Two Words. Pace Yourself.

Well, here is was, time for yet another meet up with the crew from T2V. The plotting and scheming for this trip began before the last big meet, March Madness IV, ended. The date was suggested, to happily coincide with the Tennessee vs. Alabama game like the previous NSF, and trips were set in motion. I talked to my buddy Dustin who promised to make it out since he missed out on the Madness, as well as my other friend Rocky, who suggested that we all needed to make, what could possibly be, our last hurrah to Vegas for the three of us as both of them are in serious relationships. After working it out with our co-workers, Rocky and I were finally booked, with him flying out on Friday, but Dustin was on the outside looking in, as his girlfriend became pregnant over the Summer and a Vegas trip looked to be out of the plans. He mentioned to me that they were planning on driving to Tunica early in October to get some gambling in, so I devised a plan.

Working through a generous benefactor, who shall have my eternal gratitude, I was able to secure Dustin and Anna two round trip tickets to Las Vegas via Nashville. With the cheap rates DonD was able to secure for us at the Vegas Club, I thought this might just work out. I sprung it on Dustin who was excited about the idea, but Anna, being in the early stages of pregnancy and having morning sickness quite often, feared that she wouldn’t have a good time. A few weeks later, her sickness subsided and it was a go for NSF with the three people that know me best.

Monday
The previous night, as with all of my Vegas trips, began with me running around the house getting all the little things taken care of that needed attending before I left. I got my bag packed, put on my going to Vegas tunes on the computer, and settled in for a chat on the board. My plan was to be in bed by 11PM, but the excitement and the company in chat ended up delaying that idea until about 2AM when my head finally hit the pillow. I was wide-awake at 4AM to get ready and finish some last minute things around the house. Rocky was there to pick me up at 5AM for the ride to the airport for my thirteenth Vegas trip overall and third this year.

Amazingly, I was doing well on just 2 hours of sleep, as the adrenaline began to pump as we made it to the airport. Check in was a breeze for Allegiant as I headed for the gate, only slightly delayed by the security. Unfortunately, the bar wasn’t opened yet, so my pre-plane ride beverage was out this trip, but I loaded up at the vending machine anyway. We boarded, hit a few turbulence here and there, with me trying to catch a nap in my coveted exit row seat, when I could, but it was not meant to be.

We arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule and I send out a mass text message that it’s time to party, which gets many stunned replies that I’ve already landed, with one being from Terry, “Two words. Pace yourself.†I make the long haul to baggage claim where Coaster Kikky (Becky) is waiting on me. I grab my bag and we make our way to her vehicle then off for the MGM Grand.

Forty-five minutes after I stepped off the plane, I’m in the short line to check in. I’m able to check in and I even went so far as to ask for a complimentary suite upgrade, but it appeared that the girl’s boss was hovering and the best she could do was an upgrade for $25 or $40 per night depending on the suite. I pass on this and finish up registering. She tells me that I’ll have to check back later on the room, as there were none clean at the moment. In hind sight, I should have just checked my bags and checked in later… Live and learn I suppose.

Feeling a bit famished, Becky and I make our way to NYNY where we enjoyed breakfast at Il Fornaio, with the exception being the “Italian brick of grits†that they put on my plate. Nasty. After exchanging text messages with several of the tribe, we wander over to Mandalay Bay and saddle up to the bar and have a few cocktails. Becky enjoys a $100 Bloody Mary and I enjoy a couple of beers at the going rate. Next up, we head over to the Luxor and find a $10 Pai Gow table. Drink service is incredible as we play along with some friendly players and dealers. I finally lose my buy in and we make our way back to the MGM Grand. I call the number listed and they tell me my room is ready, 21-431. I say good bye to Becky as I feel a need for a nice power nap coming on.

It’s a pretty nice room, not much different than the one I had with my Mom in April, with the exception of the view and being almost at the end of the hallway. This time though, the view is of the Tropicana, Excalibur and Mandalay Bay, which was fairly nice at night. It doesn’t look for much in the day time, but when the lights come on, it’s pretty sweet. I caught a couple of hours of sleep between the almost constant barrage of text messages and phone calls and make plans to meet up with some friends at 7PM.

