And it begins.....

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8:22 am - PDST - Monday - 64º F, humdity 25% (and it gets dryer!), wind 3 mph out of south southwest........again, it seems that there is no wind where we are.  Partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 85º......slept quite well once again.  I really thought in coming from the eerily quiet of the desert these past weeks I would have had a more difficult time adjusting to the noise of the city, but apparently my mind is good at ignoring it.

Our first night sleeping in the long term truck parking lot was not bad.....actually we slept quite, quite well.....all the windows were open and it was quite comfortable temperature wise.  TLE's sister, Laureen, walked over from the casino to have coffee with us and then we took a 2.7 mile walk (twice around The Orleans) to get the day started off right.  

On our way around The Orleans on the first lap I saw this sign (see below) advertising an 'Addidas Tent Sale', so while the girls sat outside cooling down from our vigorous walk I continued on over to the 'tent sale' to see if there was anything there I could not live without, and I found a pair of 'bike tights' on sale for $12.....normally priced at $50.....my old 'bike tights' are 15 years old and a little the worse for wear, so I bought them..........

 The prize

.......you can just see the front of the Newell across the large parking lot from the 'tent sale'......the parking lot is actually quite well lit, and we are in a relatively quiet corner of the lot.....of course 'quiet' is a relative term in Las Vegas.....just being in a 24 hour city like Las Vegas there is always a certain level of background noise ever present.

Of course, our primary reason for being in Las Vegas is to attend our 45th college reunion and reunite with old friends.......we walked over to The Orleans and took the escalator up one flight to the 'ballroom' level to find registration and within minutes were engaged in one conversation after another with old friends.....I never got more than 15 feet away from the registration desk.  After what seemed like an hour, or so I looked at my watch to find that 4 hours had passed......

 Friends, Vince, Carol and Dave.....has it really been 45 years?

......finally about 4 pm TLE and I decided it was time for a break and walked back to the Newell to rest up for the evening's festivities which were scheduled to begin at 6:15 with dinner.......my best friend going all the way back to junior high school with whom I also went to high school and college surprised me by showing up unannounced.....what a great surprise.....thanks for coming Tom Carrozzo!

Our banquet table Sunday night....my best friend going all the way back to junior high, Tom Carrozzo, is seated to my left (gray suite, red tie)....what a great time we had catching up!

By the time we had finished up with dinner another three hours of conversations had occurred, and my voice was beginning to get a little gravely. TLE and walked back to the coach arriving just before 10 pm......a few minutes later Glenn (brother-in-law) and Laureen (sister-in-law) came over for a night cap.......I poured each of us a shot of Glennmorangie single malt scotch.

We bid our adieus around 11:15 pm, and were in bed a little after midnight......well, really 10:15 pm if it weren't for PDST!

Thanks for stopping by!