Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

(GUEST POST) 2010: A Golf Odyssey December 31, 2010

Filed under: Christmas,Guest Post,Happy,Las Vegas,Mom — Kelocity @ 4:57 pm
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Since the day Kelocity launched, Kelley has been asking me to provide a guest post.
This is my first.

There is nothing I love more than my wife.  Unfortunately, my work schedule last weekend kept us apart for the holiday.
With her braving the winter weather blast in Boston I took the opportunity to rendezvous with my other loves, travel and golf… not necessarily in that order.

But this wasn’t just a trip… it was an odyssey.
54 holes in 72 hours on some of the best courses in the West!

My mom didn’t want me to be alone for the holiday, so she tagged along.

Yellow & Black Golf Bag + Yellow & Black Travel Bag = 100% Intentional
Yellow & Black Golf Bag + Yellow & Black Travel Bag + Yellow & Black VW Beatle = 100% Luck… it was a rental car.
Golf Trip- Day 1 (2)

My first round was at Primm Valley Golf Club, just on the border of California and Nevada.
They have two courses, Desert and Lakes.  I played the Lakes course.

Warming up…
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This was our view while we grabbed a bite to eat at the club house.  Stunning!
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1st Tee.

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Fantastic conditions on a fantastic course.

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We stayed the first night in Las Vegas.

Day 2 (Christmas Day) was at Badlands Golf Course in Summerlin, just a few miles North West of the Las Vegas Strip.

Not only was the course amazing, so were the homes that looked down on it…
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Stay focused Irving.  You are here to golf, not daydream.
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Check out the view from the tee box.
It’s a long carry over the desert to hit the fairway, good thing I am focused.
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After that shot, your travel down the path to find this…
The octagon building is a workout room.  Just past the workout room is a helicopter.
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Wait, what?  A HELICOPTER?!?!
I thought about this for a while.  This guy has a helicopter parked in his backyard.
Truth is, if I had a home in Vegas on an amazing golf course… with a helicopter, I too would park it in the backyard.
I mean where else would you park it?  In the front yard?  That would be such an eyesore.

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Oh no!  The temperature started to drop into the 60s, time to pull out the sweatshirt.
(I think this was they day that Kel called me to tell me she had to shovel snow twice.)
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After the round we got in the car and drove to Mesquite, Nevada.

It’s about an hour North of Vegas just before you hit Arizona and Utah.

We stayed that night in Mesquite and woke up for an early round.
This was actually the course that I was most excited for.

Wolf Creek Golf Course in Mesquite is listed as one of the top 50 courses in the country.
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It has been described as “the Disneyland of golf courses.”
And “the Pebble Beach of desert golf.”
I agree with both.

Just have a look at this place…
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Time to warm up…
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1st hole…

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And here we go…
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Here is the view from the back tee’s on the 2nd hole.

The fairway is over the ridge to the left side of this picture.
Look just right of center in this picture.  My mom is standing at the white tees, where I played from.

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A closer look…

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Here is the view from the white tees.

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I’m going for it…
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The conditions were perfect…

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Here are two of the best Par 3 holes that I have ever played…

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I have never seen views like this on a golf course…

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This is about as close to other golfers that I got that day.
See them on the ridge?  That is a tee box!
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What a way to end the year!
Have a very Happy New Year everyone.  See you in 2011!
Cheers,
-Irving

 

Vegas Flipbook September 11, 2010

Filed under: Happy,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 8:08 am
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Just because once wasn’t enough…. you had to see it in flipbook form 😉

So silly!

 

Le Reve = The Dream September 7, 2010

Filed under: Happy,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 2:00 pm
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No offense guys, but Irving and I totally do Vegas like we’re retired old folks.

But first… Dunkin’s Coffee (obviously)!

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We convinced Erika and Timmy to Play BINGO with us!!!
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Yea, we have our own dabbers. What?

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You know how all the old people have their Bingo good luck charms? So do we!
We picked seats 7 and 11! (July 11th = Anniversary!)

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Plus Reese was supposed to bring me luck!
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Whoo Hoo Free Shirley Temples! (with two cherries!)
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Sadly, none of us won any money, but man was it fun!

We had dinner over at the Silverton, and check out this Gelato Display!
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Looks harmless, right?
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Until you get to the Mango Display!
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HAHA. It’s the little things, my friends!

