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Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend
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April 1st: She has packed and repacked
the bag three times and he has also had some packing issues but we finally
made it and took the train to Arlanda this
morning... and it worked and was on time !!! (This is not an April
fool´s joke!)We are now checked in at Arlanda
Airport, headed for Chicago!
2nd: We arrived in Las Vegas as
planned yesterday and are now resting after the first day of Seeing Sights
and participating at the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly event. Las Vegas,
what a town! It is truly built for entertaining, the buildings are amazing!
So we went for a trip around the world. We went to Rome, Paris, Venice, New
York, Luxor and medieval England. We had heard that they had build a replica of Venice inside one of the buildings so
we went looking. It wasn't easy but we found it. We knew that it was at The
Venetian (of course), but not that they had put it at the second floor!? It
is always noon and they have canals, Gondola Rides with people who sings, cafes and bridges. We instantly went Paparazzi!
After spending a day in down town (only buying a hat for her) we went back to
The Orleans to get ready for Viva and we started by checking out the vendors.
And there was plenty to see, feel and buy. We didn't buy anything that first
night - we wanted to dance.The Go-Getters entered
the stage at 11 pm and gave a kick ass show and the floor was packed! We went
to bed early...in the morning, tired but very happy.
3rd: Did some shopping yesterday
and today, and we found his shirt, which matches the bridal dress. We participated in a Jiving Dance Class and
the teachers noted that they had nothing more to teach us. We bought a DVD
with dance classes for future reference. Before the trip, she sadly
commentated that she probably will never have a Bachelorette party because no
one could come along on this trip. So he, being the sweet guy that he is,
arranged one for her. She didn't suspect anything and got quite the surprise
when he led her outside and a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham honked the horn and
she was abruptly kidnapped by two girls (Lauren and Zanita),
who put a plastic pink neckless and a plastic tiara
on her head and we were off to meet a third girl outside a sushi restaurant.
After some drinks we stuffed our self silly with different kinds of sushi and
had lots of laughs. The girls returned her to The Orleans just in time
for the Burlesque show at 11.30pm.
4th: This is the day of the
car show. We had an early breakfast and rushed out to the parking lot where
the car show was placed. There was lots of cars of different kinds; Hot Rods,
Street Rods, originals, fantastic paintjobs, no paintjobs and a couple of
movie cars. It was hot and sunny and she wanted a milkshake, we went looking
but never found one. We did found a fire engine truck that was converted to a
pizza oven (!?).We met Lauren and her friends at the car show, by a pink
Cadillac. We also had time to visit the pool and watch the couples swimwear contest. In the evening we
danced to some old Rockabilly stars who are
still alive and kicking - one of them jumped down on the dance floor and
kept on playing. He was in his later 80's and was everywhere; behind the
drums, with the bass and with the guitar. That ended at midnight
and after that we went to the showroom to check out Dekes
Guitar Geek Show. There was several very good guitar
players and a display of some old historic guitars.
5th: After a late start, we din't have the alarm set, we went down to the buffet to
eat some brunch. Usually she has an omelette and a
bowl of oatmeal fore breakfast but not this time.
The omelette was there but instead of the oatmeal
she loaded up a big plate of seafood, there was crab, prawns, crayfish and
sushi (yes that counts). And to that we got champagne (and coffee and juice).
Just to top it off she went to get some fruit and a small bowl so she could
get some chocolate from the chocolate fountain. We ate the fruit and the
chocolate like a true fondue, this is a breakfast we
could eat every Sunday! After that yummy breakfast we got in line for the
pool party. Angelica had pre-registered to compete in the Ladies Swimsuit
competition in a vintage swimsuit. She did a great performance but did not
win. Next time we will have more info about the bathing suit to tell the
judges. After the pool party we entered the Jíve
dance competition. We have not yet master the American version of Jive so we
did not make it into the second run. Our authentic 50-s style Swingdance with mainly Boogie Woogie
sequences was obviously not to the judges liking. It was fun to dance and
participate anyway. Later in the evening we saw a performance by three
original 50-s Doo-Wop artists and the floor was moving (literally) with the
beat!
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The Wedding
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6th: The day of the wedding...She
made reservation fore a make up
and hair and realized that we didn't have time fore
a nice breakfast - we ate at Subways! He picked up the rental car while
she got ready in the hotel Beauty salon. It was worth the wait, she looked
even more beautiful than before. He got dressed and off we went! After some
paperwork got straitened out, we got started a
little bit late. Elvis walked Angelica to the altar where Lars-Ove was
eagerly waiting. Elvis was singing It´s now or never and we had to dance a slow bugg. Elvis said a few wise words and performed the Hawaiian Wedding Song while we where
holding hands. Then we said our wows and our individual I do´s and placed the rings on the
correct fingers. Then we kissed and Elvis sang the final song - Viva Las Vegas. And we danced a faster bugg this time. It was hard to dance on the thick carpet
and luckily no one fell. After the ceremony we picked up something to eat
(can you believe we actually had food from Burger King?) and headed up to Red
Rock Canyon to take some nice pictures. It was very windy and actually quite
cold. The plan was to have a nice picnic with fruit, chocolate and sparkling
wine but the wind and the cold made us to change our plans. Later that night
we saw a show - Mysterie - and cruised
the strip up to Fremont before going to bed. She really wanted to see the old
part of the strip but she was so tired and when he had woke her up fore the third time he gave up and went back to The
Orleans.
