IWannaBeInVegas
VIP Whale
Note: I am posting this from the wifi at LAS and so the boring return flight details are not included. Have fun reading. Pictures are now all up, Things you can do waiting for a flight.
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A Low Rollers Trip Report
I am going to go thru this as close to step by step as possible. For those not wanting to read about the airport and such, skip to the next section. Photos are available at www.photocentral.us in the photo gallery, just use the navigation menu to get to them, and look for Vegas 2005.
Airport and security
I arrived at Columbus way to early for my 750am flight. Like, I was here by 245am for some god unknown reason. Basically, I could not sleep, and I wanted to make sure I did not get stuck in a long line at the security check point, as the C concourse at Port Columbus has a way of growing fast, and today was no exception. I was the first in line, and second thru the screening, as they questioned my ID at first. The reason, it was not a state issued drivers license, but instead, my Dept. of Homeland Security and Emergency Management ID. I figure it would be ok since it was a government issued ID, but the private security ID checkers did not like it, so I had to pull out the old drivers license.
Me being an idiot, I forgot to take my wallet out of my pocket and it set off the metal detectors, for good reason, it has my Homeland Security badge in it. Im not fulltime, but a volunteer at our county office. I have been for over 3 years now. I got thru security, and to my surprise, no extra screening required. I was 100% sure they would go thru my bag, especially since I have my big camera in it, and a table top tripod, which I figured would set off alarms all over the place, since its bulky metal and shaped weird. Nope, I buzzed thru security and am at my gate by 5am.
I flew Southwest Airlines, which I got my round trip for 198 including taxes and fees. Nonstop out of Columbus on Flight 1738 to Las. The plane is one of the ugly brown ones, but oh well, I am on my way to unincorporated clark county and I just want to get there and settle in.
Here is my big issue. I cant sleep on planes. I woke Monday morning at 8am (actually, that’s when I got out of bed, I was up a lot earlier, I could not sleep at all the night before due to my court hearing in the afternoon. So basically, iv had very little sleep and here I am. I had to have a cup of coke from Steak N Shake, then I stopped at a gas station on the way and bought some No-doze and a Mountian Dew to drink. I was wide awake until about 530, now, I just want to sleep again. Hopefully once I arrive, I will be wide awake again (as you can tell, I am writing this as I sit at the airport). The great thing about this airport is they provide wireless internet free throughout the property.
The flight and arrival including check in
Ok, so right now we are in flight. We took off on time from Columbus, almost full flight, I got a window seat, which is nice, but damn they really pack us in these planes. Not to happy, 2 little kids, cried for over an hour, who the hell flys with toddlers to Vegas? Flight is non-eventful and smooth for the most part, and we land in Vegas 25 minutes early.
I had carry on only and went straight to ground transportation, bought a one way for the Greyline to Excaliber. They waited for the bus to fill up and then they started the “tourâ€. The driver was rude and hardly said a word to anyone. She stopped at MGM first, and when she unloaded the passenger, a guy started yelling at her that he had to be at Mandalay Bay, and she told him “Sir, I have mulitiple stops, that’s why this is called a shuttleâ€.
Finally get to the Excaliber after about 30 minutes in the bus, or it seemed, and went straight to the self service check in. I follow all the instruction and it gives me an error to go see a desk agent. I look over and the line is very long to check in, and its only 10am.
Get in line, they only have 4 people working and it seems like they close, open another and close. It took me 30 minutes to get into checked into my room, at this point there are only 2 agents working. They check me into the 1st tower, 19th floor and I cant remmeber the room number, I think 23 or something like that. I specifically asked the agent if it was a room with a view, and he promised it was, SINCE I PAID FOR A VIEW ROOM. I looked out the window, and what do I see, the runway at the airport. Not my idea of a view room, so I change into my shorts (it was 18 and snowing when I left Ohio) and called the desk, the agent was happy to help and agreed that what I had was not a view. I was assigned to a room in the 2nd tower, 27th floor, room number 5. This is a much better view, but a mile from the elevator. The room is 2 beds instead of 1 king, but I can live with that, it just means more pillows for me since I am the only one staying. I get settled in and im gone to start my exploring.
