Philadelphia Trips and Planning Others

Since our Maine Vacation in August, we have not been on any long trips, but have taken several shorter trips in the Philly area.

The first trip was on Labor Day, when Lizzie took the family to Brandywine Creek State Park in Delaware for a short day trip that involved a picnic and disc golf...An awesome park with two disc golf courses that wander through woods and fields.
Lizzie at the urging of her father who wanted to have a picnic, picked up some hoagies at the local pizza shop, and we headed out to the Delaware park at a little past 3pm on Labor Day.
While Lizzie and I played 9 holes of disc golf, the others hung out by the picnic tables and enjoyed the beauteous scenery of the park.

The other mini vacation we had was last weekend when Lizzie and I attended a wedding at the Cairnwood mansion of Bryn Athyn, PA which is a very upscale suburb of Philadelphia.
Both of these trips shall be written about more extensively in their own posts which shall be completed at a latter time.

Lizzie and I are also tentatively planning a trip to Las Vegas for the
BlogWorldExpo in Las Vegas which is going to be held on Nov 8-9 2007. Sounds like a great excuse to go to Vegas to me.



Another trip that is in the works is a trip to West Palm Beach, Singer Island Florida that involves seeing a time share presentation from Marriott that we got roped into when we attended the Learning Annex's April 2007 Real Estate and Wealth Expo in Philadelphia. "Roped in" maybe a little strong, because as Lizzie says, we could have said no, but for $250 for a 4 day 5 night stay in our choice of Marriott hotels, how could the travelers in us refuse.

Well that is about it for this quick update travel post. The two extensive write ups of our two Philadelphia trips mentioned above are in the works.

Update:Does not look like BlogWorld is going to happen for us, but I hope everyone who attends has a wonderful time.

The Aladdin Sky like Ceiling

The Aladdin Sky like Ceiling
Originally uploaded by Emperor Anton.

The inside of the shopping area of the Aladdin Hotel Casino. At first I thought I was outside, but wait a minute is is 1pm in the afternoon, unless it is an eclipse. It looked so real, but if you scanned you could tell it was just the ceiling. A high ceiling nevertheless. The Truman Show was never so real.

Las Vegas Review

Lizzie and I got back about a week and half ago from Las Vegas, but my luggage did not get back until last Sunday. (see previous post) We stayed at the MGM grand, and would stay there again, except there are so many places to stay in Vegas, why stay in the same place twice.

We did a lot of exploring of the strip and the casinos near by. We also took the Tram back to Sahara to get in some Three Dollar Black Jack, but only broke even this time.

I have posted many fo the pictures of the trip on my Flickr account which can be reached by clicing on any of my photos, to include the above picture of the award winning MGM Grand pool.

My favorite meal was when Lizzie and I had breakfast beside the pool. Lizzie, me, a bunch of timid little birds eating my crumbs, and some landscape workers who were installing landscape lighting.

We also managed not to see a time share presentation. We had put a $20 deposit down, but went back and cancelled. We told them we had done some Internet research on the company, so we did not want to get involved with any high pressure sales presentation. They gave us our deposit back without a problem.

Other posts about our trip include:

• Various Las Vegas posts on the Pixelheadonline blog.


• Firstman2006 Blog posting


• Here on The Travel blog of Lizzie Bean

We're in Vegas!

The flight was uneventful - which is what I prefer on any flight. We left on time and arrived right on time; picked up our checked bags; got on a shuttle to the MGM Grand and checked in. One problem with the check in - we didn't get the room that we specifically requested. We researched the rooms available at the MGM Grand and really wanted a room in the West Wing. After reading review after review - I knew that I wanted to be in the West Wing and was told online - that it was available. When we checked in - we were told otherwise - or that a non-smoking room was not available on the West Wing. Misty - at the desk told us that the room we were getting was nicer because it was bigger - but that it only had a "regular" king bed. You see, the best feature of the West Wing rooms and what everyone raved about in the reviews were the deluxe king beds with the pillow tops. That is what I wanted and that is what we didn't get. I'm sure at this point we could request to move. So many guests are checking out today - it is Sunday after all and I'm sure we could move if we were so inclined. The thought of packing everything up again - doesn't sound appealing at all.

Anyway - that's all the complaining I'm going to do today. After checking into the very nice, clean room - we took off to find Cat. They're staying at the Monte Carlo - right across the boulevard from the MGM. We walked over to that hotel via New York-New York - which was really crowded and not very inviting. We met Cat and Dave at the Monte Carlo Brewery & Pub. They had a limited menu at that time (it was after 10pm) and we were starving - not having eaten anything since noon - and it was about 1am our time. So we ordered Nachos, Quesadillas, Hot Wings and Pepperoni Pizza - 3 glasses of wine and 3 beers between the four of us. It was all great.

We had high expectations of going out on the floor and gambling - but when we got out to the casino - I was about to die from exhaustion. We decided to all head back to our rooms; get some sleep and I was in serious need of some servicing too. All was great and we're looking forward to an eventful day today.

Going to Vegas!

After many flip-flops on the decision of whether we should or should not go to Vegas - we're going!

The timing just didn't seem right this year and finances are unsure for the coming year as well - so there was a lot of debate and issues regarding this trip to Vegas. But, a trip is a trip and the constant need to travel won over the lesser need to be practical and responsible.

Of course we tried to find the best deal using Hotels.com and Travelocity.com - but, unfortunately - all of the flights were at least one stop and paying a little more for a non-stop flight seemed preferable (did I mention that being practical wasn't the first choice for this trip). In general I've always had great experiences with both those services - but, time was a factor with this trip since we waited until the last minute to book the vacation.

We ended up going through Southwest Vacations.com - their flights are never part of the discount travel sites. They had a fabulous selection of non-stop flights to Vegas and although fairly limited for the dates we're traveling - we found a great hotel. We will be staying at the MGM Grand Hotel in the West Wing.

Needless to say - we're really excited about this trip. Since it all was planned so recently - we don't even have to wait long to go.

The reason for the trip - other than the 2nd annual business meeting that always takes place in Las Vegas - is to see Cat. We had the pleasure of being at her Vegas wedding last year in November - which was our first trip to Vegas ever - and coincidently - the first business meeting.

We'll be leaving Saturday, October 21st at 5:50 pm out of Philly International Airport and arriving at 8:25 pm in Las Vegas. Our return flight is at 4:45 pm on Tuesday the 24th and doesn't get into Philly until 12:45 am - the next day!

Going to Las Vegas?

We were planning our annual trek to Las Vegas (last year was the first), but now we're unsure if we'll be able to make it. We did enjoy Las Vegas and that was our primary reason to return. But, we've done an excess of traveling in 2006 - and the budget may not allow for this excursion. We did consider "slumming" it (something I really never wanted to do again). I feel far too old to be staying at seedy hotels - I've come to enjoy the luxury of finding only 1 or 2 hairs in the bathroom as compared to the layer of filth that seems to cover the surfaces of the 2 star or below establishments. Or the fresh coat of paint that has encased the filth for the duration of the hotels existence. But, Vegas may be worth it - we haven't decided yet.

On our trip to Vegas last year we stayed at the Sahara - which was a three star hotel. I thought that rating was very generous of those that rated the hotel. Overall it was old and dirty but it did have all the glitz that is expected of a Las Vegas hotel. It did offer quite a few conveniences with the monorail right at the hotel and one of the few casinos we found that had slot machines that would actually pay out in coins - if that's what you wanted.

If we do decide to go to Vegas - it would be on the weekend of October 21st - so we better make a decision soon.