Day 15 - LA County Dept. of Health urges masking indoors

Otoro…at the Mirage in Vegas…

7/13/21. Tuesday

6:30 – 7:00 - Vegas baby!! I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  This is way too early for her and she’s so out of it – the dog doesn’t know what’s going on.  I rub her tummy three times then she grabs her toy and we go outside. I water my potted jasmine plants while the dog goes potty.  Return inside and coffee for me, cheese for her.  I ‘publish’ today’s class content for my summer class then go upstairs.

7:00-8:45 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Hair and make-up. I listen to Best of Both Worlds – “We Should All be Millionaires.” I pack my remaining toiletries, tidy my room, and take my suitcase downstairs.

8:45 –9:30 - L. arrives from the beach house and we briefly discuss her trip. She goes upstairs to change and finish packing and I go outside so I can give my plants a deep water.

9:30 –10:00 - L. gives me a ride to Enterprise. I check in, then sit on one of their outdoor benches and wait. Customers are not allowed to enter the indoor space and most of them are masking. At 10:00, I sign the paperwork for a Cadillac Escalade. This car is way too big for me, but I’m relieved I have a car. As soon as they put it through the car wash, I can leave.

10:00-11:00 – Still waiting. At least I’m getting some reading time in…Widowish. A customer next to me who has also been waiting awhile tells an employee, “Seriously, I’ll take a dirty car.  You don’t have to wash it”, but the employee says they can’t do that “because of Covid.” Really? You have a 1 in 10,000 chance of catching Covid from surfaces…

11:00-11:30 – Still waiting. At 11:30, I return to the “hostess” and politely ask when she thinks the car will be ready. Shocked that I’m still waiting, she immediately walks to Service then reports to me that the car is en route.

11:45 – 12:00 - At 11:45, the car rolls out of the Enterprise car wash. An 18-year-old and an 80-year-old are working together, drying off the car.  It’s sad that someone that old is still working.  He says, “Sorry about the wait, but it looks like the people who had it were ‘living” in it.”  No problem – I’m sorry you’re working at this s—t job.  Sad.

12:00-12:30 – I drive home and it’s like driving a tank - I really hate this car.  L. and I “load ‘er up.” Of course there’s no gas – whoever rented the car only put a quarter-tank in. We drive to the nearest gas station and I fill up. It costs $60 – OMG.

12:30 – 1:00 – L. texts my Mom that we are en route.  Arrive at my Mom’s house around 1:00.

1:00-4:30 – Driving. The Cadillac’s a smooth ride, but way too big for me.

4:30 – 5:30 - Arrive at The Mirage!!! We made it!!!  A few people are masking, but most are NOT. I mask the entire time and L. masks almost as much – the rest of my family doesn’t bother. The majority of the Mirage staff is masking. L. and I are able to do self-check-in, but Mom’s room isn’t ready so we have no choice but to stand in line. Mom gets an upgrade!!  To a penthouse!!

Mom is on a different floor and in a different tower.  It’s confusing – she has to take the E elevator when L. and I simply take our elevator to the 11th floor.  AND, the elevator isn’t working – the employee at check-in told us to take the C elevator to the E elevator, but the C elevator won’t move. Of course, L. is the one who figures it out – we need to press “E”, not “C.” The employee has no idea what he’s talking about. L. takes Mom to her new digs and I wait at the elevators because I’m too freaked out after the elevator shenanigans. L. comes back down and we go to another set of elevators, ride up to the 11th floor, and voila!  Our suite!  It’s really beautiful.

5:30-7:00 – L. and I unpack, then take two sets of elevators to my Mom’s room where we’re all meeting before dinner - S&M are already there. L. and I try not to get in elevators with other people and most of the time we’re successful, but when people happen to get on with us, they don’t mask. To me, an elevator is one of the worst places to be – an enclosed tin can, breathing in everyone’s germs. I always mask on an elevator.

Mom’s penthouse is amazing!  I could easily live in something like this.  Note: Later, L. will look up the penthouse specs and discover it is 1200 square feet. My house is 1800 square feet.

7:00-9:30 – Dinner is at Otoro, a Japanese restaurant, and the food is AMAZING! Mom encourages all of us to order whatever we want so L. and I order miso soup and shrimp and vegetable tempura to start and I order Hamachi [yellowtail] sashimi.  L. and I split the Salmon in Miso Butter and she also orders the shishito peppers. Everything is so good!  I have two glasses of an excellent Brut champagne and L. gets a mocktail. It’s a great meal and so nice to be dining with my Mom and S&M. I’m with L. every day so she doesn’t count (smile emoji).

9:30-10:00 – L. and I drop my mom off at the penthouse then take the two sets of elevators back to our room. We’ll meet at the penthouse tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., for breakfast.

10:00-11:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed. Long day, but a great day.

L. takes her nightly shower after I’m finished. A. texts L and says the dog pooped in the house. Great. Later, she sends us a video – the dog seems fine.