About half an hour more of nebraska... Boring state!

Back on the road again for day two. At a truck stop in west branch getting mcdonalds. More corn around here! Actually got more sleep then I had planned, which is great, still got two days of driving to go!

We have stopped for the night just inside iowa. Hopefully make it to utah tomorrow... Here's hopin!

At the Iowa 80 rest stop, biggest in the world! It has a dentist! Not a bad place, very big!

At an illinios rest area... A lot of corn! CORN! Had some rain around chicago, 12 hours down!

About an hour outside of chicago... Ohio turnpike sucks, not worth the money.

Things are getting off to a slow start... We have not left yet due to the internet being offline this morning. Should be on the road within the hour!

To Corry with love, Goodbye

Its hard to imagine a time when I wished that I could move away from Corry and start a new life. Dreams of those days filled me with hope. I went to school in hopes of starting a good career that would take me away from this area. It seems as though for the past two years Carrie and I have been planning a move to where ever we could go. How we dreamed of places that actually have differ ant food to eat, or a place that had stores just down the road. I never would have imagined that the day would actually arrive. Tomorrow morning, I will pull away from Corry PA, and move to Las Vegas NV.

On this final night before my move, I look back at what has transpired over my life here in Corry. It is where I was born and raised. I never truly knew any of the locals until I began working at the Credit Union. All of the sudden, I know everyone. I felt like I was that guy that everyone just wanted to know and loved. Now I am leaving them all behind to go to a place where no one knows my name. I will miss Corry, which is hard for me to say. Corry has given me bad and good times. All of this is a memory that will stay in my mind. I tell you now Corry that you have given me my life, and I hope to leave you a better place. Goodbye to you all. All my friends and family, I love you.

And, to my new life in Vegas, I welcome you with open arms! A new Bryon is on the horizon, brimming to released!

One day, two night stay!

One day, two night stay. Almost sounds like a fantasy vacation, but its actually the countdown to the move... Its amazing how something so life changing can come with so many consequences. Saying goodbye to my grandmothers today was tough. I have grown to be a part of their lives, and they mine, in the past month. I have re-united myself with my grandmother on my mom's side, and now I have to leave her. How devastating for me and her. And my other grandmother is 86... I may never see her again. That was rough saying good bye to her. For several years now I have been going down almost every weekend to see her, and now I won't be doing that anymore. I am the last of the grand children on either side of the family to move away.

On the subject of the move, packing has been quite well. I started packing the car tonight and I might be able to get all my items into it. I still have my cloths to shove in, and a few items here and there. But on the basis of readi-ness, I think I'm ready... I hopefully will be able to provide one last blog before the move tomorrow night; Last thoughts, final goodbyes to Corry. I have enabled mobile blogger, so i will be providing updates to the trip here as we travel. Hopefully be able to get some reviews in about our stops.

Nervous

The official count as of today is four days. Its weird how all of the sudden your life becomes a race to the end. I went out to The Zone in Erie PA last night for the last time to say fair well to friend. Unfortunately, the one person I counted on to show up never did. Just gives me another reason to move I suppose. This week has been a real eye opener though. At work they had a going away party on Friday. A table was set out in the main lobby with cookies so all the members could celebrate my leaving. There were even two large cookies made for me, and I had gifts and cards to go along with it all. Leave it to the Credit Union to involve the entire city! I never knew how many people I have touched since being at the Credit Union. There was even an small blurb in the newspaper on Saturday in the section by R. L. McCray. Parts of me will truly miss being in this small town. I told Cathy Last night that it just seems like ever thing stops on Thursday, I have no idea what will happen after that point.

So now its time to face the matter at hand. I am currently unemployed, and that makes me very uneasy. This week will be busy with visiting family and packing the car. My new life and journey await me this weekend... Who knows what it will bring...

Almost!!!

And so, it is almost that time to lift my life up, and take it on over to Vegas. Being this close, one must question the reasons behind such a grand move. What is so attractive in Vegas that I wish to leave my stable job, leave my newly wed father, and to drive for 2 days....?

I think to even begin to answer this question, one must contemplate what is being offered here. To live in the Northwest Pennsylvania can be a bit, tiresome. The weather here is very unstable. Winter comes sooner than ever expected, and summer never seems to fully show up. I once heard a joke that went like this:

'The Four Seasons of Northwest PA'

Almost Winter

Winter

Still Winter

Construction

A true NW PA citizen understands this joke, and will agree to its suggestion. This past summer has been one of the worst to bear. Its been a wet one, with temperatures staying in the 60's for most of days, and dipping into the 40's at night. How can anyone think that living here is pleasant? I speak to friends in Vegas who are complaining about the 100+ degree temperatures, and I almost want to laugh. It could be worse!

