I had a little time to kill waiting for Mere and Lisa to show up, so I got my first look at people heading in and out of Vegas. Man, I love people watching. It's amazing to see all different kinds of people in the world. I dress comfortably when I fly, however some women dress like they are headed out to work the streets. Gotta love Vegas.
Once we were all together, we headed to our hotel, the Mirage. Gorgeous hotel. Loved it. For the most part. It was bloody huge, but like the rest of the casinos, a pain in the butt to get anywhere. You, of course, had to go through the casino to get up to your room and back out the front door. I know why they do it, I'm just saying it sucks. Our room was really nice with 2 queen beds and modern decor. Once we checked in, we unpacked and got settled and then grabbed a bite to eat in one of the hotel restaurants. This time it was the Carnegie Deli, which brought out a bowl of pickles with our drink order. Um, ew. If you know me at all, you know I have a freakishly weird hatred for all things pickle related. Those stayed far on the other side of the table. I ordered a BLT that was roughly the same size as my head. It had probably a good 2" worth of bacon on it. Not to mention 4 slices of cheese, half dozen tomatoes and a head of lettuce. It was good, but way more than I was expecting. At least they made it worth the 10+ dollars it cost me.
Our hotel.
The volcano out front that erupted every night from 8-midnight on the hour. We caught a glimpse of it one night, but not long enough to get any pics.
Lisa and Mere with the evil bowl o' pickles.
Me and Mere.
So let's kick this pig! Yeah, that was my phrase of choice for the weekend that basically we said all the time. To get us psyched up for what we were about to do! Next, we thought it would be good to take a stroll down the strip and check out some of the other hotels. Of course, we had to get a drink for our journey. We stopped at Rhumbar, a bar in our hotel, and picked up a large portable plastic beer bong looking thing filled with a slushy Hurricane Punch. Delicious. And potent. Once we paid for the container, we could come back for cheaper refills at any time. Awesome. We headed over to the Bellagio to check out the fountains, and I was able to see some of the famous dancing water. It wasn't dark yet, but it was still pretty impressive to see. We got stopped for the first time by some freakshow outside of the Bellagio who wanted us to come to The Bank Nightclub that night. Who knew the fictional casino in Ocean's Thirteen is also a nightclub? This guy, covered in tats, told us he had ONLY 8 BRACELETS LEFT to get in free to The Bank that night. He wanted us to get all dressed up for him and look hot and he'd get us in with the full VIP treatment. All he needed was our names and numbers and we'd get on the list. Score! But, he was only going to be out for another hour and then he had to go home and put a suit on (to cover the tats) and be back to let the ladies in. And did I mention he had to go home and put a suit on, because he had to go home and put a suit on. Oh, and hey we have sexy toes. WTF? This guy was a whack job. He seriously asked if anyone had ever told us that we had pretty feet. And he kept mentioning that he only had 8 bracelets left. If he just gave us a card to get us in free, I might have considered it, but there was no way I was giving this guy my name or number. We politely refused and he asked if it was because of the toe comment. Sure, buddy, that's the only reason we're skeptical.
Bellagio fountains doing their thing.
We made a quick exit from Freakshow #1 and kept moving along on our way. Thank god for big casinos with lots of bathrooms. I think we made a pit stop at nearly every casino. We walked past all the new construction for the new City Center that is going to be enormous and cover a few city blocks. Apparently it's going to be its own little city. We finally ended up at the New York New York and thought about taking a ride on the rollercoaster. But we decided that a gallon or so of Hurricane Punch + rum + rollercoaster = major disaster waiting to happen. By this time our flip flop laden feet were barking, so we thought of taking the monorail back to our hotel. We picked that up at the MGM Grand and it was a short ride back to our hotel from there. For the most part, in front of our hotel and a few others, there weren't many people passing out nudie fliers. However, in front of some of them, there were little Mexicans about two feet apart slapping those damn cards against their hands trying to get people to take them. I understand one on every corner or so, but seriously. One every two feet? Do they think that after you pass three of four of them, suddenly someone will think, "Damn, I DO need a Girl Direct to Me 24 Hours a Day!" Weirdos.
New York New York. The inside is very cool. Looks just like the streets of New York (according to Mere and Lisa...I've never been there!)
