If you noticed our suspisciously long absensce from the blogosphere, fear not – we’re back! I didn’t want to alert every burglar in town that we’d be away from our beloved house, so I didn’t mention that we’d be going on vacation. Cause you know, burglars just can’t wait to get their hands on our gobs of hand-me-down and thrifted goods. They’re probably casing the joint as I type.

We spent the last week and a half touring around the south-west corner of the US in my parents’ deluxe RV. We stayed in Las Vegas, Long Beach, San Diego, and LA. Visiting the LA area made me realize how much I really loved the Northeast. We saw hundreds of multi-million dollar beach homes and deluxe hilltop mansions, and 99% of them just bored me to death. The neighborhoods were a sea of sameness. Nice, fancy sameness, but sameness nonetheless. I’d take their weather any day. But their architecture? No way.

Vegas, on the other hand, was an architectural dream world. It was completely surreal and overwhelming. The casinos were so over-the-top extravagant that each seemed wackier than the next.  Everything was so grand in scale, from the fake Eiffel Tower at the Paris casino to the giant Sphinx head at Luxor……… it felt like one HUMONGOUS theme park. Which I guess, essentially, it is. With free alcohol, “full service asians”, and slots at every gas station, hotel, and super market. We played penny slots with chain-smoking old ladies for 5 days straight. Despite our dilligence, we failed to hit the jackpot.  I was desperately hoping to win enough to pay off the mortgage, or at least the Home Depot bill, but we barely broke even. Ah well…. lady luck failed us yet again.

Paris Casino – gorgeous exterior, but kinda disappointing and sketchy once you get inside!

New York, New York casino – complete with a working rollercoaster and Irish pubs!

Mandalay Bay, one of the swankiest casinos we visited.
I was sad to leave my parents, who I don’t see nearly enough, but it does feel good to be home. Waking up in a different city every day is disorienting. Time floated, days merged, and even the locations seemed to become one blurry jumble. Being in constant motion was a great distraction from our regular every-day life, but driving down our street and opening a familiar front door was comforting after so much traveling. And now that we’ve had a break from the rigors of fixer-upper life, we’re mentally renewed and itching to get back to work!