Not only does this area offer unstable weather, but along with this weather comes the bugs. Mosquitoes will eat you alive at night if you stay out past sundown. That is, if you have bear the cold. I remember while on vacation, we noticed no bugs around. We would sit out on the balcony at night with no issues what so ever. You can't do that here in PA.

So, why move to Vegas? Maybe for my sanity.... Maybe to warm up! Or maybe I'm tired of shoveling snow that can be as tall as I am!!!

The Vacation, final.

Recalling the entirety of the vacation has taken some time, but we finally come to the end. The final days of the vacation fast. On Friday we went down to the strip and actually got to see one of the Bellagio's water shows from beginning to end. To see water shot up into the air with great force is amazing! You can hear the jets going off, and the water rushes upwards! I was awestruck! There are points in the show that just take your breath away seeing how the water dances in front of you.

Friday night I met up with another tourist and hung out at the hard rock hotel for a few hours. Seeing the city from that hotel is quite interesting. It is set well off the strip, and the walk to the strip takes about 30 minutes. This was not enjoyable, since I was walking alone. But, I did make my way back to the strip and got a few more drinks. I played some more slots, then went back to the room. Saturday was uneventful, preparing for the trip back home. We got food on the strip, took our nap, and at 8 o'clock, we set off to the airport to go home. I almost cried when we left. While waiting in the airport, we stopped and waited on of the bars in the concourse. We started talking to a retired airline pilot, and I even helped him use his wireless network card in his laptop to connect to the Internet.

Our time in Vegas truly changed us. Arriving home, we felt like we were missing a part of ourselves. Erie seemed so bland, dull, boring. The only enjoyable part was arriving back home, to my stuff and my dog Mara. It took a week for us to decide that we wanted to move to Vegas. The following weekend we put in our application to Turtle Creek. Again, it took some time, but we got approved, and we are now underway with packing up our lives and moving! Its amazing what all has to happen when you move across the country. You must filter through your life, get rid of objects you have acquired, weed out your cloths, and decide what is important and what you can buy when you move. Condensing your life into 4 boxes is a struggle, then realizing you have to drive 2 1/2 days across the country with only 4 boxes is slightly frightening! Here's hoping it all goes well!

The Vacation Part 4

So, this trip down Vacation lane is taking a bit longer then I had originally expected. But, I continue to Thursday. Thursday we got up early and made arrangements to be taken to Fremont Street. Fremont Street is the old strip, and has many casino's on it. It is also the location of the large overhead awning that lights up and has a laser show on it. Sadly we did not get to see this, since it was the day time. During the day, Fremont Street really is not that interesting. Takes 10 minutes to walk the 'Strip', and then your done. A lot of souvenir shops, a gentleman's club, casino's. We stopped at one of the casinos and decided to try out the buffet. It cost around $8 and really was not worth bragging about. The set up of the seats was like those you see in the movies, but other then that, nothing exciting. The food was bland, and the service was too.

Once we arrived home, it was time to get ready for our big event! On Monday I went to the concierge of the resort and booked two tickets to see KA, Cirque Du Soleil's show at the MGM. We got all fancied up with Carrie in an amazing red and white dress, and I in a suit vest and tie. We set out to the monorail and it took us directly to the MGM. We arrived early, as we always like to do, and to kill time, we ate at the sushi restaurant inside called Shibuya. I can not recall what we ordered, or even try to pronounce it, but it was SO GOOD! Worth the money I paid for it!

So, it was show time! The show begins as your waiting to enter. The actors come out and line you up in front of the theater, and set the ground rules. No camera's, no cell phones, no screaming children. Check, check, and a definite check!!! We entered the theater to discover and enormous stage and seating arrangement! The stage is set all around you, and during the show, the actors walk the platforms and jump down into the crowd. The entire show was so cool! I have never been to a real show before, so I was excited this was my first. We definitely plan on seeing more!

