Well, we are back and I’m blogging. I had this definite disconnection from society, even though I was in a place surrounded by people all weekend. Weird. I’m a tech geek at heart, I suppose. But despite the lack of internet, we had a blast in Vegas. Video and photos to come. Oh, and we [...]
Well, we are back and I’m blogging. I had this definite disconnection from society, even though I was in a place surrounded by people all weekend. Weird. I’m a tech geek at heart, I suppose. But despite the lack of internet, we had a blast in Vegas. Video and photos to come. Oh, and we had fun at Dave Matthews too…the details, I wrote about on the way to Vegas. Anyway, if you are curious about the happenings of the weekend, read on…
2:01 AM 8/26/2005 – Day One
Well, it is about two o’clock in the morning and we are on the road to Vegas. I am writing this from the back seat of my car; it’s
the first time that I’ve actually ridden back here, but I figured that the driving (and my baby) are in Danny’s capable hands. We just made a stop at the 76 station in Corona because we were hungry. Alas, we missed several exits with food of the hot variety, so we are settling for chips and soda. The station, however, was locked up tight due to security reasons, so the attendant collected our food as we shouted through the door what we wanted. An interesting experience.
Before we made our pit stop, we were having an interesting conversation; Danny partook in a call from a really cool chick (at least, that is the NGS consensus) and we continued on our journey.
Earlier this evening, Danny, Dave, my brother Daniel, and I headed south to Coors Ampitheatre where we enjoyed the sounds of the Dave Matthews Band. It was an awesome show! :) (mmm, we are passing through Ontario and it smells like bovine. Tasty!) But anyway, great time at the DMB concert. Unfortunately, the didn’t play #41 (sorry, Shea!), but they did play lots of other good ones, like Say Goodbye, Tripping Billies and Dreamgirl (I sware, I’ve fallen in love with that song…it’s one of my favorites off of their newest).
We’re now driving through Rancho Cucamunga. The only reason why I mention this is because it’s a funny name. Just say it with me, okay? Cucamunga. Fun, huh? :)
Okay, so Dave. He’s doing well. There was lots of eye candy at the concert, so that’s always nice. It was also really cool to hang out with my brother. Earlier, he came over and we went and had lunch with my dad at Fuddruckers; oh my, that was good! I love that place. But it was good for the Riveroll dudes to hang out and schmooze. And my brother is cool.
Okay, so we’ve got Death Cab going and the Doritos are overflowing. Actually, they aren’t; Danny just gave me the bag with the crumbs. And the road is all uneven, so we are bouncing with the music. I think I’m going to rest my eyes for a bit because we are slated to make it to vegas at around 5, maybe? Who knows. I’ll keep you posted.
5:53 AM 8/26/2005
Well, it’s nearly 6 am and we finally made it to Vegas. The hotel is a little seedy, the clientele a little sketchy, but hey, it wouldn’t be a fact finding mission if it wasn’t. Just glad Danny is packing Gertrude. :)
Ringo Starr is on the television, which is about as funny as our whole adventure thus far. We made a stop at the world’s largest thermometer for a rest room break and there was some definite stank going on. I don’t use the word “stank” very often, but “stank” definitely describes the funk that was in the air.
So we are in the hotel. We are staying at the Gold Spike, which I had never heard of until recently. And now I know why…it’s definitely WAY off the strip and the dumbest chick that has ever walked the earth was behind the check in counter. It seriously took her about 15 minutes to check us in. You could hear the wheels actually turning; and I think for a brief second, I heard the hamster stop.
So I’m ready for bed. Good night.
12:17 PM 8/26/2005
So it is day two of FFM: Las Vegas and we are still alive and kicking. Actually, it’s surprising how comfortable the beds are here at the Gold Spike. Anyway, we slept a solid, hard 6 hours and then emerged from our comas just a little bit ago. I jumped in the shower first, which sort of resembled being sprayed with a high-powered fire hose. And the drain didn’t drain properly, so within minutes, I noticed I was standing ankle deep in shower water. But other than feeling like I was trudging through the swamp or being hosed down at a protest, it was not bad. I did make it short, though.
