www.Playa.info

Monkey Bread

Nerak936 — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:19:25 GMT

No, silly... not the kind you feed to actual monkeys!!

We were a bit bored (tired and lazy) today, and David found a recipe for "Monkey Bread" in an allrecipes.com cookbook I got as a gift last Xmas. Decided to give it a go. I'd never had it before nor had I ever even heard of it before today.

Ingredients (more or less): 3, 12 oz. packages of refrigerated biscuits, white sugar, brown sugar, stick of butter, 2 tsps. ground cinnamon, raisins. We forgot the optional crushed walnuts.

David cut up all the biscuits

David showing his version of the Shake & Bake flourish only with biscuit dough and sugar/cinnamon.

Arranged "neatly" in the greased dish where I added the raisins.

1 stick of butter combined with 1 c. of packed brown sugar, boil for 1 min. and then pour over coated biscuit bits

After baking for 35 mins. at 350. The aroma that filled the kitchen and den was delightful!!!

Cooled 10 minutes and flipped it over. Looked a bit odd, but oh my goshhhhhh.... delicious!!! (Next time I'll be sure to add more raisins to the bottom of the baking dish to that they're on top after it's flipped.)

Restaurant List needs feedback on these eateries

Dpreefer — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:12:36 GMT

I just cannot eat at every new restaurant, and I see a lot of new places that might be worthy of inclusion in the Restaurant List. I notice that more fancy and expensive places are opening in the wake of the recession, which I find strange. Please give me feedback on the following places if you have sampled their fare:

Ambasciata d'Italia - 5th Ave and Calle 24. Seems the same as a previous restaurant at the same location. Tablecloth Italian with a good crowd.

Opa Greek Grill - 5th Ave. and Calle 24. Brand new and large tablecloth with Greek menu. Not too busy and not cheap. Pleasant staff.

Como Como - Small Italian place on 5th Ave and 38th. Nice young fellows trying a new venture. Chef reportedly was at another first rate place.

That's Amore - Another Italian place on 5th between 30th and 28th. Sometimes it is empty and sometimes it is full. Not cheap.

Big fancy pasta place on 5th, corner of 26th. (Cannot remember the name). They have a pasta maker in front showing fresh nature of pasta. Very expensive. Only saw a good crowd there once.

Cactus - on ave. 30, which has received some good feedback from other Playa foodies.

Help me out here with your thoughts and recommendations (also other new places I have not seen or thought of.) Let me know the good and the bad. Basic question: Would you tell your best friend that he/she should eat there on their one week vacation trip to Playa? That's the standard. Thanks.

M&E's August 2010 Playa Akumal Tulum

Mikey — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:55:05 GMT

It had been fifteen months since our last visit in May of last year.....Have been down many times in August and this year was like any other August...Hot. We did find the beaches to be not nearly as crowded as other August trips. But we took advantage of having the best choices available as far as loungers, beds, and positioning ourselves as close to the music, showers, bars, etc.....

We stayed at Club Yebo....We had a friend go down with us and the unit we stayed in 41 was a two bedroom with a full kitchen. It worked out perfectly. Great location as far as being in the middle of things.....Everything was a close walk whether to Mamitas or Kool to Zenzi or Fusion......

We arrived in Cancun around five-ish the customs lines were, well there were no custom lines. It took us about a minute to get through.....In fact it took longer to get our luggage than to deplane and get through customs. Once we got our luggage and headed out the door we met Snappysammy.....

SS introduced himself we introduced ourselves and everything from that point on was like we had known him for years. We loaded up the car and talked all the way to Playa where he dropped us off at the front door of Playa Palms where we had to check in. We got checked in and headed to our unit at Club Yebo....SS was kind enough to let us get our things in the unit and then we headed to Mega. I can't tell you what a treat it was to have him there not only to give us a lift there but to help us with where everything was...Something that would have taken us an hour easy if not longer was done in about thirty minutes and we were headed back to Yebo to put the groceries away that also consisted of tequila, wine, and beer.....Along with things for breakfast, dinner, and supper.....SS had spent half the day dealing with us and we can't thank him enough for his time and patience while we were figuring out what all we needed or wanted.....SS had things to do so at this point he was on his way and we began to settle in.....

What We Don't Know About You

Susie Q Roo — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:13:20 GMT

Tell us something/s unusual/interesting about you that we'd have no way of knowing or guessing.