I meet up with my friends in front of the lion habitat, then over to Centrifuge for a few beverages. Soon after Becky arrived and we kicked back a few more drinks. The suggestion of Carnaval Court was made, so we headed that way via the monorail, which included several jokes about stripper poles in the tram, and continued our drinking ways. Some dancing, more drinking and a fun time was had by all.

We finally headed out a little after midnight and decided that it had been way to long between feedings. We stopped at the Harrah’s Café and we all enjoyed our midnight snack as well as the company. The party broke up around 1:30 (that’s 4:30 Eastern for me) and my first day in Vegas was over. Back to the hotel and my lights were out as soon as my head hit the pillows.

Tuesday
I’m up and moving around about 9AM. I get a call from my friends from the previous night asking if I’d like to join them on a side trip to see the sights. This sounds like a great idea, but they are ready to go then, and I’m barely out of bed, so I tell them to go ahead and have fun. We make plans to meet up later in the night to see Mystere.

I finally get my ass in gear and made my way to the monorail toward the Sahara. I was getting a case of the hungries, so I decided to try out the “new†Caravan Café after recently seeing an email saying that they had improved it. For the most part, they’ve made some cosmetic changes and, at least this time, the service was much better than it was in the past. I ordered my Vegas special, Philly Cheese Steak and it was extremely good and hit the spot.

Satisfied from my lunch, I decide to see an old friend, Elvis, and see if he was in a giving mood. The old boy must still have something against me as he took my money and ran. I collected myself and decided to play some video blackjack. At one point, I earned all of the money back that I had lost to Elvis, but greed got the better of me and I lost that and my buy in soon after. I glanced over and saw that the craps table was empty, an easy way for me to get some action in. The table was setup for 5 times odd with a $5 minimum, so I bought in for a hundred. I typically set my dice with the fours facing up then attempt a controlled roll. This time, I was doing quite well with this. I was shooting several 6’s, 8’s and 9’s and tossed up a two-way hard way bet on the 6 or 8 when those were the points. Unfortunately for me, I was only backing up my play with double odds and not playing any come bets, so my winnings weren’t maximized. The most amazing part, at least to me, was when the box woman started setting my dice for me because the stickman wasn’t doing it fast enough when they returned the dice to me. I’m only assuming this was because I was hitting those two-way hard ways and even put the dealers on the line with me for several rolls. They were a lot of fun, and I even heard classic comments like “winner, winner, chicken dinner†from the stickman and the box woman several times. Funny stuff. Even though I was hitting several points and making money, the table stayed empty except for myself. Once I started rolling numbers across the board, I knew I was losing my touch, so I cashed out with a decent gain for the 30-minute stay on the table.

The only draw back I found with the Sahara was the lack of drink service. I never saw a waitress while playing at a machine or at the craps table. Hopefully this was just playing at a bad time as I would really like to add the Sahara back into my hotel rotation.

I hopped back on the monorail and headed back toward the MGM Grand to get ready for the evening. I got a call from Sin who said that her friend Liz was over at Carnaval Court celebrating. I thought that sounded like a good way to start the evening. I decide to stop by there to see if she was still there and say hi, but I didn’t see anyone there that I recognized, so I headed on to Treasure Island.

I was a little bit early getting to Treasure Island, so I sat down to a video blackjack machine to pass the time. A little while later, we all meet up and saddle up to a bank of multi-game machines and I continue my video blackjack fix while they are doing pretty well at video poker. Finally, the line for the show stretches around the corner, so we join them and make our way into the show. The highlight of pre-show was walking behind this 6-foot plus tall woman in a school girl outfit, complete with CFM boots. I just had to share this discovery with those not in attendance, and got several replies to this after the show. Heh.

I must admit, it was a pretty interesting show. I had a hard time following along with what the story line was, but the acrobatics, strength, and showmanship were incredible. It was getting late in the evening so we decide to take a walk down the Strip toward our respective hotels and call it an evening.

Wednesday
I awoke to a text message from Larry saying that he would be arriving soon. I piddled around the room for a good while to kill some time, also making several text messages to keep the masses still at home and work up to date on the goings on so far. I decided to finally go and grab some food, so I headed down to the Studio Café. I ordered up a Denver Omelet which was quite good, along with excellent service. Larry called and said that he had just arrived, so he joined me in the restaurant. I talked him to drinking, so he ordered up a shot or Jaeger as well as a MGD. I helped him finish off the MGD then we made our way to the Tropicana in search of cheaper booze.

