My best April - Part 1

West Coast getaway was zoo-manity

Have you ever felt like you must be about to die because so many things in your life are going well?

That was my April 2015.

Somebody pinch me.

I have felt this way before. It happens whenever I’m checking off things on my bucket list. My warped psychology tells me that whenever I complete everything on the list, my time here on Earth will be up – so as I check off, I add on. I said it was warped.

Anyway, in early April, I completed three things on my bucket list during my West Coast getaway for my 45^th birthday. (In addition to starring in a one-woman play at a community theater, but that’s another column).

The trip included Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and a drive to California, where we visited Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and Hollywood.

I’ve wanted to go to Hollywood since I was a child, so much so that my brother-in-law’s nickname for me was Hollywood.

While it was exciting to finally walk on the famous Hollywood Boulevard, what totally took me by surprise was my fascination with Sin City.

The entrancing lights, the high energy, the spectacular shows, the architectural magnificence, the myriad of people, the amusing characters, the tempting casinos – all were the cynosure of my eyes.

I was literally enthralled by it all.

I saw my first Vegas show, Zumanity (zoo plus humanity, meaning human zoo), a Cirque du Soleli perfomance in the New York, New York Hotel & Casino. Let me just say it was erotic, to say the least.

It’s billed as, “The sensual side of Cirque du Soleli.” Imagine very talented acrobats acting out 50 Shades of Grey to music. Get the picture.

My best friend recommended this show to me. The jury is still out as to why.

I played blackjack in Caesar’s Palace – and lost money in Caesar’s Palace; watched the light show at the Bellagio Hotel; watched a volcano erupt in front of the Mirage; drank a cosmopolitan in the Cosmopolitan (It was only fitting, right?); and darted in and out other casinos just to be able to say I’d been there.

On every corner, half-naked women, your favorite movie characters, musicians and yes, even a real pig were offering photos for donations; and hired help littered your pockets and the streets with cards of more half-naked women.

They don’t call it Sin City for nothing.

On Day 2, all the temptation on the Las Vegas strip couldn’t keep me from rising at 5 a.m. to catch a tour bus to Arizona to see what I had only read about in books: the Grand Canyon

On the trip there, we stopped at the Hoover Dam and the famous Route 66 – the first major U.S. highway.

If my eyes were not my own witness, I would never believe something so naturally formed could be this magnificent. There isn’t an adjective to describe the beauty of this world wonder.

God is in the details. And in Part 2 of this column series, I will delve more into that.

Somebody pinch me.

The drive to California was a journey through the Mojave Desert. While some have said the scenery is drab, I found it sightly.

Yes, it’s dry. The region only gets three inches of rain per year. Yes, there’s not much greenery, just small bushes they call Joshua trees. Yes, water is scarce for desert residents as many of them have to haul it in and store it in tanks.

But the mountains that hug the desert and the roads that carve their way through the mountains are captivating, especially at the entranceway into San Bernardino, Calif.

We were warned of horrific L.A. traffic, but it didn’t seem that bad to me. I’m always a half-glass full kind of girl, anyway. We got there in five hours from Vegas.

With only a day and half in the Golden State, we hit the highlights:

• The Santa Monica Pier, where we rode the famous Ferris wheel that you see in a lot of movies;

• Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, where a dress I inquired about cost $5,000 and it was just a yard of cloth, if that. “It just came off the spring runway during Fashion Week,” the clerk told me. I tried not to choke but my eyes gave it away – such ridiculous extravagance. The only thing I could afford on Rodeo Drive was a selfie.

• We had cocktails with my actress friend and her husband in L.A. near Universal Studios, then we went to Universal City, where  a larger-than-life King Kong towers from a building and the iconic Universal Studios globe begs for pictures.

• Then finally Hollywood Blvd. By the time I got to the one star on the Walk of Fame that I wanted a photo of – Michael Jackson – my cell phone had died. But I did manage a photo in front of where Jimmy Kimmel Live is taped – the last voice I hear before going to bed each night.

It was a grand trip and one that I’ve wanted to take for a long time. I often find myself daydreaming about it and thanking God for the opportunity to travel and see places that my heart yearns to visit.

Not only is April my birthday month, but it is also the month I got laid off from my job two years ago. So creating a happier memory also made this my best April.

For many reading this, a West Coast getaway may seem trivial on your list of things to do or places to go.

But for a little girl from a small town with big dreams of seeing the world, this was a dream come true – one that seems so surreal at times.

I’ve marked it off my bucket list, but I’ve added to it a repeat visit to Vegas to see another show…one that won’t make me feel like, well…

Like I’ve been pinched.