Goodbye

Thanks for following along with us on this ride, folks. It's been a blast. We really appreciate you reading about our trip. We're really glad to be back in Philly and hanging out with you guys in person, but we will miss writing about our experiences here. It's been fun. Thanks again!

Joe's Final Thoughts

Why did we move away from home to live in Las Vegas for a half a year?

That was the question that I tried to answer when we started this blog. The answer was that we wanted to challenge ourselves, that we wanted to experience a different way of life. We love Philadelphia with all our hearts, but there had to be something else out there. How could we truly appreciate Philly when we didn't know anything else? It was to be a learning experience. Well, I'd say that was a success.

We certainly observed a different way of life. One interesting thing that I noticed is that there are basically two types of people that live in Las Vegas.

The first is personified by a young man we saw walk into the Mirage one night as we sat at the bar near the entrance. He walked in with his suitcase, yelled as loud as he could "LAS VEGAS!!!" as the veins on his head popped and he turned red, and then he literally ripped off his shirt right down the middle. Half this town is tourists that aren't really living here. They are just here to drink and party and trash everything and leave.

The second is personified by a homeless lady that randomly sat down at our table at Champagne's one night. She told us to call her either "Porkchop" or "Big Booty." She was kind of crazy. We asked her how she ended up in Vegas. She said "Well, I came down from Michigan with my friends one day, and they just left me here. I really want to go home." It seems like every local is a transplant from somewhere else, and all they want to do is go home, and Vegas is their jail cell.

Our experience in LV was basically an act of straddling between these two types of Vegas folk. We were tourists in that we weren't stuck here, and we were leaving soon, and we just wanted to party. At the same time, we did in fact call Vegas home, and in our experiences here, we really came to appreciate where we came from.

That, in my opinion, was the most important part of our experience here. We really learned to appreciate our true home. It was more than just missing Philly and the people we left behind. It was that we really grew to truly love our hometown. You don't know what you got till it's gone, they say.

And hey, we had some great times too. We lived in Vegas, so that part was kind of inevitable. When I think over our time here, lots of little moments come to mind: a swim in the hot tub, a slice of pizza, a whiff of smoke in a dirty bar, a beautiful view of a canyon, a massively tall casino, a shot of Ass Juice, a sunset from the Stratosphere. What a city. What a time.

It's been my privilege and honor to share this great experience with my girlfriend, Pamela. We grew even closer on this trip, and my love for her grew a lot deeper. I thank her for taking me along for the ride.

Goodbye, Las Vegas. Thanks for having us.

Stick a Fork in Me...I'm Done

I suppose it's time to write a wrap-up post for our journey out west.  As we sit in our hotel room in Lenoir City, Tennessee relaxing and watching Gator Boys on Animal Planet, I know that after today there won't be much time for blogging.  By the time this is posted, we'll be back in our hometown having already enjoyed some cheesesteaks and soft pretzels.

About a year and a half ago, Joe and I decided that we would try this whole traveling thing out.  I would get a travel nursing job and we would see what it was like to live in a different part of the country.  Vegas wasn't exactly our first choice, but it worked out rather nicely.  We had great weather, a nice place to live that was pretty close to both of our places of work, a pool, not to mention the fact that we were in Vegas.  I mean it's pretty difficult to get bored in Vegas.  We got to see some fantastic shows, visit the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam (more times than anyone ever needs to in a lifetime), and enjoy the excitement of the Strip including the bars, restaurants and designer (window) shopping.

I'll be honest, working as a travel nurse in Vegas was less than enjoyable in the beginning.  Working in a strange city on a different unit every day can prove to be a little exhausting, both physically and mentally.  Starting in the PACU made my work out here much more pleasant.  I met some great people who I'd really love to keep in touch with and I found that working in the PACU was pretty rewarding.  In the end, it was absolutely worth it to put myself way out of my comfort zone.  It forced me to become a stronger and more confident nurse.

Over the last month or so, we (or maybe just me) had sort of been counting down the days until we started our trip home.  Don't get me wrong, this was certainly an experience that we will never forget, or regret for that matter.  I feel like there should be way more to say about it all, but I'm sure we'll be talking all of y'all's ears off about it once we make our return.