I'll start:

I was on a murder trial jury. One of the hardest things I've done in my life.
I got to stay in Mike Farrell's house (BJ Honeycutt) in the golden days of MASH when my best friend was his kids' nanny. Also got to go to the set and watch filming and meet the cast. Jamie Farr was great. Alan Alda was snooty. Most fun was eating at the commissary, right next to Captain Merrill Stubing and getting Cheryl Ladd's autograph!

Secrets Capri - Tropical View Rooms

HarryRCT — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:43:31 GMT

Are the views from these rooms OK? I don't mind looking at vegetation but don't want to overlook the back of a building or something. Are the junior suites all that much different from the deluxe rooms? We have previously stayed at Riu Palace Riviera Maya and the Occidental Grande X-Caret. We'll be going in January of 2011.

Hello from Montreal Canada !!

Eckho — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:13:45 GMT

Can't wait, we rented a condo for 5 weeks, Jan -Feb. Will be staying at the Via 38, anything we should know about it?.... Oh and sorry if my english is not perfect ( I am a darn French Canadian ;) ) but I am sure that my spanish will be 10 times worst so be prepared....:joker:

Riu Palace Riviera Maya Rooms and Bed

christine1036 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:04:10 GMT

Hi all,

I am looking to book at the Riu Palace RM. I was wondering if you could tell me why some beds look like double beds put together to make a King. Is there a way to request a normal king size bed?

Also, can you offer any other advice on getting a decent room.

Another question I have is....Can my husband and I eat a la carte every night for the 6 nights we plan to be there or is there a limit on a la carte dining?

thanks!

Trip Report: Royal Playa del Carmen (RPDC) 8/25 to 8/31

Bweb — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:12:31 GMT

Well here we go. Sitting back home in NY, 62 degrees and rainy. Might as well start our trip report.

Quick background: My wife (Shellie) and I are in our early 30's (she is earlier in them than me) and have been married for 6 years with an 18 month old son. Our honeymoon was in Vegas, since then we have traveled all over (Weddings in San Francisco and Florida, trips to NYC, Toronto etc). However none of these were truly a relaxing vacation. It started with an idea of a long weekend in NYC. However after pricing that out, we realized going somewhere tropical for a week would probably cost less and be more enjoyable. Now my Irish skin doesn't care much for the sun; my Italian wife loves it. This started to steer us towards a cruise so we could blend sun and fun with more activities and things to do. The thought of a cruise was more appealing to me than my wife. She hates having everything so organized etc. She has a co-worker that stayed at RPDC last year and highly recommended it. When I started to look into it, I fell in love.

Booked back in May via Liberty Travel (were going to book through Expedia ($2300 from Rochester, NY, 6 nights Oceanview) since it was cheapest, but since Liberty price matched we went through them just so that we had someone local to call with questions/issues), bought our trip insurance, and got transfers booked through playa.info.

Two weeks prior to our departure we emailed Fernando (fcamacho@realresorts.com), noted that we would be celebrating a combination of my birthday (week prior) and our anniversary (week after). He said he would make sure our stay was enjoyable and would also select a room for us, if we would let him (which we did). Hindsight - pack half the clothes, twice the sunscreen.

Couple notes:

1) When we were eating at Chef Plate, a couple next to us was taking flash pictures of everything that was put down in front of them (7 courses + multiple in-between courses). This got quite annoying. Sometimes I think some people are more concerned about pictures and notes for their trip report/review and would be better suited to just enjoy! Needless to say, I didn't take a lot of pictures of food. /rant (no offense to those who do, I am sure you did it more discretely than the people who were annoying me).

2) We swam with dolphins. I am well aware of the controversy surrounding that activity and hope that this thread doesn't turn into why you should / should not. That has been heavily discussed in other threads.

3) I really hope to finish this trip report! Over the months, I see so many people start a report, and then weeks later people are like "And then what . . ." I will start with some overall notes and observations and getting their today and fill in more details in the coming days.

4) Most importantly - we had a great freak'n time! Thank you to everyone on both this board as well as Tripadvisor for great information to help make our vacation truly enjoyable.

Uneventful flight down via Atlanta. Landed on time at 11:00 am, got through the passport line and customs very quickly. Longest part of the process was waiting for luggage. In all, we made it to the transfer in less than 40 minutes. Walking the gauntlet of timeshare hawkers was kind of fun, even though my wife felt obligated to tell each one "No gracias" while I was intent on just ignoring them. Also forgot to tell my better half that we were not going to need someone to take our bags from the door to the transfer, but ended up tipping someone for assisting us with the 5 foot walk.

