Las Vegas Adventures: From Hell's Kitchen to Thunder From Down Under & a Suprise Jackpot!

Pack your bags and join Shannon and Ann as they take you on a whirlwind weekend in Las Vegas!

This surprise 50th birthday trip for Ann was filled with unforgettable moments - from staying at Treasure Island on the Strip, dining at Gordan Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen, and watching an incredible Prince tribute show to laughing through unexpected encounters and wild nightlife stories.

They also hit the famous Cirque de Soleil Mystere show, took center stage (literally!) at Senior Frog's Drag Brunch and Thunder From Down Under and even scored a mini jackpot at Excalibur Casino - enough to pay for their trip and upgrade their flight home to first class!

Get ready for laughter, friendship, surprises, and the ultimate reminder that what happens in Vegas...makes for the best stories.

#lasvegas #vegasisfun #podcast #traveltimestorieswithshannon #travelpodcast #gordonramsay #vegasshows #tunein #lasvegasadventures #girlstripvibes #vegasweekend #birthdaytrip #hellskitchenvegas #thunderfromdownunder #dragbrunch #cirquedusoleil #treasureislandhotel #womenwhotravel #realtravelstories #vegasmemories 

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Transcript

 Welcome back to Travel Time Stories with Shannon. I'm your host Shannon, and today's episode is extra special because I'm joined by someone you've heard me mention before and saw her on a previous episode. My sister and travel partner in crime, Ann. 

Hey everybody. How are you today? I can't wait to tell stories about, our Vegas trip.

Whoa, it was wild. 

Exactly. Ann has been part of so many of my travel adventures and personal stories that I felt. It's only right to bring her officially on board as part of the podcast family. She'll be co-hosting with me on future episodes when we have special guests adding her own stories, humor and perspective along the way.

And let me just apologize in advance for that people 

Now, now. 

And behind the scenes, she's helping keep everything run smoothly with, helping me to organize our travel time stories, Facebook group, brainstorming listener exclusives, and helping create some fun perks we're gonna have for our community.

So help me welcome Ann to the Travel Time Stories team. I can't wait for you to hear more from her in the episodes to come. 

Hey everybody. Hey, it's so great to be here with everyone. Thank you so much for having me, sis. 

You're welcome. It's gonna be great having you as my co-host, especially for episodes where we have special guests.

It's gonna be great to have a new perspective other than just mine. 

Shannon and I travel usually at least once a year, if not more, some years. And we have lots of laughs, lots of fun. Something always happens somewhere in, in our trips. So yeah, we're, we're excited to share 

exactly. And on this week's episode, Ann and I will share about our trip to Vegas, including I have some photos to show you.

And we're gonna chat about some general topics that, I had on my mind today and in honor of our Vegas chip. I am wearing my Frankie shirt. She's not wearing her. She's my grace shirt, but that's okay.

I'll wear it another episode. 

There you go. All right, so let's jump into today's episode, and as always,   📍 grab your favorite beverage,  get comfy, and let's get into it as we share another story where life and adventure meet. So before we kick into Vegas here, sis, I had some stuff that came up today and which is why I said we kind of have some general discussion as well as talking about our Vegas trip.

As I was scrolling through today, I had a few, quotes or sayings that jumped out at me, seven of them to be exact, and I just really felt like they either related to one of us or both of us. So I thought it'd be fun for me to read the saying or quote and then let's comment on it if it pertains to us or if we have an opinion about it.

What do you think? 

Sounds good. Go. 

Okay. So the first one says, I will never forget those who came with a lamp when I was in the dark. Not to fix me, just to sit beside me until I could see again. 

That's you. You're, see you, you're my ride or die. I mean, at a time in my life when, yeah. When I needed somebody, you were there and anything I needed, either you or even Jeff, I mean you guys were there for me and I'll never forget that.

So thank you. 

And see I feel the same way. That's what I felt when I read that quote. I was like, oh my God, that's my sissy Ann. Like she has been there with me so many times when I've been in my darkest hours and just shined the light on me. And sat with me until I was better. Yeah. And I so appreciate that.

So thankful for you. 

Yeah. To clarify, my husband went to Afghanistan for four years and when he first left, , I had only been in Houston a few months. Didn't know my way around. Had never driven in big city traffic before. Country girl here, . Yeah, that was a big change for me. Big change. But, yeah, Shannon got me through it.

