Day 1 - Friday, May 14th.
[Picture Album image range: img_6232.jpg - img_6309.jpg ]
Friday morning was somewhat hectic. I had only just arrived from a week long software developer conference at Wycliffe's International Headquarters the night prior. We needed to be at the airport around 1pm and Bill and I weren't sure how we were going to get there. Bill calls me to tell me to wake up his sister Evie and ask her if she can take us. So, I quietly knocked on her door a few times, to no avail. But eventually she arose and agreed to take us.
After stopping by the ATM, we dropped my car off at my mother's place (an emergency car shelter), and then drove through McDonalds to take advantage of their new 34 second policy. Bill tried to throw them off by breaking a hundred dollar bill.
When we reached the airport, Bill & Evie's father Rogers (an FAA employee) was there to help us avoid any further delays (IMG_6232). Evie was seriously dying to go with us. (I informed Evie of my plan to kill Bill and take her with me instead, but I didn't follow through with it.)
The plane trip to Las Vegas (our layover) was relatively uneventful. I tried to study the Psalms while Bill tried to tell me not to play like I'm all spiritual or something. "Don't you get tired of reading the Bible?" Within a few minutes, I had Bill reading it also.
The Nevada terrain was very beautiful from a bird's eye view (IMG_6234 - IMG_6242). Upon landing, Bill exercised his muscles (IMG_6240) to help a young lady next to us with her bag from the overhead compartment.
Our layover was a couple of hours, so Bill and I decided to take a taxi down the strip (IMG_6243-IMG_6248). We soon realized by the traffic (and consequently our ever increasing taxi fare) that we'd only have time for a meal. So, the taxi driver dropped us off at a "hole in the wall" Italian restaurant named Battista's (IMG_6250-IMG_6257). He advised us to expect a 30 minute drive back to the airport due to traffic. Bill paid the cab driver the exact fare, but I made him tip for his services. (The cab driver seemed to wait a little bit, as if giving us a chance to redeem ourselves before calling someone to break our legs.)
Now I noticed that Battista's actually had "Hole in the wall" in their subtitle. To me, that's almost like telling me that you ate at a "great restaurant", only to find out that the restaurant is literally called "Great Restaurant". So, how can a restaurant with "hole in the wall" in the title, actually be a hole in the wall? In advertising it, don't you cease thereby to be it?
Well, curiously, we weren't disappointed. The atmosphere was romantically lit. The tables were elagantly set, and the walls (and ceiling) were filled with interesting antiques and autographed pictures of famous people with the owner. We tried our best not to let our imaginations think that the owner had mafia connections (an Italian in Las Vegas owning a restaurant that's been around for over 20 years.) Bill seemed a little uncomfortable that we were eating together in the romantic environment, so I tried to make a scene about us needing to "come out the closet". He was embarrassed. We imagined a time when we might bring our own wives here in the future.
The dinner plates were at least $20 each, but they came with house-wine & cappuccino for dessert. My manicotti was among the best I've had anywhere, including the side of spinnach. My mocha/cappuccino with whipped cream was the best I've ever had (although, I must admit I haven't ever really had it, and mistook it for hot-cocoa).
After finishing the meal, we found another taxi and found our way back to the airport in under 10 minutes. Even a police man was impressed by his driving (IMG_6260).
Our airplane was a charter flight, probably contracted by casinos in Las Vegas. We found plenty of slot machines at the terminals (IMG_6265-IMG_6268). I noticed that one of the machines would sound a bell every 15 or 30 minutes, apparently to give the impression that people were actually winning something.
We waited an hour or so to board the plane around 7:45pm (IMG_6274-IMG_6301). It was dark by the time we took off, so we were captured by the lights from the city below (IMG_6307-IMG_6309).
The trip seemed to take forever. We watched Master & Commander, followed by some comedy with Gene Hackman (I was more interested in snoozing). We were probably over half-way through with Cheaper by the Dozen when we landed around 11:30pm in Honolulu (around 4:30am central time).
Gerald, a friend and elder of Bill's, picked us up at the airport. He took us to his house where we spent at least a half-hour putting water back into the radiator of Bill's old Jeep. Then Bill drove me to Kaneohe to stay the night with his Hawaiin friends Harlan & Dana.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Posted by Eric Pyle at May 18, 2004 2:59 AM