Transfer driver was very nice, offered to stop at 7-11 for drinks or snacks. I wasn't that hard up for alcohol that I couldn't wait 45 minutes. Upon arriving, our bags were whisked away and we were taken to Tamara, the concierge for the Coba building. She was very nice, our room wasn't ready yet but we got banded and a map and headed across the way to Tappos. I got fish tacos, Shellie got beef tacos. It finally hit us that we were here! Walked around the property, made our way to the coffee shop in the new section, had some iced drinks before making our way back Tamara around 2:30 PM and took us to our room, #355! Fernando did well, getting us the best Oceanview room on the property!

And the view:

That's it for now, at least I can say I started my trip report. More later including lots of pictures and some videos!

Why can't you dance the Merengue?

eccentrictinker — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:09:28 GMT

One very talented dog!

Bankrupt

Bumper — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:43:07 GMT

A man was pushing his car.

Then he came across a hotel. At this point, he knew he was bankrupt.

Why?

EDIT: You may have noticed this thread was closed as soon as it was entered. That was not intended to limit your input or enjoyment in any way. On the contrary, your participation is most welcome. The action was taken to prevent eager Peeps from going into some search engine, finding the answer, and posting it, as happened on several occasions in the past. (Of course I harvest a lot of this material from other sources. You didn�t think I create it all myself, did you? I�m good, but I�m not that good!) Regrettably, that also means that folks who legitimately work out their own answers, and would like to post them, don�t get to display their prowess, but I�m afraid that can�t be helped. I�ll open the thread in a couple of days, when Peeps have had an opportunity to try their hand at a solution, and you can post away then. The official answer will come a bit after that. I appreciate your patience and understanding, and hope you enjoy the exercise.

Odd Facts and History

Bumper — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:44:14 GMT

The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth.

When Albert Einstein died, his final words died with him. The nurse at his side didn't understand German.

St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was not Irish.

The lance ceased to be an official battle weapon in the British Army in 1927.

St. John was the only one of the 12 Apostles to die a natural death.

Many sailors used to wear gold earrings so that they could afford a proper burial when they died.

Some very Orthodox Jew refuse to speak Hebrew, believing it to be a language reserved only for the Prophets.

A South African monkey was once awarded a medal and promoted to the rank of corporal during World War I.

Born 4 January 1838, General Tom Thumb's growth slowed at the age of 6 months, at 5 years he was signed to the circus by P.T. Barnum, and at adulthood reached a height of only 1 meter.

Because they had no proper rubbish disposal system, the streets of ancient Mesopotamia became literally knee-deep in rubbish.

The Toltecs, Seventh-century native Mexicans, went into battle with wooden swords so as not to kill their enemies.

China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.

The Amayra guides of Bolivia are said to be able to keep pace with a trotting horse for a distance of 100 kilometers.

Sliced bread was patented by a jeweler, Otto Rohwedder, in 1928. He had been working on it for 16 years, having started in 1912.

Before it was stopped by the British, it was the not uncommon for women in some areas of India to choose to be burnt alive on their husband's funeral pyre.

Ivan the terrible claimed to have 'deflowered thousands of virgins and butchered a similar number of resulting offspring'.

Before the Second World War, it was considered a sacrilege to even touch an Emperor of Japan.

An American aircraft in Vietnam shot itself down with one of its own missiles.

The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.

During the eighteenth century, laws had to be brought in to curb the seemingly insatiable appetite for gin amongst the poor. Their annual intake was as much as five million gallons.

Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups

The Nobel Prize resulted form a late change in the will of Alfred Nobel, who did not want to be remembered after his death as a propagator of violence - he invented dynamite.

The cost of the first pay-toilets installed in England was tuppence.

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

In 1647 the English Parliament abolished Christmas.

Mao Rse-Tang, the first chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, was born 26 December 1893. Before his rise to power, he occupied the humble position of Assistant Librarian at the University of Peking.

Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in the world. The largest is petrol.

King George III was declared violently insane in 1811, 9 years before he died.

In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an 'ugly' potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man.

For Roman Catholics, 5 January is St Simeon Stylites' Day. He was a fifth-century hermit who showed his devotion to God by spending literally years sitting on top of a huge flagpole.

When George I became King of England in 1714, his wife did not become Queen. He placed her under house arrest for 32 years.

The richest 10 per cent of the French people are approximately fifty times better off than the poorest 10 per cent.

Henry VII was the only British King to be crowned on the field of battle

During World War One, the future Pope John XXIII was a sergeant in the Italian Army.

