World Series of Poker Las Vegas July 09

When we realized that we were going to have the Fourth of July weekend off together we figured, what better to do than head north to Vegas to catch a little poker! We arrived just in time for the Main Event's Day 1b. There are so many registrants that they have to have 4 Day 1's and 2 Day 2's. This year they had nearly 6500 players each paying $10,000 each for the opportunity to play to win $8.5 million!

We got to see many professional poker players including:

5-Time bracelet winner the Prince of Poker, Scotty Nguyen,

the Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske,

2-Time Bracelet winner the Shark, Humberto Brenes,

and the Mad Genius, Mike Caro plus many others that we saw walking the halls including 8-Time Bracelet winner Eric Seidel. Although it was a thrill to see all of these famous and successful players there is one person that definitely took the cake.......

10-Time Bracelet winner Texas Dolly, Doyle Brunson! We were able to watch him play for a while at the ESPN Feature Table. Unfortunately, he busted out of the Main Event later in the day.

$10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 ............ wow, there is a lot of money in this room.

Mickschl's May 09

Kathy's cousin Shawn and his family (wife Tammy and daughters Evelyn and Joey) were invited to a wedding in Las Vegas and they decided to make a family vacation out of it and start their trip with us in Arizona!

We started off by taking them to do a little shopping at Arizona Mills and the Superstition Ranch Market and then to lunch at Waldo's BBQ (best kept secret barbeque joint in Phoenix area)!

On Sunday Kathy took Evelyn to the Puppet Theater to see Animalopis and Chris took Shawn to do some golfing at the Duke golf course in Maricopa while Tammy was able to have some quiet time alone with Joey.

On Monday Chris took Tammy and the girls to the Phoenix Zoo. We had a great day and we got to see all kinds of interesting animals.

After the zoo we had specific instructions from Grandma Mickschl that we had to go to the Rustlers' Rooste restaurant in Tempe. It is a very unique western style restaurant with a large bull outside and a slide to get from the door to your table and a live band that plays country music that you can dance to all night.

On Tuesday we hit the road to Las Vegas! We took the long way there so that we could visit the Grand Canyon and have a nice picnic near the South Rim.

We then headed onward to our timeshare in Las Vegas with a slight detour onto Route 66.

Our timeshare was a very nice two bedroom unit on the first floor that was very close to the swimming pool.

Shawn and Tammy went to the wedding with the one and only Elvis Presley officiating!

While they were at the wedding, Kathy and Chris took Evelyn and Joey to Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate their 6th and 1st birthdays respectively because we were not going to be able to be in Kentucky to celebrate with them on the actual days of their birthdays (July 13 & July 16). We were able to get a birthday hat for the girls and we had one of the people working at Peter Piper Pizza announce that they had some very special guests here celebrating the birthdays with them over the intercom system! Evelyn was very proud!

Evelyn then thought that because we were not going to be able to be in Kentucky with her for her special day that it would be a very good idea for her to ride the rides and play the games with us as our gift to her (smart little girl).

Here are a couple of shots of the Mickschl's enjoying Las Vegas.

On the way back to Phoenix Evelyn had a revelation that not only were Kathy and Chris not going to be able to attend her and her sisters birthday party, they were not going to be able to attend Natalie Sarahs (her American Girl doll) birthday and that it would be a wonderful idea to have a party for her at their house when we returned! Kathy though that this was a good idea as well and was able to put together gifts from everybody along with decorations and for dessert we had ice cream with avocados (sounds a bit strange but give it a try, you'll like it).

Kasey's 25th Birthday February 09

Kathy's cousin and her husband, Kasey and Ben, decided to come and spend Kasey's 25th birthday with us in Arizona! We wanted to make this a very memorable trip and planned a lot of fun things for while they were here.

They started their vacation on Kasey's birthday with a trip to the Phoenix Zoo, where they spent the day alone exploring and admiring all of the creatures the zoo has to offer. That evening we had a nice dinner of Strawberry Champagne soup, Filet Mignon with a Bleu Cheese and Merlot reduction, grilled asparagus and baby red potatoes with Chocolate souffles for dessert.


On Saturday morning we hit the road for a couple of days in Rocky Point, Mexico which happens to be the closest ocean to Phoenix at 240 miles! We had to stop in Ajo, AZ to get our Mexican car insurance which we found to be a good thing because we seemed to be driving one of the nicer cars we saw and we were in our Kia Spectra.


We stayed at the Penasco del Sol right on the beach at the very top of the Sea of Cortez. The views were beautiful and they had small cabanas that we could hang out in which we took full advantage of.

