Vegas, baby! With a side order of pandemic memes (Weekend Coffee Share #29)
I spent my birthday in Vegas and won so much money, I’m going to retire early and write full-time.
Just kidding.
I did spend my birthday in Vegas, but I will not be retiring early, because I have absolutely terrible luck at gambling. Always have. Remember that line from the old Hee Haw song, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all?” Yeah, that’s me when I’m gambling.
And if you’re too young to remember Hee Haw, consider yourself lucky and enjoy your lack of arthritis and hot flashes. Here’s what I’m talking about:
You’re welcome.
Before we go any further, welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s chat.
OK, back to Vegas. Fortunately, I’m well aware of my bad gambling luck, so I don’t risk much. I mostly tag along in the casinos to keep Long-Suffering Husband company. He usually has amazing luck. Seriously. I’ve watched him turn 50 cents into a hundred dollars in 5 minutes. Like… how???
So if I’m an unlucky gambler, why do I go to Vegas? Two main reasons:
- For Long-Suffering Husband. It’s his favorite place on the planet. I’m sure his luck has a lot to do with that. If I had his luck, I’d probably live there.
- For the food.
About that last one: I know people who, when they get to Vegas, make a beeline for Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant or Guy Fieri’s or one of the many other overpriced gourmet places in town.
I am not one of those people.
My taste in food is as lowbrow as my taste in music (and remember–I just shared a video from Hee Haw). So where do I eat in Vegas?
- Round Table Pizza. I grew up with Round Table Pizza, and I *love* it. Unfortunately for me, Round Table Pizza is a West Coast thing. They have exactly one location in Arizona–in Yuma, which is a) over 200 miles from me, and b) a place that makes the fiery pits of hell seem like a balmy vacation destination. They have 2 locations in Vegas–and I ate at both of them on this trip. Yes, I went to the entertainment capital of the US, Adult Disneyland, and drove miles away from the Strip to eat dinner at Round Table Pizza. Twice.
- Blizz frozen yogurt. Long-Suffering Husband and I discovered Blizz when we lived in Southern California about 10 years ago. More specifically, we discovered their crepes, loaded with fruit and cream cheese and raspberry sauce and oh, so good. Then our local Blizz closed, and we moved to Arizona. Now Blizz is exclusively in Vegas, and there’s a location in the Luxor where we stayed. We ate breakfast there every morning. I pretty much subsisted on pizza and crepes for three days. It was awesome.
The Luxor itself is also kind of cool. It’s a pyramid with elevators (technically, “inclinators”) that run up and down the sides at 37-degree angles. The sensation is… weird.
Here’s the outside of the Luxor, lit with Ukrainian flag colors:
And here’s the inside, taken with the noir setting on my iPhone:
I think the lines and angles look cool in high-contrast monochrome.
Red Rock Canyon
In addition to our field trips to Round Table, we ventured off-Strip for non-pizza-related purposes. I’ve wanted to visit Red Rock Canyon for years, but usually when we’ve been in Vegas we’ve either flown (and therefore not had a car), or we’ve been there during wind season (spring) or hell (summer). This time we had a day of lovely weather–and a car–so off we went. The pictures below were taken from just before to just after sunset.
And your intrepid blogger, waiting for Long-Suffering Husband to take the damn picture already.
I think that picture makes me look like a hung-over celebrity caught by a paparazzo while stumbling through an airport terminal, but then I’ve been known to be delusional.
OK, enough about Vegas. Next week we’ll visit a Joshua tree forest on the way home from Vegas. But now it’s time for:
Memes!
It’s been about 2 years since everything shut down for COVID here in the US, so let’s twiddle the dials on the Wayback Machine and go back to March 2020, the golden age of:
COVID-19 Pandemic Memes
Before we start: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a horrific tragedy. I know that. And if you’ve lost people to this awful disease or are affected by it yourself, I’m truly sorry. It sucks. By sharing these memes, I do not intend to make light of the awfulness.
