10 great years, many more to come!

Thursday July 28 finally comes around and it's time for us (us means me, KenO and my wife, Em) to pack. I took the day off work to make a full 4 day weekend of fun in Vegas. This was our 10 year wedding anniversary trip and we were planning on going all out the entire weekend. Around 2pm or so I move our giant Armoire in our bedroom to pull out the suitcase behind it. Our plane leaves at about 8pm and we'd like to get packed while the baby is taking her afternooon nap and before the in-laws show up to watch her. In the process of moving the armoire, I feel a slight tinge in my back and realized I may have just flared up my old back injury from a drunken fall several years ago. Unfortunately, as the day unfolds, I find that I have reinjured myself quite badly. Normally, this will take at least a week to recover from, but I'm leaving for Vegas in less 6 hours. Nothing is stopping us from going to Vegas!

Luckily, this is the worst thing that happens to us on the entire trip. I decide to pack the vicodin and will just chance the vicodin/alcohol combo all weekend.

We decided to get to the airport pretty early as the last time I came through our airport, the security checkpoint was about an hour and 10 minutes long. This day, it was about 5 minutes long, so we had quite a wait for a plane. Also, we find our plane is delayed about 1 hour because of weather in Vegas. We decide to get a bit of food at the airport and hang out in the bar. We grab a couple of pints, find a table and get the trip started off right. Em, the social butterfly, meets the two couples sitting next to us in the bar while I was off getting beers. Had some great conversation for the next hour or more.

On the plane, we get in about row 4 of the Southwest airlines plane and end up sitting next to someone who was going to visit her grandmother in Vegas who just had a stroke. Even though she was heading out on very unfortunate circumstances, she was incredibly upbeat and a real joy to talk to. The free drinks southwest gave us all because of the delay didn't hurt either. I don't know if they gave us free drinks because I asked for them (because of the delay), or if they were giving free drinks to everyone. They never announced it, but brought us a couple of rounds (yes, this was meant to be a drinking trip!).

In Vegas, we wait for a while in the Taxi line, once again meeting all the people around us. So far, we've met nothing but really nice people. We jump in our cab and head off to the Monte Carlo. We go up to the front desk and I thought about trying the $20 trick as the room was only going to cost us $69 for the night. But, decided against it since we were only staying at the MC for one night. The nice guy behind the counter took my CC and ID and said, I'll be right back after checking on a room for you. He came back in about 3 minutes and told us we'd be upgraded for free to one of their suites. We told him it was our 10yr anniversary after the upgrade, so he was just being a really nice guy. This was our first of many instances of OCS (outstanding customer service). Headed up to the room, found it to be very nice and immediately headed back down to the casino. We had dressed for the night back at home since our plane ride is only about 1 hour.

We found a blackjack table and about 10 minutes later, a couple came and sat at our table and asked for a $5000 marker. They were both attractive people and fun. We got the cocktailer over right away with the larger marker and I kept her coming back with at least $5 per visit and everyone else at the table giving her $1 per visit. More OCS. Our dealer was a bump on the log and was really boring us, but we were all KILLING the table, so we couldn't leave. A relief dealer came in and made it much more fun, joking with all of us. The pit boss asked me if I wanted to be rated, which has never happened to me before, so I said sure and continued to be rated the rest of the weekend.

The girl of the couple next to us was having her birthday in a couple of days and she wanted a birthday spanking from Em. We were up, it was getting late and we decided to turn in for the night. The lady was ready for her spankings so she jumped up and was ready to bend over. Em asked her to drop her pants for a real spanking. She said she'd drop them if we went up to the room for a while but we didn't feel into that this first night. Em gave a few good smacks then asked me to come over and give the girl a nice smack as well. I complied and we were on our way.

Friday morning rolls around and we need to change hotels. For the rest of the strip, we are staying at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. This morning, Em has a spa day at TheBATHHOUSE, so we need to be there by 10am. We check in and Em heads to the spa and I check out the rest of the property. For lunch, we go to The Burger Bar. The hamburgers were awesome as was the service. I had a blue cheese burger and Em had a regular cheeseburger with the sweet potato fries. She loved the sweat potato fries. We then headed out to the Star Trek Experience and saw both shows. The old show is much better than the new one, but both were still fun.