And on a random side note, we are watching t.v. while getting ready and the Berenstein Bears cartoon was on tv. If you know who the Berenstein Bears are, kudos to you. :)
Well, we are thinking getting phone cord for internet purposes and then hang out at Brian’s bowling thing for a couple of hours before doing dinner at the Rio. (mmmm.) But we will check in later.
3:41 AM 8/27/2005 – Day Two
Gosh, it feels good to lay down. I’m sitting here listening to a little Lifehouse on my laptop and thought I would check in. Speaking of which, I thought I would be able to actually post this, but because the cheapskates at the Gold Spike charge $.35 for local calls, and for some reason when I tried to dial in to my ISP, I couldn’t do it. Needless to say, I’m going to have a ton of junk email to go through…and hopefully some good regular email too. :)
So it’s been a long-ass day…let me start from the beginning…
We dragged ourselves out of bed and took our time getting ready and then headed out to take Brian to Henderson for his bowling practice round. On our way there, we stopped at Walgreens because I wanted to get a phone cable for my laptop (turns out it was a useless purchase), but we also got some snacks and essentials as well. We got Brian to the lanes and then the three of us had lunch at the nearby Fatburger. Yum. After that, we decided to run some errands, including a too-long transaction at Wells Fargo. We wanted to go to Kinko’s to use their internet for email and a business transaction of some sort, but it was too far of a drive and we were running out of time. Then a moment of pure genius hit me as we drove by a local library: free internet. Yes, my friends, FREE. When you are traveling, remember that. :) So I was able to quickly glance through the thirty some messages in my box (however, I was unable to respond to any of them). And I think Danny committed a major crime by bringing Gertrude into the Library; but whatever happens in Henderson stays in Henderson. At least that’s what we’re saying. :)
We got Brian back to the lanes and then Danny and I went to Big K for a little shopping excursion. There’s only so much pro-bowling I can handle, but it’s nice to kick back and watch some PBA action, if you never have had the experience.
We picked up Brian after a couple hours and then made our way back to the strip. It was a long, grueling journey, but we made it finally. We parked at The Riviera and walked to the Venetian, where the plan was to spend some time at the blackjack tables. However, being the cheapskates that we are, we didn’t want to lose our small fortune, so we opted for the tables at Harrah’s We learned (through Danny’s expertise) that they bring you free drinks to entice you to gamble more. After I lost about $35 (I think I was bad luck), and downed a Corona, we were on our way. Those were the most expensive beers ever! But I milked mine for all it was worth and we continued walking the strip. So weird to be wandering around with a bottle in your hand. :)
We decided that we were going to check out a show of some sort, so we wandered into this 1/2 price ticket shop on the strip. We asked the girl behind the counter for some opinions, since we were obviously going to have a hard time deciding what to see, and we learned through our conversation that she was originally from San Diego. Small stinking world, ain’t it? She had gone to SDSU and due to reasons that weren’t disclosed to us, she made her way to Las Vegas to “get away from someone.” I don’t know who she was trying to get away from, but she was a cute and very well-informed guide to Vegas entertainment. We finally settled on a hypnosis show at Bourbon Street. We paid for our tickets after some brief, witty conversation and made our way to Excalibur. At this point, we were starving and with only a couple beers in me, I needed to eat. Of course, that wasn’t before a little humiliation by Daniel Glenn; who decided to tell a group of bachelorettes that I was getting married too. They posed in a picture with me, the lucky groom. I hope “Sarah,” my fiancee doesn’t find out about it, even though it wasn’t that scandalous.