When we got back, Mere reminded us of an autograph signing by Marisa Miller. If you don't know who she is (and I wouldn't until I saw her photo), she is a Sports Illustrated model, Victoria's Secret model, and drop dead gorgeous. She's a half inch taller than me and only weighs 110 lbs. I could break her in half. If she wasn't so darn nice. We got back to the hotel just in time to stand in line, and we were only about 20 people from the beginning. We didn't have to wait very long until she came out and she was very nice and gracious. When we got to the front, Mere went first and told her about how it was all of our birthdays and we were celebrating in Vegas. She gave all of us signed photos of her with "Happy Birthday" on it and came around and got a picture with us. Like I said, super nice. And self-esteem destroying. ;-) I mean, seriously, how would you feel standing next to a supermodel?!
Marisa doing what she does best!
Me, Lisa, Marisa and Mere. For being 5'8" she must have had on some hella tall shoes to tower over us that much!
After our long day of sightseeing, we headed back to shower and get ready for dinner. Our first dinner was at Caribe Cafe, which would be closing its doors in the hotel in a few months. Our hostess had been with the restaurant for nearly 20 years. She was pretty nice. Our waitress, however, I wanted to strangle. We all ordered a drink while we perused the menu, and of course, she asked to see our IDs. This was the first time I had been carded, but I was okay with it. I'm sure they card people who are in their 40s to be on the safe side. It's Vegas, I understand. Except what I didn't understand was not being able to be served because the tiny plastic coating on the front of my driver's license was starting to peel, very slightly, in the corners. I looked at the lady like she had butterflies shooting out of her butt. Excuse me, you won't serve me because of that? She was extremely chipper (aka annoying) and said that they could not serve me because of the condition of my license. Apparently it's a very common way people fake their licenses. WTF. I'm almost 30 years old and I can't get a f'in beer? And if I was faking a license, do you really think I would put 29 as my age on it? I argued with the lady about it, but she wouldn't budge. She told me that my license would be a problem in Vegas unless I got it fixed. Uh, hello, moron, I just got to Vegas and I don't live here. What do you expect me to do about it now? Mere and Lisa felt bad, but I really wasn't that concerned. I had already been served other places, so I wasn't worried that I could still drink. I was more concerned with being able to get into the dance clubs. Dammit, I was born to shake it, and I would not be denied the chance at a Vegas nighclub! After we finished our meal, I headed straight to the Bell Desk to get their opinion. The lady behind the counter thought it was absolutely hilarious and told me it wouldn't be a problem at all. She had no idea why the woman was being a nutjob about it, but she offered me some tape to try to inconspicuously tape the edges down. I did so, and hoped it wouldn't make the problem worse.
We grabbed a drink at Kokomo's right next to Jet, a 3-room nightclub in our hotel before it opened. This is where we met Freakshow #2, who was equally obsessed with our feet. What is it with old guys and toes? I won't tell you what he said, but let's just say we hightailed it out of there. We found out the cover charge for Jet was $30. Good gravy. Fortunately, we quickly realized there were ways around that. Like the guy standing in the lobby giving out free ladies admission passes. Score! We spent the night watching some very interesting characters make fools of themselves on the dance floor. As well as the so-called dancers hired to "dance" on platforms. I use the word dance loosely, because for the first hour or more, there was no dancing involved. Unless you consider stepping back and forth in place and shrugging your shoulders a bit. Wait, that's what most men do! I'm sure the girls were just pacing themselves, but still, you're getting paid to dance. Work it! I could have done that. Had I been stuffed with silicone. Good lord, the number of fake breasts on and off the dance floor was astounding. If Vegas were in a flood zone, no one would drown.
After being up for nearly 24 hours, we decided to call it a night and prepare for our next adventure. On Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed out for our trip to the Hoover Dam. Yep, a dam tour. We booked it through Sweetours and the $50 cost included the bus ride to and from the dam and the tour of the underground facilities. Our tour guide, Louie, was really good. He was funny without being obnoxious and had a cute accent. I think it was hispanic, because all the Mexican names rolled off his tongue, but I can't be sure. He kept us pretty entertained with lots of fun facts on our 45 minute drive out to the Hoover Dam. Included was a quick stop in Boulder City where he pointed out the buildings built to house the workers of the Hoover Dam in the 30s. Once we got to the dam, we headed up to an overlook to see the entire site, including part of Lake Mead, and get a few cheap souvenirs. I got a dam coaster. Seriously, it says, "This is my dam coaster." Awesome. Mere and Lisa got one too. Next, he drove us back down to the Visitor's Center where we watched a short film, and then headed down into the belly of the dam to see how things work. I really wanted to ask where they kept Megatron, but I don't think anyone else would have thought it was as funny as I would have. A half hour or so later, we were able to walk along the dam and take a ton of pictures. I didn't realize that there are no guard rails. At all. Just a waist high slab of concrete all the way around. With nothing to keep you from falling straight over the edge, except for your own common sense. Interesting.
