Monday, March 06, 2006

Vegas Baby, Vegas

The trip out to Vegas was a great time. I got in to town late and I had Spider pick me up at the airport around 10 – 10:30 p.m. We stopped at Spider’s house and then went to the New York, New York Casino where my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Dave, Cousin Kim and Kim’s boyfriend, Jake were staying. I dropped off my bag off the room, and didn’t return until 5 in the morning. Dave and Marilyn said that I could crash on their floor. When I got in I didn’t want to wake anyone up, so I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I slept on the floor, no blanket, no pillow, just me and the carpet. A little brutal, but that was the plan all along so I have no room to complain. We were all up around 7:00 a.m. Later in the morning we got motivated and went to Denny’s for what was possibly one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had to endure. We were seated in the corner and after waiting at least 10 minutes before anyone came over for a drink and by surveying the wait staff we realized that we didn’t have a waiter. Finally we got a waiter over to our table but he was far from impressive. We were in Denny’s for nearly an hour. Over the course of waiting for our meal, we all thought we were going to lose my Uncle Dave. We were all sitting at the table and he just started sweating like he was in a sauna. Then he put his head on Marilyn’s shoulder. Then he laid down on the bench. I didn’t know if he was going to throw up, pass out, or have a heart attack. In fact I was so worried about Dave’s well being that I thought better of taking a picture of him in such a horrible state. Which just goes to show what bad shape he was in, since if someone is in a vulnerable state, I am the first one taking pictures. Dave powered through and survived. The rest of early Saturday afternoon was spent on the casino floor. We all headed down to Caesars Palace for the wedding at 4:30. It was nice and short. Just the way I like them. We grabbed some drinks and then went to one of the restaurants in the hotel for dinner. The highlight of the dinner was Marilyn telling her child raising stories. My favorite of which was the time that she took the kids’ Nintendo away and smashed it with a sledge hammer. I will have to tell that story another day. After dinner, we headed back to New York, New York. We changed and were preparing to hit the casino again. When my cousin, Andrea called. She staying at the Rivieria and was planning on catching a bus up to our hotel. But when she checked into her hotel, she found that somehow she had got booked in the Penthouse suite of the hotel. She said it was just great and decided that she was going to stay in her room the rest of the night. I told her that she is going to have a visitor that night, because if she was in the Penthouse, I wasn’t going to be sleeping on the floor. After a rough Thursday night, and only 2 hours of sleeping on the floor the night before, I ran out of gas pretty early. At around 1 in the morning, I started making my way from New York, New York to the Rivieria. I jumped on the bus and the Strip was just a mess. It was close to 2 by the time I got to Andrea’s room. Well she wasn’t lying, it was the Penthouse. She gave me the grand tour of the place and then I crashed on the couch. I was suppose to hang out with Spider all day Sunday, but he pulled up short and had to work. Funny he is always asking me when I am going to come down, and then when I do he ends up working. And I did give him at least 3 weeks notice. Nice work Spider. Andrea and I both had flights out late Sunday night / Sunday morning. Andrea and I spent the day touring a good share of the Strip. We went down to Fremont Street then checked out the Wynn, Venetian, Harrah’s, The Sahara, and I think there was another one or two in there as well. But after 15 hours of sleep in the previous 4 nights, I again ran out of energy pretty early. I got back to Milwaukee at 5:30 in the morning. And I was able to work almost 2 hours of sleep in before I had to report to work. I was struggling a bit at work today. All in all it was a great trip. Normally I lie about my gambling results. I was up and down all weekend. I was up no more than $400, and ended up losing in the end. I went down with $600 and came back with $100. However that does include the money I spent on food, cabs, parking and alcohol. So won’t be paying off those credit cards in full, but I didn’t take it in the shorts too bad. Well I won’t bore you any longer with my stories, here are the pictures.

Megan and Troy in the court yard at Caesar's.
Marilyn, Dave, Kim and Jake in front of the Dancing Waters at the Bellagio.
Andrea in the Penthouse, not a Penthouse.
The Penthouse had a bday (spelling?) and while I am posing here, I did use it when I was getting ready in the morning. I have to say, I was less than impressed.
The Michelle Pfeiffer pose on the Grand Piano.

In front of the waterfall at the Wynn.

Elvis getting a little friendly in one of the gift shops. I expect that out of Liberace, but not the King.

Me on top of a camel outside of the Sahara.

And unfortunately, I didn't get around to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Maybe next time.

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