Richard II died aged 33 in 1400. A hole was left in the side of his tomb so people could touch his royal head, but 376 years later some took advantage of this and stole his jawbone.

The magic word "Abracadabra" was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.

The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas Carols, judging them to be out of keeping with the true spirit of Christmas.

Albert Einstein was once offered the Presidency of Israel. He declined saying he had no head for problems.

Uri Geller, the professional psychic was born on December 20 1946. As to the origin of his alleged powers, Mr Geller maintains that they come from the distant planet of Hoova.

Ralph and Carolyn Cummins had 5 children between 1952 and 1966, all were born on the 20 February.

John D. Rockefeller gave away over US$ 500,000,000 during his lifetime.

Only 1 child in 20 are born on the day predicted by the doctor.

In the 1970's, the Rhode Island Legislature in the US entertained a proposal that there be a $2 tax on every act of sexual intercourse in the State.

Widows in equatorial Africa actually wear sackcloth and ashes when attending a funeral.

The 'Hundred Years War' lasted 116 years.

The British did not release the body of Napoleon Bonaparte to the French until twenty days after his death.

Admiral Lord Nelson was less than 1.6 meters tall.

John Glenn, the American who first orbited the Earth, was showered with 3,529 tonnes of ticker tape when he got back.

Native American Indians used to name their children after the first thing they saw as they left their tepees subsequent to the birth. Hence such strange names as Sitting Bull and Running Water.

Catherine the First of Russia, made a rule that no man was allowed to get drunk at one of her parties before nine o'clock.

Queen Elizabeth I passed a law which forced everyone except for the rich to wear a flat cap on Sundays.

In 1969 the shares of the Australian company 'Poseidon' were worth $1, one year later they were worth $280 each.

Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath to cover the onset of baldness.

Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labor during World War II, left school at the age of eleven.

At the age of 12, Martin Luther King became so depressed he tried committing suicide twice, by jumping out of his bedroom window.

It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary.

The Turk's consider it considered unlucky to step on a piece of bread.

The authorities do not allow tourists to take pictures of Pygmies in Zambia.

The study of stupidity is called 'monology'.

Hindu men believe(d) it to be unluckily to marry a third time. They could avoid misfortune by marring a tree first. The tree ( his third wife ) was then burnt, freeing him to marry again.

More money is spent each year on alcohol and cigarettes than on Life insurance.

In 1911 3 men were hung for the murder of Sir Edmund Berry at Greenbury Hill, their last names were Green, Berry , and Hill.

A firm in Britain sold fall-out shelters for pets.

During the seventeen century , the Sultan of Turkey ordered his entire harem of women drowned, and replace with a new one.

Lady Astor once told Winston Churchill 'if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee'. His reply �' if you were my wife, I would drink it ! '.

There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.

The Great Pyramid of Giza consists of 2,300,000 blocks each weighing 2.5 tons.

On 9 February 1942, soap rationing began in Britain.

Paul Revere was a dentist.

The Budget speech on April 17 1956 saw the introduction of Premium Savings Bonds into Britain. The machine which picks the winning numbers is called "Ernie", an abbreviation, which stands for' electronic random number indicator equipment'.

Chop-suey is not a native Chinese dish, it was created in California by Chinese immigrants.

The Russian mystic, Rasputin, was the victim of a series of murder attempts on this day in 1916. The assassins poisoned, shot and stabbed him in quick succession, but they found they were unable to finish him off. Rasputin finally succumbed to the ice-cold waters of a river.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, the leader of the Jacobite rebellion to depose of George II of England, was born 31 December 1720. Considered a great Scottish hero, he spent his final years as a drunkard in Rome.

The Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, was born of the 29th December 1809. Apparently, as a result of his strong Puritan impulses, Gladstone kept a selection of whips in his cellar with which he regularly chastised himself.

A parthenophobic has a fear of virgins.

South American gauchos were known to put raw steak under their saddles before starting a day's riding, in order to tenderize the meat.

There are 240 white dots in a Pacman arcade game.

In 1939 the US political party 'The American Nazi Party' had 200,000 members.

King Solomon of Israel had about 700 wives as well as hundreds of mistresses.

Urine was once used to wash clothes.

North American Indian, Sitting Bull, died on 15 December 1890. His bones were laid to rest in North Dakota, but a business group wanted him moved to a 'more natural' site in South Dakota. Their campaign was rejected so they stole the bones, and they now reside in Sitting Bull Park, South Dakota.

St Nicholas, the original Father Christmas, is the patron saint of thieves, virgins and communist Russia.