We found us a nice watering hole there and ordered up a couple of beers. The second round included a couple of shots of Jaeger and beers, as well as the next three. The bartender made a fau paux by pulling the bottle of Jaeger out of the tap and spilling it all over the counter. It’s a wonder that Larry didn’t jump over the counter and lap the spillage up, but he somehow resisted the urge.

We were feeling mighty fine by this time, so we went in search of even cheaper booze and headed toward the Sahara via the monorail. We made it as far as the Hilton and we needed to make a pit stop. I sent off a few more text messages and ended up talking to a good friend for almost an hour while Larry polished off another couple of rounds of beers as well as another shot of Jaeger. We finally hopped back aboard the monorail and toward the Sahara where we saddled up to yet another bar and another couple of rounds of beers. Finally, we both got a case of the hungries, so we made our way over to Pacos Bar and Grill. We both had a burrito as well as mediocre margaritas, and needless to say, were pretty shit-faced by then.


Margaritas at the Sahara

The idea of heading back crossed our minds, so we jumped back on the monorail and toward the MGM. We were both kind of beat and extremely drunk by this time, so we crashed for the night.


Giddy Up Larry!


Sleeping on the monorail is not allowed

Thursday
After a constant barrage of text messages, including one that said “Wake up Bitches!†at 7:30AM (payback is a bitch you know) we finally roll out of our respective beds and get ourselves ready for the day. The thought of some biscuits and gravy crossed our minds so we check out and head down to the valet. We hop in his truck and cruise down the Strip towards downtown. We roll into the Vegas Club and I am able to get checked in with only a little bit of trouble. It seems that they didn’t have any non-smoking double bed rooms in the North tower available so they wanted to put us in the South tower. I spoke up and said that we’d take a smoking room, and they had one available in the North Tower, 822. Should have taken the Southern option…

We made our way to the room and drop off our bags, with Larry playing CSI and photographing the bed and hallway for evidence. It’s a fairly decent sized room with the beds and carpet in need of updating, but for the most part, it’s a place to lay our heads for the evening.


Short sheeted my bed... Nice!


Who killed the hooker in our hall way?

We decide that we’d waited long enough for breakfast, so we head over to Binions and grab some biscuits and gravy along with a couple of eggs. This sure did hit the spot at the moment. We make our way back over to the Vegas Club so Larry could take care of some housekeeping, namely ironing his shirt. We call down for an ironing board and an iron, and another round of text messages is unleashed upon the world. While waiting, he runs downstairs to grab us a couple of beers (so he could feel like part of a man while he was ironing) and returns excited that they had $2 Coronas and $2.50 MGD.


Iron my shirt Bitch!

We nurse our beers for awhile then notice it is fast approaching 4PM. We finish getting ready and made our way over to La Bayou and board the grain train, two shots in the neck hugger, please. I get a call from the driver, and change the pick up to the Plaza since it has more room for the limo. We call Lynnie and Becky about the change and they show up just before the white monstrosity appears.

We make our way to the airport, unload, buffoon style, and hit the bathrooms. Up we go to the baggage claim area, where we find that Marty’s plane is late, but Angy and Sin’s flights are on time. The next thing we know, we run into Sin and I decide to run up and pick her up and give her a spinning bear hug. I bet that got a lot of funny looks from the people picking up their luggage. Soon after, Marty arrives and another round of hugs are exchanged. We wait on Angy and realize that we are at the wrong escalators for her airline when a friendly airport employee, who has been watching us crazies since we got there, informs us of this. We find out that Angy is already in the baggage claim area so we made our way over there. Again, I decide to share the love and run up and give Angy a huge spinning bear hug. We eventually find that Angy’s bag is missing in action and the airline will have it delivered when it arrives. Not to be deterred, we all pile into the limo and the party is on.

