nec2007

After living out of suitcases since since 3 January, we've finally reached the last day of our holiday. I know it's not the longest 'career break' ever, but any longer and CJ is going to start thinking this is the way life is meant to be. A couple of weeks ago, he started talking a lot about having his own bedroom with all his toys in a toybox, bless him. He was very good in San Francisco when we had to throw away a lot of the cheap toys we'd accumulated on our journey, or maybe he didn't pay attention and he'll start asking about them soon. Anyhoo, we flew to Waikiki with very heavy bags necessitating an excess baggage charge. Great. Can't complain though, because we were upgraded to better seats, probably due to ... read more

Another city, another questionable hotel choice. Our hotel is on the corner occupied by Whiskey-a-Go-Go and The Viper Room (yes, the club where River Phoenix met his fate). Never mind, we're not exactly wandering the streets late at night with CJ, and it's actually a really nice hotel. Driving down Sunset Blvd through Beverley Hills to get to our hotel was a real treat - past huge gated mansions and the Beverley Hills Hotel. The first evening we got a cab to Universal City Walk and had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, which was fun. The next day was probably the highlight of the trip so far for me - a VIP tour of Warner Bros Studios. It was 5 1/2 hours of movie and tv heaven. I saw the ER ambulance bay, Central Perk ... read more

We ended up staying in Laughlin for 4 nights. This was due in no small part to the bed. A king-sized, pillow-topped, heavenly cloud. Oh, and Nic was still ahead against the geriatrics. Apparently casualties are commonplace. While Nic was sitting at a poker table, one of the players suddenly slumped onto the table. Nobody batted an eyelid, including the dealer. Nic asked if the guy was OK. The dealer informed him that he'd soon come round - he'd just taken his tablets a bit late. Not wanting to dwell on the 'resort for the aged' motif, I must finally mention the two things that started to grate after four days in Laughlin. Firstly, the non-stop 'sounds of the sixties' blaring on the loudspeakers throughout (although initially this was refreshing after weeks of hearing the same ... read more

Several people have asked for a more detailed account of Nic's poker exploits, so here it is, in his own words. This is a brief account of my 14 days with nothing better to do than play poker (thanks to El for giving me the time). My preferred game is 7 card stud but even in Vegas everyone is obsessed with texas hold-em, so no-limit texas holdem tourneys and small stakes limit (2-4, 4-8 and in Laughlin 2-6 spread) games were on the menu for me. I played in 5 tournaments overall (all in the Sahara) each for a buy-in of $40 + $2 (3000 chips) with one rebuy if required at $20 (2000 more chips) before the first 3 levels. Levels were 20 mins with a break every three levels. In the first two I ... read more

It seems like a long time since I last posted an entry, and the last 9 days have been such a contrast to the rest of our journey. Las Vegas was as crazy as it has always been, but our experience there was very different to our last visit. No candle-lit dinners a deux, cocktail lounges or glamourous shows this time. Nic spent every minute he could (or his backside could handle) playing poker, and I had to come up with as many ways as possible to amuse a 3-year old in the city of sin. (To my fellow women out there - no, I haven't become a Stepford wife. Poker is Nic's major hobby at the moment, and I'm happy to be responsible for the childcare while he fulfills his gaming ambitions. I'm sure he'll ... read more

What a strange and wonderful place Santa Fe is. It's a mix of native american/mexican cultures, with a good dose of posh american spa culture thrown in. And the adobe pueblo architecture makes it unique - every building from drive-thru coffee huts to banks are the same style. They have the only Hilton Hotel I've ever seen with massive garlands of dried chillis hanging from every brown adobe archway. We walked around the main plaza, poked around the Native American turquoise and silver stalls and CJ entertained us on the bandstand with his rendition of 'IT'S A BANDSTAND SHOW... WOOO'. I contravened our budget regime by ordering a turquoise necklace (oops) and we had a fantastic (new) mexican meal. The next morning, after picking up the necklace, we headed off in the wrong direction completely, but ... read more