Vacation Part 3

Tuesday seemed to get a bit better. Carrie and I woke up early and walked to the strip to find lunch. We ended up going into Treasure Island. Now, just to be clear, all of the hotels on the strip can be a bit confusing. Once you enter, you are basically smack dab in the casino featured inside. You have to search and scour to find your destination, like the check in desk or a restaurant. Ok, so back to Treasure Island; We walked in and saw the sign for restaurants. We followed the arrows and signs, which lead us to Kahuna ville. I presume this is suppose to be a mock of Margarita ville, but we didn't care. We decided to try this restaurant out. It seemed really nice, and not too busy. We did have to wait a few minutes, but that's with any place you go in Las Vegas. (Except for your subways or fast food places). We decided to share a chicken wrap. The description said that it came with a Guacamole and Ranch dipping sauce. I am not a fan of Guacamole, but that stuff was GOOD!!! The combination of the two together was an excellent match up. The chicken wrap was also really good, and the portion size was great! We were both filled up just from the wrap! So, Kahuna ville was the first Vegas restaurant to get our two thumbs up!

After we ate, we decided to walk around a bit. We tried to get a glimpse of the water show at Bellagio. We caught the end of the show as we were walking across the walkway over the road. The song was something by Celine Dion, So we were not really impressed. I'm not sure if it is just me, but when I think of a water show that was mixed to music, I expect something more classic.

After some more walking, we ended up going back to our room and taking a nap. Our bodies were not set to the new time zone, so we were tired. Carrie decided to remain in the room, and I set up a meeting with a local to check out some of the bars around town. We first checked out the Freakin Frog. That was a pretty nice place to go! There was live jazz, good beer, and a nice crowd. Afterwards, we set off to the Funhog, which was a nice bar as well. There was a good crowd there, but no entertainment. Although, it was Tuesday night, so entertainment may not have been happening till the weekend. All in all, Tuesday was a blast, and seeing the city away from the strip was pretty fun!

The Vacation Part 2

And so, we are at Monday night. Monday night I set up a meeting with another tourist in town for work. We met on the walkway between Bally's and Bellagio. We decided to walk down the strip to Treasure Island, and we turned around. We ended up at New York New York. The inside actually looks like you are walking the streets of New York. Well, maybe the fake version at least!!!! Our intention was to ride the roller coaster. Once we arrived at the top where the roller coaster was, we discovered it was $14 to ride. That was a bit much for my tastes, so instead we bought a large margarita and headed down the strip again. We walked the strip a total of about 4 times that night. It was interesting to see that most of the entertainment does end at about 2 A.M. So, is Vegas really 247?!

The Vacation, Part 1

Our vacation set off on Sat. June 6th, as we lunged into the air from Erie International Airport. Our trip took 12 hours, and 3 flights. When we arrived, we were greeted with hoards of people, bright lights, and a lack of moisture! It was so exciting!!! We were rushed from the airport to our condo. It was so nice! Summer Bay Desert Resort is AWESOME!!!! Great service, and an amazing set up. The room we stayed in was like an apartment, only nicer! Flat screen TVs on the walls in the bedrooms, and a full kitchen.

The night we arrived we immediately went out. I had been talking a few people through some chat rooms and we got on a list at one of the local clubs, Krave. By getting on the list, we avoided paying the $20 cover charge for out of towners. It was a great club, bigger then any I've seen! The music was great and the prices were reasonable. Drinks were around $5 a drink, but compared to drinks on the strip, that was cheap.

The next day we got to travel around the strip and the city by way of a personal friend. The scenery was incredible. The fact that the sun actually stayed out was a change in itself. We visited the Stratosphere, which was pretty neat. You can see the entire city from up there. Its great to see the contrast between the mountains and terrain to the city. Even seeing the strip looming over the rest of the city was awesome to see.

Sunday night I actually planned out a date, and I ate at a lovely Medditeratian restaurant. I had never had Medditeranian before, so it was new to me! I must say, very good! I would definately go back. Monday was the same with traveling around the city. We stopped at a place called In n Out burgers. That was REALLY GOOD, although I don't think I liked the way they handed out the orders. Calling your number into a crowd of people just isn't effective.

The Beginning

Hello, and welcome to my Blog!

I would first like to welcome all of you for visiting what I hope to be a guide and review of everything Las Vegas. I got the idea after talking to several people online about what Las Vegas has to offer. To start off my Blog, I felt it would be necessary to start from the beginning of my journey, and illustrate how a small town boy came to moving across the country to a big city. Such a large transformation deserves to be documented. I feel I must begin by explaining that "I" am not a singular person, but a package deal. Many times I will refer to a "We". This "we" refers to myself and my best friend. We are moving together across the country to our new home in Las Vegas. We refers to that which of the greats that preceded us. Will and Grace, Jack and Karen, Marc and Amanda, Bryon and Carrie.