Well, she learned and adapted very quickly, so 

it was either you do it or you get run over there. So yeah, I had to, 

and at the time, guys, she was driving one of the big, huge caddies. 

Oh yeah. 

And yeah. Yeah. You seen her going down the freeway in the big caddy like. Making people move out of her way. 

Yep. It was a big girl, my father-in-law.

Yeah. Off white. Beautiful. Perfect. And yeah, people were afraid of her. She was big. I was afraid of her. I'm just gonna say the first time driving in city traffic and what am I having to drive? Oh my gosh. Yeah. There were a lot of words that would come outta my mouth sometimes on the way to work. 

Yeah. Road rage, especially if you live in Texas, you know what we're talking about.

Especially Exactly. Specifically Houston. You know what we're talking about. 

Exactly. 

So this next one I thought was really good because I used to feel this way until we started traveling. So it says, travel used to feel just like another expense until it started saving me. It lifted my mood. It made my body feel lighter, and for the first time in a while, I felt alive again.

Yes, when we travel, just, you know, just getting away from work and, being at home all the time. I work from home. So for those of you that do that, you know what I'm talking about? 

Mm-hmm. 

You, just get into a rut. And the travel. As soon as I get off that plane, I can breathe. I'm, I'm ready to go, have fun, see new things, try new foods, meet new people, see how other people live.

, Half the places we go, I, I get ready to get back on the ship and I go, oh, I could live here. 

Mm-hmm. 

It's so fun to have that experience and don't wait guys. Just don't wait. My folks waited way too long and by the time they were ready to do this, their health was not good anymore, and they were not able to, they always thought they had to wait until they were, retired before they could travel, and 

mm-hmm.

No, 

please do it now. Yeah, 

exactly. Yeah. I don't, I no longer look at travel as an expense 

No. 

Or as an extra. I look at it now as a necessity. Yes. Because without at least one trip per year, that's what gets us through how we survive to the next following year. It refreshes us, rejuvenates us so we can push through for one more year.

Yep. And yeah, it really is, is. It really is healing body, mind, and soul. Yes. So if, and you don't have to take a big trip, just something small, but just don't look at it as an expense. Look at it as a necessity. 

And ladies, I'm just gonna throw this out there. If you have a best friend like I do, she is. She's just your best friend.

She's always there for you. She's the one you count on for everything. More like a sister than a friend to you. Guys, girls, go somewhere. Go have fun. Even if you both just, meet halfway somewhere. 

Mm-hmm. Stay 

in a hotel, pull a hot tub service. You know, just relax. Have fun, laugh, enjoy being together.

Exactly. Okay, so this next one says, shout out to my friend who stayed when life got messy, who didn't disappear when things stopped being fun. Who loved me even when I wasn't easy to love, who made ordinary days feel like adventures. Who picked me up when I couldn't stand on my own? Who forgave me for being distant when I was struggling?

Who reminded me of my worth when I had forgotten? And who proved that friendship is not about time, but about loyalty and love. 

Exactly. It, you know, it doesn't matter what is happening in my life, I can tell you, and I'm never gonna be judged and vice versa. You know, anything happening in your life you can tell me and you know you're not gonna be judged, but yet you have that other person there that you can.

I can talk to about it and reach out to, and just sometimes when you have a major stress going on in your life, it feels like it's just all stuck in here. And, just having that friend to reach out to, to talk to it just, it just kinda gets it out of you. It makes you lighter, it makes you take a deep breath.

It makes you look at yourself and go, okay, I got this. I can do it. I can do anything. I'm a woman. Hear me roar. I mean, come on. 

Exactly. Exactly. And it's understanding that if that person hasn't reached out to you in a little while, that doesn't mean they don't wanna be friends with you anymore, that's a signal that they're probably struggling with something and they've been keeping you at bay because they're dealing with something and didn't want to feel like a burden to you or whatever.

So that should prompt you to reach out to them. You take the first step, reach out, 

and I'll always tell you the best way is kindness. Just send some kind words. Hey, thinking about you today. Wanted to reach out, you know, if you wanna chat, let me know because I would love to chat with you. You know, just anything.

Just reach out to your friends, make sure they're okay. 

Exactly. And this next one says, I'll never regret someone that I had an amazing time with and experience with. Even if we fall off, you made my life special at a certain time. We grew together even when we grew apart. Thank you. And that made me think of, I've been reflecting a lot in telling my story with.

