I Like The Nightlife... I Like To Boogy...

Well, we just got back from a week of extended debauchery in Las Vegas. Karl & I stayed at The Orleans, a casino and hotel a short drive off the main strip. We arrived on Friday at around 12:40 in the afternoon after parking the car and boarding the plane for an 8 am departure out of Manchester, and an uneventful trip west. We checked in with plans to take a nap before the first night of festivities. If I recall, that didn't really pan out. I think we milled around the hotel for a little bit, playing a little blackjack. Then we drove to the Kahuna Grill for dinner. Several days earlier, I had began feeling a cold coming on. Unfortunately, it was still with me and by Friday I was feeling like a giant pile of shit. We went to dinner, and I did my best to down a club sandwich, despite having no sense of taste or feeling of appetite.

After this, we drove to the strip and ditched the car at I think the NYNY. We walked around taking in the hysteria before settling in for the evening at an outside bar in a courtyard area near Harrah's. The band playing was doing an assortment of covers that ran from all ends of the musical spectrum and were almost without fail songs I really liked. Between their sets a DJ would come out and play great hip-hop and keep the entertainment flowing. The crowd was large and everyone was having a great time. I still felt like crap when we got there, but slowly and surely I drowned the germs swimming around in my blood with a toxic level of Red Bull's & Vodka. As the night drew on, my spirits grew and my body began to feel better. Before the night would be over, I was up on the dance floor cutting a rug surrounded by the masses of revelers. After a slow start, it proved to be one of the best nights of the trip. By around 3 we decided to head on back to home base and returned to the Orleans. My head hit the pillow at 3:30, which if still on the east coast would have been 6:30, 25 1/2 hours after beginning the day...

We woke around noon and headed on down to explore the buffet. I had successfully killed my cold and was eager to eat being able to taste again and having pangs of hunger. After paying my $7, we entered into the buffet room and an endless supply of everything under the sun. By the time my meal was over, I had managed to wolf down: Thanksgiving Dinner (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy), BBQ Ribs, Pizza, Peel-n-Eat Shrimp, Potatoes Au-gratin, Chinese Food (Sweet-n-Sour Chicken, Shezwhon Beef), and a roll. The buffet's are deadly. You feel like you're going to explode afterwards...

After this we did some more gambling. I was beginning to get the bug and have found I love blackjack. Not that I win anything, but it's a great way to pass the time. Oh, and the free drinks you get don't hurt either.

I'm not sure what else we did during the day, but around dinner time we met up with Karl's friend Eric, his girlfriend Jen, her sister Jess, and her friend Joe. Oh yeah, and Karl's other friend Mike Davis who had driven 8 hours or so from San Hose to hang out with us for one night. I can't remember where we ate dinner, but they had the largest amount of beer I'd ever seen that you could order to the table. I was still stuffed from eating 4 hours ago, but was delighted to nibble on part of a BBQ Chicken Pizza. I love that shit and you can't get it all that many places, so I had to take advantage while I could. I skipped out on the beer, but Eric and Joe split a half size 'order'. The beer comes in what looks like a giant test tube. GIANT. It sits on the table and is about 5 feet tall (w/ a spout at the bottom). The large contains 5 liters of beer. They split a half size 2.5 liter order and it took some help for them to drink it all. Neat concept.

Anyway, after dinner Eric and company dropped like flies and called it an early night. Karl, Mike, and I ended up at Club Rio (in the Rio of all places). It's a cool looking club and they were playing great music to my delight. (Hip-hop again. Techno is pretty common and I am not a fan, so I was happy they weren't playing it.) Anyway, Karl was feeling a little off from the night before, and Mike isn't the type to get into the spirit anyway, so it was a pretty subdued evening. We spent most of the night at the back of the club people watching toward dancefloor from afar. I went off to dance for a few minutes on my own, but couldn't really get into the zone, so I quickly returned to our perch. Another fun (though somewhat quieter) night. We made it back home and to bed by 3.

Sunday did more gambling (of course). I was down around 90 on the trip when Eric decided he wanted to sit at a 3 card poker table and give it a try. None of us had ever played it but the table was empty and the dealer explained how to play it. I opted out while Eric and Karl sat down, Karl only until he was out 20. That didn't take long, and it was quickly just Eric. He was doing pretty well though and was up 80 bucks in no time. I figured what the hell, I'll give up my 20 to pass the time while he kept playing. I managed to keep my money going until my 6th or so hand when I hit a straight flush that paid 40 to 1 on my bet of $5. Cha-ching. $200! So I pocketed that, and played until my original 20 was gone, which was only 2 more hands. But I was now up over $100 on the trip...