The Beginning

Several Months ago, my best friend got in contact with an acquaintance from college. This acquaintance now lives in Las Vegas. He talked about the weather in LV alot, saying how its always sunny. He would "reminisce" about his times back here in PA dealing with snow, and the unstable weather. This peaked our interest. One night, while lying in bed, my cell phone lit up. Calling me was my best friend, and she was excited to explain that we should visit LV on vacation and how fun it would be. So, it was set forth the next day, looking up package deals and room rates. Luckily her parents have time shares with RCI. Through the RCI website, we found last minute deals, and quickly booked a weeks stay in LV. We were so excited! I never would have imagined that one day I would be visiting LV. Unfortunately, the communication with her acquaintance dwindled, so we had to go about the trip on our own.

Now, Carrie tends to make sure that all things are adequate before we move somewhere. She does ALOT of research on many things, and did research online on Las Vegas. She discovered that LV did not seem so bad, and that it was kind of appealing. She started researching jobs, along with her continued search for the perfect online job. Soon, she was quite smitten with what LV seemed to offer. She would make small comments here and there. "Did you know that Vegas gets about 10 inches of snow a year?". "Ya know, in Vegas, the sun actually stays out.", "Vegas is the fastest growing city in the U.S.". After many comments, and some discussion, we decided to look into moving to Las Vegas. Now our small vacation was no longer a vacation, but a relocation "Go-See" as one would call it.

The weeks following the vacation were filled with anxiety, nervousness, excitement and fear. The fear was mainly because I had never been on a plane before! How scary is that?! During this same time, Carrie and I began to send out resumes and cover letters to jobs we found on Craig's List, Jobs.com, Monster, and Career Builder. We also found some jobs on ReviewJournal.com.

It was not too soon that I found out that employers in Las Vegas do not hire anyone who does not live in the city. I did get one call back, but after explaining that I was PA, they told me that it was their policy to only hire locals. This presented a dilemma. How was I suppose to get a job and move if I couldn't get a job? So, the vacation became our focus. I hoped to possibly go on an interview during this time. This seemed to not work out. I never did get another call back from anyone.

Soon, the Vacation Happened. We set out the morning of June 6th, from Erie International Airport. My first plane ride and it was on a puddle jumper that looked like a toy from the gate. But, I will admit, it was kind of fun! That rush of the jets, the lift into the air, the feeling of NOTHING under us! I was on 3 planes before we were in Las Vegas. The entire trip lasted about 12 hours. We were tired, but when we got into Vegas, we still found time to go to one of the clubs on the strip called Krave. Complete Details of the trip I will not discuss here, that's for another entry...

It only took one day and I immediately knew that I wanted to move to Las Vegas. We had a tour guide take us around the outskirts of the city, and showed us the true Vegas, apart from the strip. It took Carrie coming home before she was set on moving. I almost cried when we left McCarren Airport.

Once we got home, we felt that we had been changed. Erie area seemed so... Depressing. When we left LV it was 84 degrees. (At 11 at night!!!!) When we arrived in Erie at 10am, it was 64... Talk about a shock to the system. The week that followed felt like the most depressing week in my life. I wanted only to be in LV again. The sun, the heat, the landscape. It all called to me. It took Carrie a week. I was at my step-grandmothers house celebrating my father's birthday, and I got a text from Carrie. "Lets do it"... "Do what?"... "Move".

I was so excited, I couldn't breath. The next day, we began looking into apartments in LV. We found one called Turtle Creek. The website seemed to be nice, and the floor plans were what we wanted. Carrie contacted them, and on Saturday night, exactly a week after we came home, we submitted our application for an apartment. Now, I will mention here that Turtle Creek seemed to take their time. We were on baited breath waiting for our approval or denial. If it was yes, we had loose ends to tie up here, family to say goodbye too, careers to leave. If it was no, we had to look for another place. After a few days, Carrie contacted Turtle Creek, and it seemed that our application still had not been processed. A few days later, we called again. It took an entire week, the next Thursday, till we had an answer. We were approved!!! Again, I couldn't talk. So much excitement. We screamed! We couldn't even finish our ice cream that we were eating at that time. Our entire worlds changed. We are moving to Las Vegas!!! I had to go into work and tell them that after 3 1/2 years of working for them, I would be leaving. That Thursday night was has now passed. It was a week and a half ago. I want you all to join me as I, and We, go forward and move my entire life to Las Vegas.