All in all, this whole adventure was an experience that I am so grateful for.  Looking back, it's been a fantastic ride, complete with the necessary ups and downs...but I wouldn't change a thing.  I'm thankful to have this chance. And I'm especially thankful that I had Joey with me all along to enjoy the ride.

It's been real, blog-ees!

FAQ

These are the questions you are going to want to ask us when you see us in person. Feel free to just read this instead.


How was your trip?

It was a great time. You can read all about it on our blog. Or else you can just assume it was great, because we lived in Las Vegas, and you shouldn't need more information than that. It is nice to be home though. Real nice.

Why did you choose Las Vegas to live in?

It was more like Las Vegas chose us. It was really the only place that was hiring travel nurses (see next question) without travel nursing experience. We originally wanted to live in like California or maybe Portland, but Las Vegas ended up being our home. Not complaining, obviously.

What did you do for a job?

Pam: Well, I was a travel nurse for a travel nursing agency. Eventually, after about a month of hopping between different Vegas hospitals, I came to end up at a hospital called Sunrise, more or less for the rest of our stay.

Joe: I went to Vegas without a job lined up, and lucked into employment with a call center about a mile and a half from our hotel. I made calls for non-profit organizations, fundraising and what have you.

How often did you work?

Pam: Eventually, I ended up working permanent Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, twelve hour shifts, starting on average around 9 a.m.

Joe: I could actually pick my own schedule, which worked out well, so eventually fell into a pattern of working the same days as Pam, give or take a Wednesday shift.

Where did you stay?

We stayed at an extended-stay hotel called The Candlewood Suites. It was a studio apartment, with a full-sized bed, kitchen area, and desk. And yes, Pam's work paid for our whole stay.

Was that far from the Strip?

We could walk to the Strip in about 20 minutes, or maybe drive to it in five.

Did you go to the Strip a lot?

Not as often as you'd think. It's definitely a tourist destination, and after the first few weeks, we didn't feel like tourists anymore. There's not much to the Strip besides restaurants and overpriced clubs, so if neither of these were on our agenda (the latter never was), we tended to avoid the Strip after a while.

What else was there to do besides the Strip?

Oh, plenty. There was a myriad of fun things to do off-Strip. Fremont Street was our favorite, which featured casinos and moderately-priced bars and was just in general more fun. We went to baseball games, did trips to the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon, and really just tried to experience as much as we could.

How did you get around? Was everything in walking distance?

Because we try to be healthy people, we tried to walk as much as we could. So, most of our trips to the Strip were via pedestrian means. Pretty much anywhere that you could walk to within 40 minutes we would walk to (it would take about 25 minutes to walk to and from work each day, says Joe at this point).

Otherwise, the bus system was pretty comprehensive. We usually took the bus to and from Fremont Street. Really, buses ran up and down every major street. It took a few weeks to get used to the system - more because I'm an idiot than any bus complications, says Joe again - but when we did, it was super simple.

Then, of course, I had my car (says Pam). My 2012 Toyota Corolla that I leased out there is still in top shape, even after driving the 2500 miles home. We drove that sucker around quite a bit (well, on nights that we didn't plan on drinking).

Did you gamble a lot? How much did you win?

We didn't gamble that much. We put a dollar in the slots at the airport when we got in, and promptly lost, so that was pretty much that. I (Joe) gambled on two other occasions: 1)  drunkenly put $25 on black at roulette and OF COURSE IT WAS RED; 2) I bet $10 on the Phillies at the Mirage because I thought I could get free drinks with that bet stub. The minimum was $125 bets for free drinks, but the Phillies won so I won $18 anyway.

But no. We didn't gamble.

Did you see any shows?

We did! Not that many, but we did see three. We saw LOVE, Absinthe, and a comedy show featuring Kevin James and Ray Romano. Each were unique and awesome in their own way. My (Joe's) personal favorite was Absinthe, but LOVE was incredible too, and James/Romano were great.

