New Year's Eves and Never-agains
Having your birthday on New Year's Eve has its ups and downs. I take it all in stride now because, frankly, you can't do anything about it. It was a raw deal when I was a kid, it did take on a life of it's own once I turned 21. Now being a bit past the 21 year old stage, I've taken on a new respect.
I had promised Justin that we would spend NYE in South Lake Tahoe this year. He had been begging me for the last 5 years, but I always pictured myself spending midnight on a closed freeway on the side of a mountain with 5,000 other fools in a crisp 20 degrees. This year, the calander was kind enough to manipulate the dates of travel to allow for absolutely no traffic for us there or back. We had a great place to stay (Justin is a wonderful host) and we were kidless to boot. The planets seemed to line up perfectly, and we were in for a great time.
We'd had a few drinks before we left the apartment, so we decided to take a shuttle down, and a cab back up. Usually, we drive down and cab back, picking up the car again the next morning(ish) while grabbing breakfast(ish) by the lake. The shuttle stop was across the street, since Justin's house is now at Heavenly at a nearly oxygen-free 10,000 feet altitude. We made it to the casino's at around 9:30.
We had a great time...until. We had all won a little over $100 at a craps table at Bill's, so we were freely spending the casino's money back into the casino bars. We danced in the streets with the throngs, and drank champaigne at midnight. Suddenly feeling another year older, I was ready to head back at 12:45 to warm up and catch the last of the festivities on TV. Mike took off to try his luck at the tables, Justin and I went to try our luck at the cabs.
That was where our luck ran out.
I've done this casino thing dozens of times, and we've never had a cab problem before. The riot police that were standing around bored and taking pictures with the brave/stupid and scantily clad 20-somethings until midnight, then were completely gone. I do believe the casinos paid off the cab companies to only trickle in so the people would stay inside the casinos and gamble. Touche', casinos! It was getting really cold. The crowds grew more drunk. The crowds grew more angry. Fighting broke out. The cabs that did come by were going to the highest bidders, upwards to $300 apiece. I pulled Justin into a cafe just to warm up and hide before trying again.
When we did finally get a cab, we shared with another couple and paid $40 per person to go about 6 miles. It was a bargain. It was also about 3:30 AM. Mike had similar problems, and he came in around 6.
So, we nursed our aging bodies for another couple of days and drove back on Tuesday. We felt we had extracted our revenge on the general masses by laughing at their 8 hour commute for 100 miles down the mountain on the 1st. I came back with a somewhat disabling chest cold and another year's wisdom.
Next year, I'm thinking party at my house. Crash space available.
I had promised Justin that we would spend NYE in South Lake Tahoe this year. He had been begging me for the last 5 years, but I always pictured myself spending midnight on a closed freeway on the side of a mountain with 5,000 other fools in a crisp 20 degrees. This year, the calander was kind enough to manipulate the dates of travel to allow for absolutely no traffic for us there or back. We had a great place to stay (Justin is a wonderful host) and we were kidless to boot. The planets seemed to line up perfectly, and we were in for a great time.
We'd had a few drinks before we left the apartment, so we decided to take a shuttle down, and a cab back up. Usually, we drive down and cab back, picking up the car again the next morning(ish) while grabbing breakfast(ish) by the lake. The shuttle stop was across the street, since Justin's house is now at Heavenly at a nearly oxygen-free 10,000 feet altitude. We made it to the casino's at around 9:30.
We had a great time...until. We had all won a little over $100 at a craps table at Bill's, so we were freely spending the casino's money back into the casino bars. We danced in the streets with the throngs, and drank champaigne at midnight. Suddenly feeling another year older, I was ready to head back at 12:45 to warm up and catch the last of the festivities on TV. Mike took off to try his luck at the tables, Justin and I went to try our luck at the cabs.
That was where our luck ran out.
I've done this casino thing dozens of times, and we've never had a cab problem before. The riot police that were standing around bored and taking pictures with the brave/stupid and scantily clad 20-somethings until midnight, then were completely gone. I do believe the casinos paid off the cab companies to only trickle in so the people would stay inside the casinos and gamble. Touche', casinos! It was getting really cold. The crowds grew more drunk. The crowds grew more angry. Fighting broke out. The cabs that did come by were going to the highest bidders, upwards to $300 apiece. I pulled Justin into a cafe just to warm up and hide before trying again.
When we did finally get a cab, we shared with another couple and paid $40 per person to go about 6 miles. It was a bargain. It was also about 3:30 AM. Mike had similar problems, and he came in around 6.
So, we nursed our aging bodies for another couple of days and drove back on Tuesday. We felt we had extracted our revenge on the general masses by laughing at their 8 hour commute for 100 miles down the mountain on the 1st. I came back with a somewhat disabling chest cold and another year's wisdom.
Next year, I'm thinking party at my house. Crash space available.