What Happens in Vegas Goes on my Blog
Two weekends ago, Jack and I took a little road trip up through the Mojave to meet up with a somewhat eclectic group of our friends (who were largely Vegas virgins) in Sin City to enjoy one last weekend of ignorant bliss before my bar results came out. Since we could only get away for two nights, we decided we might as well do it up right and book a room at the world-class Wynn Hotel & Casino (and yeah, we got it for way cheaper than the going rate of $599/night).
We were joined at the Wynn by our favorite North Dakotans and fellow destination wedding veterans, Ashley & Joey, who were making their first-ever trip to Vegas to celebrate Joey's birthday and graduation (and it's only because they were celebrating a special occasion that I wasn't pissed that they had a beautiful view of The Strip while our room looked out onto a rooftop). Next door at the brand-new Palazzo all-suites hotel was my law school buddy, Jon, and his wonderful girlfriend, Kat, who were making their first sans-family trip to Vegas. Way down at the other end of the strip at the MGM was my dear friend, Kevin, and his beautiful new fiancee, Emily, who were both taking in their very first Vegas experience. And finally, we were fortunate enough to get to meet up with my old friend, Brian, who, as a resident of Las Vegas, was perhaps the only person amongst who really had a clue what was going on.
Because Jack and I decided to drive in after work on Friday, we didn't actually make it to Vegas until well after ten o'clock. When Ash and Joey arrived an hour or so later, they quickly hopped into a change of clothes and had a quick beer with me, Jack, Jon and Kat (we came equipped with a jug of sangria, 36 bottles of beer and a fifth of vodka + mixers) before we all headed over to the sexy Shadow Bar in Caesar's Palace. At $14/drink we didn't want to stay too long, but somehow we didn't make it back to the hotel until about 3am.
For me and Ashley, Saturday was spent trying to hunt down chairs at The Wynn's very crowded (and honestly, not that special) adults-only swimming pool. The boys (plus Kat and Emily) went over to Jack's favorite hole-in-the-wall casino, Ellis Island, a couple blocks off the strip, to partake in their low-limit table games, $6.99 steak dinner, and infamous $1 beers. After two hour's worth of text messages from Jack swearing they would meet us at the pool "after this drink," they finally showed back up at The Wynn (after they tried to sneak into an employee entrance, apparently) totally schnockered.
Ash & Joey caught one of the Cirque du Soleil shows that night while Kat was fighting off a nasty stomach bug and Jack and I were drinking in our room with Jon. Later all of us (minus Kev and Emily, who were at the opposite end of the strip and didn't want to come out, and Kat, who was still sick) met up at Koi in the brand-new Planet Hollywood Casino for some fantastic sushi.
With every intention of getting our groove on at Tryst after dinner, the six of us started trekking back toward The Wynn on foot. About one block into the walk, Jack decided that a cab would be a far better idea. However, upon hailing one he learned that they were only allowed to carry five passengers so one of us would have to stay behind. Despite the fact that he's the one who wanted the cab to begin with, Jack volunteered to find another way back to the hotel and sent us all on our way in the cab. For whatever insane reason, he then decided the most logical method of transportation would be to remove his shirt (lest it get sweaty) and begin jogging down the right turn lane (because the sidewalks were full of people and he'd rather take on cars) in his Kenneth Cole shoes. For several blocks traffic kept us at roughly the same pace Jack was running. When we got stopped at a light, Jack would jog past the passenger side windows. Then we'd get going and pass him up, and then we'd stop and he'd jog past the windows again. The whole thing was hysterical. And truthfully, I had to give my hubby some kudos because he made it back to the hotel lobby on foot less than one minute after we jumped out of the cab. Kind of impressive!
Our plans for Tryst got a little foiled when Ash and Joey's sleep deprivation got the best of them and they decided to call it a night at 11pm. Jack, Jon, Brian and I opted instead for Plan B and grabbed a couple seats at the bar in the small, low-key venue, Mist, in Treasure Island. Having somehow come upon buy-one-get-one drink coupons, we managed to have several rounds of drinks and only spend $55 between Jack and me (which, by Vegas standards, is virtually unheard of). After Jon took off to check in on his ailing lady, Brian bought us a round of yummo shots and we all called it a night around 4:30am after grabbing a snack (breakfast?) at the 24 hour restaurant in our hotel.
We spent Sunday eating obscene amounts of crab legs, bacon, and eight different types of potatoes at the buffet in The Bellagio (note to self: avoid all Vegas buffets on Mother's Day. The wait was several hours long). Because a trip to LV wouldn't be complete without seeing the famed Bellagio Fountains, we stopped just long enough for some pictures before Kevin and Emily took off to have their picture taken at the wedding chapel where her grandparents were married, and Jack and I headed back to the hotel to bid farewell to Ash and Joey and get back on the road to SoCal.
Overall, it was probably the most low-key, relaxed Vegas trip I've ever had. No dance clubs, no strip clubs, no public intoxication. I didn't gamble at all. We didn't see any shows. We didn't catch a single sunrise. All in all, I can't say that anything that happened in Vegas needed to stay there! Haha.
It was, however, a great weekend and just what I needed to take some of the edge off the impending bar results. It was fantastic, as always, to see Ashley, Joey, Jon, Kat, Kevin, Emily and Brian. And I think this trip was proof positive that a great weekend in Sin City isn't measured by how glamorous your hotel is, how much you win, how much you drink, how late you stay out, or how many hot strangers you meet. It's all in the company you come there with.
2 comments:
The Jack story CRACKS me up! I'm glad you guys had fun in Vegas :)
I've been to Mist!! Baaad baaad night. Baaad Baad decisions were made! Glad you all had fun! Wish I could have made it!
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