I woke up super early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep.
I should have went down and worked out but instead I got up and took advantage of this.
Our hotel bathroom had a huge soaker tub next to the shower.
Normally I don't like to used tubs in hotel rooms but I couldn't resist this one.
I figured my legs and feet would thank me later.
I was reading my latest book - Paperboy- and kind of lost track of time.
When I did realize the time, I had to wake up My Honey & we had to scramble to meet BN & JM.
We ended up being 15 minutes late actually.
And I didn't even finish the book - I was going to as I only had a couple chapters left but luckily I looked at the time otherwise we would have been even later.
(I did finish off the book later in the evening - it was a great book AND it was a true story which I didn't realized until I read the authors' notes at the end).
Since I was up so early I researched breakfast places for this morning and we settled on this little placed called BabyStacks.
They have tons of interesting kinds of pancakes.
So I really had to skip the protein this morning and just go for the carbs in a big way.
You could get a mini stack of any kind with the breakfast for a bit of an extra charge so My Honey & I each picked a flavor that we both wanted to try.
I picked the orange with citrus cream cheese syrup.
My Honey picked the bananas foster which ended up being my favorite.
They were both really good.
He had his juevos rancheros too which made him happy.
JM & BN also shared.
Aww look at him - looks like he's surprised that I want his picture.
And there is the smile I love so much.
I also had a scramble so I could at least have a bit of protein.
It was good but I couldn't finish it.
We had purchased tickets to check out Shenandoah today so after breakfast we headed over there.
I guess Wayne Newton is a big deal here - Mr. Las Vegas.
I had no idea that you could get guided tours of his place but My Honey is really good at finding things like this.
This is across the street from his estate and where were meeting to hop on the tour bus.
The gates to the Newton Estate.
This light fixture hanging in the visitor center was kind of cool.
Apparently Wayne really likes Las Vegas memorabilia - he got these booths and tables (and I think the light fixtures too) from a casion that was closing down.
Before we headed over to the estate, they took us in this little theatre for a short 15 minute documentary on Wayne Newton.
It was interesting because I never really knew much about him.
There are lots of pictures of him in the center.
He still kind of looks similar to when he was young.
After the little show, we hopped on the bus and headed over to the estate.
He has his own plane which no longer meets flying regulations so he has it grounded and it is part of the tour now.
This is looking at it from inside the museum.
It has gold sinks in the bathroom.
The interior of the plane is kind of not my style.
Even has his initials.
The seats are nice and room and comfortable though.
This would be a much preferable way to fly over commercial, that's for sure.
This is the actual canoe from On Golden Pond.
He was a big fan of the movie so when it went up for auction, he jumped at the chance to buy it.
He didn't want it restored either and left it just as it was.
He has quite the car collection too.
They were preparing for a large function that was going to be held on the estate that evening (900 or so guests) so they were moving the cars out of the garage and we didn't get to see them all.
I am not a huge fan so it didn't bug me much, plus they upgraded our tickets to the "diamond" to make up for the incovenience.
I don't really know what the differance was from the tickets we originally purchase but it made us feel good anyway.
I was digging on this car though.
Out of all of them, this one I would enjoy having to go for a spin.
He had lots of his stage costumes on display.
His mom sewed them herself when he was young and used whatever she had on hand, including fringe from their curtains.
I liked all these little notes - it made it feel more personal and they were interesting.
The little guys around the top of this one make me chuckle a bit.
Some of the things performers wear on stage are just so out there.
This style reminds me of Elvis' style a bit.
This is Wayne and his brother.
They started out together as a duet but eventually his brother wanted out of show business.
Guess he even made it onto a stamp at one time.
After the museum we headed to the stables.
These stables are probably the only ones I will ever see that have chandeliers in them.
Wayne is a big horse guy and he really like Arabians.
They are very strict on how tourists can act in the stables and you absolutely CANNOT TOUCH any of the horses.
This gal has a beautiful name!
I learned that Arabians (or at least the ones Wayne has) have black skin.
They shave around their eyes so the black skin shows through, I think it looks kind of weird myself.
There were lots of horses, probably about 60 currently but this was the only one that didn't have the bars across her pen so we could actually see her.
She was interested in us too.
There was a little pony in there getting a hair cut while we were on our tour.
We left the stables and headed to this little arena - they were going to bring a horse out and give us a show.
This is the little girl they brought out.
Riders don't ride these horses, the horses are show horses and they prance around.
She would do her little prancing or whatever then come back tot he fence and wait for her applause.
You could tell she really liked the applause too, it was really sweet.
Next stop was Wayne's collection of exotic animals.
This is Boo - Wayne's monkey.
You have to sign a waiver before going onto the property that you won't take Boo.
He is an artist - they sell his work at the visitor center.
Each painting of his comes with a picture of him actually painting it.
He has a little chiahuahua in the cage with him that is his little buddy and each night he goes home with one of the staff at Shenandoah.
He has found something much more interesting than us humans to entertain himself with so at this point I decided to move on.
There were exotic birds.
There were peacocks roaming around as well but I didn't get any pictures of those.
a bunny
a couple wallabees.
She said they were skittish and would probably hide when we got near to them but they didn't seem to mind at all.
