There are many Vegas trips taken throughout the year, but the one that is almost always mostly looked forward to is this one. It's the perfect combination of still nice weather, the start of football, my birthday, Ronnie's birthday, and basically an end of summer party, so maybe you just enjoy and appreciate it more. Me and Brian had been planning this one since...well, this time last year, and the countdown got more and more intense as we came closer to the trip. Krassimir was coming along, Tain was meeting us there, and there would be a host of other people in Vegas at the same time. After getting about 45 minutes of sleep (what else is new) I pick up Chris and we get to the airport much to early, have some breakfast, and depart. I was still not feeling well from what I thought was food poisoning the other day, and the plan was to nap when we got to Vegas, but no such luck, since the room was not ready yet. So what else to do? Well go and play some poker at O'sheas while you are waiting to check in! When we finally got into the room, it was absolutely amazing. We were essentially comped the Neopolitan suite, which was a two room suite, complete with flat screens, push button curtains, and a tv in the bathroom. Brian was almost to town, so rather than nap, me and Chris hit the gym, and we were off to the Go Pool for about an hour. We kicked off the day with a first beer, went to the liquor store, and Chris bought us a bottle of Crown with his winnings, in addition to a ton of beer and s0me cotton candy vodka. The cotton candy vodka definitely grew on us, and we went and made some run line bets, and played some poker over at Bill's. Watching baseball, playing poker at Bill's, and drinking free beer...the goat. Well over at O'sheas we met these girls from London, and Brian was feeling kind of tired, so we went over to Cleopataras for some dancing, and one of many cherry bombs Chris bought that night. After all, my birthday was at midnight, and it seemed appropriate! The drinks seemed to get more and more expensive, so we decided to get into our stash, which consisted of beer, champagne, and cotton candy vodka, and we played drinking games until the wee hours while Brian slept away.
Day 2: I went over to the MGM to check in Ronnie and Linda, and I gambled while they got ready for the pool. I considered it a donation to MGM for getting me that great rate! It was a perfect sunny day, and I had a ceremonial birthday beer with Ronnie, and we went and found a nice spot right next to the lazy river. I tell you, sun, nachos, bucket of ice cold bud light, and a floating tube...also the goat. We each took a turn, being pushed into people throughout the lazy river, Ronnie asking random girls to rate us, followed by the grand finale, which was to be pushed under the giant waterfall at the end of the lazy river. We all decided to place bets on the Phillies, and Chris calls me from the sports book and asks how confident I am. I said I am extremely confident, and he says, good, because I just placed a $300 bet on the Phillies. Now I am nervous, and even more nervous when the Nationals went up 1-0 in the first, but Roy Oswalt and the Phillies were money and they went on to win 9-1. Chris actually double our best for us, so we all made money and it was great. Me and Brian played the ponies at MGM, and I am really glad they still have that game there although the longshots never seem to win! We showered up, got our money, and got ready to go to Fremont. I don't know if I mentioned but today is my birthday, I am 34 today! I kind of like that number...it sounds good. It sounds better than 33 or 35 so let's just stay here for a while! We cabbed over to Fremont street where we met up with Ryan and Tain at the Golden Nugget Pool. We had some drinks up there and lit up some cigars, and we went to Fitzgeralds for some drinks at the Vue Bar, and some nickels gambling. Brian was the Monopoly goat! We then went over to the Griffin for some Mirror Pond and to watch the interesting dancers, Ronnie and Linda went their own way, and we went over to Binion's for about 3 hours worth of Pai Gow, free beer, and about an $18 profit. Me and Brian had what was probably our first food of the day at the Golden Nugget coffee shop, before we finally headed back to the hotel from what which was a long and epic day.
