Leaving Las Vegas

by Pa Rock
Movie Buff

It is way too early for any civilized individual to be at the airport, but here I sit. I said good-bye to my kids last night. Nick, Tim, and Erin are in the air heading toward Kansas City, and Molly and Scott are probably still sleeping because their flight isn't until noon. By the time they are in the air, I will be peacefully sleeping in my apartment!

Las Vegas tends to lose its luster after a few days, and it will be good to get back to the relative calm of Phoenix.

Note to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce: Was it really necessary to shut down all of the outdoor escalators on Easter Sunday? How many tourists suffered coronaries as they has to climb up and over the major intersections? You suck!

Poor Wilbur:

As our plane was preparing for take-off this morning an airport terminal employee rushed on board to get an emergency message to a departing passenger. "If we have a Wilbur (last name withheld) on board, your girlfriend, Priscilla, from Ahwahtukee just called. She can't pick you up at the airport because her car is broken down. You are to take a cab with the eleven dollars that you have on you and in the direction of her place. Call her on her cell phone when the eleven dollars runs out." Long pause. "Good luck, Wilbur."

Eleven dollars would have gotten him just about out of the airport!

Tales of the Strip

by Pa Rock
Weary Walker

We have been up the Strip and down the Strip today, putting several miles on my old tennies. The group included myself, my son Nick, my other son, Tim, and his fiance Erin Pater, and my daughter, Molly Files, and her husband Scott. My nephew, Reed Smith, joined us in the mall at Planet Hollywood and spent the rest of his Saturday showing us through the glittering maze that is the Las Vegas Strip.

One of the first attractions that we encountered was the dancing fountains at the Belagio. I have never seen the new version of the movie, Ocean's Eleven, but I understand that those choreographed waters were featured in it. Today the waters were dancing to Frank Sinatra's vocal rendition of Luck Be A Lady Tonight. We also strolled through the Belagio and toured a beautiful indoor spring flower garden with tulips and poppies galore. And then there was the candy shop with its massive chocolate fountain. The Belagio is a "must see" for anyone coming to Vegas.

Our next stop was an outdoor bar at Caesar's Palace where we rested and refreshed. The only alcohol that has slipped past my lips on this trip was a Bailey's Shake yesterday which was delicious - as it should have been for $7.50! But people were walking up and down the street drinking well before noon - it's that kind of place! Big mixed drinks in unique plastic containers are everywhere. A person can buy a yard of daiquiri in what looks to be a three-foot flower vase. There ware also large plastic guitars and replicas of the Eiffel Tower with straws coming out of their tops for classy booze consumption while navigating the Strip.

The Forum Shops in Caesar's are amazing. They are enlcosed in an enormous in-door mall with Roman statuary and fountains around every corner. The ceilings are two stories high domed affairs painted and backlit to resemble the sky. It does give the feeling of walking through ancient Rome on a partly cloudy day with a very international, camera-toting, population.

Caesar's was where we had our only celebrity sighting of the day. Former baseball bad boy, Pete Rose, was holed up in a storefront signing autographs for pay. We stopped and took his picture, in much the same way that one would take a picture of a simian pulling lice off of itself at the zoo. Old Pete looked old, really old, Pa Rock old! Reed commented on the irony of the Hall-of-Famer-Wannabe signing autographs for pay at Caesar's in Las Vegas! (He probably used his breaks to run upstairs and check his bets!)

Our next stop was the Venetian where we watched the gondola's make their way slowly up and down the Grand Canal which flows through the center of the hotel-casino complex. The Venetian, like the Belagio and Caesar's Palace, is elegant to a fault. One of the unique features at the Venetian is a spiral escalator, not something that one is likely to see in stodgy old New York or Chicago.

On the way back toward our hotel, The Tropicana, we passed two long lines of what Tim and I decided to call "clickers." These were men and women who were handing out business cards for the prostitutes. They would slap the cards on their wrists or click them together making a very distincitve rattling sound. Any tourist who made eye contact with a clicker got a couple of cards - and once a person accepted one guy's cards, everybody else gave them theirs as well. Needless to say, the sidewalks and streets are littered with glossy photos of other people's daughters.