Did you go out to eat every night?

Nah, though there was an abundance of great places to eat. We usually went out maybe three times a week. For the other 18 meals in the week, we flexed our cooking prowess and made some meals in the home. That crock pot is freaking awesome.

But when we did go out, we had went to some great places. Our favorite was a taco place right around the corner called Yayo Taco. Cheap, tasty tacos, and a huge beer selection.

Were you at this one restaurant I was at when I was out there?

Probably not.

Was it expensive out there?

Yea, for the most part, it was, but we were smart about it. We balanced the $8 beers with the $1 beers. We balanced out the fancy dinners and the Jack in the Box and the cheap homecooked meals. We worked hard to get those paychecks and not blow our savings.

Do you miss it?

We miss certain things, yea. A lot of little things, like the sound of a casino or the view from our window or the mammoth heights of the hotels. But all in all, we don't miss it that much.

Are you happy to come home?

Of course. Duh. We missed everybody like crazy.

What will you miss the most?

Probably the fact that we felt like we were on a five-month vacation.

What did you miss the most?

Family, friends, and cheesesteaks.

How was the weather?

It was dry and hot most of the time. It was hard to appreciate that dry heat until we didn't have it anymore, which was when we pulled up to Houston and practically swam out of the car. The sun was brutal in Vegas. Sometimes it felt like hot irons.

How come you don't have a tan?

Suntan lotion, baby. I (Joe) am married to that SPF 35. Pam is a little less liberal on the suntan lotion, but she can still realize the importance of it. No skin cancer!

Did you take a lot of pictures?

Sure. Check out our blog for pretty much all our pictures.

I know someone who moved out there.

Cool.

How was your ride home?

It was a lot of driving. But we stopped at some cool places. Los Angeles was a good time, and New Orleans in particular was awesome. What a great weekend there.  But yea, we drove a lot too. We made the best of it.

Now what are you up to? Are you working?

Pam is right back to her old job at Jeff, and she's excited to get back. I (Joe) am currently looking for something. Who knows. I don't want to talk about it.

So are you ever going back to Vegas? Are you going anytime soon?

We're going back for our 25th wedding anniversary, so in about 27 years. Until then, we've had our fair share of that city. Five months was enough.

On the Road, Days Six Through Eight: NOLA BABY

It was nice to get out of Houston - not much to see there except our jail cell of a hotel room. We left around 10 A.M. for our most anticipated destination - New Orleans. Thankfully, the driving was only about six hours, including the bad traffic and the torrential downpours.

Pam was driving during the thunderstorm, God bless her. The storm was huge, and happened right as we were driving over a ten mile long swamp in the heart of Louisiana. It was crazy.

The hotel we stayed at was a billion times better than that stinking Houston room. It was clean and homely. It even had a second level up spiral stairs with another bed (that we didn't use, but it was cool that our hotel room had a second floor). The rain caught up with us by the time we checked in at four, so we waited it out until six, when it was still raining and we just said "screw it" and bought some ponchos and headed out to Bourbon St.

What a neat town. It's an old town, which only means it's filled with culture. All up and down Bourbon Street, it's all shops and bars and restaurants, and all of them have balcony levels that you can hang out on. Here's the view from Embers Grill, where we ate dinner that first night.

I had my first Po' Boy, complete with alligator meat, and washed it down with a local brew, Abita Amber.

Pam had already visited New Orleans about two years ago, so she was familiar with all this. She said it was great to be back. I could tell she really loves this city. It really was a great vacation spot.

The rest of Friday night was a blur of neat bars and crazy drinks (including the infamous "Hurricane" which basically tasted like Jungle Juice I used to ladle out of a big trash can in my youth) and great Cajun music. We eventually stumbled on a bar that featured that great Nawlins jazz music, complete with accordion and fat lady playing the spoons. We had a great time just hanging out and enjoying the environment.

Saturday morning we took it a little easy - it was the first time in a couple of weeks that we had a long night of partying, so even though we did wake up for our complimentary hotel breakfast, we promptly fell back asleep until probably one o'clock, so it was a late day. When we did finally head out though, we walked through the French Quarter, which featured some nice sights.

