St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training 2015 - Day 2!

May 13, 2015 ~  Brandon and I had some time this morning to check out some sights while Tom and the guys had some things to do. Trying to come up with some things to do in an area I haven't been to is sometimes tricky but we managed to see a few things!

Our first stop was to see a beach in Lantana!

It was very pretty but dang it was windy... 

you got a good sand blasting as you walked down the beach!

I picked up several shells and brought them back.

These are Portuguese man-o-wars that were all over the beach.

(You don't ever want to touch or pick them up as they can sting you)

What you lookin' at Willis?!?!

Loved seeing a little love for the Hickman Kewpies in Florida! 

Purple and Gold! 

 Actually the flags were telling you different beach warnings...

We drove down the A1A to see some of the big houses...

These houses were huge! You didn't see many because they were behind huge fences or shrubs but we got a few glimpses of some of them. Makes you wonder what these people do for a living or if this is a second or third home.... certainly beautiful!

We checked out another beach on the way! 

We headed back to Tom's place to see if they were ready to go get something to eat! 

The guys weren't done with work so Brandon and I headed down to check out their pool and beach!

This is their gated community pool... what a view!

Brandon and I decided to take a walk to see if we could find any shells!

This guy kept watching us... 

I thought he just wanted his picture taken! 

It was a beautiful view and so much calmer walking on this inter coastal beach! 

 Check out this place just across from where we were standing... 

Wonder how much that thing is worth!

This little sucker scared the crap outta me as we were walking in the driveway! 

I do not like these fast moving little critters!

So we finally headed out to get something to eat and landed at Flanigan's! 

As you know, St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner but these people were ready to party!

You could tell this was a really fun place and the key lime pie was so yummy! 

We walked across the street from Flanigan's to check out Deerfield Beach!

Just a small panoramic view... 

We decided to check out the Deerfield Beach Fishing Pier... all 980' of it! 

This little feller was hanging out at the very end of the pier and was watching me watching him! 

After his little photo shoot he was going to show off for us while enjoying a little wind therapy! 

(Sorry for the crazy noise ... the wind was something else)

Here's a link to the video if it doesn't pop up:

https://youtu.be/-mQO9z-MI5s

The Spry's... just a little wind blown! 

The beach view from the pier!

The guys making their way back down the pier.

A new GMC Denali.... boy they really changed the body style of this ride! 

(Never knew they had a GMC Denali bike... thought those were SUV's!)

I slipped into a little shop to find a t-shirt and saw these ol' boys just hangin' around! 

We ended the night with visiting Boston's and a little live music.

(I'm not a Boston Red Socks fan but it was pretty cool how they had all kinds of memorabilia throughout the place)

St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training 2015 - Day 1!

March 11-12, 2015 ~ So about four years ago I told my husband that I wanted to go to St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training in Jupiter, FL as a bucket list item. Somehow he went that year with a group of guys and has gone each year since. I told him that I was going one of these years (in the very near future) and I was asked to come along on this normally "guys only" trip.

On Wednesday we flew from St. Louis, MO to Atlanta, GA then to West Palm Beach. We didn't leave until 6:30 PM which meant we didn't arrive to West Palm Beach until 11:59 PM then by the time we got our rental and got to our hotel it was 1:00 AM! We slept for several hours then headed over to Tom's place to meet the guys. 

Tom has a place in a neat little gated community. It's not a huge complex but just big enough! If we were ever to move to Florida this would be the place to go that's for sure! 

Straight ahead is a place I have wanted to see.... 

Roger Dean Stadium! 

Crossing off a bucket list item in 4....3....2...1! 

Our view from the "cheap seats"! 

(Have no fear... we would learn that we move up around here!)

You can't start a ballgame without our National Anthem!

Let's play ball boys! 

 Well hey there Matt Holiday! 

 Jose Oquendo, St. Louis Cardinals 3rd Base Coach!

Mark Reynolds hit a nice 3 run homer outta the park! 

Time to upgrade our seats....

and check on the guys! 

Tom, Brian and Keith... it looks like they are hanging in there! 

An older couple was heading out and gave us their tickets... 5th row!

Great seats to see St. Louis Cardinals Manager, Mike Matheny talking to the boys!

 I really like that guy!

 View from the new seats!

 St. Louis Cardinals 8

Baltimore Orioles 2

That's a winner y'all! 

After the game we took the guys back to Tom's place so that everyone could freshen up. 

  Brandon took me to pick up my race packet for Saturday's 5k at the Wellington Green Mall.

 I had to pick up my race packet from Fit2Run inside the store. From the outside it looks like a regular mall but this thing was huge! I wish that we had a little more time to check it out but we needed to get back to pick the guys up and head to dinner! 

Fit2Run- The Runner's Superstore

The Mall at Wellington Green

10300 W Forest Hill Blvd

Wellington, FL 33414

http://www.fit2run.com/ 

 This place wasn't anything special but I seriously had one of the best prime ribs ever!

(The service wasn't the best but the food made up for it!) 