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Las Vegas
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7th: This was the second Car day,
focusing mainly on Cadillacs. We started by
visiting Ed's place All Cads to see his vast collection
of parts and cars. After Ed's place, we headed into town to see what was
earlier referred to as the "Imperial Auto Collection", now a
part of the Linq casino. We only had an hour or so
there, so the plan was run and take pictures. In the early afternoon we went to the home of a Cadillac collector who hadfour antique prewar Cadillacs.
A handful of other Cadillacs (1937 LaSalle, 1941
Sedan, 1960 Four Window, 1979, and 1982 864 Seville) was also visiting,
including our friend Lauren with her Seville. Besides seeing the cars (1903,
1917, 1928 and 1938) we also got to see the owner starting up the 1903 Cadillac and take Angelica with him
in it for a short drive. Later he also took us for a short drive in his 1917 Cadillac Phaeton. After going a few blocks
he asked if we would like to drive and we eagerly accepted. Lars-Ove got to
try first and finally figured it out and Angelica took over next and drove us
back to the garage, this was the second best day so far on our trip!
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Route 66
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8th: Leaving Vegas After a nice breakfast we checked out from the hotel and
she bought a Granny Smith apple drench in caramel, chocolate, chocolate
chips, nuts and small marshmallows. And because he is allergic to apples she
had this heavenly delight all to herself. We managed to fit three of
four bags in the car trunk and left Vegas after having topped up the tank of
our ride with 91 octane and headed for Hoover Dam,
which was packed with visitors. We took the Power plant Tour which was short
but interesting. We took some pictures and headed down towards Kingman. We
had time for a short detour going East on old Route 66 to Hackberry, which
was closed - the general store that is. We took some pictures and headed back
to Kingman, stopping shortly on the way to take some pictures of a 1955
Cadillac Series 75 Limousine parked slightly east of mile marker 64. Once
checked in to the hotel we headed out to town for Dinner and ended up at Mr D´z Route 66 Diner
which played Bill Haley and similar fifties music. It was a nice typical american meal with onion rings and beer battered fries
accompanying the burgers.
9th: After breakfast Mike drove up in his Black 1954 Cadillac Eldorado
Convertible with the top down. We knew then that this was going to be a great
day. We talked for a while and then Mike took us for a short ride on route 66
in Kingman Arizona. That experience was put on the top ten list.
Later we drove west on Route 66 and stopped in Oatman
for Lunch. While ordering, a gunfight started outside, so we left the
restaurant to watch. When the gunfight was over our Lunch was ready. This is
a fun place to be in and we can recommend the restaurant, witch
also serves as a museum. Everywhere there was one dollar
bills hanging, even in the roof. We learned that this was a tradition
started by the miners under the goldrush. The
miners was always broke but one dollar was good for 20 beers so they hanged
up a dollar bill and made marks on them to keep count. We also wanted to hang
up a dollarbill so we wrote on one and found a
place, trying not to overlapping too much.There are
also donkeys walking around that you can feed and you can by a bag fore one dollar. These are relatives from the donkeys
that the minors took with them during the goldrush.
Most of the minors left but the donkeys did't, and they own the street (and sometimes they tries
to follow you in to a store, the store owners don't like that very much). We
continued to Lake Havasu to meet up with the neighbor of a guy who has a 1930
Cadillac which we saw and he also showed us an old restored Chevrolet truck.
The other Cadillac was still being restored so we had no chance to see that.
We continued a few blocks to meet the next Cadillac Club member and was shown a corral full of cars, of which many are
favorites of mine. We may have to come back to him to pull some cars out and
into a container to bring home once we are done building the house.We headed west as the sun was setting and managed
to fill the tank in California for $4 a gallon and had a late dinner at Jack
in the Box on the way. Angelica drove the car through the desert on Hwy 40
from Needles to Barstow while listening to John Lindberg Trio.
10th: The day started with a visit to the Route 66 Museum in Barstow,
followed by a visit to the adjacent Railway museum, both free. We followed
Route 66 to the hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard, stopping for late
lunch/early dinner on the way at Ellas, and after a
quick change we headed to down town for a Lindy Hop dance in the evening.
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Los Angeles
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11th: We got an early start and headed down to Huntington Beach for the
weekly car meet they have there every Saturday morning. We did not have
doughnuts for breakfast, but went to Subway instead
as other swedes did. There was a lot of cars there,
both hot Rods, Streetrods, Fourties,
Fifties, Sixties and Seventies Muscle cars. Slightly after eight we headed
back North up to Sylmar to the Nethercutt collection and the pre-booked
guided tour there. After a late lunch we headed back to the hotel and spent
the afternoon waling around in Hollywood and
counting the stars.
