Vegas

There was a WPPI convention (wedding and portrait photographers international) in Vegas that my dad and I decided we could maybe benefit from. We found a time share that we could stay in that would save us some money and airline tickets that weren't too bad. We flew in on a Friday, went to a show on Saturday and the conference started on Sunday - Thursday and then we flew home.

We had a great time. We (well at least I, I can't speak for my dad) learned a lot and have a lot of new ideas to try. Dad and I spent a lot of time walking around Vegas (between and after the meetings). He was such an awesome sport. I love the lights and the people watching. I could sit on the strip for hours and just watch. He probably could take it or leave it. But despite that, he would go for walks with me for hours, looking at all the cool "tourist" things to do...like the water fountain light show at the Bellagio, or the fire show at the Mirage. We went to Cirque Du Soleil's show called "KA". It was incredible! We also went to a variety show called "V". It was a completely different caliber of show, but made me laugh so hard. We went out to several fun restaurants; a Brazilian resturant where they walked around with meat and gave you different kinds until you were full, a Mexican resturant, a delicious American resturant where I had an amazing pork chop (I know...it's sounds silly but I really wanted down home hardy food).


Our resort ended up being probably the closet possible place we could stay to our convention which was at the MGM Grand (even the rooms at the MGM were further away from the convention center than our resort was). The weather was very cold which worked fine with me since I would've wanted to be laying by the pool if it was warm out :)

Laying by the pool (in jeans and long sleeved shirt, but flip flops) on the our one day off and the one warm day!

We met several people that had just really fun stories to share...I love people's stories. Even our maintenance guy had a strike it rich story for us. He was from Guam and on the eve of flying back to Guam because he was broke, went out drinking and gambling one last time. He was drunk and not paying attention to what he was doing and his elbow accidentally his MAX bet and then he pushed the spin button and ended up winning $50000.00. He said the bells started to go off and the security came over to him and he thought, "oh great what did am I going to get in trouble for". He hadn't realized he won anything until they brought him out the W2 for him to fill out. He claims he sobered up real fast after learning of his winnings :).

One of my favorite stories was from the Keynote speaker the first night. He shot a lot of pictures for "Time" magazine covers and other magazines. He was shooting a cover for Time that had President George W Bush on it. He was at the White House and was trying to pose President Bush, but he said for some reason he just couldn't get him to pose how he wanted him too. President Bush was getting flustered so he looked at him and said, "You know, I've got a lot on my mind." (We all hope so!) :) For some reason it struck me as very funny :)


Another thing I really appreciated was a sign I saw from someone begging for money along the sidewalk. It said, "Ninja's killed my father, need money for karate lessons." I thought it was so original that maybe I should just give him money!


I have to say the trip was very fun. I loved the time with my dad. He's always been such an important part of my life and I LOVE that I get to work with him and spent so much time with him. I feel very blessed that I've get to do something that I'm so passionate about and get to share it with my dad! He teaches me a lot and I'm sure I will only continue to learn from him (although He does a great job of letting me think I'm bossing him around ;) ). I was so proud of my dad for being game to do the things I would enjoy. He's the best!

A completely unposed picture of us just being us. Reading and relaxing at the airport.