Day 1 Tuesday 3/8
So, after getting into my room, I think its time to get something to eat. I went to the second floor and got McDonalds. I eat and its time to head on. I go and get my One players card, and I should mention, that line took me 10 or so minutes. Play some here and there, and decide to go get some air and spend time in the nice weather.
I go over to the Trop, and from there go to MGM, where I exchanged my old players card for their new one. I know I wont use the card, but I like having it, because just by having it, I usually get offers and such. From there, I hit the Monorail and head to Sahara. Now, I am down to about 100 already out of my 150 per day budget that I set myself. I go in and buy in a at Black Jack table and play, I lose my initial buy in and get ready to walk away when 2 hotties come over and buy in, so I sit back down and buy in. The dealer was really good and helpful, which was nice, because we were all newbies. I cant remember his name, but he took all the girls money pretty quick. The one girl was down to 2 chips at a $3 table so I give her one of mine. She wins and is happy, but quickly loses the next round. Im down, not happy and play a $5 chip on the queens spot (its an additional bet, that if you get 20 on the initial deal, you get so many odds) and $3 on my initial bet. Out comes a 10 and queen and I get a 9-1 pay off for $45 on the queens spot, thank you very much, and then I win on the round as the dealer bust. The girls head their way after a high five and Im up 20 bucks for the time, tip the dealer a 5 and I am quiting while I am ahead and decide to take a walk. I walk from Sahara to Excaliber, and I must say, I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. I stopped at the pizza place Hoya wrote about across from the. I think Walgreens and got 2 slices of pizza and a coke, and I about had a heart attack. The price was 12 bucks, I could have gotten a whole pizza and a pop for that, and the food really was not to great. I got several good pictures, and I have plenty of sore blisters to prove the walk. At 630pm, I decide to call it a day and head to bed.
I know what your all thinking, bed at 630pm, and he is in Vegas. I know, your all going to kick me off this board for that one, OH and I only had 1 alcoholic beverage as well. I for sure don’t fit in with you all, but let me explain. Monday, the day before I left, I woke up at 8am, and showed up at court for my pretrial for the divorce. Well, find out they change the time to 1pm, so I sit at home packing and stuff. I end up at court on time, and one of the attorneys is late, joy, we wait. To make a long story short, we ended up reaching a settlement and I left the court house divorced. I cant say I was happy, but it was the best that we would get. I end up getting home and laying down about 900pm, but I could not sleep, so I called a friend and talked to her for a couple hours, got a shower and to make a long story short, I was at the airport before 300am for a 750am flight. NO SLEEP. Can we say 36hrs give or take w/o sleep, I was out.
First day Totals: Gaming, im up 30 bucks, down 51 for the trip including t-shirt and food.
Day 2
Woke up to my cell phone ringing at 430am, and it was my dad checking in on me. Yes, I am an adult, but im still “his babyâ€. I let him know how im doing which at that point was great. Today is the day I am waiting for. My internet friend that iv known since 1997/98ish is coming down after she gets off work, to meet for the first time. She lives 2 hours give or take away from here in Az, and I am just wanting her to get here. She is bringing her dad as well, and between the 3 of us, there wont be an unphotographed thing on the strip. We are all into photography and this is our chance. They are going to spend the night and then in the morning, we are going to head to Red Rock and Valley of fire.
Ok, back to the report, I head out, get some Krispy Creams and then start playing. I walk down, buy in at a craps table, 20 buy in and play some. I walk away up 35 bucks due to some odds bets and cash out. I decide to buy in at black jack table. Me thinking it was a $5 and buy in for 20, I put my chip in and the dealer is like NO, its $20, so I play it and lose. I go back to my winning craps table and a different person is rolling. I end up losing my winnings, plus some. I walk away, count my money and I have 50 bucks left out of yesterdays money.