Day 3
Sometimes Vegas is such a whirlwind, you can be here for 24 hours and feel like you have 3 days worth of action that has happened. That is definitely how we felt today, when we went to the Go Pool. Thats basically how this trip has been so far, go go go...Alabama really made our morning, by instead of just covering the 24, they won by 50. USC was favored by 11.5 and Utah had a Miracle touchdown with time expiring and lost by 11. I talked to a girl from a city that eludes me for quite a while, and Ryan came and joined us. We were supposed to go to the Nugget pool but it was much cooler hanging out here. We even met a lady that runs a topless housecleaning service! I tell ya, only in Vegas. We did the 530 poker tournament at Bill's, and Lewis joined us on his 21st birthday! I lost when my pocket kings lost to A-2 on a stupid bluff all in bet. And then I had my aces lose to kings on the cash table. Brian actually won the tournament and hit two baseball parlays! Vegas has been very good to him thus far. At least I had my Alabama ticket and now a Fresno State ticket to cash! By now we have accumulated so many drink tickets from the sports book it was getting silly. We got dressed and me and Brian met Ronnie and Linda at Toby Keith's for Ronnies birthday dinner. She is a very cheap date, she only had a house salad, but she really loves it. We were all just spacy and getting really drunk, and great, it was time to meet up with the family and my aunt who thinks I am an alcoholic! Brian, Esther, Daniel, Lewis, Aunt Natalie, and Cheryl all met us at Harrah's and we went to the dueling piano bar. I bought everyone a round of drinks, including Aunt Natalie, who had a tall gin and tonic. Ronnie turned in Lewis's name to the piano girls AND thought Esther was his twin so they both had to go up on stage for birthday embarrassment! We all went to Casino Royale from there and it was funny being in that atmosphere with Aunt Natalie, but Lewis was right at home at the blackjack switch table, although Cheryl needed some coaching. So Brian pulls out $200 from the automated 3-card machine by hitting three deuces on the pairs plus with a six dollar bet! He is on fired today. I won a little playing blackjack, and about $70 on Monopoly, which was my best slot hit of the trip, sadly, lol. Lewis and Daniel walked with me back to the Flamingo, where we met up with Tain. I played a little bit of 1-2 and got mad and left when I got slow rolled when this guys pocket jacks made a set against my queens and Daniels aces. This tilted me for the rest of the night, and into tomorrow. We met Ronnie at MGM, played this bagpipe slot which I did good on, and I actually won a little on Deal or No Deal, kept getting the bonus on this Alfred Hitchcock machine, and we TRIED to get something to eat, but to no avail, because the prices were too high. The prices were better than the two hundred I lost on blackjack though! I told you this tilt, really got to me and I woke up the next day with a, I lost $200 on blackjack hangover. I literally got back to the hotel with the sun up, and was in no way shape or form ready for the football day that was ahead!
Day 4
THANKFULLY I overslept and missed out on my football bets, because I would have done terrible. I finally got my ass in gear, phoned my New England bet into Tain, and we got in a cab and headed to the Orleans on a brilliantly sunny day. It was a good fantasy football day for me, thinks were shaping out rather nice. But what started off as a good start for New England, quickly fizzled, and we would once again leave our fate in the hands of Peyton Manning and -6. I went to the Orleans buffet THREE times for what was probably my first nutrition of the entire trip. I was fizzling money away at the Orleans, but I figure it is paying my dues for the free rooms that I got, which was rather handy. Well, Indianapolis proceeded to dismantle New York, but we appeared to just miss on the over, which was 48. The score was 38-7. Let me first say that Tain hit for $800 on video poker, getting four 4's and the kicker, went and got his shoes shined, and threw a $25 chip on the number 25, and hit for another $900. Absolutely incredible. Much better than Chris, who wasted $45 on a massage from a man in the middle of the Flamingo! Anyways, the Colts are simply running out the clock, and needing a first down and Mike Hart FUMBLES! Eli Manning throws a touchdown to Hakeem Nicks on the ensuing play and a celebration ensues. The Mannings did it AGAIN! I was officially off tilt, and was basically on a winning note for the rest of the trip. After a long day which ended with Euphoria at the Orleans, it was back to the strip. We decided to walk from the Flamingo, and we didn't stop until we hit the Stratosphere, buying beer at every stop along the way. We got to see ALL aspects of Vegas, and I even took a little bit of money out of the Strat.
Day 5
Time to go out with a bang, and first thing is first, we got our suits on and went for one last session at the Go Pool. We immediately made friends with these girls from Minnesota, who went from not drinking to doing tequila shots with us. Coors light, tequila, tossing the football around, "the goat". Why would I ever leave Vegas! Well with our new friends, we decided we were going to all watch Monday Night Football, but before we left the pool someone really wanted to keep the football, and I remember playing this game, only this time I got a bucket of beer out of it! Well, we placed our MNF bets, bet on the Twins, and I am glad the latter won because the former didn't. We cashed in our stack of free drink coupons got buckets of Miller Chills, watched San Francisco cover, drank the rest of our beer and champagne, and Ryan picked us all up and took us to Fremont. I guess going to the Nugget pool first was a bad idea, because we all ended up thrown in the pool, me with my phone and camera. Very sad, and I was so bummed I took a cab back. I took a nap, woke up for a few minutes, walked to Casino Royale, cashed out my tickets, had the $3 burger at The Burger Joint, and got ready to get the heck out of Vegas! We went to our first restaurant together the next day at the airport, which came after being in Vegas for five days. It was a true whirlwind of a trip, which is why we love it!