But humans have used humor–including dark humor–as a coping device since forever. Laughter can see us through terrible times, and tragedy often prompts us to rise to new heights of creativity. The memes from the early days of the pandemic illustrate that point. Here we go:
Quarantine Life
Quarantine demonstrated quite clearly that most of us are not ready for the apocalypse:
Yet we did manage to find food. Quite a lot of it, in my case.
This next one is possibly the most American meme I’ve ever seen:
Spoiler alert: We screwed it up.
I hear the kitchen is lovely this time of year… though it does have its drawbacks:
With so much time at home, we formed deeper bonds with our pets:
Sometimes a little too deep.
I feel this next one down in my soul:
We also found creative ways to amuse ourselves:
We heard a lot about how quarantining humans was good for the environment.
And the crime rate:
And let’s bring this post full-circle:
I have a *huge* collection of pandemic memes, so be prepared for more in the posts to come. I think next week’s theme will be toilet paper.
Does anyone have any fun weekend plans? Mine will look a lot like they did during quarantine.
31 Comments
Cee Neuner
Great photos Janet. Thanks for the laugh, I really needed it 😀
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Laughter really is a survival tool.
Bobbiem91
I had to laugh. My floor plan consists of a 12 x 8 living room, a kitchen dining room that two people can’t be in at the same time. A bathroom that you can hold your arms out and touch every side and then a bed room that you can barely get in and out of without crawling over the bed. Yeah. You at least had space. Now add in two big dogs and you are stepping over them to just get to a chair to sit down. Thank goodness for the pullouts that keep it from being 8 foot wide. Imagine lockdown in that. The redeeming factor is that I have acreage to get out on to prevent going totally nuts (that includes the mental places while writing so I didn’t go postal).
I had to laugh at the Heehaw bit. I actually saw that episode when I first came out. As to your luck at the casinos–so sorry. I get it. My sister was like that. But I’ve always enjoyed the shows and just walking around and seeing the different casinos. I still love the Horseshoe and the Fremont if I’m going to gamble.
Red Rock Canyon was great. I went through it several times. I’m surprised you didn’t get a picture of the archway.
Love your travels and humor. Always my laugh for the week.
Janet Alcorn
I’m a big fan of wandering through the casinos. There’s always something interesting or bizarre to look at, and the people watching is amazing. My favorite this time: older guy on a scooter, dressed like late-stage Elvis with a 40-oz in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The entirety of Vegas, encapsulated in a single person.
Gary A Wilson
They may be memes – but thee are great anyway. . .
Amila
Glad you could visit Red Rock Canyon this time. These pictures are beautiful. I enjoyed going through these Covid memes. Most of these ideas are true as well. 🙂
Have a great day!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks for stopping by!
Natalie
Glad you had a fun-filled birthday weekend. Luxor looks great and Red Rock Canyon looks stunning. Thank you for the laughs and your #weekendcoffeeshare.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
leannelc
Hi Janet – I’m also a low-brow eater (give me takeaway over a restaurant meal any day!) Loved all your pandemic memes. We’re having some supply chain issues atm and I haven’t been able to get the coffee that I like from the supermarket (it’s fairly low-brow coffee) and I’m wondering what I’m going to do when the last of my container runs out …… First World problems….
Janet Alcorn
I hope the supply chain issues resolve soon, and your coffee is back in stock!
trentpmcd
Visiting the mountains around Vegas sounds great, but to me, Vegas itself is Hell on Earth, and I’d chew my own leg off to escape. Ah, those memes bring back memories…
Janet Alcorn
I have no desire to live there. A couple days at a time is enough for me.
Maria
Happy belated birthday! It sounds like you had a great time! Red Rock Canyon is the best thing with Vegas, if you ask me. I lived in Vegas for 15 months, and those were LOOOOOONG months. I spent most of my free time hiking Red Rock Canyon, if it wasn’t too hot, in that case I drove up to Mount Charleston.
Janet Alcorn
Yeah, I don’t think I’d want to live there. It’s fun to play for a couple of days, but aside from the touristy things and Red Rock Canyon, the city doesn’t seem to have much to offer.