I walk to Boardwalk, which seemed like a LONG walk with these blisters. I find a spot on a 3 BJ table and play some. The pit boss tells another guy sitting there that if he is going to play with the adults, to act like one, I have no idea what he did, but oh well. I win some and lose some, and the dealer, Henry is very helpful. Shift change comes and a new dealer gets there and I get my ass handed to me. While there, the pit boss cut 2 guys off of alcohol on the table next to ours and they got mad and moved to another table and he followed told them again, by the end of it, security walked them out.
I start playing a .25 Jacks or better Video poker. I am winning like every hand almost, but the couple times I had to feed it, it ate every other quarter and did not give me credit. I told the attendent, and she gave me what it ate and put it out of order. I was mad, even she said that it was due to hit, and I was getting straights and Full houses like crazy.
I end up playing another machine and get my ass handed to me again and walk away, DOWN everything I had from yesterday. Basically, I lost 120 (after my winning at craps today) in less than 2 hours. I walk around, take a few more photos and head back to my room to shower, download pictures and write some for this report.
I went to the casino in the excal and found my new best friend, the penny machine. I played that for over an hour on 5 bucks, and walked away with my five bucks. For the afternoon, I took myself down to Monte Carlo and ate at Saborro. I actually wanted the CA pizza kitchen but was not going to walk to Mirage the way I felt. I swear, I ma moving like a turtle. I eat, play a few, lose and head back. I decided to play a nickle machine. I put 10 in and cashed out for 16.75, wahoo, a profit for the session, but still a huge loss for the day. I decided to try out the pool. Not bad, a lot of people, lots of eye candy if you’re a guy, and the water was cool. Did not stay long and off I went back to the room to change, and add to this report.
After I got done with my shower, I went and played some more, mainly nickle machines just to give it a try and kill some time. I played and was up and down until I hit a straight flush and was up by almost 10 for the session and so I quite while I was ahead, came back to the room to work on some pictures to get ready to put on the web (I know, who does that in Vegas, simple, someone that has almost lost their ass). After working on pictures, I went out and shot some more as it was starting to get dark, and I waited for my friend Kari to get to town.
About 720, I got a call and Kari just got here and was checking in, so I went down and waited for them. I met them near the elevator and we went, put the stuff in her room and me, her and her dad went to Best Buy so she could get a new camera. After getting the camera, we went to a TGI Fridays and ate, then decided to shoot pictures from the top of the strat. This is where I get mad. We get there, buy out tickets and get to the line, which is a good 30 minute wait. I got my camera and a desk top tripod, that stands 10in tall. Kari has her camera and her dad his. We get almost to the front of the line and they pull me aside and tell me I cant have the tripod there. I asked why the hell nobody told me when I bought my tickets, since it was attached to the big camera around my neck, no answer, I asked if I could just leave it at the desk, nope, they tell me I need to take it to the bell desk, which is clear on the other side of the hotel, next floor down. I get hot, give them a piece of my mind and went to find the bell desk. Got down stairs and, could not find it and asked for directions, where do they send me, TO THE BUFFET. I find a bellman walking and I give it to him and off I go to the boarding area. I get a call from Kari that her dad will prob get sent away, he had his pocket knife. Well, its not just any pocket knife, its about 8in with blade and handle. Nope, he get it thru security no problem, we all find this ironic and make jokes about it the whole time. I ask security how someone can get a knife thru but that a tripod, no answer. After that, we all decide to call it a night and head back to the hotel for bed. They come up and check out the view from my room and then they are off to their room. Im asleep before they ever get to their room is my guess.
Totals: Down 250 for day (including the prior days winnings and food.