The working girls also place advertisements in small throw-away newspapers that some of the clickers hand out. These are commonly referred to as "the sporting pages!" If all of that doesn't free a person of their virtue, there are billboard trucks cruising the Strip with huge photos of "Hot Babes" along with phone numbers. And then there are the more ambitious vixen who walk right up and proposition the rubes. One member of our party was approached in the casino last night by a woman who offered to follow him to his room for three hundred dollars!

I also noted some fine literary efforts during our outing today. There was a vagrant sitting on the overpass outside of our hotel with a box for donations. His sign read simply, "Why lie? I need a beer." A young man passed us wearing a t-shirt that proudly proclaimed "Fuck Milk! Got Pot?" And then there was the old fellow - at least ten years my senior - who made his statement by carrying a ghetto blaster that was pounding out music from the sixties!

It was an exciting day. Tonight I plan to lay around and watch my feet swell!

Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City: They've Gone About as Fer as They Can Go!

by Pa Rock
Tourist

It's been a busy day in Kansas City. Tim and Erin and I had brunch at Tom Foolerie's on the Plaza with Carla and her daughter, Jennie. It was a get-acquainted session so the kids could meet the parents - great food and conversation.

I tagged along with Tim and Erin after brunch to a visit to the Kansas City Farmers' Market which covers a nice piece of real estate in the center of town. The market had a wide array of farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, along with some very interesting places to eat. We followed that up with a trip to a large flea market - where I behaved and didn't drag anything back to their apartment!

Erin had a family obligation this afternoon, so Tim and I went exploring on our own. We had great pizza at a place by the name of Minsky's, and followed that with a trip to really fancy grocery store. Cosentino's, the grocery, had several deli and speciality shops, and a wide array of groceries ranging from staple foods to gourmet items. I observed a little girl begging her parents for a small bottle of "root beer milk," so I had to have one as well! (It was that type of shopping trip!) Before leaving, we had samples of gelato and wound up buying cups of that as well. My flavors were caramel and coconut cream pie - um, um, good!

Cosentino's had shiny black grocery carts that navigated beautifully as long as they were inside of the store. As soon as a cart left the premisis, it's wheels would lock up! This country boy was amazed - everything really is up to date in Kansas City! (My inner social worker is very concerned about the future of homeless people if these new-fangled carts catch on!)

Tomorrow morning Carla and I are headed to New York City!

Coronado Tuesday

by Pa Rock
Sentimental Tourist

Tim, Erin, Nick, and I were out on Coronado too early this morning so that Molly and Scott could borrow my car to go get their marriage license. We had breakfast at a 50's Diner on Orange Street (Coronado's main drag). When breakfast was over we headed out toward the beach where we ran into Scott's dad, Alvin Files. We walked along the beach, and Tim took his shoes of and waded into the surf. Our next stop was the beautiful Del Coronado Hotel where we walked through the lobby (adorned for Christmas), the shops area, and the gardens.

Coronado is in full bloom. The sidewalks are bordered with flower beds and flowering shrubbery. There is a type of canna common here that I have not seen other places. It is called "bird of paradise," and the blooms look exactly like the profile of a crane. We also noticed poinsettias planted in the flower beds with their red holiday leaves stunningly out of place in the warm Pacific sunshine.

We rode the Coronado ferry over to the San Diego Harbor for a few hours in the afternoon. En route we passed the USS Ronald Reagan (aircraft carrier) that just returned to port today after several months at sea serving in the Middle East and the Philippines. There was film on television tonight of its arrival - crying families, wives with babies that had been born since the ship sailed, banners and signs - much like the reunions that I witnessed in the aircraft hangars back at Ft. Campbell.

Our main activity at the harbor was just to walk along looking at the large art displays that line the waterfront. Alvin and Susan Files showed us how to get to the ferry. Molly and Scott were able to join our group for that outing. Susan Files is a teacher, and she and I had a discussion about education - with her catching me up of some of the changes that have happened since I left that profession. Alvin is an attorney. They live in Ada, Oklahoma.