Dublin is home of the Fairy Investigation Society.

Fourteen million people were killed in World War I, twenty million died in a flu epidemic in the years that followed.

People in Siberia often buy milk frozen on a stick.

Princess Ann was the only competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics that did not have to undergo a sex test.

Ethelred the Unready, King of England in the Tenth-century, spent his wedding night in bed with his wife and his mother-in-law.

Coffins which are due for cremation are usually made with plastic handles.

Blackbird, who was the chief of Omaha Indians, was buried sitting on his favorite horse.

The two highest IQ's ever recorded (on a standard test) both belong to women.

The Tory Prime Minister, Benjamin Disreali, was born 21 December 1804. He was noted for his oratory and had a number of memorable exchanges in the House with his great rival William Gladstone. Asked what the difference between a calamity and a misfortune was Disreali replied: 'If Gladstone fell into the Thames it would be a misfortune, but if someone pulled him out again, it would be a calamity'.

The Imperial Throne of Japan has been occupied by the same family for the last thirteen hundred years.

In the seventeenth-century a Boston man was sentenced to two hours in the stocks for obscene behavior, his crime, kissing his wife in a public place on a Sunday.

President Kaunda of Zambia once threatened to resign if his fellow countrymen didn't stop drinking so much alcohol.

Due to staggering inflation in the 1920's, 4,000,000,000,000,000,000 German marks were worth 1 US dollar.

Gorgias of Epirus was born during preparation of his mothers funeral.

The city of New York contains a district called 'Hell's Kitchen'.

The city of Hiroshima left the Industrial Promotion Center standing as a monument the atomic bombing.

During the Medieval Crusades, transporting bodies off the battlefield for burial was a major problem, this was solved by carrying a huge cauldron into the Holy wars, boiling down the bodies, and taking only the bones with them.

A ten-gallon hat holds three-quarters of a gallon.

George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.

Ping and social music networds on iTunes 10

roni — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:39:49 GMT

So I have kind of set up this social music thing in iTunes 10. This is supposed to be a sharing music tastes, purchases, following friends etc...

I am not sure how it works yet, but I set up a profile - have not added a photo though. This link should take you to it, but you may need to have iTunes 10.

Anyway, just started playing with it, it is a brand new thing and probably has some bugs and stuff :)

My Ping Profile

Changed my user name there to Roni Playa

WEEKENDS AT PG's

solkiss73 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:30:59 GMT

PG's SANDBOX BAR & GRILL

WEEKENDS
Saturdays
BBQ 1-8pm
Burger & Beer $60

1-6pm
Drink Specials
$20 peso Modelo Chope
2x1 Margaritas, Pina Coladas $65

SUNDAYS
BBQ 1-8pm
BABY BACK RIBS
BBQ CHICKEN
BURGERS

DRINK SPECIALS

COUNTDOWN TO NFL
5 DAYS TO REGULAR SEASON KICKOFF

Thursday Sept 9th...

Head Scratchers 2

Bumper — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:39:22 GMT

1. Rearrange the letters in "OWONDER" to make one word.

2. I've got ten or more daughters. I've got less than ten daughters. I've got at least one daughter. If only one of these statements is true, how many daughters have I got?

3. It's the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh. What is it?

4. Little Nanny Etticoat, in a white petticoat, and a red nose; the longer she stands, the shorter she grows. What is she?

5. There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?

6. Does the Muslim religion allow a man to marry his widow's sister?

7. My author's uncertain yet my title's the same, I contain random text yet order's my aim. Read me one day and see my pages are totally bare. Try again another day and the words will be there. I'm not a book of magic although it may sound, I can predict the future, and inside, your life can be found. Move my eye, I become involved in lactic extraction. But that's just a clue , a minor distraction. What am I?

8. What crime is punishable when attempted but not when committed?

9. What question can someone ask all day long, always get completely different answers, and yet all the answers could be correct?

10. am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?

11. Pronounced as one letter but written with three, two different letters there are and two only in me. I'm double, I'm single I'm black, blue, and gray. I'm read from both ends and the same either way.

12. What do you call your father-in-law's only child's mother-in-law?

13. Four cars come to a four way stop, all coming from a different direction. They can't decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. They do not crash into each other, but all four cars go. How is this possible?