Friday is our actual anniversary day so it's time to go get remarried. We head off to some chapel that has a Tunnel of Vows. They send a limo for us and we got remarried in their little gazebo outside under the tunnel. It was more emotional for both of us than we imagined and not nearly as cheesy as we thought it would be. Em cried just about as much as the first time we got married and I get misty eyed as well. We are both in love more now than when we first got married

After the wedding, we headed back towards the strip and wanted to get some conch fritters at Margaritaville. We had these during our honeymoon in Florida 10 years ago and loved them, so we figured we should bring back a bit of our honeymoon 10 years later. Unfortunately, the place was closed for a private party so we'd have to go back another day. We were planning on meeting some T2V'rs at Carnival Court, so we ate at a chinese food place inside of Harrahs. Probably the most bland chinese food I've had in my life. Very blah, but it did fill us up a bit before we started drinking more.

We showed up at Carnival Court, the music was loud, the dealers were hot and the drinks were flowing. After about one walk through, we sat down at a blackjack table and it happened to be the table Coaster Kikky was sitting at. We'd never met, so we weren't sure what each other looked like! Also at the table was VegasJer. Soon there after, Midwifemama came up and sat down at the other open spot at the table. We all proceeded to drink lots and gamble even more. VegasJer was quite generous with his money and was trying to set records with how much the dealers were going to be tipped. We stayed for a couple of hours and had a great time, but it started to get too hot for us (both Em and I like it to be cool). We weren't really ready to leave but were so hot we had to get out of there. Coaster Kikky, Vegasjer and Midwifemama were all a blast, we were sad to leave!!

We got back to the Mandalay and were going to head into Forty Deuce, but the next show wasn't for over an hour. We went over to the "center bar" at mandalay bay where a band was playing and had some more drinks. The girl we were standing next to was hitting on Em for a while but then the band came back from their break and the girl starting going up and tipping the lead singer by putting 10 dollar bills into her top.

Saturday we get up and head to the pool, enjoy the lazy river for a while, then get a drink in the bar near the pool. We wanted to go to Moorea Beach Club, but it was getting a bit hot out so we headed inside. We gambled a bit more then went to Margaritaville for our conch fritters. They were awesome, as were the margartias. In the early evening, we headed over to Red Square for some vodka. They had some good quality vodkas and the ice bar was cool (pun intended). We then headed up to Mix for some appetizers and drinks in lieu of dinner. The appetizers were only okay, but the drinks were good and the view was amazing. While up there, we watched the strip lights turn on as the sun set. After the sun went down, it was nice sitting out on the balcony just chilling and talking to all the people. We met lots of folks up there and tried to make plans to meet up later but never got around to it.

After MIX, we gambled some then went to Forty Deuce. The show at Forty Deuce was awesome. They had a three piece "swing" band. A sax, bass and drummer. Very high energy. The dancers were sexy and could really dance. The girls don't get naked, but they do take some clothes off. It was classy, sexy and just plain HOT.

After Forty Deuce, we decided to head over to a strip club, Jaguars. A couple of girls offered both of us dances, but neither of us was really "feeling" the place. It was so super crowded, tons of people just walking around the whole time (guys and dancers) and just didn't feel sexy at all, so we took off and went to another strip club, Sapphires. It felt better there and one dancer took to Em and I. We only bought a couple from her, but Em and her got along very well and she just hung out with us, eventually giving us her phone number for the next time we're in Vegas.

Sunday morning, we went to Mon Ami Gabi for some French Onion Soup on other people's recommendation. It was excellent. After that, we headed off to the airport and back on home.

Overall, it was a most excellent trip and one of our best times in Vegas. Now we just need to plan our next trip!

 

Glad to meet you Keno! You two were fun...

So I wasn't the only one who received free drinks from SW because of the delay? Nice...

Great report!

 

Keno...great TR and Happy A! Sorry to have missed you two... love to meet you guys sometime. We've never tried the strip clubs but sounds fun and always seem to "talk" about doing it.... so, you thought Sapphires was a comfortable place for cpls? Tks, Dino

 

Terrific report Ken! It was great to meet both of you. Carnaval Court was definitely one of the trip's highlights for me. That was flat-out FUN! Good to know you had a good time as well, and an overall great trip!