On our first day in Mexico, Chris did some exploring while Kathy, Kasey and Ben hung around at the resort and he found different shops, a couple of Cantinas and some of the best looking and freshest seafood ever! The next time we go we are bringing empty coolers with us to bring as much of it back with us as possible, they had shrimp as big as a baby's hand, scallops in and out of the shell, mussels, clams and fish all for between $5 and $10 per pound (we will take orders). Unfortunately we were not able to cook at our resort so we figured 'Heck, we are in Mexico where should we eat?' Of course, a small hole in the wall ........wait for it ........ ITALIAN restaurant! Sounds strange but they had $1 shots and half price pizzas and it was a ton of fun!

Next we got back on the road and headed toward Temecula, California to enjoy wine country again and to show Kasey and Ben some of the beauty of SoCal. We tried to do some border shopping on the way out of Mexico and that did not work out so well although we did get to see some lesser traveled areas of Mexico. Oh well next trip, right?

While we were at the Great American Beer Fest last year we came across the San Diego Brewing Company which had some very interesting and unique beers that we thought we would like to try with Kasey and Ben and also enjoy some dinner. The beers that we were looking for were not available and the food/service was marginal at best but their Stout and the Beer Sampler were excellent.

Next we took a wine shuttle to 6 different wineries throughout Temecula. We got to make friends with some other people from around the country and it sure was funny how after each stop everybody became more and more friendly.

We then drove up to Los Angeles through Oceanside (where we stopped at a Farmers Market), Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach although I am sure there were others but there are so many beaches.

Wild Mushroom Veloute w/sauteed mush- Rabbit & Smoked Bacon Ballottine, Vegetable

rooms and chive cream piccadilli and toasted brioche
Jerusalem Artichoke Risotto

with Artichoke chips, black

truffle, sherry carmel reduct

Cripsy pave of Sea Trout, white cabbage and Braised Ox Cheek with port wine, horseradish

pickled ginger, kohlrabi, celeriac cream sauce creamed potatoes, glazed turnips, braising jus

Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta w/

quince, gingerbread ice cream &

ginger madeleine

Valrhona chocolate fondant with brown Vanilla ice cream Chilled coconut tapioca with candied

butter caramel ginger, passion fruit, milk chocloate

star anise ice cream

The one thing that Kasey really wanted to do was to go to lunch at Gordon Ramsay's London Restaurant! During the week that we were there it was Los Angeles Restaurant Week so that meant that we were able to have a Prie Fix 3-course menu with wine pairings for each course for a very reasonable $48 per person. The restaurant was beautiful, the view was spectaular and the food was truly amazing. And as it turns out this was only half of the experience. As we were leaving we asked if this restaurant is the one that Kristen (Season 2 Hell's Kitchen Winner) worked at, and it was! As we were discussing this the Manager asked us if we would like to tour the Kitchen and possibly meet Kristen! After about, I don't know about 1/100th of a second thinking about it, we accepted. The Kitchen was huge and we although we were not able to meet Kristen we were able to see her in action.

After this the Manager asked us if we would like to see their roof top pool and cabana area! While we were on the roof we were able to see where all of the Oscar parties were going to be held two nights later.

After lunch we took a drive around Bel Air, Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. With the Oscars so close we thought that we may seem some film stars but unfortunately we did not. We did do some shopping and Ben bought Kasey a ring from Tiffany's for her Birthday and Valentines day!

With the Oscars being just a couple of days away we decided to go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Mann's Theater and the Kodak Theater. On the Walk of Fame we found a star named after Ben! The Kodak Theater was all set up for the Academy Awards with the golden statues and all the lights and glitz everywhere. The Red Carpet was covered with plastic so I suppose that it would not get ruined but we were able to find a spot where the plastic was torn so we were able to 'walk the red carpet'!

On our last day together we could not let our trip go by without going to another restaurant from Food Networks 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'. This one is called Schooner Or Later and the item that was featured on the show was The Mess which was shredded hashbrowns, diced ham, onions, green peppers and cheddar cheese mixed together with scrambled eggs and toast. It was a huge plate of food that Kathy, Chris and Ben all ordered. Kathy had hers topped with avocado, Ben had his topped with sour cream and Chris had his topped with chili. Kasey was on a guacamole trip (if we had 20 meals while they were here on vacation, Kasey had guacamole on 18 of them) so she had a cheese omelette topped with, you guessed it, guacamole. This is where Kathy and Chris left Los Angeles and headed back to Phoenix and Ben and Kasey stayed alone one more day before going back to Minneapolis.

Great trip!