Friday, July 18, 2008

Departing Las Vegas and Arriving in Banff

Friday, the day of the wedding, we were slated to leave in the late afternoon so we tried to squeeze in a few more activities and time-spending with Neil and Di. Di and I had a 9 AM appointment at the Bellagio Spa for a manicure and pedicure. Di made the appointment for us and I was happy for some bonding girl time and also an opportunity to have my hands and feet looking nice and maintained so that Lorne's co-workers would have a good impression of me.
I had no idea that this would cost me $200! I have never paid so much for this service but after all I was at the Bellagio and I have to admit it was very well done. Lorne and I decided that it was an investment in a long term relationship as Di and I got some quality time together. I was happy with how mt hands and feet looked and I found out a week later, they still hadn't chipped so it was the longest lasting manicure I have ever had and my toes still look great after 2 weeks!After the spa treatment, we went to have brunch with Lorne and Neil at the Bellagio Cafe. It was a delicious meal, I had a Prawn Paella that was really amazing. Then, we went walking down the strip to find the requisite souvenirs. We shopped and chatted and sat down for a drink. I also was able to find Lorne's birthday gift.
Alas, the time came for us to go and had to make our goodbyes. This was sad because we had had a good time and to me this was a painful reminder that much of the family lives too far away. I wish Jasmine had all her family around her to love her.
We went to the airport and had to wait a bit for our flight as it was slightly delayed. We tried to buy food and were frustrated by the lack of decent food in the international terminal of the Las Vegas airport. We ended up buying some sandwiches which were decent and some snacks.
We arrived late in Calgary and then had to get on a shuttle that would take us to Banff and our hotel about an hour and a half away. In the car we tried to watch Neil and Di's wedding on Lorne's cell phone as it gets Internet access. It was pretty amazing - the bandwidth on the phone wasn't enough to get a moving picture but we got what looked like stills and could hear the audio pretty well.
When we got to the hotel we were sad to find that the hotel was gorgeous and our room was tiny and to our dismay, non-air conditioned. Apparently the air had broken and they were also out of fans to give us. As it was late, we retired to bed for the evening.

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