David that's gonna be coming up in future episodes on my high school friends that I had in and around that time and how we lost touch. And we have reconnected here recently on Facebook, and I'm so excited for that because 

mm-hmm. 

Those friends, I never forgot those friends. They were special to me throughout my whole life, even though we weren't connected anymore.

Some of the dearest memories I had were with them and they helped me grow in ways that they probably didn't know at the time 

Yeah. That 

they did, but they really actually did. They had a great impact on my life, so 

That's awesome. I think at that age, childhood friends do have a huge impact on your life.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't think you realize it though, till you're an adult and looking back. 

Oh yeah, for sure. And remembering, oh, I used to go to their house. This was, 

yeah. You know, 

their family was like this, or their mom always had, our neighbor always had yummy egg rolls cooking, or, oh, that lady could cook.

Oh, that sounds delicious. Now I'm hungry for egg rolls. Thanks Sissy 

Your Welcome. I guess I've been hungry for them too, but her name was Annie and she used to, she'd cook up something yummy and she'd bring us big plates of something over. It was actually my first taste of, any type of Oriental food. I found out later that she was Chinese, so yeah, it was, and I was in love.

It was so good. 

Nice. 

Yeah. 

Okay, so the next one says, no one else is carrying the aftermath of the trauma you have endured inside your body. They are not paying the consequences. They are not managing the recovery. Therefore, their opinions are secondary to any and all things that help you heal. 

Amen. 

Yep.

That was my thought on that too. Amen. 

Everybody's gotta do what they've gotta do to, to heal themselves. Nobody's gonna do it for you. It's not gonna be easy, but you're strong., Human beings are very strong so you can do this. You're capable. Whatever you're going through,, I know you can get through it.

And don't let anyone tell you if you're doing something that's helping you heal and you know it's helping you heal. Yep. Don't let anybody tell you, oh, you're, you shouldn't be doing that or whatever. If it's helping you heal, then you keep going. 

Yep. Exactly. That's what's working for you. 

Exactly. So here's a good one.

Waking up to narcissism. Here's the crazy thing about narcissism. You don't see it until you see it. Once you see it, you will never be able to unsee it. One day, all of a sudden you will just simply see it. You will then think to yourself, something isn't right here. This is a major problem.

And maybe just, maybe it isn't me. This becomes a major turning point in your life. And on that, I can just say, guys, I have been there. I have walked this one. So yes, that is exactly how it is. You don't see it till you see it. And once you see it, you can't unsee it. And then you actually start to realize that it's a problem.

And guess what, folks? You're not the problem. 

Yep. Someone's always telling you that you are. It's likely that it's probably not you. Exactly. Look deep, look at your feelings. They're telling you they're just not listening. 

Yep. Yep. And this is the last one. And this one really hit home for me. We hurt our own feelings.

By assuming we mean more to people than we actually do. 

Oh yeah. 

So it's not that they hurt our feelings necessarily. We are hurting our own feelings because in our minds we mean more to them than what we actually do. 

Right. 

And that was like a light bulb for me today. I was like, holy crap. Oh my God. That is so true.

Yeah, it true. Really is. That is 100% true. 

Yeah, that one blew my mind today. I was like, oh wow. I need, definitely needed to hear that today. Wow.

So, okay. Two other things I wanna mention before we get into Vegas. I'm excited for Vegas. Is that Ann and I just learned, we're about to leave for our cruise in 12 days. Woo hoo. We are so ready. And you know, we're going on a 14 day Journeys cruise. We're going to the, US Virgin Islands, San Juan, key West Grand Turk, and, Jamaica.

Ocho Rio yeah, 

Jamaica. , But anyway. We have learned that the Friday night before we leave for our cruise, in Galveston and we are staying the night on the island in Galveston. The Port of Galveston is actually having their 200th birthday celebration party on the pier and it's presented by Royal Caribbean.

So we are going to, our plans are to go out that night to party on the pier and check it out. Have some food and some drinks, and, really kick off our vacation in a fun way. And, they are also going to have a fireworks, spectacular with how many drones? Sissy Is it 

400? Yeah. 400 drones. I've never seen a drone show before, so I'm super excited for this.

Yeah, so there's gonna be 400 drones in the air doing this show, so, I'm sure there will be some people calling in and reporting, unidentified flying objects in the sky at Galveston for that weekend. But, , just trust and believe it's a drone show people.

Oh, there's supposed to be all kinds of food trucks there and vendors and I am really excited. 