Pearl's Next Generation Restaurant

618 W Lantana Road

Lantana, FL 33462

http://www.pearlshomecooking.com/

Las Vegas Day 3 - RACE, NASCAR & SIGHT SEEING!

March 7, 2015 ~ Who's ready for another fun day in Las Vegas? We are! So I had a few things planned for us to do today that were a lot less crazy than yesterday. After nearly 12 hours of sleep we both feel good again and I was ready to head out to my first out-of-state 5k!

One of my goals for 2015 is to do 15 5k's! The breakdown of this goal is easy....
5 in Columbia, 5 outside of Columbia and 5 out of state! Sounds easy right? 

I was excited about this race as you don't actually "strip" on the strip but instead you wear donated clothing and take those off along the way. The best part about this race is that all the donated clothes (and I believe the money collected for signing up) goes to homeless veterans... something that I stand behind as we battle our own veteran homelessness in our own community.

The following information is taken from the website for the race:

http://www.striponthestrip.com/ 

U.S.VETS is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of comprehensive services to homeless and at-risk veterans. They are dedicated to the successful transition of military veterans and their families.  With 11 facilities in six states and the District of Columbia, U.S.VETS provides vital services such as case management, employment assistance, job placement, counseling, as well as drug- and alcohol-free housing to over 3,000 veterans each day. In a year, U.S.VETS will help 3,000 veterans find housing and over 1,000 veterans obtain full-time employment.

The Stand Down is an event that is held in cities all over the nation to provide food, clothing, services and referrals to homeless veterans. The name "Stand Down" comes from a term used in times of war. Exhausted combat united requiring time to rest and recover were removed from the battlefields to a place of relative security and safety. Today, Stand Down refers to a grassroots, community-based intervention program designed to help the nation's estimated 67,000 homeless veterans "combat" life on the streets. Here in Las Vegas, the 2011 Homeless Census and Survey revealed 1,350 veterans were homeless on the streets of our community. 

The Stand Down brings the community into the solution, give hope to veterans still living on the streets, offer them a temporary respite, and connect them to information and services that can help them. 2014 marked the 11th anniversary of U.S. VETS hosting this annual event.

Over 850 pounds of clothes were shed on March 1st as race participants stripped for a cause at the Inaugural Strip on the Strip 5k Run / 1 mile walk!

A wonderful photo op in front of the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign was part of the course! 

I met and ran some with another Michele! (Only she had 2 "L's" in her name!) 

Very fun race! Glad I found it! 

Now getting a taxi back to the hotel was a trip!  

Here's the video from the 2015 Strip on the Strip!
If the video doesn't play above, then click on the following link below
https://youtu.be/aCcx6qYQhJ8

We spent a little time at NASCAR but it was pretty busy as the drivers and crew were very focused and I was kind of glad that we didn't take anything that needed to be signed for this trip.... not a great track for autographs until you were looking for a select few. 

Time to peek in the roof of the garage to see what we can see.....

Dale Jr.

Casey Mears

Kasey Khane

Clint Bowyer

Carl Edwards

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart

After qualifying was over we decided to head back to the strip to see what we could find! 

 

With the announcement of the Riveria closing it's doors after 60 years we had to visit it one last time. We have stopped by a few times in the several visits to Las Vegas and it's a piece of history that will soon be long gone. It has hosted many stars such as Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, The Beach Boys and more. There were several movies that filmed here such as Ocean's Eleven (1960), Casino (1995), Showgirls (1995), Vegas Vacation (1997) and The Hangover (2009). I can only imagine the memories made here over the years.

Thank you for 60 wonderful years!

It is with no shortage of sadness that we are announcing the closure of the Riviera Hotel and Casino.   We greatly appreciate the expressions of fondness and loyalty for 'The Riv' from our guests throughout the years.  More importantly we want to acknowledge and applaud our associates who have worked to create enduring memories for all of our guests.  For the Riviera is more than a building, it has always been about Classic Fun, Classic Value and Classic Vegas!

Please stay tuned to our website for more information about our celebration that has been 60 years in the making!  We look forward in offering our guests the same Classic Fun, Classic Value, Classic Vegas experience that they have come to expect until our doors close on May 4, 2015 at noon.

 http://www.rivierahotel.com/

 One of our favorite places to visit is the Wynn Hotel and Casino! I don't know why but this place is beautiful and I love this area with the trees! Any trip we make to Las Vegas we have to eat at The Buffet inside the Wynn! Yum!
http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/

So we totally laughed when we saw this and figured "why not"! Yes we went to see the 50 Shades Parody and thought it was funny! They totally made fun of this movie and kept the audience shaking their heads. They did a good job and was it my favorite? No. What else did we have lined up? Nothing. Why not!?!?! After all it's Las Vegas!

It was a fun trip and we enjoy visiting Las Vegas. It never disappoints with people watching but what I couldn't believe is all the girls walking down the strip barefoot with skimpy bikini's (some of them made you wonder why they even put it on with everything hanging out). Guess we have always gone in colder weather but I can say that this trip was far from cold weather! Las Vegas, it's been fun and thanks for the memories... until next time!