The driver convinced us to grab some pictures at the Las Vegas sign, so we made our way over there since it was still daylight out. Several pictures are taken, and we are soon off to Lee’s Package Store for supplies. We grab a large supply of alcoholic goodies, which includes a jug of the Captain. As we are loading the goodies into the Hummer, Marty tops off his Diet Coke with some Captain Morgan, and I notice Larry lurking about with his camera. I sense an artistic moment at hand, so I grab the jug of the Captain and holler at Larry to take a picture. Just like at the Party at Marty’s, the rum is tipped up and a nice quantity of the Captain disappears from the bottle. Never a good idea…


NSF at twilight


Who thought this was a good idea again?

We pile back into the limo and I notice that my grain train is completely empty. Larry grabbed a six pack of Coors Light, so I swipe one of those from him as we made our way to the Mirage. This must have been a long trip as, I believe, I drank 4 of Larry’s beers. Sorry buddy.

Along the way, I felt the need to be artsy and grabbed Larry’s camera. I started taking pictures of everyone in the limo and even started giving them directions on how to pose. At one moment, I tell Angy to “raise them up†where she says, “They’re as high up as they go!†I shake my head and say, “No Angy, I meant your arms.â€

We eventually pull into the Mirage and everyone piles out except Marty and I who stay behind while everyone else goes to get Angy checked in. By this time, I’m feeling it something fierce Marty and I head inside for a quick pit stop, then back out to the limo. We get back into limo and the driver is told he can’t park there for more than a few minutes, so he tells us he will drive around in a circle until everyone comes back out. About this time, I realized that this was going to be a bad idea since I just drank several beers in a short amount of time. Needless to say, this was not one of my finer moments as my grain train souvenir was ruined. Enough said…

We pick everyone else up, with Larry wearing Angy’s bath robe from her room. This is a major party foul and this is Marty’s gimmick, but I think those two ended up worked out some sort of arrangement and all was good.

We finally make our way downtown and pile out of the limo and into the Vegas Club to get Marty checked in. Larry and I head up to our room for a minute and somehow the ironing board gets drug down to the floor and is obliterated. I’m not really sure how that might have happened, but Larry swears he didn’t do it, and I wasn’t coherent enough to care.

Larry and I join everyone down at the Great Moments Cafe for dinner. I was barely coherent at this point and was just going with the flow. I overheard Marty order the steak skillet, so I ordered up the same hoping it was good and it ended up being very tasty. With all of laughs and shenagins, which includes a toast of toast for our MIA friend Sticky, 5 minutes just would not do all of this justice. With our bellys full and the big man picking up the tab (thanks again buddy) we headed out to make our mark on Downtown.


Good food, great friends


A Toast of Toast for Sticky

We make our way through the Vegas Club in search of some action, but the tables are packed. We decide to move over to the Plaza and saddle up to a $5 blackjack game. Soon after, a surprise attendee suddenly appears in the form of Sticky and excitement ensues as I feel myself catching my second wind. We were having a great time at the table, with a lot of hooting and hollering and just a good time in general.

After getting my ass handed to me at the blackjack table though, I look over and see Snert (when the hell did you show up?), Sticky and Larry playing Pai Gow. Once a seat opens up, I head over and buy in. The Pai Gow gods weren’t kind to me, but I had a great time finally playing Pai Gow with Sticky and Snert. Once I finally bust out, I put my money away for the evening and just cheered on the blackjack players. Somewhere in here, I am introduced to Renee and her husband Darren as well as Ken (KenO) and his wife Emily. With the blackjack party going full steam around 1AM, I step to the side and decide a drunken wake up call is in order for that certain someone who thought it funny to text message Larry and myself at 7:30 that morning… payback baby!


Which one of us is sober again?

A good while and several conversations later, the party starts breaking up. Sticky, Angy, Lynnie, Mikey and I wander down to Binions for a late night breakfast where the waitress really loads us up on toast to Sticky’s delight. After breakfast, the party is officially over as we all head to our respective beds.


Dressing fine, making time... We breeze up and down the street...

Friday
Sometimes, I really should rethink my payback plans… Yet again, I received the text message “Wake up Bitches!†this time at 7AM… Uggg, I’ll never learn.

After a few hours of sleep, Rocky shows up early in the morning from his flight. He heads down to gamble while Larry and I continue to snore away. I finally roll out of bed and see Larry off, as he has to head for home and the sobriety or work.