It also was just as fun as Bourbon Street. Tons of people were out and about. After a nice lunch of blackened chicken, we hit up some shops.

The local souvenirs.

We found a nice spot on a balcony of a cafe to enjoy some nice cool beers on a hot day.

It had a good view of all the people walking - and riding - by.

All kinds of folk passed us, including a few wedding parties.

This was the first time I saw the Mississippi River with my own eyes. It was majestic.

Again, we basically just spent the whole day walking around and hanging out at different spots. We walked along the river, we checked out a few Voodoo shops, we chilled at one of a few local breweries, we hung out at a jazz bar that was just FANTASTIC as far as live music goes. The musicians were so talented. Let's see, what was the band called? Ah yes, Pam reminds me they were the Shotgun Jazz Band. Just blew us away.

So that was our NOLA experience. What a relaxing, riveting, exciting, and fun weekend. I'm so glad we stopped there.

Today we drove for pretty much the whole day. Our plans to stay in Georgia fell through, so we basically got directions from NO to Baltimore, and stopped halfway whatever hotel was there. So now we're at the Days Inn in Lenoir City, Tennessee, blogging for the final night and watching some Breaking Bad and eating some Little Caesar's. It's nice to relax after a long day on the road.

We have one more adventure at our friend's house in the suburbs of Baltimore, and then it's time to head on home. It's time, folks.

This will be my last time blogging. We have three or four more posts that are coming up before Tuesday afternoon, but they will be more conclusion posts. This is our last live from-the-field post.

What a ride it's been.

On the Road, Days Four and Five: Camping and Driving and Driving Some More

Ugh... I don't feel like typing anything right now. We were on the road for a bout 15 hours today. Brutal, and the last thing I want to do right now is blog. But there's only a few more days left of this, so I'll persevere. Again, it's mostly just pictures.

We woke up early at our hotel in Phoenix and hit the road. Lots of hills and valleys and rocks and what have you. There's not much to write about. We drove.

...and drove.

...and drove. This was the scene we gazed upon through the windshield for seven hours. New Mexico is alright. Did you know the official state nickname is "The Land of Enchantment?" I mostly think about a cancer-ridden chemistry teacher cooking meth in the desert when I think about New Mexico, but hey, different strokes.

We camped last night at a pretty neat campsite. It was strange at first, because we pulled up (and it takes about 25 minutes to pull up, through the six-mile driveway), and we were the only people there. We dropped ten bucks in a slot to reserve a campsite for the night, and we were literally the only people there for a while - no rangers, no fellow campers, no one.

Well, okay, there were some cows, so we weren't completely alone.

Pam had me take a lot of pictures of the cows. These are the best ones.

Our campsite was on the side of a mountain, and the view was quite beautiful.

Lots of mountains and greenery in the surrounding areas.

We set up our site just in time for sunset.

Thankfully, we were once again lucky with the weather. It rained just a little bit as we were rolling through Las Cruces, but once we got to the campsite, all was dry. Aside from one or two flashes of lightning late in the night, the weather was perfect for camping.

It was a great sunset. We climbed on top of a big rock to watch it.

Contemplating the beauty.

Facebook!

Then it was time for some wine.

There was lot of vegetation around.

And lots of creepy crawlies, which we tried to avoid at all costs.

Although I tried to go into the men's bathroom, and saw the creepiest crawly...

Doesn't look that big in this, but the scorpion was huge. God bless the man who tried to relieve himself in here late at night.

That's it for the pictures, but the following 24 hours were really nothing to see.

It got dark, and we just hung out in the tent, hoping the scorpion would stay outside. Lights out seemed like it last about five minutes. Before you knew it, it was 4:30, which was wake up time, and we were on the road by 5:15, brushing our teeth and eating breakfast at the first gas station we came to.

Camping was definitely worth it. We saw some beautiful sites, we saved some money, and we got some fresh air and a good (short) night's sleep.

