The next
few posts are going to be VERY picture-heavy. My apologies, in
advance....
...sort of....LOL!
Well, I figured that the best way to tell this story is to break it down into a few different posts. We'll see how many it takes to tell this amazing story...
The build-up for this trip was pretty intense. There's been a lot going on at home, and while I was excited about the trip, it didn't really hit me until Friday night that I was leaving. I didn't sleep much on Friday night (as much because of the excitement as from the fact that, for some reason, I'm not sleeping lately). So, Saturday morning came early (3am for me), and I sat around for a bit, waiting to get my shower.
By the way, did you know that television at 3am kind of sucks. Someone needs to get on that. It seems like insomniacs would have started a petition or something. LOL!
Anyways, once we got everyone up and out of the house, we headed to the airport. Julia had a full weekend planned, so Kevin and Levi had plans to spend the day together. They all dropped me off, and went on their way. I headed inside and got the bags checked. About 5 booths over, there was a camera crew, balloons, and a celebration happening. Turns out, a little boy's wish was being granted by Make-A-Wish....and, it was awesome to see. He was such a happy little man....it was pretty profound to see him happiness in spite of his illness. It was a heck of a way to start out my trip - Gina and I spent time just watching him and the family as they had pictures taken of this momentous occasion, and really just absorbing their positivity and energy.
...sort of....LOL!
Well, I figured that the best way to tell this story is to break it down into a few different posts. We'll see how many it takes to tell this amazing story...
The build-up for this trip was pretty intense. There's been a lot going on at home, and while I was excited about the trip, it didn't really hit me until Friday night that I was leaving. I didn't sleep much on Friday night (as much because of the excitement as from the fact that, for some reason, I'm not sleeping lately). So, Saturday morning came early (3am for me), and I sat around for a bit, waiting to get my shower.
By the way, did you know that television at 3am kind of sucks. Someone needs to get on that. It seems like insomniacs would have started a petition or something. LOL!
Anyways, once we got everyone up and out of the house, we headed to the airport. Julia had a full weekend planned, so Kevin and Levi had plans to spend the day together. They all dropped me off, and went on their way. I headed inside and got the bags checked. About 5 booths over, there was a camera crew, balloons, and a celebration happening. Turns out, a little boy's wish was being granted by Make-A-Wish....and, it was awesome to see. He was such a happy little man....it was pretty profound to see him happiness in spite of his illness. It was a heck of a way to start out my trip - Gina and I spent time just watching him and the family as they had pictures taken of this momentous occasion, and really just absorbing their positivity and energy.
Getting
on the plane, I don't know that it was real yet. Honestly, I don't think
the fact that I was headed to Vegas hit me until I got there, and walked out of
the hallway into an airport full of lights, noise, and people. The slot
machines, the games, the blinking and flashing of the lights, the chinging and
clanging of the games....pretty cool! And, the people watching?
Even in the airport....epic.
With the help from a friend of Gina's, we made it to the hotel (the Luxor) and found out we had to wait about an hour for check-in. No problem - there was a casino in the hotel, and so we decided that Vegas wouldn't get nearly enough out of us over the weekend, so we sat at a machine for a bit. I only gambled away $5. I am not one to generally enjoy games (and, really, this was nothing more than a video game that took my money), so as anyone that knows me can imagine, this didn't hold my interest for very long at all. Matter of fact, it kept going much longer than I wanted. I finally walked away.
We checked into the hotel (after quality-testing the adult beverage slushy bar), and got settled.
With the help from a friend of Gina's, we made it to the hotel (the Luxor) and found out we had to wait about an hour for check-in. No problem - there was a casino in the hotel, and so we decided that Vegas wouldn't get nearly enough out of us over the weekend, so we sat at a machine for a bit. I only gambled away $5. I am not one to generally enjoy games (and, really, this was nothing more than a video game that took my money), so as anyone that knows me can imagine, this didn't hold my interest for very long at all. Matter of fact, it kept going much longer than I wanted. I finally walked away.
We checked into the hotel (after quality-testing the adult beverage slushy bar), and got settled.
Looking
up into the pyramid - I liked this hotel!
Looking
from our room on the 24th floor, onto the Strip.
Looking
towards Mandalay Bay.
This weekend was a perfect one for me to go to Vegas. The
National Finals Rodeo were there, and the town was full of cowboys.
:)
We got unpacked, spiffied up, and headed out to the Las Vegas
Convention Center, which hosted the Cowboy Christmas...basically,
anything and everything you would need if you were the roping, ridin' type.
Or, if you're like me and fascinated by that entire lifestyle, you would
enjoy window shopping.
We took
the monorail from the MGM Hotel to the Convention Center, and looked damn good
doing it.