We made our way to the Stratosphere that day to do the rides. It's a tower over 1000 feet tall and has 3 rides at the top. One shoots you straight up into the air, one is a rollercoaster that circles the top, and the third is a cart that goes straight out over the edge and is a hell of a rush. I spent most of my time laughing my ass off at the screams of terror coming from the other riders. But they certainly get the adrenaline pumping! Well worth the money and a highlight of the trip. We were bummed when we got there to see the X-Scream which is the one going over the edge was closed. We asked if it would be open soon and they said it would be closed for up to a week while they ordered parts. So we got tix for the other two and headed up. After doing them, we found Eric who had declined the rides talking to an employee. He came over and said he would let us on to the X-Scream w/out tickets. He said no one wanted to ride it but we could if we wanted to. I joked that he was looking for guinea pigs and he said no that wasn't the case. He didn't seem aware of what they had said at the ticket booth. But we got on the ride anyway. I got the front seat, which is by far the scariest because you are staring straight at the ground. I sat next to a guy from Texas and he screamed for dear life when we went careening over the edge. Crazy shit. (I was happy to see when we got to the bottom that the ride did in fact say "Open" again...)

Later that evening we took in the fountains at the Bellagio, then went to the free show outside the Treasure Island. Always entertaining. Then we eventually made our way back to the courtyard bar by Harrahs. It turns out it was the same band (house band). We had a good time and stayed until they kicked us out at 2:30 or so. Again we were home and in bed somewhere after 3.

Monday we went out to the Hoover Dam. It was my first visit there and was neat to see. Someday I'll take my bike over it. We did the tour and on the elevator ride back from the trip down to the generators, I got a tap on my shoulder. It was the Texan I sat next to on the X-Scream. Small world...

Monday evening we went to the Palms for a little while hanging out at a bar in the casino. We were right next to the entrance to a Playboy after-party that was the rap-up party for a Playboy golf tournament that had gone on during the day. Sure enough, one by one about 30 or so playboy playmates dressed to the nines showed up and brushed passed us to the exclusive room beyond the curtains. I'm not a subscriber to Playboy, so I didn't recognize any of them, but they were some of the most beautiful women we saw on the trip.

Monday night we returned to the old section of Vegas- Fremont Street. They have closed this section to traffic and covered it. At night, a light show plays every half hour on the 4 block ceiling between the buildings. It was really cool. We found some cheap gambling and even cheaper drinks here, but spent most of the night just milling around watching the world go by.

Tuesday, our final day, we did our last bit of gambling and lounging around. We returned to the Kahuna Grill for dinner, before the group of us made a visit to Cheatas, a nearby strip club. We stayed there for an hour or two, before heading back for one final assault on the strip. We walked around before finishing off the night w/ a final return trip to the courtyard bar. Unfortunately it was dead and there was a guy there singing essentially kareoke- it was just him singing over complete tracks. He sucked. So we were going to head back when a guy on the street gave us free tickets to a club across the street called OPM. We made our way to it and found out why they need to give out tickets. It was located deep within a network of shopping areas and would never be found by the passer by. Once there though it proved to be a nice place and was playing good music. It was already fast approaching 2 but I was content to stay for awhile. Karl on the other hand had contracted my cold and was himself feeling like shit. So after a half hour or so he reluctantly put his foot down and said he had to call it a night. So off we went and made it back to the Orleans by 2:30. Just as well- we had to get up at 6 for our return voyage home the next day.

As we were flying home I began to feel bad for forgetting to tell Laura exactly what time our return flight landed, so she had no idea what time I'd be getting back to Stratham. To my surprise, as we walked off the plane in Manchester, who should be waiting for me but Laura! I love that woman. She had a meeting in Manchester and decided to come welcome me home. That was an awesome surprise and a perfect ending to a great time.

All in all a great vacation. I've really come to enjoy the gambling aspect of Vegas, but definitely enjoy all the other sights and sounds it has to offer. Can't wait to go back.