Today was a long day. It was driving, driving, and more driving. We drove from Las Cruces, NM, to Houston Texas. Don't ask me how many miles, I'd rather not try to remember at this point. My left leg is killing me from being cramped up all day.

But! Staying positive! We didn't get lost once. We remained optimistic even though we were cooped up. We beat most of the traffic. We experienced Texas and the true vastness of it. We followed the same truck for like three hours and hopefully freaked them out. We somehow ended up in downtown Houston accidentally but got a nice BBQ dinner while we were there and made it out without any trouble whatsoever. And we had each other to keep company, except when the person riding shotgun was asleep (which alternated every three hours or so).

And we're here in Houston by the airport. The hotel, on a scale from crackden to Hilton, is just on this side of safe, but still really crappy. Like, we're saving some money, and let me reiterate again that it's definitely not dangerously crappy or anything, but it's by far the worst hotel we've stayed at.

But! Staying positive! The internet works well. The air conditioning works (woah, totally not used to this humidity). We saved a bunch of money, money that we can now spend in New Orleans. Oh, and we're gonna freaking be in New Orleans the whole weekend. Can't wait.

So, we're over the hump. Today promised to be the worst day of the trip, driving-wise at least, but we got through it, and easily at that.

Should be a great weekend.

On the Road, Days Two and Three: Hollywood, Baseball, Lots of Driving

AW YEA MORE PICTURES YEA. Did you know you can click on each picture to enlarge it?

We woke up in our clean-smelling hotel room in a safe and secure neighborhood quite early. Early for us, anyway, and started our touristy day right after our free extensive continental breakfast. Or, a bucket of bagels and some coffee, same thing. We high-tailed out of there ASAP when a whole family came into the small room and started coughing all over the food, and then the littlest kid sneezed and a thick column of snot went all over his hands and plate. It's hard being hungry in those kinda situations.

We first drove to Hollywood, and one of its most famous attractions, Grauman's Chinese Theater. It's instantly recognizable. It's also the location of the Walk of Fame.

Saw some famous people's footprints, like here, Dean Martin.

Twins.

Pam's hands are as big as Jimmy Stewart's. You know what they say about people with big hands. (They tend to stretch out their winter gloves.)

Some guy named Frank Sinatra.

Some chick named Julie Andrews. Unlike the caption of the Frank Sinatra footprints, I'm serious here. I don't know who Julie Andrews is. (I had to pretend a lot in Hollywood, because I know nothing about movies.)

Will Smith, star of the best movie ever... Wild Wild West.

We decided to take an actual tour of the Chinese Theater. There was some neat Chinese thingamabobs in there, like this Chinese lamp thing.

The theater had a lot of history in it, a point the tour guide stressed again and again. It had prestige. Famous people were here. It had collections of props and costumes from famous movies. Even the bathroom lounge was where all the stars hung out. The main point being that Grauman's Chinese Theater was an important piece of cinematic history.

This history, in my opinion, was cheapened by the movies that were being featured this month at the theater (an actual movie theater, ya know): Tyler Perry's Madea, Step Up 4, Katy Perry, etc. A far cry from Citizen Kane.

You may recognize the sign in the background.

Get that ugly mug out of the way, we want to see the Hollywood sign again.

This was the view from the Chinese Theater area, by the way. You could get tours that would take you closer, but they were costly, and they also included stop like "Mel Gibson's house," and "the hotel where Hugh Grant got busted with a prostitute." No joke. We passed.

There was some jabroni from Glee, apparently, on the floor below us getting slobbered on by a bunch of paparazzi. Pam was holding the camera at this point, I hope it goes without saying.

We seriously have two pictures of this?

Get that ugly Hollywood sign out of the way, we want to see the Pam again.

No celebrity-filled town would be complete without this kind of place.

There was a ton of stars on the ground for blocks and blocks. Here's Walt Disney's. I was hoping Stone Cold Steve Austin had one, but I couldn't find one.

It was still pretty early, so we took the highway to the fairway to the parkway or whatever and ended up at Old Pasadena, a cool little town with lots of nooks and crannies and a bar with a backyard where you could sit and enjoy a bitter IPA.