I get a call from Snert who says to come on up to his room and hang out with him, Marty and Sticky. I finish getting ready and make my way up there, only to miss them by a few minutes. I head down to the casino and run across Marty and Ken giving a hurting to the craps table. I decide to buy in and about an hour later, cash out with a nice gain. Snert and Sticky wander by, so Marty, Snert and I decide to head over to the ABC store and grab some snacks and head up to Snert’s swank Vegas Club suite. We are all ultra cool sitting there eating Doritos in the lap of Vegas Club luxury. The mini-party breaks up as we all head to our respective rooms and try and catch a nap.

I am denied, as I finally get a call from Dustin that he and his girlfriend have arrived after an hour delay for their flight. Rocky, after playing poker most or the day, and I head up to meet them in their room, which is basically like mine, but better taken care of and not so worn. The idea of food crosses our minds, so we head over to the Great Moments Café and I enjoy a nice dinner with my friends. The food was good, but the company was incredible. Dustin and Anna decide to rest up from their flight instead of going to the party, but leave it open to possibly meeting up with us at Carnaval Court later. Rocky, on the other hand, decides to hit the poker tables again.

I head up to get ready, then up to Snert’s room to meet up with him, Sticky, and Marty. We all pile into a cab then over to the Mirage where Becky meets us outside the elevators then up to the party suite. The booze is flowing and the fun continues as more and more people arrive. When it becomes evident that we will still be around when Sandra arrives, I get a hold of Dustin and tell him to come join us in the suite instead of over at Carnaval Court. A little while later, they show up, and introduction to my Vegas friends are made. I even noticed a hint of a smile on their faces once in awhile.

Becky and Coaster Hubby (John) decided to play chauffer and went to the airport to pick up Sandra. Finally, after a weeks worth of agony for her, Sandra arrives to a round of introductions and hugs. The party starts to dwindle down somewhat, so a change in venue is in order. Dustin and Anna slip out while I’m not looking, and the rest of us make our way over to Carnaval Court. A few more beverages are enjoyed while we dance and party the night away until they finally kick everyone out.


Sweet Home Alabama... FU Marty...

From here, several of us went to the Imperial Palace and had them open us up our own poker table. It’s a bloody beat down as Marty is knocked out of his buy in and decides to call it a night. I tread water as Sandra is the next one knocked out to join the rest of the rail birds, followed soon by Mikey who took his winnings and ran. I catch 3 straight pots near the end when they opened up the table and decided to cut my loses and join the others on the rail. Finally, Sticky, Sin and Snert cash out and someone says it’s time for breakfast and the Peppermill is the choice. We cab it down to the Peppermill and take over a small section of the restaurant. I order a Philly Cheese Steak, not exactly sure why I did, as I just nibble on my fries and have them box most of it up. We have a great time with good food, but the party and our energy is finally dwindling down. Snert, a sleeping Sticky, and I cab it back to the Vegas Club while the rest head back toward the Mirage a little after 6AM.

Saturday
Today was suppose to be an enjoyable afternoon of football watching at Jillian’s as Tennessee was to play Alabama, but the powers that be decided that it was best to start the game at 9:30AM and I said the hell with it. I got a message from Becky that they were at Jillian’s watching the game without me, but all I could do was roll over and fall back asleep.

Rocky is already awake and ran down to the Golden Nugget to put some money on a few games and came back up to the room after he couldn’t find a sports book that was showing the Tennessee game. He turned on ESPN and kept up with the score from the game they were showing on there and I nodded off and on the whole time. I finally got the munchies and finished off my Peppermill breakfast and decided to get up and get going.

I cleaned up and headed down to the casino and see if I could find anyone who was out and about. No one was to be found, so I called Marty who was just starting on a nap, then with Snert who had went with Sticky to the Strip to do some shopping. I run into Dustin and Anna and find out that he had scored a $2000 win after leaving the party at the Golden Nugget on a Top Dollar machine… Nice. I tried to get a hold of the Mirage girls, but they must have been having a lingerie pillow fight so I played hit and miss on some machines at the Vegas Club to rack a few more points on the card.