The buffet at the Excalibur is definitely top-notch. I had my fill of delicious meats, pastas, soup, and salads. There were also tasty desserts and beverages. After stuffing our faces, we caught a cab to Bourbon Street, where we endulged in some Kamakazes, a drink called a Hurricane, and a couple others. The hypnosis show was absolutely HILARIOUS too. He definitely had us all in stiches. A smashing good time. :) Now, personally, I still don’t believe in hypnosis…but the show made it hard. Sounds like we might have to do another fact finding mission on it. After the show, we slowly made our way back to reality, but not before stopping at the bar for a few more drinks (I had H2O, due to my driving responsibilities). We made several stops too, including Harrah’s piano bar (we left JUST before the twins came up to play, which is sooooo unfortunate since they are so freakin’ hot), and Wynn’s. Talk about a classy place. I felt so out of place in a t-shirt and shorts, but I didn’t have a chance to make myself pretty. Takes a little bit of work, even though I’m ridiculously good looking. But it was swank. Very classy, with a jazz trio and singer. Comfy chairs too. We had a few cold ones (water for me again) and enjoyed the music.
We decided it was getting late around one-ish, so we made our way (slowly) back to the car and then getting back to our hotel. I got a little lost, but I managed to find my way back. Now I’m listening to Lifehouse talking with you fine people. I have a splitting headache, but that might be because I’m tired. So I am going to rectify that by going to sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I miss you all.
2:12 AM 8/28/2005 – Day Three
Hello everyone. We just got back from dining at the fine eating establishment here at the Gold Spike. You may be scoffing now, but let me tell you that three hungry guys ate for just over 12 bucks. Being the generous tight-wad that I am, I volunteered to treat the NGS for a late dinner. Hot dogs, burgers, and chicken tenders were the cuisine of choice.
Before eating, lots of random things occured. Let me start from there…
We all treated ourselves to sleeping in a bit until a little after noon. We all had a long entertaining evening last night and needed time to recover. So recover we did. After freshening up a bit, we headed up the Rio for their Carnival Buffet. Woohoo, that was quality. I didn’t even make it over to the south end of the buffet (where they have the seafood and pastas) because I was too full from the meats and Mexican food. But I did enjoy the desserts. *big grin*
After our late lunch, it was about time to cart Brian’s butt to the bowling alley. So we did. And then Danny and myself headed back to the strip for a little walking around and enjoying the sights. We started at the MGM Grand and worked our way around to Excalibur, Luxor, and New York, New York. I enjoyed the dancing girl at Coyote Ugly. *wink, wink*. We also took in an interesting exhibit at the Tropicana with actual artifacts from the Titanic; including a huge section of it’s hull, one of the biggest pieces from their recovery mission. Other artifacts included china and silverware, clothing, jewelry, pieces of the ship itself and other personal items. It was definitely educational and informative; I love history. We also enjoyed a few drinks at the lobby bar at NY, NY, with some gift shopping. Eyes went back to the dancing girl, though. :) We grabbed a couple dogs at the Nathan’s stand and did some people watching. Lots of walking around.
At about 10:00, we decided to make our way (slowly) to the bowling lanes in Henderson. We made it back just before 11:00 and in time to watch Brian bowl a couple. We also enjoyed watching Missy Bellinger’s graceful moves as she repeatedly knocked them down. So close to the cut, Brian’s last game just wasn’t working out and he missed the cut by just a little bit. It was painful for us, but there will always be a next time.
We then we headed back to the Gold Spike, a little weary and indecicive as to what activities to partake in. We opted for dinner in the diner downstairs and a movie on TV. Pathetic, yes, but we are getting old and we aren’t as young as we used to be. That and we are lazy. I’m sad we didn’t get over to Coyote Ugly, or rather, any establishment where girls would have been, but what can you do? Next time. Besides, California girls are better anyway.
So I bid you farewell until tomorrow. Sleepy time for me. Night.
3:28 PM 8/28/2005 – The end of the mission
So I am sitting here now in my miserably hot living room. I can smell the fresh paint from the bathroom (some people worked this weekend. lol). But it’s nice and quiet. And definitely a lot cooler than Vegas right now. But we had a good journey back. Made some excellent time, thanks to my driving (hehe, yeah right). Danny did drive almost half of the way, and got my baby up to about 110 mph. I didn’t even know she could drive that fast! And we made several stops, including breakfast and a naked statue in Baker, two bathroom breaks, and talking with a hard-working man from LA in Yermo. Video to come.
So all of you faithful readers who have read this far, I applaud you. I assure you, as well, that this was definitely a mission where many facts were found. Until next time. Peace out.