Vegas Thursday Part 1

Not much sleep on Wednesday because the day just ended up being a whole bunch of halla walla after I got off work. Capped off by the fact that I had to drive to Howell (2+ hours round-trip) to get my valid license so I would not have a problem in Vegas.

6:00am: Woke up early to finish laundry and packing for the trip.

6:35am: Grossly underestimated the amount of time it takes for my socks to dry.

6:55am: Tell (lie to) Mark and Mike that it's only going to be another couple of minutes til my stuff is dry and I am all packed up.

7:05am: Dump my still damp whites in my carry on and head out for the airport.

7:07am: Can't find my phone....need my phone.

7:12am: Drive home and find my phone sitting right outside the porn shower.

7:15am: Let Mark know the flight leaves for Vegas at 8:30, not 8:00 like I had originally told him. His response, "That's probably the only thing you could ever lie to me about and not make me mad...."

7:15-8:15am: Drive, park, shuttle, baggage, security.

8:15am: Mike gets stopped when the plate and screws in his ankle set off the metal detectors and confuse the TSA peeple.

8:17am: I run ahead to keep the plane at the gate just in case Mike's search gets a little too personal....

8:22am: Walk down ramp to plane, run into line. "Hmmm, hope they didn't over book...."

8:25am: Find out some rather rotund woman was holding up the plane because the overhead bins were full and she refused to check her carry-on. Low level yelling and near obscenities strew from our mouths. Flight attendant announces plane doors will close in 30 seconds, as I stand in the doorway and tell her that there's gonna be a problem between her and I if she tries that. Not finding the humor in my words, she begins to explain that it's all a grand psychological ploy to make Big Fun take her seat.

8:27am: Big Fun sits, Mark's carry on checked with regular baggage. I pass Big Fun and refrain from hitting her with my briefcase, but do point her out to everyone as peanut target practice later on....

8:35am: Rolling down the tarmac and I stop looking at my watch....

During the flight the three of us, all seated on the aisle near each other, begin talking about whether or not mathematics exists or if it's something that humans made up on our own. Surprisingly, we tend to agree on most points....ironically leading to a very short conversation which leads us to another, longer conversation about Absolute Truth(s). This conversation starts to tail off as I begin my third Malibu and Pepsi. Getting the drink alone was hard enough considering the attendant I ordered it from couldn't care less about my order.

The plane lands without me ever pulling out anything to read or write on....truly my quickest plane ride to Vegas ever.

Pick up our bags and hit the cabstand, which had no line at all, and run over to the Aladdin. We roll into the Aladdin lobby somewhere around 10am and I find a very lovely clerk who agrees to check us in early AND upgrade us to a strip view room for free as long as I meet her in said room after she gets off work....OK, it was actually a $50 bill that got us in early and upgraded, but hey....gotta make sure my readers are paying attention right?

Insert pic of room view here--->

$50 between 3 guys for 4 nights is well worth it for the view we got of the fountains across the street at Bellagio. Once we get our bags from the bell hop we are off to Bellagio like a rocket.

GELATO! MMmmmm....Dulche' de leche and Oreo gelato on a waffle cone....welcome home Mister M. After our delicious traditional indulgence we walk by the poker room and see Scotty Nguyen. Man is this trip going to be fun or what baby?

From the poker room we stroll over to Snacks and each get a sandwich. None of us are very impressed and Mark and Mike wander off to the slots as I finish off my huge club and nearly deck some ugly woman who won't get out of my way when I go toward the trash with my tray....had the sourdough not soaked up some of the rum from earlier I might have put an ugly lady's head shaped dent in my tray.

It's 11 am, I am in Vegas, and I have nearly hit a woman on two occasions....I need to chill the eff out. Let's hit the strip!

We walk out into the sun and make our way up the east side of the street to Wynn. We go in, check it out....it's nice, but it looks so familiar. Oh yeah, it's the Bellagio....but different color schemes, and a different layout....Impressive sure, but not so much.

I must say though, that we all noticed the high level of hotness in the cocktail service area....Hottest in town, with really nice outfits too.

From there we crossed the strip and hit the Fashion Show Mall because I needed to get some black pants for the weekend. The food court there is a pedophile's dream....I don't remember 16 and 17 year olds looking like that ten years ago....we quickly got uncomfortable and left the food court for the mall.

We actually saw a fashion show there too. As we were walking back to the strip from Dillard's there was a Christmasy one going on....it wasn't good enough to hold our attention, and we headed back. Walking along the cove at TI we noticed it was empty, but the audio for the show was still going strong. We walked inside of the Forum Shops for less than a minute to show Mike the curved escalators, and then back to the Aladdin.

It was about 4pm at this point and I decided there was no way I could make it through another 12+ hours without a nap....and I was the first of us to sleep in Vegas.

Read part two here.