Such a fun trip!  Do love these little jaunts with Kelli!  It is such a gift to have her to myself... Yesterday, our final day, we finished seeing some of the bigger hotels and casinos.  We really were pretty timid gamblers.  Tried our hand at roulette and basically broke even over the few days we were there, tried the slots and managed to lose our shirts....well, actually we didn't lose much but I honestly cannot see the appeal of that activity.  After wandering and watching for a couple of days we decided our best bet was black jack!  So last night we bit the bullet and budgeted to possibly lose $60.  Kelli had googled black jack and got some hot tips on how to play.....she even practiced on her computer.  I thought she was studying for her exam.....she was actually studying blackjack!  As always, she had to produce her ID before they would let her play, then she sat down and looked like she'd been gambling her entire life....probably not a good thing, I know.  In any case, in about 3 minutes she won $45 and told the dealer she was cashing out.  The dealer was flabbergasted!  "Quitting?  You're quitting already?  Why?  You are doing great."   Unlike most people she had the good sense to quit while she was ahead!  Easiest $45 she's ever made in under 3 minutes!  Yes....you do see how people get hooked on this!

Thought I should get on this blog before I fade.  We were up at 4:45 AM, 3:45 AM, Calgary time to get to the airport for our 7 AM flights.  We confirmed that we were in fact scammed by our taxi driver when we arrived in Vegas.  The ride from the airport to our hotel rang in at over $36 and the return trip was $18!!!  I think we must have arrived in Vegas with that look written on our faces...."I'm a dumb tourist!"  In any case, the driver had no idea that Kelli had her phone out the minute we got in the cab and was google mapping our trip.  She called him on it when we actually drove past where we were going.  He insisted that he could not get off the freeway and had to do the big huge loop....Ha!  He practically threw five dollars at me but he got the last laugh because I think we still paid him $30 for the trip there!  This morning we got the true version of how far the airport was from where we were staying.  Made me think of the year I attended the National Training Center for badminton in Ottawa.  30 badminton players from across the country were invited to participate.  We went to school at the University of Ottawa and trained there under an Indonesian coach.  On the day we arrived we each took cabs from the airport to the University and I believe the cab fare was about $7.00.  That is it was $7.00 for all except one rather naive fellow who was from Nova Scotia.  His fare was over $20.  We teased him about this for the entire year!  Now I'm the one who was identified as the easy mark!

When we arrived at the airport this morning we checked in at the Air Canada counter.  Kelli had a seat. I did not.  I was told the flight had been over sold and I had been gated which meant I would get my seat at the gate.  I was a little annoyed as we had purchased our tickets quite some time ago.  The ticket agent assured me I would get on the flight and not to worry.....Kelli was all set to give up her ticket, stay an extra day and get a free flight.  Well, we got to the gate, grabbed breakfast at Starbucks and then waited for me to be called up to find out whether I had a seat.  Good news! For the first time ever....I was upgraded!  I sat in the very front seat.  It was a very pleasant flight!  Warm towlettes to freshen up, coffee, juice and water out of real glass cups, your choice of three breakfast items that were actually decent, a blanket if you wanted it, your choice of morning newspapers, free headphones, bigger seats and more leg room.....a girl could get used to this!  Kelli was not impressed!  I was grinning from ear to ear!!!  Arrived in Vancouver shortly after 10 and had to make my connection to Calgary at 11:10.  I know this sounds like lots of time but don't forget, I don't do so well in Vancouvers' airport.  It started out that Kelli and I did our customs declaration on the same form.  She was staying in Vancouver while I was heading back to Calgary so we were exiting from different gates.  I tried to go out my gate and the customs officer asked where my travelling companion was.  I explained that she was staying in Vancouver at which point he sent me to look for her as she would not be allowed to leave without the declaration.  Caught up to her just as she was being refused exit.....the customs officer at her gate initialled my declaration form and sent me back to where I needed to go.  Once I got back there that custom's officer was annoyed that I hadn't brought her back with me as we are supposed to exit together so he had to call the other fellow and reprimand him for allowing her through.  Meanwhile I am chomping the bit as I know time's a tickin' and I'm getting nervous I'm going to miss my flight as I need to actually be in a different terminal  He finally lets me through and I literally start jogging towards where I need to be.  As usual I got a little turned around, saw a sign that said C gate and followed a guy up to the doors.  He wanted to go through those doors so he could go have a smoke which she allowed him to do....I asked if this was the right way to get to C47 and she nodded and waved me through.  I followed the smoker through the doors and he turned and pointed back through the doors and said..."Your gate is actually over there."  I tried to go back through the doors I had just come through and she said I could not be readmitted!  Give me a break!  I hadn 't walked 10 steps and she had told me to come this way!  I protested and told her I was going to miss my flight....it was now 10:50.  She just smiled and told me to go the the fast track entrance to get back to where I needed to go.  So off I went....had to go through the whole scanning process a second time....got searched AGAIN!!!  It was now 11:00 and I'm thinking I'm hooped!  Arrived at C47 just in time to see the backside of the last passenger going  through the doors and down the ramp.  I was the LAST passenger on the plane.  I literally was in my seat for maybe 5 minutes before we took off!  Now the good side to this story is that when I got off in Calgary, my bag was the first off the plane!  Another first in travel for me!  So I didn't have my workout in the fitness room this morning....I had it in the Vancouver airport!