Does this count as breaking the 'what happens there stays there' rule?

Okay, I know it has been a while, but I'm new to this blogging thing, so I deserve at least a little slack. It isn't that my life has not been exciting as of late, because it has been, most of the reason is because I misplaced the chord to download the pictures from my digital camera to my computer. And since to me, a blog entry without pictures isn't worth the computer screen it is printed on, I decided to wait until I was able to do this thing right!

My father recently became engaged to be married to a woman named Marilyn. Since my dad lives in southern California, and I haven't been back to visit in a while (what with me being an independant woman with a full time job and all) I had never met her. Since she is about to become a new member of the family, I had the desire to meet her before the big day. My dad and I arranged to meet halfway - in Las Vegas and spend a weekend together.

I was a little nervous about the whole thing, so my boyfriend Dan said that he would come along for moral support.

We arrived in Las Vegas well ahead of the group coming from California, and since they were the ones with the room reservations, we had to come up with something to keep us busy while we waited for them to arrive. Luckily for us, it was the anniversary of the aquarium at Mandalay Bay, so they were offering admission at a significant discount. Not only was it wonderful for the sheer joy of viewing the aquatic flora and fauna, but there were fringe benefits as well:

1. Las Vegas in the summer is nearly unbearable outdoors (so forgive me for looking frazzled), but unless you have a room in which to abscond, many of the refuges from the blistering sun also have the unfortunate side effect of being noisy, disorienting and reeking of old cigarette smoke (that's right casinos, I'm talking to you). The aquarium was smoke free and air conditioned!
   


2. Because the tickets were discounted, the aquarium was packed with people, which gave me time to do what I love most: watch them. I'll just say this, people look weird when they are looking at fish in a tank, and people have some bizzare musings on fish that they say out loud.
   


3. 3. Kids! They were everywhere, and saying the darndest things! I sometimes forget how imaginitive those little guys can be. I was looking at the same exact fish, but somehow failed to notice that one looked like a sea monster, one looked lonely, and another resembled a baked potato. So, props being given to the children, can I add one more thing? Finding Nemo has forever changed the way that children view aquatic life. Every fish that remotely resembled any character from the movie was identified as such. "Look mommy, its Crush! Whoa dude!" and "There is Dory" were standard fare.


4. Crazy fish facts! Included with admission is a little walkie talkie thing that spouts facts about the fish that are in the tank in front of you. It was incredible. Did you know that there is a fish that stays near the people side of the tank because it likes to look at jewelry and hair barettes? Or that there are fish in the Amazon river that grow to be 14 feet long? Enough said.

After the aquarium, we had an enjoyable meal at the Red, White and Blue which I reviewed with a 4 out of 5 stars. It isn't that expensive or pretentious, and the food was great!

The next day, we had lunch reservations at the Mesa Grill, the signature restaurant of my favorite food network star and Iron Chef, Bobby Flay. It was delicious! Both Dan and I enjoyed finally getting to taste the fruits of a major culinary 'throwdown'. We hung around the giant toy store for a while, and then Dan and I hit the pool while the others took a nap. That night, we went to see Spamalot, which was funny, even for somebody who isn't 'that into' the movie, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected.

So all in all it was a great trip. Marilyn was great and will be the opposite of a wicked stepmother, Dan was charming and may have finally won my dad over, and I got a killer tan! Until next time!