Day 3
Woke up bright and early, and went for some Krispy Creams. That seems to be the thing for me, as each day I had them, and today was no different. I then went to Kari’s room and she was in the shower, so her dad (for the record, she is 26) let me in and him and I discussed camera stuff until she came out. She got her stuff ready, checked out of the hotel and we were off. First stop was the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign. We got a few pictures of that, and left for the desert. We went out to Red Rock and spent about 2 hours or so there, just taking pictures and taking it all in. None of us has ever been to Red Rock or any of the other Valley of Fire before, so we all had a treat. After we left Red Rock, we came back to town and tried to go to In and Out burger, but they were to packed for us, so we headed over to Jack in the Box. I cant say I was impressed. Left there, came back to the hotel just long enough for me to get my laptop to download pictures and then we moved onto the Valley of Fire. While driving out there, I saw some F-15, F-16 and A-10s flying around Nellis, plus a huge helo, sorta like the air force uses for SAR missions. I tried to get a picture of the helo, but it jumped up on us to quick and we were driving about 80mph, so it was hard, but I did get a couple shots of the fighters, BUT they did not come out as I would have liked.
Arrived at the Valley of fire, and I must say, its breath taking. The views, formations and colors are worth the trip, and I got plenty of pictures to prove it. We spent from about 3pm until dark there, then headed back to Vegas. We had planned on getting photos of the Mirage, but I was not impressed since the Volcano was not shooting real fire anymore, but it was lights. I don’t know if this is how it is all the time or if they were having problems with the system, but it sucks now. We are at the California Pizza kitchen, and I must say, NOT IMPRESSED. For what I paid and what I got, no way, I wont do that again. We were going to do the buffet, but decided not to after we found out how much it was.
I decided to come back to my hotel, and I got bored. I wont go into details, but I met a girl named Heather who was fun to hang out with for awhile, and while this is not going to be as good as Jer Or Mikey’s adventures, I had a huge smile by the time we parted ways. No, she was not a hooker. I will leave your own imagines to venture what happened, but I wont kiss and tell J
To bed by 12am (damn east coast time kills me since that’s the time zone im on).
Down 230 for the day
Day 4
I awoke to my cell phone ringing, and its my dad just wanting to check on me. Im fine, still smiling from the night before and getting ready to get packed. I call the airline and ask about getting an earlier flight back home, “sure, no problem, it will only be an additional 227 and that’s for all other flights leaving todayâ€, no thanks, I will just stick around.
I got a shower and went and did some final things, Had to buy my twin boys teddy bears since I did not want to be T-Shirt for them since they grow so fast, then I got my 2 older boys T-shirts as well, total for all, 37 bucks, OMG, iv never spent 13/piece on a stuffed animal that will get destroyed in less than a month, LOL. I go to the desk and try to get a late check out, and they say its fine, for 40 extra, no thanks. I head back up to my room to write this and stay outta the casino, because I don’t want to lose my money, and iv only got just under 80 left out of todays budget since I dipped into part of it yesterday. Its fine, its enough to get a bite to eat and pay for a cab to the airport, and pay for parking at my home airport, so im fine there. Just don’t want to risk losing it all in the casino and go home with less than expected.
Returning Flight: Has not happend yet.
Final thoughts:
I still love Vegas, especially being able to shoot over 1000 pictures and still feel like your missing things
I still did not get done everything I wanted. I wanted to shoot some of the fountian show and go to Fremont, but never did, I was in to much pain and was tired.
Southwest should let people fly standby
Going to Vegas with 1000 and only having a 150/day budget is hard to live with, but I managed, but only thanks to Alan and Kari for keeping me in the desert for the day.
The weather is great here, back home, it was snowing and cold, I don’t really want to go back, but I do so bad
I don’t want to come here alone again, it really gets lonely for me and makes the trip boring, I need some social interaction with people that are not intoxicated, or bragging about taking advantage of some girl that he slipped stuff into her drink (damn elevator conversations).