And a band is gonna be playing from Yes. New Orleans, I think, right? I, 

yeah, I don't remember, but I think you're right. Yeah. 

Yeah. So it should be a lot of fun. So if you're going to be on that same cruise that we are going to be on, leaving on, October the 17th.

17th on Carnival Dream. 

I fly in the 17th. 

Oh yeah. Yeah. The party on the 17th. 

Yes. 

The party's on Friday night, the 17th. 

Yes. 

Our cruise leaves out Saturday the 18th. Right. The Carnival Dream out of Galveston. So if you're leaving on a cruise out of Galveston on, the 18th and you're there on the 17th, then come out and join the party on the pier.

Yeah, yeah. We might just 

see you there. If we see you and you recognize us, come say hello, please. And, the other thing that we found out that's gonna be really cool is, on October 20th, which is, as you know, we're doing our Facebook Live from the ship on October 20th. We are gonna be ported in Key West on that day.

We just found out that in Key West they are having their fantasy fest that's going on. It's actually through. For the whole month of October, but, each day they have different activities going on. Yes. And they will have stuff going on for the day that we are there on the 20th. So we plan to, get involved in some of those activities and try to get some really good photos and footage for you guys.

Yeah. From that celebration and, , hopefully when we go live, we'll be able to show you some of that, during our live, on that evening. 

That would be awesome. 

Yeah. So make sure if you haven't signed up yet, then join our Facebook group and get signed up so you can tune in for our live on October the 20th from Key West.

It'll be four o'clock central time, five o'clock eastern time, , for that live. 

Yep. 

All right. I'm 

excited for that. 

Yes, me too. Basically what Fantasy Fest is, is Key West's version of Mardi Gras. So the big beautiful costumes and all kinds of craziness, beads and everything that goes on, like at Mardi Gras will be happening in Key West.

So I'm pretty excited about that. 'cause I've never been to Mardi Gras. 

No. 

So this will be like my. First time attending, even though it's not New Orleans, it'll be in Key West,

I'll take it. 

Yeah, exactly. Me too. Sissy me too. All right, so our weekend trip to Las Vegas. And guess what?

This wasn't just any trip. 

No, 

it was a surprise that I planned for Ann's 50th birthday. Yes. She had no clue where we were going. I planned it behind her back with the help of her husband, and she did not find out where we were going until. Was it like the day before you had to leave or the day you left?

It was the day of because I had to pack a bag. 

Yeah. Based 

on what you said I needed, I did not know until I got to the airport. Literally, I was like, ohoh Vegas. 

Yep. Yep. She has had Vegas on her bucket list for a while now. I have. And I had never been. And so I was like, why the heck not we're gonna do a weekend in Vegas?

So I planned everything, booked the flights, and she flew from Missouri to Vegas, and I flew from Houston to Vegas and we met at the airport, which was crazy. Let me tell you. Yes, Las Vegas airport is no joke. Like, yeah, 

no, absolutely not. 

I had so much trouble trying to find Ann. Yes. But we eventually found each other.

Yeah, it took, took a little bit though. 

Yeah. But we, we got it worked out and I had booked us a room. We actually stayed at Treasure Island on the strip. 

Yeah. 

I thought, I mean, it's not ranked one of the best. Hotels. It actually has, you know, mixed reviews and kind of poor reviews. But I felt like when we were there, I thought it was really nice.

Yeah. I mean,, not you know, four or five star Nice. No, but it was decent, good enough for us, especially for the price. Yeah. It was clean. 

The rooms were clean. Yes. That's number uno for me. , That room better be clean when I get there. 

Exactly. Yeah, same here. And so it provided all that for us.

Yes. And the casino inside Treasure Island was, lots of fun. Very nice. 

Yes. 

Also inside Treasure Island is where they have the, Senor Frogs. Drag show brunch. Yes. That was one of the things that we went to while we were there in Vegas. We did attend the drag, show brunch. 

It was awesome.

And it was 

so much fun. 

Oh yeah, it was great fun. 

Yeah,

they did a great job. Their show was, it was awesome. 

Oh my God. They 

amazing. 

Yeah, their show was fabulous. Oh my God. When they did the splits. I'm not a man, but it hurt me just watching them do the splits. I'm like, oh my God. How did they do that? Yeah. Yeah, they were amazing. Yeah, they were.

Yeah. If you go to Vegas, I highly recommend going to the brunch show. You get unlimited mimosas, you get a buffet lunch. , It was a lot of fun. 