Then we took the highway back to the expressway next to the freeway or whatever and ended up at the fancy part of town. I forget what it's called. Wait, let me wake up Pam and ask her. Yup, okay. It's called Rodeo Drive. Apparently it was in Pretty Woman. I've never seen that movie. I've never seen a lot of movies; I told you, I had to fake it a lot in Hollywood. 

Anyway, Rodeo Drive. It had a lot of really high-end stores, most of which I have never heard of, some of which I could not pronounce, and absolutely none of which I've ever bought anything from. But it was nice mixing in with the patricians and the noblemen. Kind of.

Maybe Pam can edit this later and come up with captions for these pictures. I got nothing.

Alright! So we had tickets to see the Phillies vs. Dodgers game that night! That's a plan that's more my speed. Getting to Dodgers Stadium was easy - our hotel was about a block away. We just had to walk up a big hill is all. Strangely, there were different entrances for you depending on what level you were sitting in. We had nosebleeds, so we had to go up two big sets of steps to even gain entrance to the park. And there was only elevators connecting the different levels of the stadium, no stairs or escalators on the inside.

The park itself looked real nice. It cavernous, with lots of seats, and LOTS of empty seats. I enjoyed looking out to right field and fondly remembering Matt Stairs's moon shot into the night.

The fans, true to their reputation, sucked. They showed up in the 2nd, they left in the 8th. They were leaving in droves, despite the fact that it was only a one-run game and the Dodgers are in the middle of a pennant race.

They cared little about the game. Oh sure, they cheered loudly for Matt Kemp when he came up to bat, but they cheered louder for a freaking beach ball that was being tossed around from section to section. That would NEVER happen at a Phillies game (in fact, Franzke and Anderson made fun of them in tonight's broadcast for those freaking beach balls). And they cheered the loudest for one of those mid-inning things on the scoreboard where you pick what song should be played after the game. They cheered three times as loud for "Living on a Prayer" than they did when the Dodgers tried to rally in the sixth. Pathetic.

The stadium was okay. Citizen's Bank Park, I think, has spoiled us. Dodgers Stadium was old and cramped. The concessions were all the same. Each one was just called "Dodger Dogs" and sold, um, Dodger Dogs, along with the obligatory peanuts and crackerjack. Ho hum.

Note how I'm staying off the railing on the steps. Remember the snot family from the free continental breakfast? Yup, they were there, running their snotty hands up and down the railing right next to us. Germ-free, yo.

We weren't the only Phillies fans there. Now, there wasn't as many as, say, the games we attended in Pittsburgh or Washington D.C. But there was a decent amount, including a big group two sections over from Temple University. They were quite drunk and started many a "Let's Go Phillies" chant, which we appreciated.

This is the beautiful view from outside the stadium. It was a great game. Joe Blanton threw a great 8 innings of two-run ball, which is spectacular for Joe Blanton (first time he didn't give up a home run in a game since May 8th, no kidding). Howard hit his first dinger of the season. The Phillies, though playoffs are quite close to impossible at this point, are putting together a nice winning streak. Glad we got to see a good game, in any case.

And now I know all you folks reading this, a group that includes both our sets of parents, were worried about leaving the game to head home, and our safety on the journey. Let me assure you that: 1) No one started trouble with us, not once; 2) Like I said, we were really close to the stadium, like a block; 3) We coincidentally walked back to our hotel with a big group from the game that was also staying at the hotel. They were all Dodgers fans, and of course the literally snotty family were among our numbers, but we were safe. All is well!

Today was not as exciting a day, admittedly. It was mostly driving through the dessert, and then crashing at the hotel in Phoenix. Here's the dessert we drove through.

Here's a ton of wind-energy things that we saw. Seriously, there were hundreds.

More mountains. Yea!

Tomorrow we are driving to Las Cruces, NM, where we are going to camp at a pretty nice campsite. So, no update tomorrow. But I'll be sure to post something by the time we roll in Houston, Texas Thursday night. By that time, we'll only be in time zone behind! Goodnight, ya'll.