Getting blisters the size of Texas on the first day of your trip sucks and makes the rest of it hard to deal with
Pit bosses at the Boardwalk treats low rollers like crap
[ March 11, 2005, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: IWannaBeInVegas ]
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A Low Rollers Trip Report
I am going to go thru this as close to step by step as possible. For those not wanting to read about the airport and such, skip to the next section. Photos are available at www.photocentral.us in the photo gallery, just use the navigation menu to get to them, and look for Vegas 2005.
Airport and security
I arrived at Columbus way to early for my 750am flight. Like, I was here by 245am for some god unknown reason. Basically, I could not sleep, and I wanted to make sure I did not get stuck in a long line at the security check point, as the C concourse at Port Columbus has a way of growing fast, and today was no exception. I was the first in line, and second thru the screening, as they questioned my ID at first. The reason, it was not a state issued drivers license, but instead, my Dept. of Homeland Security and Emergency Management ID. I figure it would be ok since it was a government issued ID, but the private security ID checkers did not like it, so I had to pull out the old drivers license.
Me being an idiot, I forgot to take my wallet out of my pocket and it set off the metal detectors, for good reason, it has my Homeland Security badge in it. Im not fulltime, but a volunteer at our county office. I have been for over 3 years now. I got thru security, and to my surprise, no extra screening required. I was 100% sure they would go thru my bag, especially since I have my big camera in it, and a table top tripod, which I figured would set off alarms all over the place, since its bulky metal and shaped weird. Nope, I buzzed thru security and am at my gate by 5am.
I flew Southwest Airlines, which I got my round trip for 198 including taxes and fees. Nonstop out of Columbus on Flight 1738 to Las. The plane is one of the ugly brown ones, but oh well, I am on my way to unincorporated clark county and I just want to get there and settle in.
Here is my big issue. I cant sleep on planes. I woke Monday morning at 8am (actually, that’s when I got out of bed, I was up a lot earlier, I could not sleep at all the night before due to my court hearing in the afternoon. So basically, iv had very little sleep and here I am. I had to have a cup of coke from Steak N Shake, then I stopped at a gas station on the way and bought some No-doze and a Mountian Dew to drink. I was wide awake until about 530, now, I just want to sleep again. Hopefully once I arrive, I will be wide awake again (as you can tell, I am writing this as I sit at the airport). The great thing about this airport is they provide wireless internet free throughout the property.
The flight and arrival including check in
Ok, so right now we are in flight. We took off on time from Columbus, almost full flight, I got a window seat, which is nice, but damn they really pack us in these planes. Not to happy, 2 little kids, cried for over an hour, who the hell flys with toddlers to Vegas? Flight is non-eventful and smooth for the most part, and we land in Vegas 25 minutes early.
I had carry on only and went straight to ground transportation, bought a one way for the Greyline to Excaliber. They waited for the bus to fill up and then they started the “tourâ€. The driver was rude and hardly said a word to anyone. She stopped at MGM first, and when she unloaded the passenger, a guy started yelling at her that he had to be at Mandalay Bay, and she told him “Sir, I have mulitiple stops, that’s why this is called a shuttleâ€.
Finally get to the Excaliber after about 30 minutes in the bus, or it seemed, and went straight to the self service check in. I follow all the instruction and it gives me an error to go see a desk agent. I look over and the line is very long to check in, and its only 10am.
Get in line, they only have 4 people working and it seems like they close, open another and close. It took me 30 minutes to get into checked into my room, at this point there are only 2 agents working. They check me into the 1st tower, 19th floor and I cant remmeber the room number, I think 23 or something like that. I specifically asked the agent if it was a room with a view, and he promised it was, SINCE I PAID FOR A VIEW ROOM. I looked out the window, and what do I see, the runway at the airport. Not my idea of a view room, so I change into my shorts (it was 18 and snowing when I left Ohio) and called the desk, the agent was happy to help and agreed that what I had was not a view. I was assigned to a room in the 2nd tower, 27th floor, room number 5. This is a much better view, but a mile from the elevator. The room is 2 beds instead of 1 king, but I can live with that, it just means more pillows for me since I am the only one staying. I get settled in and im gone to start my exploring.