Yeah. Be careful with those unlimited mimosas, let me tell you. 

We'll show a picture in a minute. 

But No, you better not. You promised you would not show that one.

I'm not, I'm just teasing with you. So we do have some photos that I'm gonna put up here and show. And apologies to our audio only listeners. If you wanna see the pictures that we're gonna be showing and talking about, head on over to YouTube. Find us on the YouTube so you can watch this video just so you can see those photos.

But we will try to describe them to you as best we can. So anybody just listening audio only can kinda have an idea of what the pictures are. So this is my first time doing this, people sharing photos. So bear with us in case we have technical difficulties. 

It happens sometimes. Yep, 

exactly. We're still learning.

We're still new. Okay. Sissy, can you see the photos on the screen? It's pretty 

small. 

I'm zooming in. Can you see it now? 

Yes. 

So this first picture is when we, right after we first arrived in Vegas and got into our hotel room, I have bought these shirts for us.

As you see, I'm wearing my shirt tonight. Because Ann and I are huge fans of. Grace and Frankie, , we watched every single season, every single episode, and we truly felt that the shirts that we're wearing mimic who we are. Like she is my Frankie and I am definitely Grace out of the two. Yes, 

absolutely.

So this photo is of me giving her her Grace shirt, to wear. And we got so many people stopping us on the streets in Vegas as we were out and about walking in these shirts to take photos with us and to tell us that they love the shirts. So yeah, it was a big gift. It was awesome. It was 

great idea.

This next photo I had bought Ann a sash to wear 50 and fabulous. And this is a photo of her in the hotel room with wearing her sash, modeling it as like the princess that she is, or should I say queen? Actually Queen. Yeah. Yeah. 

She made me wear that everywhere. No joke. 

She didn't have to wear it out on the street.

But I did make her wear it when we were inside, , to take these photos. And then also I made her wear it, , at one of the shows that we attended later. And we'll talk about that when we get there. 

Yes, but she was not 

wearing it out on the street, just walking down the strip. 

No. No. 

As another special surprise for Ann's 50th birthday, she got to meet one of her favorite people in Vegas.

Right here on the strip is Ann 

with Elvis. Do you see the, oh my God. Look on my face. Yeah, he got me. Good. First of all, he ran up on his scooter, by the way. He was on the scooter, Elvis on his strip. Yeah. His 

scooter's in the picture right there to the left side of him. You could see the scooter. 

Yeah. He buzzes up there to us and he wants to take a picture.

I'm like, well, that's kind of weird, but okay. So I do it and as I we're getting ready to take the picture, the look on my face is, because suddenly I realize, yeah, that costume probably has never been washed. 

Yeah. This is the look right here that she's talking about people. This look right here. 

Oh God. Oh, and he smelled like, I don't know what he was drinking, but with alcohol.

It was like really early in the day. And so yeah, I was like. Oh, buddy, get back. You smelled real bad and then he wanted $5 for that picture. I'm like, what? You want money 

for that? Exactly. But we gave it to him anyway. So we did. You did. Because it's Vegas, it's not a trip to Vegas without a picture with Elvis.

Right. People, I mean, come on. I mean, you got to guys, you.

Let's see, what do we have next here? Oh, yeah, we walked up and down the strip and went to the different, inside, the different hotels to check them out. And this one blew me away. Yeah, the Venetian, oh my God. That has the gondolas inside of the hotel. You can take a gondola ride

I was just blown away that this was inside of a hotel. I'm like, oh my God. , So yeah, this is a picture of one of the gondolas coming down the, riverway there, whatever you wanna call it. The other, thing that blew me away about this hotel is this one right here. This is inside the hotel, but it literally looks like the sky.

Yep. 

And it moves. The clouds are moving and everything, so it really messes with your brain. Yep. And you literally think you're outside, but you're not, you're inside the hotel. 

Yeah. It, it was awesome to see that. I really enjoyed it. 

, It was so 

beautiful. It was hard not to stand there and just look up at 'em because they were moving and changing, you know?

And. But of course people everywhere, you couldn't just stand there and gawk for too long, but 

you know. Exactly. Yeah. , I took sissy for her birthday dinner. 

We 

went to Hell's Kitchen People. Yes. We were inside a Gordon Ramsey restaurant and got the Gordon Ramsey experience. 

It was super good too.

If you're ever in Vegas, you gotta go. It was yummy. 