Joanne
That reminds me of a trip we took to Vegas with my husband’s family. His aunt has amazing luck and she often threw the quarters from her “wins” into my tray as I fed them into my machine and lost them all (obviously this was back in the day when the machines actually paid out). I usually just hope my $20 or so dollars lasts for a few hours of entertainment. But i did enjoy the food. Thankfully we walked around a lot or I would have had to buy new clothes to come home in. I ate at my first Cheesecake Factory out there as they did not exist on the east coast at that time.
Janet Alcorn
Fun! There are still a couple of casinos that actually pay out. And I hear you about needing to walk off the food. We walked about 20,000 steps per day, and I still gained weight. *sigh*
Deborah Drucker
I like the photos of Red Rock Canyon. The memes were funny. I do remember the shock of the early days, weeks and more. I did not miss going out to restaurants etc. Some of the worst was having the threat of infection and worse hanging over us.
Janet Alcorn
Yes, I remember the fear of the early days–fear of infection, fear of the unknown, fear of running out of toilet paper 🙂 Such a strange, strange time.
Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged.com
Those memes are great. I love how some clever humans find humor in dark events… and share with the rest of us. My husband and I don’t gamble and aren’t particularly interested in spending time in smoke-filled casinos but we go to Vegas for an annual Rock-a-Billy event. Two non-casino attractions I can recommend: the Neon Museum and the Mob Museum. If you haven’t been, they are well worth the price of admission.
Janet Alcorn
We went to the Mob Museum last summer. It was interesting but not as cool as I thought it would be. The Neon Museum is on our list for a future trip.
There’s a fully nonsmoking hotel casino on the strip now – the PARC MGM.
Elizabeth Seckman
If we stop laughing, we will be done for. Humor heals and I will always find something to laugh about, even if it’s in desperation.
I visited Vegas during last year. It is big and flashy! I took $20 to gamble away and reached my goal in less than twenty minutes. I’m an overachiever.
Happy Birthday!!
Janet Alcorn
Big and flashy definitely describes Vegas! I can’t help but imagine an alien spacecraft landing there and the aliens getting a very skewed view of humanity 🙂
$20 in 20 minutes sounds about right, sadly. I’m an impressively efficient loser.
Tena Carr
Loved the memes ??. Some of those were great and very fitting.
Angela
These made me laugh out loud! ? It’s awesome to be able to find a little humor in all the seriousness!
Janet Alcorn
Absolutely! If I can’t find the humor in something, I know I’m in trouble.
Rowena
Janet, I loved the photos of Red Rock Canyon. I’ve never been to America, let alone Vegas. My mother’s cousin got married in a wedding chapel in Vegas and their daughter flew from Australia to Vegas to get a boob job because it was much cheaper there. Just looking at my own family, people watching in Vegas must be extraordinary.
Hope you have a great week.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Janet Alcorn
If you go to Vegas, you’ll get a skewed view of America 🙂 It’s like America on steroids, waaayyy over the top. And yes, people watching is incredible there.
I hope you have a great week too!
Rowena
My cousin came back with massive breast implants so that makes sense.
kirstin
Oh my goodness…those memes were awesome. Thanks for the laugh. Also, I tend to want to visit different places (that I wouldn’t visit back home) when I travel, BUT probably not the “touristy” places that are over crowded and over priced. I’ve been to Vegas twice with my daughters. Once for a soccer tournament and the other for my oldest daughters 16th birthday. We had a blast going through all the hotels and enjoying the architecture and shopping. I would love to go to the redrock canyon. I also loved HeeHaw
Janet Alcorn
I hear you about overpriced, overcrowded tourist destinations (and Vegas fits both of those criteria). It’s fun, but sometimes I’d rather visit a national park, preferably off-season when it’s mostly empty (Yosemite in winter is AMAZING). Sometimes, though, the excess has its own appeal (or as one of my closest friends used to say, quantity has a quality all its own).