Day 1 Tuesday 3/8
So, after getting into my room, I think its time to get something to eat. I went to the second floor and got McDonalds. I eat and its time to head on. I go and get my One players card, and I should mention, that line took me 10 or so minutes. Play some here and there, and decide to go get some air and spend time in the nice weather.
I go over to the Trop, and from there go to MGM, where I exchanged my old players card for their new one. I know I wont use the card, but I like having it, because just by having it, I usually get offers and such. From there, I hit the Monorail and head to Sahara. Now, I am down to about 100 already out of my 150 per day budget that I set myself. I go in and buy in a at Black Jack table and play, I lose my initial buy in and get ready to walk away when 2 hotties come over and buy in, so I sit back down and buy in. The dealer was really good and helpful, which was nice, because we were all newbies. I cant remember his name, but he took all the girls money pretty quick. The one girl was down to 2 chips at a $3 table so I give her one of mine. She wins and is happy, but quickly loses the next round. Im down, not happy and play a $5 chip on the queens spot (its an additional bet, that if you get 20 on the initial deal, you get so many odds) and $3 on my initial bet. Out comes a 10 and queen and I get a 9-1 pay off for $45 on the queens spot, thank you very much, and then I win on the round as the dealer bust. The girls head their way after a high five and Im up 20 bucks for the time, tip the dealer a 5 and I am quiting while I am ahead and decide to take a walk. I walk from Sahara to Excaliber, and I must say, I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. I stopped at the pizza place Hoya wrote about across from the. I think Walgreens and got 2 slices of pizza and a coke, and I about had a heart attack. The price was 12 bucks, I could have gotten a whole pizza and a pop for that, and the food really was not to great. I got several good pictures, and I have plenty of sore blisters to prove the walk. At 630pm, I decide to call it a day and head to bed.
I know what your all thinking, bed at 630pm, and he is in Vegas. I know, your all going to kick me off this board for that one, OH and I only had 1 alcoholic beverage as well. I for sure don’t fit in with you all, but let me explain. Monday, the day before I left, I woke up at 8am, and showed up at court for my pretrial for the divorce. Well, find out they change the time to 1pm, so I sit at home packing and stuff. I end up at court on time, and one of the attorneys is late, joy, we wait. To make a long story short, we ended up reaching a settlement and I left the court house divorced. I cant say I was happy, but it was the best that we would get. I end up getting home and laying down about 900pm, but I could not sleep, so I called a friend and talked to her for a couple hours, got a shower and to make a long story short, I was at the airport before 300am for a 750am flight. NO SLEEP. Can we say 36hrs give or take w/o sleep, I was out.
First day Totals: Gaming, im up 30 bucks, down 51 for the trip including t-shirt and food.
Day 2
Woke up to my cell phone ringing at 430am, and it was my dad checking in on me. Yes, I am an adult, but im still “his babyâ€. I let him know how im doing which at that point was great. Today is the day I am waiting for. My internet friend that iv known since 1997/98ish is coming down after she gets off work, to meet for the first time. She lives 2 hours give or take away from here in Az, and I am just wanting her to get here. She is bringing her dad as well, and between the 3 of us, there wont be an unphotographed thing on the strip. We are all into photography and this is our chance. They are going to spend the night and then in the morning, we are going to head to Red Rock and Valley of fire.
Ok, back to the report, I head out, get some Krispy Creams and then start playing. I walk down, buy in at a craps table, 20 buy in and play some. I walk away up 35 bucks due to some odds bets and cash out. I decide to buy in at black jack table. Me thinking it was a $5 and buy in for 20, I put my chip in and the dealer is like NO, its $20, so I play it and lose. I go back to my winning craps table and a different person is rolling. I end up losing my winnings, plus some. I walk away, count my money and I have 50 bucks left out of yesterdays money.