Yeah. I have some pictures here of the food. Let's see. Oh, here's Ann sitting at the table with her. Little Hell's Kitchen napkin. 

Yep. And then my eyes closed as usual. 

Here I am with mine and then I do not remember what all the food was, but here are pictures of some of the foods that we ordered and trust me, people, we ordered a whole bunch of stuff.

Yeah, we sampled a lot. 

Yeah. So there's this first picture. 

Those Wagu meatballs were there. They, is that them? Yeah. That's the meatballs right here. 

Sissy. There's the meatballs. I still think about 

those. Yeah. At Chef Ramey, if you hear me, I, yeah, I dream about these sometimes. Just, yeah, want you know that 

these were 

the 

best.

And then we have the 

mac and 

cheese. Mac and cheese, 

that was heavenly. 

And this is the, like the potato soup. I think I, I don't remember what if it was just regular potato soup or if it was like potato and Leek, I don't remember, but it 

was a potato Leek soup. 

It was delicious 

with the cream fraiche, on top.

It was, yeah. It was so good. 

Yeah. This was one of the, quinoa salads that we had that was absolutely fabulous.

I don't remember what you got Sissy but whatever it is, that's one of your, the main dish that you got. 

Yeah, I don't remember. 

Oh, and then now we're here up to the Drag brunch show. So this is a picture from the drag brunch show. They asked if anybody was celebrating a birthday. They had to come up on stage, so Ann did not want to go up on stage, but I made her go up on stage.

Yes. So you see her back here with, in the front, with the long blonde hair. And they were making everyone do a fireball shot. Now at this point, Ann had already had several mimosas.

It was early in the morning.

I hadn't slept in days, 

and then she had to do this fireball shot. And then immediately following the Fireball shot, they had a twerking contest. Oh yeah? 

Mm-hmm. 

That she had to stay up there and participate in the twerking contest. Yeah. To which she's turning around, mouthing to me from the stage. What is twerking?

Hey, nobody else up there knew either. I figured it out after. The contest. I had to look it up. Of course, nobody else knew what it was either. Some guy was like rolling around on the floor, like I don't even know what he was doing. Grabbed my arm and tried to pull me with him. I was like, no dude. Let go.

Uhuh. Mm-hmm. 

So as you can imagine, she did not win the contest because she didn't even understand what it was she was supposed to be doing up there. It was so bad. It was hilarious. People. It was so bad. I have a video, but I'm not allowed to share it, so I can just tell you. It was bad.

It was so 

bad. It was real bad. I'm not a big drinker, so I'll just throw that out there. 

But, like we said, the drag show was amazing. These performers are awesome. Yeah. Here's some photos of them right here. I mean, they're. They look so good. Yes. You have to go and check them out. 

Gorgeous. And they're, yeah, some of the voices, oh my gosh, some of these they can just sing so good.

Exactly. 

They were phenomenal. So yeah, if you go to Vegas, check out the senior frogs, drag show brunch. It's inside the Treasure Island Hotel. 

Yeah. Super fun. 

So the next thing I did for Sissy is I took her, I got tickets and we went to Thunder from down under. Oh yes, we did. That was my most favorite show.

Okay. I am just gonna put it out there. And, the thunder from down under at that time was at the Excalibur Hotel. Not sure if it's still there or not, but that's where it was when we went. So we went to the thunder from down under, Ann had already said prior to us going inside when we were in line waiting, that she did not want to go up on stage no matter what, and I promised her, no worries, sissy.

You will not go up on stage, I promise you. 

Yep. 

Little did she know, my fingers were crossed behind my back when I made that promise.

What, 

Here's a couple of pictures from the show. , Yes. This was the gentleman that ended up bringing my sister up on stage for her special dance, and that's him right there pointing at her because they were asking, you know. Who he should pick to come up on stage. And I literally, people jumped up and was, behind sissy and going Right here, 

right here, right here.

But I seriously didn't think he would pick me because, you know, I slunk down in my chair, , kind of slowly like this, you know, and, and told Shannon she better sit down and knock it off. Well, it was too late. Yeah, 

because this is him, as he pointed her out and then came out into the audience to get her and bring her up on the stage for her special dance.

As I'm sure, Ann can attest to after protesting about not wanting to be on stage. She made a show of it ladies, let me just say. Everybody in the audience loved it and she was enjoying the hell out of herself. We even found out that the saying that, chocolate is bigger is God's honest truth.

But I'll let Sissy fill you in on that. 

