Take a chance on me

It was Las Vegas, after all. Well... Henderson. It's right next door. This is the only casino I visited on this trip. We decided to play bingo (I had never played) and this casino had a big bingo parlor. As my cousin warned me: this is not your regular church bingo. Everything is electronic/digital these days. The game plays itself while you sip your complimentary cocktails.

A small section of the larger casino, filled with slot machines. The bingo parlor was in a separate room.

I noticed that most of the casino patrons were seniors. Poor saps. Then I saw myself in a rest-room mirror. Oops. We played. I won squat. But one of my cousins hit a game and the winnings covered her entry and the hour-long session. My other cousin wasn't any luckier than I was. Another woman a few chairs away from us won at least three times. Some people have all the luck!

Flight fright

The international flights I was on last week were very good. On time, mostly comfortable, uneventful. It was the two domestic connections that were problematic. I mentioned yesterday the return flight (Las Vegas to Los Angeles) was delayed for a few hours. My arrival a week earlier (Los Angeles to Las Vegas) was a little scary.

This was not our plane. This is terminal 2E, Paris CDG, at sunrise on October 5.

That black spot visible in the upper right is a plane that had just taken off.

The flight (Delta Airlines) was on time as we boarded and headed out to the runway. Then the plane stopped. Our pilot told us there was a "ground stop" at the Las Vegas airport. No flights allowed to land, no flights allowed to take off. We were stuck on the ground and probably headed back to the gate. After a few minutes, the pilot let us know that we were granted an exception and would be allowed to take off. And so we did, for our thirty minute flight to Las Vegas.

The pilot came on again to tell us that the primary runway at LAS was closed and that we'd be using a shorter runway. The landing might be a little rough. We had descended into our landing approach and were just about to touch down when the plane pulled up suddenly into a very steep climb. The engines roared to gain speed. It felt almost as if we were in a rocket ship blasting off. We continued to climb, almost vertically, for what seemed an eternity. This is it, I thought, we're done for. After a while the plane leveled off and we banked around for a second attempt at landing. The plane hit the runway hard and the reverse thrusters came on full. We were all pitched forward in our seats (this is why seat backs need to be up for take off and landing). Then suddenly all went quiet and we were safely landed and taxiing to the terminal as if nothing had happened.

That was my first ever experience with a "go around," as it's called in aviation parlance. The pilot was not satisfied with his approach to the shorter runway and decided to try again.

It turned out that the ground stop was initiated because a Frontier Airlines jet caught fire landing at Las Vegas. The fire was quickly extinguished and nobody was hurt, but traffic in and out of Las Vegas was interrupted for a time. Except for us.

Be it ever so humble

I made it home on Sunday. The return trip started out well, but it took a bad turn when my Delta flight from Las Vegas was delayed not once, but twice. We were three hours late taking off, one hour of that spent sitting on the plane at the gate while luggage was loaded. Fortunately for me, I had a five hour layover at Los Angeles and I had no problem getting to my Air France flight home.

After a couple glasses of chardonnay, the sign on the bar started looking pretty.

I didn't take my camera on this trip as I wasn't planning any major sightseeing. Instead, my goal was to hang out with my cousins and that we did. I did have the camera on the mobile phone, so I do have some photos to share. I spent the first night of my trip at an airport hotel prior to departure. I ventured down to the hotel lounge that evening for a drink or two and some people watching. The hotel (Ibis) had music playing. I assumed it was a selection of music put together especially for the hotel chain. It was called "Ibis Music" and this was the sign on the bar.

Where did he go?

By the time this posts, I will be on my way to adventure. I'll be visiting cousins in the Las Vegas NV area, one of whom I haven't seen in over twenty years. Today I'm training up to the airport in Paris, will spend the night there, then, if all goes according to plan, I'll fly out on Saturday morning.

Where did he go? When's he coming back?

I'll be there for a week, arriving back home on Sunday, the 13th. Ken and Tasha will be at home while I'm gone. I had originally planned to take this trip last spring, but that didn't work out, so we rescheduled for now.

I've been to Las Vegas a few times, so this trip will be for hanging out with the cousins, taking it easy, and maybe venturing out for a short hike or two in the desert. I won't be blogging during the trip, so this space will be quiet until I get back. See you then!

Rocamadour [10]

This will be the last Rocamadour post for a while as we move on to something completely different. It's a view looking back on the town as we left. Or was it as we arrived? No matter.

Not surprisingly, Rocamadour reminds many people of the fictional city of Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings.

It looks like harvesting is pretty much done in the vineyard parcels out back. It won't be long before we see bernache in the stores. That's the very young wine as it begins to ferment. It's sold with a hole in the cap so that the fermentation gases can escape. Bernache has a fizzy character and tastes more like grape juice than wine. I like having a bottle or two each season.

Rocamadour [9]

Here's a charming shop at one end of Rocamadour's main street. I don't remember what it was like inside, but I'm sure we had a look.

The stone work amazes me.

It looks like our current rainy spell might be over for now. If the skies clear, that will mean we're in store for chilly weather again. The good news: the tarps I put out over the kindling pile and the yard waste pile have not blown away. One is anchored down with bricks, the other with battens, boards, and roof tiles.

Rocamadour [8]

This is another photo from that restaurant (yesterday's post) in Rocamadour. Ken did some searching on his blog and found out what we ate that day. It was indeed this restaurant. He had a steak with fries and and a green salad. Our friend Sue had spaghettis à la carbonara, and I, of course, had a pizza, as evidenced by the bottle of spicy pizza oil. I'm so predictable.

Oh, what an interesting bottle! I'll take a picture of it!

I'm not very good at taking photos of people. Especially strangers. I lack the nerve to ask people if I can photograph them, and I'm afraid of being "caught" taking stealthy photos. Like this one. I thought the mother/daughter sunglasses were cool. I pretended to be taking a picture of the pizza oil (that's Ken's camera in the photo). Not a great photo, but it's a good memory.