I walk to Boardwalk, which seemed like a LONG walk with these blisters. I find a spot on a 3 BJ table and play some. The pit boss tells another guy sitting there that if he is going to play with the adults, to act like one, I have no idea what he did, but oh well. I win some and lose some, and the dealer, Henry is very helpful. Shift change comes and a new dealer gets there and I get my ass handed to me. While there, the pit boss cut 2 guys off of alcohol on the table next to ours and they got mad and moved to another table and he followed told them again, by the end of it, security walked them out.
I start playing a .25 Jacks or better Video poker. I am winning like every hand almost, but the couple times I had to feed it, it ate every other quarter and did not give me credit. I told the attendent, and she gave me what it ate and put it out of order. I was mad, even she said that it was due to hit, and I was getting straights and Full houses like crazy.
I end up playing another machine and get my ass handed to me again and walk away, DOWN everything I had from yesterday. Basically, I lost 120 (after my winning at craps today) in less than 2 hours. I walk around, take a few more photos and head back to my room to shower, download pictures and write some for this report.
I went to the casino in the excal and found my new best friend, the penny machine. I played that for over an hour on 5 bucks, and walked away with my five bucks. For the afternoon, I took myself down to Monte Carlo and ate at Saborro. I actually wanted the CA pizza kitchen but was not going to walk to Mirage the way I felt. I swear, I ma moving like a turtle. I eat, play a few, lose and head back. I decided to play a nickle machine. I put 10 in and cashed out for 16.75, wahoo, a profit for the session, but still a huge loss for the day. I decided to try out the pool. Not bad, a lot of people, lots of eye candy if you’re a guy, and the water was cool. Did not stay long and off I went back to the room to change, and add to this report.
After I got done with my shower, I went and played some more, mainly nickle machines just to give it a try and kill some time. I played and was up and down until I hit a straight flush and was up by almost 10 for the session and so I quite while I was ahead, came back to the room to work on some pictures to get ready to put on the web (I know, who does that in Vegas, simple, someone that has almost lost their ass). After working on pictures, I went out and shot some more as it was starting to get dark, and I waited for my friend Kari to get to town.
About 720, I got a call and Kari just got here and was checking in, so I went down and waited for them. I met them near the elevator and we went, put the stuff in her room and me, her and her dad went to Best Buy so she could get a new camera. After getting the camera, we went to a TGI Fridays and ate, then decided to shoot pictures from the top of the strat. This is where I get mad. We get there, buy out tickets and get to the line, which is a good 30 minute wait. I got my camera and a desk top tripod, that stands 10in tall. Kari has her camera and her dad his. We get almost to the front of the line and they pull me aside and tell me I cant have the tripod there. I asked why the hell nobody told me when I bought my tickets, since it was attached to the big camera around my neck, no answer, I asked if I could just leave it at the desk, nope, they tell me I need to take it to the bell desk, which is clear on the other side of the hotel, next floor down. I get hot, give them a piece of my mind and went to find the bell desk. Got down stairs and, could not find it and asked for directions, where do they send me, TO THE BUFFET. I find a bellman walking and I give it to him and off I go to the boarding area. I get a call from Kari that her dad will prob get sent away, he had his pocket knife. Well, its not just any pocket knife, its about 8in with blade and handle. Nope, he get it thru security no problem, we all find this ironic and make jokes about it the whole time. I ask security how someone can get a knife thru but that a tripod, no answer. After that, we all decide to call it a night and head back to the hotel for bed. They come up and check out the view from my room and then they are off to their room. Im asleep before they ever get to their room is my guess.
Totals: Down 250 for day (including the prior days winnings and food.