Yep, yep, yep. I got to check it out for myself. So yeah, I was very respectful, but yeah. Yeah, it was quite surprising. I did not expect that. 

This is the final picture I have from that show right there. Ladies, let me zoom in a little bit. So if you're going to Vegas, you need to make sure you attend Thunder from down under.

These guys are magnificent. Not only in looks, but they're so talented. They're dance moves. Everything is amazing. 

Yeah. Very, very talented. Guys, it was amazing, the show. 

Yeah. 

It was just really good and fun. It was very, 

yeah, very good show. Lots of fun. So highly recommend. Then we went to, this was Sissy's favorite show, I think.

Yes. We went to Cirque de Soleil and we saw the Mystere show. , These are some pictures from a few pictures I snapped from the show. Talk about amazing acrobats and performance. These guys right here. 

It was a amazing to watch. You could not take your eyes off of it

and look at that. 

Yeah, they were absolutely incredible. I was mesmerized the whole entire time and was sad when it ended. 

Yeah, me too. And the stage, the set. 

Mm-hmm. Um, 

the backdrops, the lighting. It was magnificent. 

Yeah. 

You're constantly surprised by something that they did or brought out or whatever.

Exactly. Yeah.

And here's at the end 

it's my favorite. 

Yeah. All of the entertainers and performers on stage with the big snail. Yeah. It was so great. 

Yeah. Snail lady. 

Yeah, definitely recommend going to a Cirque de Soleil show. I don't care which one it is. I've never heard a bad review from any Cirque de Soleil performances.

Yeah. So no matter what show it is, just pick one and go. You won't be disappointed. They are amazing. Absolutely amazing. 

Yeah. And all the seats in that, you know, that theater that we were in were all fabulous. I mean, they all, you could see the stage from literally every seat in there. Yeah. It was really good seating.

I was really impressed with that. 

Yeah, there wasn't a bad seat in the house at all. No. Yeah. The other show that we attended was, Ann and I are Huge Prince Fanatics. , Yes, absolutely love Prince. RIP, so we wanted to go see Prince in concert and so we went to one of the, tribute shows for Prince and the impersonator was so spot on.

I haven't seen an impersonator that good in a long, long time. He was so spot on for Prince. Yeah. And the whole show production was amazing. It was the purple rain production. Yeah. And it was amazing. And this is. Ann in the seat before the show, using Snapchat,

having fun. We were having fun, as you can tell, so I had to throw that picture in there for y'all to see. I thought it was hilarious.

This is me outside of the Mirage Hotel. Yes. Had to get a picture with the lion. Of course. So Of course. Yep. All right. So great trip. Yeah, that was an amazing trip. 

Absolutely amazing. So that's it. I will tell you though, don't plan on sleeping while you're there because. I'm a go to bed person.

I don't stay up. We did not sleep for three days while we were there. Literally. 

I think it was, we didn't even realize it either until the day we were getting ready to leave. We both looked at each other and we're like, we haven't even slept all weekend. We have been up for 72 hours straight.

We didn't even sleep in the bed. We just used to shower. Literally change clothes. 

Exactly. We literally only used our room to store luggage basically, and to shower and change clothes. We didn't sleep in the beds. Nope. Yeah, we 

nothing 

because we were out the whole entire three day weekend just going and doing stuff.

I mean, and even at night, I mean, I felt, yeah. I felt pretty safe there, honestly. I, and I did not expect that, but yeah. We were out all night long doing stuff. 

Exactly. At one point we were on the tram alone late at night and actually stretched out across the bench in the tram to rest. 

We're like, let's just take a little nappy.

Yeah, let's just take a little nap while we're on the tram. We get to a destination. There was nobody else on there, so why not? 

What if we had really fallen asleep? Somebody would've gotten on in the morning and we would've been sleeping on the bench. 

That would've been so bad. Oh, miss.

Oh, 

God's great. 

Yeah. And oh, another of my personal highlights from the Vegas trip was while we were at the Excalibur Hotel. Waiting to get in line for our thunder from down under show. We had some time to kill, so we're like, oh, we'll just go over here to the slots and sit down and play a few games, you know, while we're waiting for lineup to start.

Threw some quarters away. 

Yeah, exactly. We hadn't burned enough or given Vegas enough of our money yet. No, not yet. So we decided we'll give it some more, right? So yeah, so we went over there and we were doing that and, I ended up winning a mini jackpot, guys. I literally almost had heart failure.

