Fear and loathing...
My first trip to Las Vegas, NV is complete, and it was quite a success. With the small exceptions of "not enough sleep" and "too long of a car drive", it might have been the best vacation I've ever had.
Friday I picked up Greg & Viv and we jumped on the freeway for our 5 hour drive. I drove both ways, which was not fun.
Got to Vegas around 5:30pm, checked in to the Paris casino, and promptly made our way back downstairs to lose some money.
After 1 hour I had turned a $15 slot machine bet into $124.20
Greg was pissed at me and wouldn't shut up about "beginners luck" :P
After another 2 hours, I turned 3 other slot machines into my bitch as well, turning $60 (starting bet of $20 on each machine) into this;
With a total of $75 ($15, $20x3) spent out of pocket, and over $400 now in my pocket... it was time for dinner. My treat.
Greg and Viv had NY steaks, and I had a delicious three pieces of filet mignon. It was amazingly good.
By the end of the night, I was still up by $300 (at least), and full of good food & about 2 dozen free drinks. Off to bed!
Saturday we slept in, and then walked around the various shops/stores (Greg forgot to bring his dress clothes for the wedding), and walked around outside. I only took 2 pictures outside, which I regret now, because the weather was so nice. 2 shots of our hotel landmarks;
Then, at 3:00 we got ready and headed downstairs for Vince & Laura's wedding at 4:00.
The wedding was really nice, not only was it small (only about 50 people, 90% who were family), but it was only about 20 minutes long. I can't stand long weddings, so this was perfect.
After relaxing in the room for a while, we headed back down for the free shuttle pickup @ 6:00, which took us (all the wedding guests, 3 shuttles) from the Paris, to the reception at some place called the Rainbow Gardens. We schmoozed with family and the wedding party, who were already enjoying the open bar... and then there were lots of toasts & food (chicken parmagan for me, with mashed potatoes & a roll). Around 7:00 the DJ started playing songs and people were just drunk enough to make fools of themselves. I forgot my camera, and all my iPhone camera photos came out horrible because of the low lighting.
It was a lot of fun, and the shuttles came and took us all back to the Paris around 10:00... which meant: time for more gambling!
I hit the blackjack table and turned $60 into about $80... which I was happy with, and then played some Texas Hold 'em and ended up losing about $80. So I with a $60 loss for the night, I headed back to the slot machines, and just had fun. Somewhere around 2:00am, I said "ok, I'm done" and cashed out. I didn't realize it at the time, and wouldn't know for sure until I got home tonight... but I just counted up all my winnings; I left for Vegas with $500 cash in my pocket, and I returned with $920 in my pocket.
Begginners luck indeed! Considering I paid for an entire expensive meal for all 3 of us the first night (around $70) as well as a few other $10-20 meals thoughout the weekend, I easily doubled my money and won $500 this weekend. Of course I could have come back with way more if those cute waitressess hadn't continued to bring me tons and tons of free drinks. I remember one point playing video poker that I started with $20, and a few minutes later was up to about $80+, and then next thing you know it... all gone. So did I lose $20, or did I lose $80?
Today we had to wake up early and checkout of the hotel by 12:00, drag our crap to the car, and then we headed to Bally's hotel/casino for some breakfast. We decided to hit the road around 2:00, but not before I bought a shot glass to add to my collection. I got a few quick pictures of the strip on the way back home;
It's nice to be back home... but I would also have liked my vacation to be longer. Oh well, something to look forward to in the future I guess. Now I'm gonna catch up on some sleep.