Day 3
Woke up bright and early, and went for some Krispy Creams. That seems to be the thing for me, as each day I had them, and today was no different. I then went to Kari’s room and she was in the shower, so her dad (for the record, she is 26) let me in and him and I discussed camera stuff until she came out. She got her stuff ready, checked out of the hotel and we were off. First stop was the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign. We got a few pictures of that, and left for the desert. We went out to Red Rock and spent about 2 hours or so there, just taking pictures and taking it all in. None of us has ever been to Red Rock or any of the other Valley of Fire before, so we all had a treat. After we left Red Rock, we came back to town and tried to go to In and Out burger, but they were to packed for us, so we headed over to Jack in the Box. I cant say I was impressed. Left there, came back to the hotel just long enough for me to get my laptop to download pictures and then we moved onto the Valley of Fire. While driving out there, I saw some F-15, F-16 and A-10s flying around Nellis, plus a huge helo, sorta like the air force uses for SAR missions. I tried to get a picture of the helo, but it jumped up on us to quick and we were driving about 80mph, so it was hard, but I did get a couple shots of the fighters, BUT they did not come out as I would have liked.
Arrived at the Valley of fire, and I must say, its breath taking. The views, formations and colors are worth the trip, and I got plenty of pictures to prove it. We spent from about 3pm until dark there, then headed back to Vegas. We had planned on getting photos of the Mirage, but I was not impressed since the Volcano was not shooting real fire anymore, but it was lights. I don’t know if this is how it is all the time or if they were having problems with the system, but it sucks now. We are at the California Pizza kitchen, and I must say, NOT IMPRESSED. For what I paid and what I got, no way, I wont do that again. We were going to do the buffet, but decided not to after we found out how much it was.
I decided to come back to my hotel, and I got bored. I wont go into details, but I met a girl named Heather who was fun to hang out with for awhile, and while this is not going to be as good as Jer Or Mikey’s adventures, I had a huge smile by the time we parted ways. No, she was not a hooker. I will leave your own imagines to venture what happened, but I wont kiss and tell J
To bed by 12am (damn east coast time kills me since that’s the time zone im on).
Down 230 for the day
Day 4
I awoke to my cell phone ringing, and its my dad just wanting to check on me. Im fine, still smiling from the night before and getting ready to get packed. I call the airline and ask about getting an earlier flight back home, “sure, no problem, it will only be an additional 227 and that’s for all other flights leaving todayâ€, no thanks, I will just stick around.
I got a shower and went and did some final things, Had to buy my twin boys teddy bears since I did not want to be T-Shirt for them since they grow so fast, then I got my 2 older boys T-shirts as well, total for all, 37 bucks, OMG, iv never spent 13/piece on a stuffed animal that will get destroyed in less than a month, LOL. I go to the desk and try to get a late check out, and they say its fine, for 40 extra, no thanks. I head back up to my room to write this and stay outta the casino, because I don’t want to lose my money, and iv only got just under 80 left out of todays budget since I dipped into part of it yesterday. Its fine, its enough to get a bite to eat and pay for a cab to the airport, and pay for parking at my home airport, so im fine there. Just don’t want to risk losing it all in the casino and go home with less than expected.
Returning Flight: Has not happend yet.
Final thoughts:
I still love Vegas, especially being able to shoot over 1000 pictures and still feel like your missing things
I still did not get done everything I wanted. I wanted to shoot some of the fountian show and go to Fremont, but never did, I was in to much pain and was tired.
Southwest should let people fly standby
Going to Vegas with 1000 and only having a 150/day budget is hard to live with, but I managed, but only thanks to Alan and Kari for keeping me in the desert for the day.
The weather is great here, back home, it was snowing and cold, I don’t really want to go back, but I do so bad
I don’t want to come here alone again, it really gets lonely for me and makes the trip boring, I need some social interaction with people that are not intoxicated, or bragging about taking advantage of some girl that he slipped stuff into her drink (damn elevator conversations).
Getting blisters the size of Texas on the first day of your trip sucks and makes the rest of it hard to deal with
Pit bosses at the Boardwalk treats low rollers like crap
[ March 11, 2005, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: IWannaBeInVegas ]