The forecast is for heavy rain later tonight. It will supposedly be the heaviest rain since January. Molly and Scott have a Plan B for an indoor wedding, but they had their hearts set on getting married on the beach. Maybe the sun will come shining through!

This evening we went back to Coronado for dinner with Scott and Molly. Little Sebastian arrived this afternoon and was quite the center of attention. We ate at an Irish Pub and were entertained by an older male vocalist (somewhere around my age!) with an acoustic guitar who sang the songs of my youth - the Beatles, Jimmy Buffett, Simon and Garfunkle, James Brown, Janis Joplin, and Arlo Guthrie - to name but a few. It was a very nice evening!

Tomorrow is the wedding day, rain though it may.

We are having a grand time in San Diego!

San Diego Monday

by Pa Rock

Nick and I spent a couple of hours today touring the USS Midway, an Aircraft Carrier that is pulling retirement duty as a museum in the San Diego Harbor. The Midway has numerous aircraft that saw service from the Korean War through Desert Storm. The Carnival Cruise Ship Elation was anchored in the neighboring berth. That is the ship that Molly and Scott will take on their honeymoon.

Molly and Scott arrived this afternoon, and Nick and I got to Coronado in time to help them take their luggage to their room. Then we hustled over to the airport and picked up Tim and Erin. So hail, hail, the gang's all here!

Two interesting things happened at the airport. We were in McDonald's waiting on them to butcher a cow and make our sandwiches, when a distinguished looking gentleman wearing a suit and carrying an expensive briefcase walked up to the counter and ordered a hamburger. "Just a hamburger." He told the crew kids. The girl at the counter told him that would be two dollars and four cents. The interesting thing about that encounter is that I can remember when a McDonald's hamburger was fifteen cents! And from the look on the customer's face, he could too!

The other incident of note happened when we accompanied Tim and Erin to the luggage carousel. I saw what appeared to be some litter on the floor. As I looked it over, the litter came into focus as a crumpled up twenty dollar bill. I quickly bent over and snatched it up. After a careful scan of the environs, I determined that no one was stumbling around looking for their money, and, more importantly, there did not appear to be some film crew doing a "candid camera" piece - or a psychology professor doing honesty research. The three alternatives as I saw it were to give the twenty dollar bill to TSA (aka Public Enemy #1), wave it around in the air yelling "Hey, did anyone lose a twenty?", or avoid the public melee by putting it in my pocket. I chose door number three.

Goodnight from San Diego.

Heading West

by Pa Rock
Busy Dad

My oldest son, Nick Macy, arrived in Phoenix this afternoon, and tomorrow morning he and I are heading out to San Diego, a drive across the desert of slightly more than five hours. I am looking forward to getting out of Phoenix for a few days. We made the same trip in August, and it was really nice because Nick did all of the driving.

We are going to San Diego for my daughter's wedding. Molly and Scott Files are tying the knot on the beach at Coronado next Wednesday. It will be one of those rare times when all of my kids are together. We are all hoping that the weather will cooperate. but I bought a couple of golf umbrellas today - just in case. I received some strange looks from the check-out lady in Target, probably because it never rains in Arizona.

My youngest son, Tim, is flying into San Diego on Monday with his fiancee, Erin Pater. Tim and Erin and Nick and I will all be staying at the Guest Lodge at the Naval Base - one of the benefits of working for the military. The lodge is convenient to all of the places where we will be going, and the price is nice, too.

This will be my third trip to San Diego this year. I am getting way too accustomed to the drive. It is a beautiful city with a wonderful Mediterranean climate. Maybe I need to think seriously about moving there!

Election Day in Kansas City!

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

My youngest son, Tim, and his lady, Erin, live in downtown Kansas City, MO, in a gentrified area called Quality Hill. Tim sent me the following account of their early morning voting experience:

Erin and I made ourselves go to bed early last night so that we would be less likely to "not hear" the alarm clock this morning when it started reminding us to go vote this morning at 5AM. We each rolled out of bed at 5:15AM, took little care in our appearances and hoofed it beneath the stars just less than half a block to a retirement home that was to be our polling place. When we arrived at 5:30 we were surprised to see only 20 voters ahead of us. The locals news had warned of more. To be sure, within fifteen minutes there were another 100 voters behind us. There was much laughter and a little shivering in the chilly wind but, being November 4th, it could have been considerably colder and/or wetter.