I've never won on the slots. She did not like a jackpot win, like I've won, you know, 20, $30, whatever. I've never won a jackpot win. I literally almost had heart failure and was freaking out and didn't know what to do. I'm like, oh my God, what do I have to do? 

The blood literally drained from her face and I thought something bad was happening.

Like medically. I mean, I'm looking at her going, she having a heart attack. I'm like, are you okay, Shannon?

And while it wasn't millions of dollars, unfortunately, but it was enough to cover our whole trip. 

Yep. 

And even give us an upgrade for our flight home. Yeah. So I was able to upgrade us to first class, so Ann was able to have a first class flying experience on our way home. 

Oh, it was nice. Very nice. Very interesting flight, but very nice in first class.

Yeah. Ann slept. Okay,, let's just throw that out there. She slept so she had no clue what was going on in the row in front of us until afterwards, and I told her 

not true. I was watching it while I was dozing, but I did doze and so I did miss some things that you clued me in on, which filled in the gaps and yes, solidified What I was thinking was happening was really.

Happening up there in those two seats. Yes. 

Yeah. Let's just say the row in front of us joined the Mile High Club in the row in front of us instead of the bathroom, which is where it normally takes place. 

Exactly. And the stewardesses did nothing. 

Yeah. Literally 

nothing. Yeah. We let it happen. Nobody 

did anything.

No. Yeah. And it was very, very obvious what was going on. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. And 

I, and the worst part 

was, is you could see it between the gaps in the seats from our vantage point, especially Shannon's. So she had the best vantage point. Yeah. 

Yeah. I wouldn't say it was the best. Yeah, it was very disturbing and I did not wanna see that.

Yeah, Ann slept through it and I couldn't, so there's that. Let's just say for me, I have had better first class experiences. That wasn't my first time flying in first class, thank God, because it would've ruined it for me, but yeah. 

Yeah, it was real bad. Disgust actually would be a better word for it.

Exactly. Yeah, it was. Very disgusting. I think I 

was just most shocked that the stewardess did not care and they, you could tell by the look on her face when she walked by several times, that she knew what was taking place

under the blankets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

It was real. And we could see the girl's arm, you know, reached over into his, you know.

Um, you know, 

yeah, I think, I think everybody gets it Ann. I think they got that picture pretty good. Making sure guys, I'm sure it's clear. 

Okay.

So yeah, that was our whirlwind Vegas weekend full of laughter surprises, amazing shows and memories that we're never gonna forget. 

No, definitely not anytime soon. 

No. And I can't believe that that was 10 years ago now. 

Yeah, and we're due to go back that we went on 

that trip. It seems just like yesterday, but it was 10 freaking years ago.

I know. It's hard to believe. 

It's time we go back and see if anything's changed. 

That's what I think too. 

We need to get that on the books, so 

yeah, definitely. 

I thought it was fascinating when I was, looking up stuff, for our episode. I went back and counted up how many trips Ann and I have done since we started our traveling.

Back in 2010 was when we first started taking trips. So since from 2010 till now, we have done 16 trips together. Dang. So is that like a little over three per year if you averaged it out much? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then that's not counting the one that's coming up in 12 days, so that'll be 17. That's 

real excited about 

Yeah.

Yeah. Two weeks. I'm never ready to get off after a week. I mean, I'm just comfy. I know where everything is. I've met people and then you have to get off. So yeah, a two week trip is gonna be awesome. 

Exactly. I'll make 

friends for life on this one. Sis. 

Oh Lord. Help us Lord Jesus. Help us. Cruiser friends. Yeah, help me, people.

Help me.

It's gonna be so awesome. I can't wait. 

I think we're coming to an end here. We've been going for quite a while now, but, , we have, 

that's not like us. Usually. No, 

exactly. So I wanna wrap things up here and thank everyone for joining us on this episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon.

Thank Ann for being here tonight. And be sure to like, subscribe, share with a friend, and tune in next week for more adventures. As always, we would love to hear from you or have you on as a guest. So send us a message at lamkintravel@gmail.com and Lamkin is L-A-M-K-I-N travel@gmail.com. Until next time, keep making memories for life guys.

Bye. Thanks everyone. Bye.

Thanks for joining me today on Travel Times Stories with Shannon. Don't forget to subscribe. Leave a review and share this podcast with someone who might need a reminder that they aren't alone in their journey of love, loss, and healing. Until next time, keep making memories for life.