Where's Witless? (Pt. 2)
Hello, again! I'm back with what I'm sure is going to be a riveting tour update for you to read!
Let's just jump right into it. Two weeks ago, Sage and I stayed in the town of Prescott, AZ. Now, when we first pulled into Prescott, we were THRILLED. I mean, Sedona was absolutely stunning, but it was mostly a tourist town and it didn't feel like people actually lived there. Prescott, on the other hand, felt like a city more familiar to home. I was never so excited to see a town with a Walmart before in my life! I don't know what it is, but apparently I've reached the point in life where I judge the quality of a town based on whether or not it has a Walmart. Is that normal? Honestly, who cares?
The literal first thing I did in Prescott was eat a fried twinkie. I think the high I was feeling from the excitement of there being a Walmart in town had something to do with this decision. I had never eaten a fried twinkie before this, but it seemed like something I might enjoy. We were exploring the downtown, "Courthouse Square" area of Prescott, and I saw a sign for a restaurant called “Devil’s Pantry” that advertised these fried confections. It spoke to me. It beckoned to me from across the street, and I couldn't help but to give in to its temptations. So, I dragged Sage into the hellfire, ordered a fried twinkie, and the rest is history. (For the record, it was pretty delicious).
While we were in Prescott, we stayed in the dorms of Yavapai College; a community college nicer than any university I have seen. We were blown away by how beautiful the performing arts facilities were, and were thrilled to stay in the hotel-quality dorms. Our contact for the week was nice enough to provide us with free meal tickets to the on-campus dining hall. However, when they were delivered to us, they were apparently misprinted and each card read “good for one breakfast meal” (even the dinner tickets). The residence hall director assured us that the dining hall employees wouldn’t care, but we soon found out that was a blatant lie. The cooks were adamant that they could only serve us breakfast food, even when they had dinner prepared and available to serve. It was hysterical. We enjoyed a week of breakfast burritos and two-pound omelets for dinner. Honestly, it wasn’t even an issue. Eggs are fine with me!
Aside from exclusively eating breakfast food at every meal, our week was pretty uneventful. We had a full cast of great kids who got to perform on an enormous stage. We even got to lead some of our favorite workshops for the first time, and the cast seemed to really enjoy them! I think the best part of the week was when a former Tour Actor/Director’s parents found out we were in town and took us out to dinner. I am continuously amazed by how many wonderful people this job brings into my life. It is truly a blessing to be a part of a company that brings joy into the lives of so many people!
Enough of that sappy stuff. On our way out of Prescott, Sage and I visited an old mining location that was supposedly one of the best hikes in the area. I don’t know about all that, but it was pretty cool to look at once we made it through the many miles of “primitive roads” we encountered on the way. The mining area was covered in graffiti and surrounded by some beautiful scenery.
After stopping for a few pictures, we hopped back in our #LittleRedTruck to head for Henderson, NV, which is where we stayed this past week. Henderson is a town about 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas. We did not realize that this meant we would be staying in an actual casino for the week. However, as we approached the Fiesta Henderson Hotel & Casino, it became very clear that we would be staying in Henderson’s own little piece of Vegas. I mean, just look at the place:
The Fiesta was an absolute blast! Not only did it come with a full casino, but also a movie theater, pool, and international buffet. And, on top of that, Siri pronounced the word “fiesta” like “fiest-AH” anytime we needed directions, which was pretty fun in itself. The rooms we stayed in were super nice, and having a movie theater downstairs made it that much easier to roll out of bed in my pajamas to see Incredibles 2 (which is AMAZING if you haven't seen it already).
Though the Fiesta was pretty great, Sage and I could not help taking advantage of the fact that we were 20 minutes away from Las Vegas. We decided to check it out on Thursday morning, which seemed like a really great idea at the time. The only problem was we hadn’t really looked into parking and ended up leaving our #LittleRedTruck in the Harley-Davidson parking lot on the outskirts of the city. This would have been fine had we not decided to then walk six miles up and down the strip. The blisters I had after that day were real. But they were WORTH IT.
Vegas is an interesting city. It honestly just feels like one gigantic amusement park. There are attractions around every corner and hundreds of people running around ready to blow their money on things they could buy at home for half the price (so, exactly like an amusement park). That being said, I did have a wonderful time exploring the strip and seeing what it had to offer (or at least some of it). Believe it or not, the six miles that we walked that morning didn't even get us that deep into the city. We mainly walked through a few casinos and eventually tried our hand at a slot machine. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) Sage and I were unable to figure out how to operate one, and finally gave up. We did, however, stop in the Esports Arena, where people apparently play video games competitively. We didn’t see a whole lot of that going on at the time, but it was a really cool facility. Here are some pictures:
After that, we went to Nacho Daddy for lunch, where we both ate our weight in some fancy nachos, before heading to work for the day.
We loved Vegas so much that we decided to come back for a second round that evening. It’s much cooler at night than during the day, so that made this trip a little more bearable. This time we parked at Planet Hollywood per the advice of our contact, and we got to explore a little bit further down the strip. I think Sage and I would both agree that our favorite part was the water show at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. I don’t have any pictures to share with you, but the fountains were truly spectacular. We watched from across the street and were even wowed from there. But, I think a close second favorite part for me was my adventure to Hot Dog on a Stick, which turned out to be a restaurant that sold corndogs, not a hotdog in a bun on a stick as I had imagined. It was still delicious, though. At the end of the day, we both decided that while Vegas would be a lot of fun if you had a ton of money to spend, it wasn’t exactly the place for us. But, I’m definitely glad I got to go!
This week we were unbooked, so we’ve both been at home with our families. But, soon we'll be back on a plane to Las Vegas to pick up our #LittleRedTruck and head to our next residency. Until then!
Love,
Jos