12th: On the way to the end of Route 66 and the beach we had to stop at a fifties café for Brunch; we shared an omelet. First planned stop was farmers market in Santa Monica, then
we headed out on the Pier and
walked back by the sea shore on the
beach to the car and changed to swimming outfits.
The water was cold. Some ideas and plans for
the afternoon and evening was formed on the beach and we headed to the Sunday flea market in the corner of Melrose and Fairfax and found some clothes there that we had to buy. Next stop was the Hollywood sign. Beachwood was closed so we followed the instructions and went up to Griffith park instead. After a long walk we arrived a a good vantage
point, found a place to set the camera
and took some pictures. A better idea is to go there early as the sun will be behind you in the morning. We went to the Animal restaurant on 435 Fairfax for dinner. The idea was Tapas and
the courses was
somewhat odd. Except for the vinegar-soaked
Brussels (which we did not have to pay
for) it was great.
13th: This Monday was reserved for a full day at Universal
Studios. We arrived shortly after they had opened and got the front-of-line
pass package. We started with the Studio tour which was interesting and
joyful. They still have the flooded street in Mexico and the subway
earthquake. We also saw Jaws, Norman Bates and were shocked up in a tunnel
where we had 3D glasses on and were sprinkled with some water. Next
were Special effects where volunteers from the audience participated. After
that we shared a sandwich for lunch at a French cafe and
later found Mel’s Drive In. I persuaded her to dance one song. We
stopped to look at two at Furious 7 cars and headed down to the lower level.
At the lower level we found a 3D transformers ride which was awesome! We
skipped the high speed roller-coaster rides but took photos of some tall people. We
continued with a 4D show of Shreck and were both shooked, sprinkled and
blown In the back. This was also a fun ride. The final show was the Animal actors show where mices, cats,
dogs and birds performed. They were quite good, but had a mind of their own. The day ended with
dinner in our hotel room and packing the bags.
14th-15th: We
got up at 1 am, had breakfast and packed the remaining items and checked out.
Returned the rental Car, a BMW 328i, and took the bus to the United terminal
at LAX. We had driven about 900 miles (150 Swedish miles) in total during this
trip. We were on time, but the check-in had not yet opened so we had to wait.
Next time we need to find out when check-in opens to avoid unnecessary
waiting times. The trip had a two-hour layover at Newark and the Groom was
able to sleep on both stints while the missus had to watch TV and Movies
since she couldn't sleep. We shared a Caesar Sallad
in Jersey. We landed at Arlanda at 7 am and was picked up by a friend who gave us a ride home in the
morning. Angelica did not fall asleep in the car on the way home as there was
way too much to tell.
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We met for the first time at the Chicago Swing Dance
Studio in Stockholm on a Saturday night when the theme was Rock´n´Roll on March 24, 2012. We also met at
other dances and a Boogie Woogie class. After a few
dates we finally became a couple in June after a dance evening at Stampen Jazz and Blues club where the band Chuck Berry Mania played and
we danced all night.
He swept her off her feet by being the perfect
gentleman, loving dance, cars and overawe her by giving her a ring he made
himself of a nut.
He fell for the combination of her great personality
and the many interests she has in common with him, she is actually more of a
car nut than he is. She is the perfect match for a guy who is into classic american cars, rock'n'roll
music and dance!
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Lars-Ove made the rings from acid-resistant
stainless steel nuts by drilling out the threads. Before drilling, he punched
in the name on the outside. The rings became the symbol of us going steady.
The engagement ring is made of titanium with two
bands of red gold and a diamond attached in a low location in order not to
interfere when working with things. His ring is similar, but does not have a
stone.
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The Proposal
He proposed and she accepted on Halloween, October
31st at the Chicago swing dance studio.
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A Las Vegas Wedding
After discussing having the wedding at Chicago, we
decided to escape to Vegas and have Elvis perform the ceremony. We are
combining the wedding with attending the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend
party.
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The Dress
As for any bride, the dress is very important. I
wanted a Bee Bop wedding, but when the dress I wanted to wear didn't fit me I
ended up with a traditional more modern dress and had to rethink what I
wanted.
I wanted to get married in the dress my aunt Lillemor wore on her wedding in the -60's. It is a short
dress that my grandmother made for her. Unfortunately i
was to wide over both my shoulders and my hips so I
had to let that idea go and find something else.
I found my dress in a second hand store and it was
almost a perfect fit! I loved it but it is a modern long dress so the Bee Bop
was out, I wanted Lars-Ove to wear jeans, white t-shirt and a leather jacket
but that won´t work either. I have two more white dresses with me in
case I need them, but he has already seen them...
We are still going to dance in so hopefully they
won't have a thick carpet on the floor!
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