Gangster wars ,Vegas....and an earthquake - quite the week!

I moved to the quiet community of Walnut Grove just over 6 years ago to get away from the crazy city life to an area I felt safe to walk alone at night if desired. How the times have changed! I have the option of 2 large grocery stores in my neighbourhood and the how I decide on which one I go to is whether I will be stopping for coffee on the way home or not. Rory for whatever reason cannot (or will not ) drink home brewed coffee, only Tim Hortons, so I was very surprised this past Friday afternoon that he did not want one on my way home. Since this was the case I decided on Save-On to get some last minute shopping done rather than IGA, all I can say is thank goodness.

Below is a picture of the madness that erupted here on Friday afternoon at the store I didn't go to while I was shopping at the other store. Machine gun fire at the truck right outside the front doors of the grocery store. It was a gang shooting over what is apparently a turf war going on right in the middle of my neighbourhood. The man was killed and the shooter drove off to the amazement of many onlookers at the strip mall.

So I left for Las Vegas on Saturday and returned from Vegas on Monday. What a whirlwind of a trip!

Our flight out at was at 11 a.m. We had booked to fly United but for some reason found ourselves on an Air Canada flight. I rarely fly out of Vancouver (the savings for one ticket leaving from Seattle instead is usually crazy enough that it is worth the drive) so I haven't flown Air Canada since I was a kid, it was really nice!

When we arrived in Las Vegas they were in the middle of a major downpour, I have never been there when its been raining so I was quite surprised, the roads were flooded, it was a mess!

We stayed at the Paris Hotel, I was really looking forward to it but honestly I don't think I would stay there again, a little smaller than I had imagined. It was a gorgeous site.

We had tickets to see Jersey Boys at the Palazzo so the plan was to get checked in, gamble a bit, and then off to dinner. We ate at Emerils Table Ten at the Palazzo, it was really nice but we were snubbed by the waiter because we didn't order appetizers or dessert. What I find so funny about that is they think (I'm assuming, I could be wrong) because the bill is smaller without the extras that the tip would be smaller, not true with me, if the service is great you will get a BIG tip anyway, but if you snub me, yeah well not so big :)

Once dinner was done it was off to see Jersey Boys, this was a great show. There was quite a bit of profanity and I know how much my Mom hates that but she was able to get past it and really enjoyed the show.

It was a late night of gambling and then off to bed around 2 or so.

We woke up late and then went casino hopping. We didn't really have a plan as our time was so limited so we really just walked, stopped into a casino for about an hour and then off to the next one. My sister visited with her friend that lives in Vegas so Mom and I just did the casino hopping.

We were off to see Elton John that night so by the time we got back to the hotel and changed we didn't have enough time for dinner, no problem in Vegas dinner can be at midnight :)

Elton John.....wow what can I say. I knew to expect a show given that is was Elton but I can honestly say I wasn't expecting the show we saw. When we picked up our tickets they advised us that there would be adult content, I thought some language etc. NOT. I have a G rated blog so I will not go into what the show was about but I can say I saw quite a bit of Pamela Anderson with poles and much much much worse :) It was an awesome show though.

We left the next day and I lost A LOT of money, can't say Rory was too pleased with me when I returned but I figured it would be quite a while before I returned to Vegas again.

Just before I left Vegas Rory had called and left a message. He was letting us know that it was snowing like mad outside and that there had been an earthquake, the epicenter just blocks from our house. Well if you knew Rory you would know that he is known for his stories, always in fun. With this reputation I can tell you we all thought he was pulling our leg especially when my sisters boyfriend advised that it was sunny outside (my sister called him minutes later) and NO there hadn't been an earthquake.

When I landed I called Rory and was laughing at what I thought was his joke, he's like I swear it's all true, still I didn't believe him so when I returned home there was a link open on the computer to show that there was in fact an earthquake. Rory was on the couch when he said it felt like he was on logs in the water, there was also a big bang and Ror thought that someone had hit the house. The earthquake was only 2.1 in size but honestly it's freaking me out because although I knew we were in an earthquake zone somehow I had myself believing that it wouldn't be close to our home, blocks away is just a LITTLE close. Oh and the snow.....apparently our neighbourhood had a huge isolated storm cloud that dumped snow so no joke there either!

This gang war thing is really freaking me out....woke up this morning to find out that two cars were shooting at each other earlier this morning at a gas station just down the street, they got away but one car was immobilized with a bullet......not sure what's going on in my sleepy supposedly safe neighbourhood.

Cheers :)