The Eagle Has Landed

Resting comfortably now in our concierge-level luxury hotel room in Beverly Hills. Got it cheap and my God the comfort. Out our window is a country club of some kind. Enjoyed the balcony for a bit. G is completely beat and is resting.

Tomorrow morning we unload the truck. Then we are finished!

What a long and crazy and memorable trip. Last night in Vegas was great. Our good friend Joe was chef at Charlie Palmer Steak at Mandalay Bay in Vegas, and the luxurious meal he prepared for us was magnificent. So delicious -- beautiful composed salads, the most wondrous ribeye I have ever beheld, a veal porterhouse that was an absolute knockout, and beautiful seared foie gras on candied peaches.... I mean he just flattened us. Many of the extra plates were freebies. Joe is so great and talented, and the people in the restaurants I've been in practically genuflect and cross themselves when speaking of him. After dinner we met Mike Lockhart, the chef at Metrazur in New York, who pampered us extremely on G's 30th birthday last year. Had a couple of drinks while Joe recounted his amusing tales of the building of the casino and thye opening of 4 restaurants on the property for whom he served as regional executive chef.

And then my eyes were rolling back in my head from the enormous meal & Spanish wine, so we headed back to our considerably less luxurious but certainly adequate Amerisuites. Hit the road around noon and barrelled our way across Nevada and California, finally rolling into town around 5:30.

And here we are. The most memorable part of the trip for me was the hair-raising, pants-poopingly scary descent from the Rockies into Utah, followed closely by the passage through Utah itself; every turn in the road brought new jaw-dropping vistas into view. Then Vegas, which is not generally my cup of tea, nor G's, but we had some laughs and a great time with Joe.

OK for now. It's a beautiful day in LA, temps in the 70's. Tomorrow ithe final hump, then it's unpacking and bubble-wrapping for the next few days. I'll touch base with a lot of you tomorrow after the load-out. Love from LA!