Walking into the Cowboy Christmas was overwhelming and amazing and
fabulous fun. I had such a good time walking around, looking at things,
people-watching...yeah. This will be an annual occurrence. Merry
Christmas to me. Who is joining me next year?
We spent a few hours there, and met several cowboys (many of the
finalists for the various categories were there for meet-and-greets), some up-and-coming
country stars (Jason Sturgeon, for one
- super nice guy who gave me his last CD and signed it.....make sure you listen
to him!), and just enjoyed the scenery. Neither of us had eaten, so we made
out way back to the hotel and ended up walking quite a bit, then stopping for
lunch at PF Chang's. Back at the hotel, we took some downtime to relax,
rest up, and get ready for the concert.
We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with Hope, one of
Rodney's "people" and someone I now consider a friend, for dinner
before the concert, along with some of the other fans. It ended up being
a small gathering (maybe 10 of us), and I made some fabulous new friends.
At about 9:15, we had to head out...Hope had to work, and we had a
concert to get to.
Meeting
Hope for the first time in person was truly like finding another piece of my
soul. I adore this woman. Just adore her. She's a cancer
survivor (4 times!), and we just *got* each other.
Yes, I
took a hot, leggy blonde with me to Vegas to gawk at cowboys.
Remind me
not to do that again. :)
Our
Meet-and-Greet pass. I wasn't losing this.....
The concert was at the House of Blues, and we
didn't get nearly as close to the stage as I wanted to be. In spite of
that, we were still maybe 10 or 12 people back from front row, so not too
shabby at all.
This is a
beautiful venue - high ceilings, good seating, a great dance floor....
And,
there's my man. No, he doesn't know this. I don't care. To
me, this man has literally changed who I am and how I've fought this battle, so
he's mine. At least, a little piece of him is. And, he has my
heart....
This?
Makes me very grateful for boots, hats and Wranglers.
Making
sure the crowd sings with him - I'm pretty sure this was "Just Wanna Rock
'N Roll". Love love love this song, especially now that I know some
of the background on it and why he chose it.
The red
guitar on the right is his new one, care ofMassey-Ferguson, who is Rodney's sponsor
and the company that brought him to Las Vegas. I got the chance to meet
one of the MF folks on Sunday (more on that in the next post), and thank her
for what she does for people like me. We both ended up crying (in a good
way). *sigh* This became a theme over the weekend.
#Liam
:)
It's
America.....
One of my
favorite photos from that night.
This just
seems to epitomize who this man is, and what he stands for.
Why yes -
I was swooning....thanks for asking.
The last
song of the night? Yeah - my song.
Did I
freak out? Um....maybe a little.
Getting
the crowd to sing with him - always awesome to hear so many people singing a
song that means so damn much to me!
It's
(honestly) breathtaking to see him singing a song that I have listened to for
so many years, that has gotten me through the deepest, darkest hours of my
life, and continues to inspire me, everytime I hear the first few banjo
licks.
After the
concert was over, we found the line for the meet-and-greet, and we got to see Hope in action. In spite of the very tall, very determined security person that insisted on messing with Hope's plans, the actual meet-and-greet went pretty quickly, once it started. They ushered the Massey folks through first, then Hope was insistent that I be first in line for the "fan club" folks. Before me was one other very cool couple, who had gotten engaged during the concert, which is just awesome!
concert was over, we found the line for the meet-and-greet, and we got to see Hope in action. In spite of the very tall, very determined security person that insisted on messing with Hope's plans, the actual meet-and-greet went pretty quickly, once it started. They ushered the Massey folks through first, then Hope was insistent that I be first in line for the "fan club" folks. Before me was one other very cool couple, who had gotten engaged during the concert, which is just awesome!
When it
was my turn, I looked at him, he looked at me, and I said to him "Let's
see if I can do this without blubbering..." He smiled, told me I
looked good (swoon), and then grabbed me for a hug.
Gina and
I both got the chance to say hi.
I just
adore this man - what he's done for me, and how he's helped me through....I
just can't possibly, ever, thank him enough. It's almost overwhelming,
the gratitude I feel for him and Hope.
After the show, we hung out just outside the venue for a few
minutes, and happened to meet up with Rodney's guitar players, Phil and
Liam. Ironically, Liam is from a small town in upstate/southern
NY, about an hour south of where I grew up!
It was strange meeting them, because they knew who I am. It
was more than a little disconcerting, but I got over it. They are the
nicest guys, and I'm so grateful to have had the chance to meet
them.
Hi
Phil!
Hi,
#Liam. (This is an inside joke....sorry)
Overall,
the first day in Vegas was amazing. I was exhausted on (technically)
Sunday morning when we got back to the hotel, but it was SO worth it.
Meeting Hope, seeing Rodney again, getting to meet some of the band -
yeah. This is definitely the way to go to Vegas.
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