At 6AM the doors opened and the line carried us into the heart of this retirement home where many elderly folks greeted us with a smile. 6AM is their time of the day like 11PM is my time of the day. Several women drove scooters in circles through the tables setting out sharp pencils. A variety of men and women ran the table, signing us all in and giving us the option of using a paper ballot or waiting in line for the one electronic ballot. We chose paper. To my surprise, privacy did not play any part in the voting process. Some cardboard boxes had been cut out in the shape of a tiny wall but the majority of us sat and voted in plain sight of all the passersby. I tried not to look as I carried my paper ballot to a far table.

Yesterday, Erin and I both made an attempt to educate ourselves on the lesser known ballot initiatives so it wouldn't be a guessing situation. A lightrail, gambling loss limits, sewage water treatment, the "correct" language to be spoken at all official public meetings... relatively easy choices (the gambling loss limit one could have gone either direction... being a former blackjack dealer--having watched middle-aged men and women cry at the table and tell me that they couldn't go home until they won some of their money back... I had to go with my heart on that one). The difficult part was the list of judges. Most of the names of the 15 or so judges were unfamiliar to me. Next time... I will better prep myself in that area.

The excitement of finally seeing Obama/Biden on the ticket made the morning worth the long and sleepy day that will surely follow. The printed names were the culmination of a long, difficult campaign season... the beginning of which is filed in my memory alongside beginnings such as the first cell phone I ever saw or the first time I emailed someone... it happened, but I don't remember when or the exact circumstances.

As we walked out the line held steady at around 200 people. The wind died down and the sun shone strong overhead. Missouri law mandates that employees be given three hours to vote with prior notice to their employers and the voters all knew it. I overheard one man tell the older woman next to him that he hadn't voted in twenty years. She said "shame on you and good for you" all in one breath.

Tonight Erin and I will watch the results coming in with our friends in Lawrence at a dinner party. Tomorrow we'll sleep later and better knowing that our eight-year nightmare has been successfully exercised (that feels like the appropriate verb) from our anxiety-riddled lives through the time-tested process of democracy. What will root in its place remains to be seen but the cleansing motion will at least get us back within arm's reach of that temporarily misplaced feeling of hope that we all require.

Lastly, with my "I voted" sticker I'm entitled to a variety of free services and products in the KC Metro area. The best of which are clearly a Krispy Kreme donut, a large coffee from Starbucks, free ice cream at Ben and Jerry's, a Chick-Fil-A sandwich and a free body piercing. Should be an interesting day.

And Carla, a special friend of mine from our college days in the 1960's, voted early in Independence, MO, Harry Truman's hometown. Carla sent these comments about her voting experience in the Kansas City area:

Just returned from voting at my tiny polling place which normally has four machines. Today they had eight machines. I arrived at 5:50 AM and the parking lot at the church was filled. I parked in an empty field. I waited in line 45 minutes to vote. While waiting in line, I thought I'd call Daughter No. 1 in St. Louis and warn her about the lines - she was already in line at 6 AM and was still waiting to get in to vote when I called Daughter No. 2 to prod her along at 6:50. At least they learned some things from me.

In my adult life I do not remember waiting in line that long ever to vote for anything! (Of course, I don't remember what I did for lunch yesterday!) Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer. I was just reminded that the Democratic Watch Party in Chicago tonight is in the same park where demonstrators were beaten in 1968.

And now I am planted in front of my television set waiting to see how the rest of Missouri voted. From what Tim and Carla reported, the numbers will be huge!

GOBAMA!

Boone at the Bee by Uncle Tim

To one and all,

Erin and I made the drive down last weekend to see young Boone Macy at the spelling bee. I am happy to report that he blazed through like he'd been spelling for fifty years before finally being tripped up by "anonymous" (which is a hard word to spell for me). He was composed and courteous and even when he had to step out of line he never acted like anything but a gentleman.

