The Events of Friday, February 25, 2011

                I find it hilarious that the last time that I blogged, we were roasting in south Texas, and we awoke this morning to nineteen degree weather and two inches of old snow on the ground. After a restless night of sleep due to nightmares, I was not too thrilled to be awakened. After unmaking our beds, we had breakfast and then went to shower in the nice KOA showers. Soon we pulled away and began our shopping trips. Lately, Mom has been assembling a shopping list of stuff that we need for Europe. First we went to Marshalls and Old Navy, buying clothes to replace our worn ones. Then we went to Dollar Tree and Target for other essentials. By the time we were finished, it was time for lunch.

                We drove to Beaver Street Brewery, which Lindsey talked about yesterday, and were led to our seats. I remembered where we had sat last time that we were here. I also distinctively remembered the dessert I had, a little cup of goodies called the “Dish of Dirt”. I’ll explain more about that later. We ordered drinks and an appetizer of the Beaver Street Brewery Fondue. It was really good. Then we had our meals. Mom ordered a ham and artichoke sandwich and Dad chose Creamy Chicken Poblano Soup, the “Soup of the Moment” and a New Orleans sandwich. Caitlin and I chose the three sausage pizza and Lindsey ordered the Pepperoni Pizzazz Pizza. Ben ordered the El Gordo Pizza. Overall it was really yummy. When dessert time came, all the kids ordered the “Dish of Dirt” from the kid’s menu and Mom ordered a sundae. Soon our dishes of dirt arrived. On the bottom was hot fudge then rich vanilla ice cream topped with Oreo cookie crumbs and sour gummy worms. Stuck into all was a chocolate chip cookie on a stick. The name “Dish of Dirt” might sound intimidating, but it is surely the most delicious dessert on this earth.

                We left Beaver Street Brewery and started driving towards Las Vegas. While I read, we drove over Hoover Dam, even though it had a high wind advisory and we had a high profile vehicle. It was very harrowing for Mom. We arrived at Costco at about 5 o’clock and shopped for suitcases for the kids, a flexible cooler and some other stuff for Europe. Going back to the RV for a dinner of leftovers and salad, we then drove to the Las Vegas Outlet Center. Dad and Ben went in to the store to look for shoes while the girls washed dishes. As we drove to the Circus Circus KOA, we got a glimpse of the night view of Las Vegas. We saw tons of lit-up casinos and a lot of other fancy lit up buildings. When we arrived at the campground, we found that it was the most expensive parking lot yet. The campground was huge, over 300 sites and all paved, so it was truly like camping in a parking lot. From our campsite, we could see a colorful space needle and the Palace Station, where Mom and Dad stayed the last time they were here. The lights of Las Vegas flashed all around us. Later, when Mom and Dad went on their walk, they kept hearing screams and finally realized that there was an extreme drop zone type of ride on the top spire of the space needle. Despite the bright lights, we quickly set up, readied for bed and then went to bed, looking forward to our last night in the RV and the early morning and long drive tomorrow.