As part of our hotel package, we got two free tickets to Le Reve at the Wynn. There was a ticket mishap and the Wynn pretty much gave our tickets away to someone else… but after a half an hour of waiting around, it all got sorted out.

le reve

The drama continued after we sat down.  Some seats were double booked, people were standing in the aisles, people kept getting up and sitting down. It was quite distracting at first. The show was already starting and people were standing in my way. grrr a huge pet peeve!

We were actually quite disappointed in the show itself. Maybe we were just comparing it to KA from the night before (which was just amazing). Most cirque shows are fantastical and they bring you inside a fantasy world that makes it easy to open your imagination… this show didn’t allow me to leave my reality. I never “left” my seat like I did in KA. Le Reve definitely didn’t live up to my expectations.

  • The music was a little too 80s heavy
  • There wasn’t much “cirque” performing, it was mostly diving and dancing
  • The water effects were cool, but it slowed the performers down
  • There was a live band doing all the music, but we thought it was recorded until the very end. I think if we realized it was live we might have appreciated it more.
  • I didn’t really care for the costumes either, I thought they were a little too strange for the type of show it was.

All that being said, it was entertaining, but not cirque worthy. I’m a tough critic.

Unsatisfied with Le Reve, we choreographed our own cirque show!

ACT I: Sauter sur le Lit

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ACT II: Combat d’oreiller
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FIN.

 

Around the World in 6 hours!

Filed under: Food,Friends,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 1:00 pm
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First thing’s first when in Vegas:

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How is there a Dunkins in Vegas and not in LA??

Erika, Timmy and I went straight for the coffee and bagels/donuts. And my husband went to the Mexican Market and came back with Churros and a Tecate Beer. lol
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oh man.

Timmy hadn’t been to Vegas before, so we had to do the grand touristy tour of all the big hotels. It was so fun because I hadn’t been in some of them in years!

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New York, New York!

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MGM
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We saw Lions in there!
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Excalibur
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Luxor

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I don’t even have to go all the way to Cairo to see hieroglyphics. haha

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Bellagio!

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L ook Out, Reese!
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Paris!
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It’s exhausting going around the world in one day. 🙂 It was so much fun.

For dinner, we all met up at the Rain Forest Cafe. IMG_5723
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The highlight of the dinner was, of course, the dessert.

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It was a crepe with bananas, ice cream, whipped cream, caramel and chocolate sauce. Mmmm!
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The highlight of the evening was:
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We were SOOO excited for this. Cirque shows in Vegas is just something you have to do. I was looking forward to this for so long.
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The show was incredible. We absolutely LOVED it. Everything was impressive…from the stage to the music to the performers. We had great seats and soaked in every awe struck moment of the show.

In other news… I broke a nail after the show. It was SOOO sad!!
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Irving doesn’t think a broken nail is blog worthy, but I disagree. This is my first broken nail ever!! (I’ve been growing them out since April). I was devastated.

le sigh.

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Night Vegas!

 

La La Luxury! September 6, 2010

Filed under: Food,Friends,Las Vegas — Kelocity @ 9:30 pm
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Welcome to Las Vegas!!
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I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the Encore is pretty much the nicest hotel that I’ve ever stayed in. We scored an AMAZING deal for Labor Day weekend. ($300 for three nights in an Encore suite INCLUDING two tickets to Le Reve!) Yes, Please! They were practically begging us to come!
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Our Room!
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The Mini Bar!
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This trip was pretty shopping heavy. Because of Labor Day, the outlets were having AMAZING sales! I got tons of shirts, dresses, shoes, jewelry and shorts! Irving got golf clothes and some other stuff. We were shopping machines this week!

The first night, we ate at “The Mac Shack”.
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My kind of menu!

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I got the traditional Mac & Cheese with Spinach and Peas mixed in. Mmmm!

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Cheese!!

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As you leave the restaurant, they have free Tootsie Pops!!! MY FAVORITE!
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Later, Irving ran into a friend from high school! As he put it, they “haven’t seen each other in the heavy half of a decade”. — since 1997!
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After dinner, we met up with Erika and Timmy and headed over to Blush nightclub inside the Wynn.

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We had VIP access! That’s how we roll!

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The lanterns were all handmade in China! And they coordinated with the music. So cool!

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And ladies got free champagne all night!
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It was a fun night!

Stay tuned tomorrow for more!