that parallels the highway does not go all the way to Primm and you will have to navigate a very bumpy looking dirt road if you decide to try to bypass traffic that way. We didn't do it, but we saw a lot of people who did.

All in all, it was a great trip and we're looking forward to our next set of travel adventures!

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