 

Great TR, Ken and a VERY HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! May you two have 90 more!!

 

Great Report

Congrats on the 10yr Anniversary and renewing your vows.
You had me thinking storage behind the Armoire was a great idea until you mentioned the pain moving it.

 

I'm actually wondering where behind an armoire you'd store stuff? Ours backs up against the wall....Oh well. Glad you didn't have any negative vicodin/alcohol interactions!! And it sounds like you've got a great partner in your wife! Happy Anniversary.

 

Well done. Happy anniversary! Glad you enjoyed the vow renewal. Congrats!

 

Congrats on the Anniversary. Sounds like you two had a great time. I agree Sapphires is a pretty fun place to hang out at. The girl that gave you her number, her name wasn't Mia was it? It's funny how some girls just hand their numbers out at these places.

Darin

 

Great report, Ken! Too bad we couldn't hang out longer. I'm glad you and Em had a good trip. We'll have to get together in Vegas again. We didn't make it to any strip clubs this time. It sounds like it would have been fun. Now we know what to do on the next trip!

 

Great trip report! Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Congrats on your anniversary and renewing your vows. You sound like you make a great couple!

 

We did have a great time. Sapphires seemed to be a bit better, but it was a bit later as well, so maybe more of the people had cleared out.

Carnival Court was one of the highlights of our trip as well. We really liked it there, just started to get too hot! It was great to meet all of the folks from T2V! We plan on meeting up with any other T2V'rs who are in Vegas whenever we are. It was a blast!!!

Our armoire sits kitty-corner in the corner of our room, so there is room for a couple of suitcases behind it. The armoire is around 7 feet tall (maybe taller? We have higher than average ceilings, old house) and is several feet across as well. And it's full of kinds of stuff, including a 19" TV. I don't suggest moving those around the day you're leaving on a big trip (even though I've moved it many times without problems... go figure!)

 

Keno... Happy Anniversary! I hear you on the moving thing.... I injured my back (ruptured disk) at the age of 22 and always lay low on the back activities the last few weeks before we go to make sure I'm not injured ...lol

 

I hurt two discs during my drunken fall years ago, L3-L4 and L4-L5... six months of pure hell and | | this close to surgery. Was very happy I turned the corner, but that one stupid move hurt it. Hadn't had a back problem in about 2 years until the day we were to leave for Vegas. At least that luck didn't translate to the tables!!!

Probably going to be another week or two of rehab after killing myself with vicodin and booze. But, it was Vegas and it was worth it. As long as I'm better by the next Vegas trip (whenver that might be...sniff)

My drunken fall was so stupid, but was fun while I did it. So, while I wish I didn't hurt myself, I don't regret being drunk and stupid at the time. Life is too short for regrets.

 

Congrats, that sounded like a blast. I do have a question, if you don't mind, how old are you and the wife? I wonder if as they get older they become more "open-minded" about strip clubs. My wife and I are in our early to mid 20's and she has no interest in hitting up a strip club together. Maybe in a few years? lol

Also, Is Carnival Court that area outside Harrahs casino that wraps around, think there is a Starbucks, and all those little street vendors etc. I hear Carnival Court all the time but am never sure what it is.

Oh and Is there a Margaritaville around Mandalay or did you guys make the hike/cab to the one across from Caesars? We loved this place too on our first night in Vegas last year, great Margaritas, very cool, friendly bartender.

 

Carnaval Court is right outside Harrah's to the south of the main casino. There's a Ghirardelli chocolate place there too, and several little kiosks. I've been there in late September (about 2-3 years ago) and the blackjack tables were not there, so I'm thinking it's a summertime thing. It was a great time! I'm so happy Ken & Em & Erin could join me and Jer there that night!

There's only one Margaritaville in Vegas, and it's at the Flaming-O.

 

Sounds like an ass smacking good time. Glad to hear the anniversary trip went well!

 

Some women get mellower with age. Some of us were born ready to hit strip clubs--I used to tag along with my boyfriend and his buddies when I was 22....For me, age has never been an issue.....