Flamingo 8/10-8/15

Here goes my first trip report...Hope you enjoy!

Seeing as this was our very last summer before we have to enter the "real world" after graduation this fall, two of my friends and I decided to head to Vegas for a couple of days of pure, drunken insanity.

We left Friday 8/19 from Knoxville, TN, to drive over to Charlotte, NC (no USAir Dividend Miles seats from Knoxville) and the party started before we even left Knoxville. My friends were already doing shots in the car, and we hit the bar at the hotel in Charlotte that night, so we were nice and green for the flight Saturday morning at 945 to Vegas.

Once we landed at McCarran, I went straight to the Park Place check-in area to meet the world's most ignorant and rude Guest Services Rep, the lovely Emma. After about 20 minutes of Emma staring at her computer slack-jawed, another rep helped her out and got us on our way. We were assigned room 21170, with a view above the IP facing The Mirage and Treasure Island. The room was recently renovated and very clean. After all, who cares, since it was only $45 Sun-Wed and $70 the Saturday we checked in.

We headed to the Flamingo's Paradise Garden Buffet for a late lunch, which proved to be the ugliest of mistakes. Gang, stay away. It was awful. After that, we went and played a little at Harrah's and the Venetian before coming back to the Flamingo for a little nap before dinner at The Range and a trip to Studio 54. We naive Southern boys haven't seen some of the spectale we saw at Studio 54 ever before, but it was a load of fun, and the line was about 40 minutes long.

Sunday, we lounged at the pool until around 4 PM. We never had a problem finding chairs, but it was pretty obvious that a lot of the guests didn't stay there. Everyone was right - that water is incredibly cold. It was over 110 degrees while we were in LV, and that water was still shocking. Poolside drink service was great, too. Sunday night we headed to Fremont Street after the Bally's Big Kitchen Buffet (it rocked!) and had a blast. I won $900 on a Wheel of Fortune machine at La Bayou and $270 playing $3 craps at Fitzgeralds. Not too shabby!

Monday was more pool-lounging followed by dinner at Spago at Caesar's Palace. The food was absolutely fantastic, and reservations were pretty easy to come by Monday morning. We caught the 1030 Jubilee Show at Bally's and then headed to the Bar at Times Square at NY-NY to check out the dueling pianos. This bar was a blast with a very diverse crowd, but a bouncer that just refused to let anybody dance or act like they were having fun. Oh well! We still had fun.

Tuesday we hit some shopping at Caesars and had dinner at Kokomo's at the Mirage. The service was really slow because our server was really, really pushed, but they gave us two free bottles of really cheap wine, so we were happy, oh so happy. We decided to continue this happiness at the lounge in the casino where the drinks kept on flowing. Next thing you know, the lounge band has us all on stage singing "Proud Mary" for a round of free drinks. It was early and there weren't many people there, so what the hell. Our server enjoyed our Southern twangs, so more free drinks! We kicked the party down to the Stratosphere to check out the observation deck view where one of my friends unfortunately lost all of those drinks. Better there than in the cab.

Seeing that was out of his system, we were all ready for more, so we went to Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars and, once again, drank entirely too much. Wednesday, our last day in Vegas, was pretty much nothing but Advil and lots and lots of water, but it was still a ton of fun. We had a nice dinner at Gallagher's and then onto Coyote Ugly. Overpriced drinks, smart ass bouncers...what more could you ask for?

Our Thursday morning we had the world's bumpiest 4 hours on the way back to Charlotte. People on the plane were throwing up and I had black and blue marks across my hips from the seat belt due to all the turbulence. It took a few days to get over it, but we've already planned the Comeback tour - we graduate Dec. 13, and leave Dec. 14 for another week in LV! Go VOLS!

 

Great Report, except for one minor detail....

GO DAWGS!!!! heh heh heh

Mikey

[ September 06, 2002, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: HurricaneMikey ]