They all seem to be doing well down there.

Tim

Holiday Highlights

Feliz Navidad Amigos,

I have been in Missouri for the past few days celebrating the holidays with family and friends. There was no snow in the Ozarks this holiday season, so I will have to be content with watching it snow on television or in the movies this winter. It definitely won’t happen in Phoenix!

This year’s holiday adventure began as I was trying to get cleared to catch my flight out of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport on the 19th. The good folks at TSA managed to find a reason to collect my shaving cream and toothpaste, even though I thought that I had met all of their insufferable criteria. (The plastic baggie that I had them in was too big, as were the containers. And, for all of you future travelers out of Phoenix, it’s not the amount of toothpaste in the tube; it is the amount that the tube was designed to carry.) Sky Harbor is one place where you do not want to argue with authority figures. Last September their airport security caused the death of a woman when they handcuffed her and left her alone in a locked room. The lady was inebriated, supposedly, and spoke impolitely to the airport cops. After they left her alone, she choked to death trying to squirm out of the handcuffs. Turns out she was a wealthy, well-connected socialite from New York. Whoops! That’s gonna cost them an airplane or two!

My second holiday adventure occurred at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, a former cow pasture located just outside of Bentonville, Arkansas, near the little crossroads of Highfill. Highfill International, as it is lovingly referred to by the locals, is a relatively new airport that was put together about a decade ago by the Walton’s, Tyson’s, Hunt’s, and other assorted aristocrats of the area. My Dad arrived there on the 19th to pick me up. There was a parking space right in front of the terminal, which he thought was great, so he parked there and went inside. (My Dad is eighty-three. It takes a great deal of effort for him to walk, and he can hardly hear at all.) When I met him in the airport I heard an overhead announcement describing his truck and saying that the owner needed to get out there immediately. I put on my best smile and went out to resolve the situation. The lady with the ticket pad was already writing and refused to show any holiday spirit. I had her bring her supervisor outside and proceeded to give them some of my holiday spirit. Total price: $20.00 - and I don't regret a single peso! There is no doubt in my mind that Santa Claus will leave chicken poop in her stocking this year!

Adventure number three happened the next day after I had torn apart my Dad’s house searching for my car keys. I had left my car at a park and fly (The Parking Spot) in Phoenix, so I didn’t need them; I just wanted to know where they were. After a long, futile search, I telephoned the Parking Spot and asked Stephanie, the sweetest lady in all of Phoenix, if she would check my car and see if I had left the keys in the ignition. I gave her time to check and then called back. Stephanie replied that my keys were in the ignition, and that my car was still running – thirty hours after I had left it there! A Parking Spot driver was eventually able to get into the car, turn off the engine, and retrieve my keys. I will be nominating myself for the Darwin Award this year!

My final adventure occurred on the night of the 22nd as I was trying to leave. Winter storms were flirting with the Ozarks, and I made a decision to go to the airport the night before my 5:30 a.m. scheduled departure. I didn’t want to take the chance of having my Dad get out in bad weather. A friend took me to Highfill and I spent the entire night listening to taped TSA warnings about all kinds of ways those sneaky terrorists might bring their evil to Arkansas.

Three of my New Year’s resolutions are to always use the Parking Spot in Phoenix when I fly, always be polite to the Gestapo at Sky Harbor, and never fly into or out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. Of course, there is a good chance that my next trip home will be by Greyhound, or in my amazing little car that can idle for thirty hours!

There were many happy times woven into this holiday. I saw all three of my children and both of my grandchildren. Tim, my youngest, informed us that he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Erin, which is great because we all love Erin! Boone, my oldest grandson, announced that he had given two girls diamond rings for Christmas. He bought them at the dollar store. I saw my sister, Gail, and two of her kids, Tiffany and Justin, and Justin’s wife, Lisa. I had lunch with some of my old co-workers, and ran into some others at the county courthouse. And I was able to visit with old friends Mertie Harmon and James and Patti Carroll. A lot happened in just a few short days! Now I will relax and spend the rest of the holidays with a few other good friends - both paperback and hardbound!

May '08 bring Peace to us all!

Pa Rock