They looked like mini kangaroos but really, what is the point of having them?
Next stop was the house.
Wayne designed the whole house from top to bottom himself.
It looks quite impressive.
There was a gorgeous fountain just outside the front door.
The fountains even danced like a mini Bellagio display.
Check out the golden doors.
This is the main entryway as soon as you walk in.
There was a grand staircase on either side that went up to a landing.
Kind of a lot of wasted space in my opinion.
This is Wayne's personal study where he spent a lot of time.
The family lived here right up until 3 years ago when they moved to a new place about 2 km away.
They still come to the estate all the time though to ride the horses.
He was friends with the artist who claimed to be the painter of these Big Eyes portraits when in fact it was his wife that was the painter (I haven't seen the movie yet but want to) so these are originals.
Enjoying the tour guides spiel.
He noticed that I was taking his picture from across the room.
This was the family room - it had a giant pool table and some very uncomfortable looking furniture.
Some more original artwork from a friend, this time it is Red Skeleton.
Red Skeleton painted these himself.
Next we headed to the living room.
It was very large, very formal.
Check out the floor to ceiling windows, those curtains must have cost a fortune.
There were personal touches around the room like these family photos.
He and his latest wife were married here in this living room.
They've entertained quite the list of celebrities here too, like Elvis, Presidents Bush, Regan and Nixon to name a few.
The dining room is huge, has the same kind of wood ceiling that his office does.
He even had his own china made at an exorbitant cost.
They used it all the time though, even just for every day meals when they weren't entertaining.
This landing looks down into the living room.
The master bedroom.
I liked this little statuette.
Wonder which Barbara this note is from - Barbara Bush perhaps?
Looks like it may ha e
Looking down into the living room from the landing.
This is the nanny's room.
This is at the entrance to their daughter's room.
Each of the rooms had kind of a pre-room or extra room before the entrance that had a counter top and a fridge.
Kind of weird and wasted space I thought.
Such a charming little room.
It would be any little girls dream I think to have this room, at least I know it would have been mine.
This room had the most personal touches and felt more used than the others.
This is the inside of the entrance doors, they are pretty spectacular.
Finally the kitchen...
It wasn't gigantic or anything, just kind of a normal kitchen.
This is the back of the house.
They are doing lots of work to the grounds as they are going to start renting it out for more functions.
Beautiful tree, lovely swing.
This would be a nice spot to pass an afternoon.
Photo opportunity.
Had to take advantage.
There is a little pool area - not big enough for swimming in but just right for cooling off on a hot afternoon.
The grounds are beautiful, it must take a lot of staff to keep them looking this way.
A view of the back side of the house.
Not sure if this tree had fallen over or if it had just grown this way?
The bit of blue showing there is a peacock sitting on the branch.
We left Shenandoah and headed to the bbq place My Honey has been trying to get back to ever since we went there.
We wanted to take everyone to try it out our last trip but waited until Sunday to go and it is closed on Sundays.
The Road Kill Grill
It was featured on Diners, Drive Ins & Dives.
When we were here last time we just made it as they were closing, so we ordered our food to go.
We realized they hadn't given us utensils so we had to stop at a store and buy some.
Then we just sat in the car and ate it and it was so good.
BBQ doesn't always blow us away but this stuff was good.
This is the menu and I think the prices are very reasonable.
This time I opted for the pulled chicken, brisket, macaroni salad and baked beans.
I did not like the brisket but everything else was delicious, especially the beans, they were awesome.
It also came with a corn bread muffin - yum yum.
My Honey had beef tips, sausage, collard greens and mac & cheese.
I liked all of his too (except the mac & cheese which I didn't even try as it just isn't my thing)
At first this had me a little concerned about what I might have been eating but when I read through I thought it was a great thing.
There was a shed outside that was just filled with awards for community involvement which is super.
Kudos to the folks at Road Kill Grill.
After we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel and had a bit of a rest before making the long trek over to the Palazzo.
We had tickets to see Baz there tonight.
It is a musical mash up of Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge and the Great Gatsby.
The fellow at the ticket booth recommended it so we gave it a try.
It was a cool looking theatre.
It was kind of empty so we lucked out and got our seats moved up closer to the stage (and to more comfortable seats too).
My Honey & I.
My Honey with BN & JM.
It was a different kind of show - I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either.
This girl who played the lead for the Moulin Rouge story could sure sing.
The lead for The Great Gatsby story could really sing also.
The upbeat number was fun, I think I may have liked it more if there'd been more of those.
After the show I wanted to play the slot machines a bit so the others were good with that.
In fact, BN was really good with it because he hit the jackpot and won himself $600.00
Lucky duck!
Smart guy that he is, he took his money and ran.
We ran right over to Hash House A Go Go in the Linq to get some desert.
We got the tortilla chips with guacamole & salsa to share (it was really good).
Then we got this monster desert.
It is their famous Snickers Bread Pudding and one order was plenty to feed all four of us.
I saw a few other orders going by while we were sitting there that made we want to get back there another time for another meal.
Maybe next trip.
We headed back to the hotel after that and called it a night.
No "official" work out again today but I think I did pretty good with activity regardless.
20,863 steps in one day is pretty darn awesome.
Until next time, be happy!