A shot of the Lake Mead side from the overlook.
A dam photograph.
The dam bypass bridge.
Lake Mead showing how far the river flooded with the white line.
Rubbing the toe of the angel for good luck.
We also got to see the Colorado River Bypass bridge being built straight across the Black Canyon just south of the Hoover Dam. It was started in 2005 and is projected to be finished in 2010, but I really don't see how it's possible. It's nowhere near being complete. It's an amazing feat, what they are doing, but they really can't expect to be done by next year. After we took a ton of pictures of the dam, the lake and the overpass, we stopped in the gift shop and then grabbed a bite to eat. We all piled back on the bus and then stopped at the Lake Mead overpass to get a breathtaking shot of the lake. By this point, I was ready to head back to the hotel. It had been a long morning, after a long night. We tried to nap on the bus back to Vegas, but it wasn't that easy. One of the problems with taking a bus tour is that even when we got back to Vegas, we had to stop at all the hotels to drop everyone off. From start to finish, the tour was a little over 6 hours. Whew, that makes for a long morning.
A shot of the arch for the Bypass as we drove by.
Lake Mead.
Gorgeous view. Oh yeah, the lake looks cool too!
So, what to do after spending the morning at Hoover Dam? Lay by the pool, of course! With a cold drink. We refilled our slushies and spent a very relaxing afternoon catching some rays. Shortly after we found some chairs to spread out on, we were approached by two guys offering to rub lotion on us. Creepy? Actually, no it wasn't this time. Come to find out, one of them was a bachelor who was trying to check off a list of things given to him by his friends. Since I was the only single one, I said, why not? It's completely harmless and I need sunscreen on my back! After that, we spent awhile talking with the bachelor and one of his friends. They were super nice guys, not the creepy type you expect to be ogled by in Vegas. They were entertaining and fun to talk to. After we parted ways with them, Lisa and I spent a little more time by the pool while Mere headed up to get ready for dinner. Then, we were approached by the nasty kind of bachelor who was a complete and utter idiot. He didn't really get the hint when I was giving him crap and totally making fun of him. Fortunately for us, the pool was closing, so we were able to make a clean getaway.
Dinner on Saturday night was at Onda, an Italian restaurant where I had broccoli rabe for the first time. And it tasted like feet. Dirty feet. Blech. The pasta it was in tasted fine, but the rabe was nasty. At least I tried it! We headed over to TI (Treasure Island) to watch the Sirens do a show and for a drink via the tram that ran between our two hotels. That was a really great idea. I had a Pain Killer...I can't remember what was in it, but it was delicious! The Sirens show was kinda corny, but at least it was free. Basically sexy women singing and dancing on a ship joined by men dancing and singing on a ship. We then headed to Revolution, the Beatles inspired lounge also in our hotel. Since Love, the Beatles Cirque de Soleil show, is in our hotel, they had a super fun lounge to party in. Very 60s, very groovy. The coolest part was the side of the "wall" that spelled out REVOLUTION (with LOVE backwards) in large backlit letters. Some of the letters had cushions so you could sit in them. Grrr baby, very grrr! Unfortunately, the inside had an overabundance of strobe lights, so we very quickly left before either being hpynotized or drugged by it. We headed back over to Jet since it was close and partied for awhile more.
If you look at the left side of the picture, you can see how the letters of LOVE are in reverse, so you can see it properly from the inside of the lounge. At night, there are girls dancing on the cushions inside the O's.
This ends "Week 1" of Vegas. Check out #44 for the rest of the weekend adventure!
2 comments:
VEGAS BABY!!!! I love it there!
Sounds like your trip started off on a great foot! So many things to do in Vegas, and not enough time... I really wish we would have went out to the dam, next time.
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