14. A pipe, a carrot, and a couple of sticks are lying together in a field. Why?

15. A man is walking down a road with a basket of eggs. As he is walking he meets someone who buys one-half of his eggs plus one-half of an egg. He walks a little further and meets another person who buys one-half of his eggs plus one-half of an egg. After proceeding further he meets another person who buys one-half of his eggs plus one half an egg. At this point he has sold all of his eggs, and he never broke an egg. How many eggs did the man have to start with?

EDIT: You may have noticed this thread was closed as soon as it was entered. That was not intended to limit your input or enjoyment in any way. On the contrary, your participation is most welcome. The action was taken to prevent eager Peeps from going into some search engine, finding the answer, and posting it, as happened on several occasions in the past. (Of course I harvest a lot of this material from other sources. You didn�t think I create it all myself, did you? I�m good, but I�m not that good!) Regrettably, that also means that folks who legitimately work out their own answers, and would like to post them, don�t get to display their prowess, but I�m afraid that can�t be helped. I�ll open the thread in a couple of days, when Peeps have had an opportunity to try their hand at a solution, and you can post away then. The official answer will come a bit after that. I appreciate your patience and understanding, and hope you enjoy the exercise.

Southwest Trip August 12-24, 2010

flyingpig11 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:29:45 GMT

Okay, going to take a test drive of a trip report...... Went to Las Vegas, Northern Arizona and Southern Utah in August 2010. I was with my lovely wife and my two sons, Nate and Charlie. I felt the window of opportunity to take this trip was closing as my eldest is about to venture into "teendom", and I figure we wont see him again until he is twenty.

Charlie is ten. Nate is twelve. They are boys....

We flew into Las Vegas, leaving sunny Buffalo at 3 pm, and arriving at about 8:30. We proceeded right to Thrifty Rental Car and signed out aFord Escape. The rental lady tried to sell me every bit of coverage she could. She did a good job, and almost scared me into additional coverage for several hundreds of dollars.

We proceeded to the MGM Grand, where they didnt have our two queen bed room that I had confirmed hours earlier. The "bad news" was that they were placing us in a suite. Not sure how that was bad, but we rolled with it. It was now about 9:45 Vegas time, or 12:45 where we come from. MY family was tired...They went to bed. I got the lay of the land, checked out the property, and then turned in because....we all woke up at 4:00 am!!!! Took the family stroll through the casino property, including the casino. Interesting..so thought my kids.

We hadn't eaten dinner the night before and found that we had two choices at that hour...McDonalds (which my wife and I haven't eaten in 15 years) or a restaurant , the name of which I cant recall. Anyhoo, we had a nice eggs and chorizo breakfast, which ended up costing like $100. That is one theme of this trip. The $100 dollar meal...

Now almost 7:00 am..time to put on swim trunks and head to the pool before getting on the road. As you all know, you cant go anywhere on a casino property without going through the casino.

I happened to be about three paces ahead of my family, and rounded a bank of slots towards the elevator when I nearly bumped into nice young lady and her two friends. I say she was nice because she winked, waved and asked me to come closer. I was only about ten feet from her, and about eight feet from her "two friends".. A Lady of the Evening at seven in the morning.

In any case, I chuckled, turned and waited for my family to round the slots, much to my new friends disappointment. This was all lost on my wife.

We had some pool time, being like the only people in at 8am, waiting for the lazy river to open, then hanging out a bit before really beginning our journey.

We showered, checked out, and made avery smart move...off to Trader Joe's for trip provisions. Peanut butter,jelly, bread, repeat. Got one of those soft cooler bags for $6, filled it with frozen water bottles from the freezer section, grabbed drinks, fruit, snacks, chocolate, and all sorts of trail mix and nuts good for packing on hikes in the desert.

Decided to bypass Hoover Dam and headed a bit further south before hanging a left from Nevada into Arizona. The strip of road crossing Northern Arizona must be the deadliest roadway in the US. There were literally hundreds or makeshift memorial crosses along the shoulder in each direction. It was really crazy.....

Strange scenery along the roadway also. They are boys ....

Making tremendous headway across Arizona, to Flagstaff, and then to travel down Alt. 89 to our first stopover, Sedona Arizona. 3 miles from our exit...construction....three miles...took two hours....and we were finally free. Hit alt 89 just before dusk. What a gorgeous bit of land that is. Oak Creek Canyon, Slide Rock State park.

To our hotel at dark, Best Western Inn of Sedona, Located outside of the main town, each room opens to a giant shared patio facing the red rocks. Out to a family style mexican restaurant..In need of a margarita to calm the frayed nerves from the construction delays.

Theme number two.. Wake up for sunrise. Why not....my body was already programmed that way from east coast time.