Tenerife, Las Vegas

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I wanted to wait a bit to write the next one since I thought putting one after the other (Scotland, then Tenerife/Vegas) would be too much to read but of course, that ended up being ridiculous since now its a month later and I finally have one morning to write!!!

We had one week of chaos between Scotland and Tenerife. We left for Tenerife, desperate for a vacation and ensured that our three days there were beautiful and relaxed. Our original plan was to be there for 7 days of pure beach bliss but in Scotland we got an email from Sparkfun, an American electronics company (Sparkfun.com) that we have often ordered parts from for our fun projects. They wanted to feature our project, the critical corset, in VEGAS! But we had to do it, like, NOW. So we comprimised and said okay, half a vacation in Tenerife and half a week in Vegas. It worked out well, if a bit busy!

We got to Tenerife the day before their celebrations of 'conquering' the island back in the old days. Saturday night we went to a little restaurant and had some lovely cheeses and prosciutto and San Miguel beer. We got an amazing apartment in the time share (thank you parents!) overlooking the ocean and all the other time shares. It had a kitchen which we stocked with tapas and wines and spent nearly the whole time on our balcony in the reclining chairs, enjoying the view and a lot of tasty treats.

Sunday was a fun day since it was the island's celebration day and they were setting off fireworks all day long, we saw fighter jets cruising around, hanggliders, and then went into town for a great fireworks performance. Our wonderful receptionist at the time share spent ten minutes talking with the taxi driver to direct us to the best viewing location/restaurant but I think we took a wrong turn, and ended up going for a long walk into the heart of town, where there was a parade going on! It was great, lots of people in the streets, and we stopped at a tiny bar to have some grilled meat and beer before watching the fireworks which after two hours worth of fireworks we decided to head back as it was late and didn't look like it was stopping!

We spent the next couple days alternating between our apartment balcony and a beautiful beach front resort area which was built on the ocean front, and had a bar in the pool with a huge pool that looked like a lagoon. We also went on a volcano tour, which was 50 old german tourists, and us. It was great to see the volcano area, reminded me of Grand Coulee Dam in Washington but I didn't see a giant lava flow so I was disappointed. Had fun in the volcanic grounds, running around and lifting up giant rocks, interacting with tons of lizards, and feeding them granola bars which we probably shouldn't have but I think they're quite accustomed to taunting tourists so it was okay.

We spent our last day relaxing and swimming and then went off to the airport again, this time to Frankfurt, for an overnight stay before heading to Las Vegas. A side note about airports: I had no idea how much *fun* (ridiculous annoyance) it is to be a European going to the USA. First off, what looks like an airline stewardess greets you and then proceeds to ask about 50 questions (and our story was complicated, Denmark to Tenerife on vacation, Frankfurt overnight, going to Vegas on business with electronics) about everything. She didn't seem to understand that our business was 'electronics' then had to confirm with her boss that it was okay that we were going lalala - all before we even checked in!!! It was madness. Then a rush through the airport to try to get to security, which was far less intimidating than Miss America Security and then realized that despite Frankfurt airport's fantastic shopping areas - we had got stuck in the USA waiting area - a small room with a bathroom and a miniature gas station like shop selling overpriced water. Luckily our stay was only about an hour and a half - but it was still insane - when people are traveling and have lots of time in an airport you give them shopping and space, not a cramped room and a kiosk. Idiots.

Our flight was fine, and after a switch in...somewhere? Can't remember, anyway we got to Vegas around 6pm. We met with the Sparkfun people, AnnDrea and Chris, and waited for Nate to arrive. We all headed back to the Stratosphere after grabbing a much needed Starbucks and got settled before we headed out for the night. Now remember, this is around hour 20 for us of traveling since waking up in Frankfurt. We went for dinner at the Venetian at a great italian restaurant. On our way, Dzl adjusted to Vegas. I have been there three times now, Nate and Chris when they were younger and AnnDrea was also a VegasVirgin. We had a great dinner and walked through all the amazing hotels, stopping to see the Treasure Island sirens show (finally! I have missed it both other visits) and then going for drinks on the slightly secret patio in the Wynn overlooking their digital waterfall show. It was great! We went out for a few more drinks and finally ended up back at the Stratosphere where Dzl won a whole whopping $11, enough for a cocktail and then at hour 32, we went to bed....for around three hours. Gahhh. We couldn't sleep more than 3 hours, we had apparently, royally screwed up our sleeping patterns. We got up, rented the tuxedo for the photo shoot, and had a fun picture there (see photo) and then spent some time at the pool before going to Planet Hollywood (hotel) for a buffet lunch. After lunch (around 6) we were wiped, like really exahusted but we had to go and do the photoshoot, so we got back to the hotel, sleeping in the ten minute car ride, and slept for half an hour before getting ready and heading out.

Dzl had a fantastic tuxedo with tails and a red cumber-bun. I wore my black skirt, black top and corset with new heels from Scotland and my black short wig. Nails, lips, red. It was quite a change from the two jetlagged people of a few hours before. We headed out to New York, New York and went to the meridian in the middle of the Vegas strip, right outside New York, New York and took photos with the Vegas strip in the background. (See photo) it was an amazing experience, and we had people in cars going back commenting and hollering which was fun. Afterwards, we headed to the ibar - an interactive bar at the Rio where we got to play with the Microsoft Surface which was cool - all the tables are connected so you can 'flirt' with other tables; view YouTube, etc, etc. That was neat. We eventually headed back to the hotel and had a great night's sleep!

In the morning, my parents arrived and we spent some time with Sparkfun, having breakfast, saying thank you and bye since they were leaving that day. We had a truly amazing trip to Vegas and we can't thank Sparkfun enough for the extraordinary experience! YAY!

My parents managed to fly in to Vegas for the weekend which was great since I really missed them and couldn't get to Vancouver flight wise with all the other flights we had. We spent Saturday at the pool, and then went for drinks to a really cool restaurant called the Artisan, off the strip but super Victorian/Goth/Art style and it was beautiful! After, we met up with Dzl who had needed to sleep off afternoon cocktails in the sun combined with jetlag, and we went for dinner at the Stratosphere. The next day we went on a tour of the hotels, and it was mother's day so that was great, I encouraged my parents to go on the roller coaster at NYNY and despite great complaints they finally went and had a blast! We walked and walked and finally found a buffet (since all were packed and expensive due to mother's day) we went to Paris and they had a beautiful buffet - it looked like a little old village and it was super amazing because it looked like it was outdoors, complete with sunset. It was flowing champagne and crab legs and was wonderful! That night we had wine and snacks in my parents room and then headed up to see the Stratosphere heights and all of Vegas, from above! We then went to the new hotel, the Encore, sister of the Wynn and my mom's favorite hotel since it features Dragonflies (her company is Dragonflies' Ceilidh). We gambled a bit, I broke the Star Trek slot machine and we left.

Monday morning was a hunt for food and a quick goodbye early at the airport before my parents went home and we headed back to Denmark.

Another amazing trip! I am so thankful for all these incredible experiences, and this one was especially cool and unique, thank you Sparkfun for everything! Thank you parents for flying out! ** Scroll down for Sparkfun Ad!!!**

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