dave and i showed up somewhat early sunday morning. we land in vegas only to get a text and call from my mom stating that my grandmother was again having to be admitted to the hospital due to at least pneumonia and a UTI. which meant she couldn't go. that was a total bummer. but because my dad needed the CEU's for his license, he had to come. so our goal for the trip now became keeping dad alive, somewhat sober, and get him to his classes.
i finally (2 months late) figured out the perfect present for dave - i bought him 7 laps in a ferrari f430 f1in vegas. i have no idea what any of that means, but evidently i did damn well.
this is dave excited out of his damn mind. they make you sit through a 30 min class explaining what you're going to do, what to expect, and some little things to watch out for. dave could hardly sit still. it was his own little Top Gear fantasy playing out before his eyes.
i was expecting him to completely haul ass in that car. he didn't. at all. in fact his instructor got on to him for being on the brake so often. that was a shocker. needless to say, he had an awesome time. the hair says it all.
the other thing you could do there was take 2 laps in a corvette with a world champion drifter from japan or china. somewhere in asia. i don't know that much about drifting (or geography for that matter). but i do know that it was something dave had to do. it was the super sup'd up corvette, which is his dream car anyway. but when he got done with his own driving, mentally he was shot. i mean ZERO left in him. he had to stop walking and look at me to even be able to answer any simple questions. so i thought, what the hell, i'll do it. now's probably a good time to go through my driving history. i've totaled 2 jettas in my time. the first was a rollover all by myself in the middle of cow country. the second i T-boned a drunk indian in a silverado (and I'm a vegetarian, go figure). that one turned out to be his fault, but still, i totaled his and mine both in that one. past that, there's just a couple stupid tickets, amazingly so far i've done well with speeding. no. lemme rephrase. i've done well not getting caught speeding. yeah. that's more realistic. *knocking on wood* now back to present. i can't handle anyone else's driving. dave's scares me - his ADD kicks in and he doesn't brake soon enough, or he invents his own lanes that aren't really lanes. my mom even scares me by cutting it too close sometimes, or not braking soon enough. moral of the story - i freak out (usually unnecessarily) with anyone else's driving. so sure. going out in the fastest corvette with some asian renowned for NOT driving "well" is a great idea. shock therapy anyone?
well. lemme tell ya. we went 1 lap and i looked at the dude and told him i didn't need to do another lap. 1 was plenty. and i full well meant it. didn't care if i lost $50 at that point. hell, i could've bargained for dave to take the 2nd lap. but i wasn't doing another one. this fucker had us FLYING around that course. on the straights he would hit 140mph+. there's one turn he took at 104mph. um. hi. over my dead body will i EVER take another turn that fast. it wasn't a lot of fun for me. it was fucking stupid in fact. not my best decision ever, and certainly not therapeutic in any way, shape or form. he calmed it down for the 2nd lap and tried to do more teaching. lots of drifting, which i full well know is basically an art form. but it's really not fun for me. i'm a control freak, especially on the road and coming into a big turn way too fast without any choice in the matter wasn't my cup of tea.
the rest of the weekend was good, enjoyable. but we were all really missing my mom. sunday night my g'ma had to be moved into ICU. the docs were saying the only antibiotic available to them that would fight her infections would most likely kill her kidneys so they didn't expect her to make it. well, she did. she's still in the hospital today. depressed. driving my mother crazy. that's as far as i'll go on that one.
dad's always wanted to go to the grand canyon, but mom and i have always had the majority and refused. well of COURSE mom now says i should take them both, mostly because that meant she wouldn't have to go. so i took them. it was hotter than shit out there. the temps were about 111-113 degrees, and it was windy as hell. and it was that wind that feels like you're just getting blown by a huge hair dryer on HOT. and not in a good way. it was gross. the 10 min movie was cool as were the exhibits. the tour itself is over a mile long, no wheelchair access, and you have to go up and down stairs. dad wouldn't have been able to do it, so sadly (yay) we were in and out somewhat quickly. here's a few shots though.
monday night we celebrated dave's birthday with a wonderful dinner in the eiffel tower restaurant of paris. i'm so very thankful to have a man in my life whom my parents love, not only for me, but also for who he is. this one pic captures our entire trip together:
good times
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