F* you mines!

Since I found out that I would be moving to Bahrain in the spring or summer of 2014 and that my high school reunion would be in June (when I wouldn’t be here) I wanted to make plans to see my best friends. I would give them plenty of notice and we would think of something awesome to do that reminded us of why we hung out from second grade to graduation. We decided on Las Vegas. I was excited because I’ve visited Texas, where we all grew up, plenty of times, but people are always busy with work, family, friends, and kids. I figured if I got them away from all that I would have them to myself.

Last weekend Deanna and I realized it would only be us going. Patricia had gone to Louisiana to gamble all her money; Barbara has a daughter in girl scouts and another breastfeeding; Bibiana has a bossy husband that won’t let her out of the house; Maria’s daughter had a concussion and she didn’t trust anyone else to watch her; Alejandra didn’t feel right spending that kind of money with two kids at home; and we couldn’t find the other Jessica. Was part of me sad? Of course. I even called them out on Facebook, but it wasn’t enough that we were supposed to be friends, that I offered to pay for the room and found free things and activities under $20 to do while we were there.

the supervisor’s chair in the work center

Turns out though that Deanna paid for the room at Planet Hollywood – a hotel in the middle of the action. The plan: I pick her up from the airport tomorrow and we check out on Wednesday. I thought about driving in tonight and finding a place to camp. Caleb offered me a tour of his wooden boat to try to keep my mind from already being in Vegas. I love to travel and get anxious about these things, but I was glad to finally see where he’s been working off and on for the last two years.

It’s like the Navy took a LSD, 400-man boat, and mushed it into a 75-man version. They have rooms in closets and stations (for firefighting, cleaning, painting) in the hallway where it’s easy to bump into them – even when the boat is not rocking.  After that it was time to go home and stay up until one in the morning packing – boots, sunscreen, and dog food – or pretending to as I still debated driving out and watching the sunrise. I will be bringing the dogs with me since Caleb will be underway at work all week and the hotel’s website says it’s pet friendly.

tiny walkway in a loud work space