I get the call from Marty that he was coming down, so I head over to meet up with him and run into Rocky who had just racked up in the poker room. We meet up with Marty and head over to the Golden Nugget so Marty could get some action on the Michigan-Illinois game and learn that Rocky went 0 for 5 with his sports bets for the weekend. Doh! With that out of the way, Marty and I head over to the Vegas Club to sneak some craps in, while Rocky heads off to meet up with Dustin and Anna on the Strip.

We have a decent time on the table as we both get to roll once but the best we could do was break even or a little better over the course of the session. We head back to the Wheel of Fortune machines and run through a few twenties to try for the jackpot with no luck. Sin shows up as we have plans for dinner, so I head back to the room to change into some more civilized attire.

We all meet back up in Snert’s room and enjoy a few more cocktails. Sticky decides to sit this one out so she can sneak in a nap, so the four of us head over to Grotto at the Golden Nugget. We have a few more cocktails and some very enjoyable entrees as Sin gets a hold of DonD and we all get to thank him for hooking us up at the Vegas Club for the rooms. Thanks again Don. The dessert cart gets wheeled out and the idea of some suite snacks gets batted around. Marty decides to get a couple of pieces of several of the desserts and take them back for everyone to munch on later. The big man picks up the tab (thanks again buddy) and we make our way back over to the Vegas Club and Snert’s posh pad.

No one else has arrived yet, so a few more cocktails are had then Angy and Drea show up, soon after by Becky and John. We get a recount of how Lynnie did Al proud over at the Bellagio valet as she soon arrives. We put a small dent in the liquor supply as several modified Sticky Juices (dubbed Sin Juice after a different flavor of Vodka was used) are had by many. The next thing I know, Becky and John have disappeared and the rest of us realize that we didn’t come to Vegas to sit around the room and watch Reno 911, so we finally head down and take over a $10 blackjack table. Drea and I are the odd people out as Angy, Snert, Sticky, Sin, Lynnie and Marty occupy the table. I get to play gopher for Angy and Sin as they need either a drink or some cigarettes... Still waiting for those tips ladies. We run into Paul, our Vegas Club host and he has Marty write all of our information down so he can take a look at our play to see if we warrant any comps. We get updates from Sandra about her flight status, hoping that the wind is too much for the airline and that they cancel her flight, but it was not meant to be.

Drea hollers at me and asks if I know how to play video poker. It seems that, with all of her Vegas travels (and being a local,) she has never learned how to play poker. I give her a quick course in the fine art of video poker as she runs through her $10 winnings from earlier in the trip when she was playing different machines, including Wheel of Fortune. That sounds like fun, so we head over to the Wheel of Fortune machines and proceed to run through some money there, with Drea the only one who had any luck spinning the wheel. We head back over to the black jack table and the game starts to break up. We move over to the Golden Nugget so Marty can pick up his Michigan winnings. Most of the group decides to head over to Binions for some poker, but Angy and Drea decide to head back to the Strip to grab a few drinks. Seeing as I haven’t spent much time with Angy this trip, I decide to ride back with them.

We grab a cab and make a quick trip over to the Mirage where the driver turns off the meter as soon as we arrive and precedes to hustle us for more money than the $16.70 that was on the meter saying that it’s always a $25 fare from downtown. Lucky Cab my ass. And people wonder why cabbies have a bad name in Vegas. We head inside and hit just about every bar in the place in search of a Pina Colada for Angy, finally finding our way to the Sports Bar and finding a quiet place to sit around, chat and enjoy our drinks. It’s always fun to sit around and talk with these ladies.

Angy decides she wants to put a few points on her card, so we head back to their room to retrieve her card. We kill a few minutes up there, taking a look at some of Angy’s pictures from the trip. She offers us up some gum, and we find it funny how those little packets look like doobies. Sin’s novelty lighter is grabbed and someone attempts to fire one up. Funny stuff.

We head back down and grab another round of drinks. Angy and Drea order up another round of Pina Coladas while I have yet another Corona. The next thing we know, we find ourselves in front of a Wheel of Fortune machine that Angy is just lighting up trying to add some points to her Players Club account. She hits at least 7-8 bonus spins, but never hits anything exceptionally big and plays it until her money is gone. Next, she moves to a 50 cent slot machine, with Drea flanking her. I decide to give the 25 cent blackjack machines a whirl and slip a $50 in there. The next thing I know, Drea is wandering around. I ask her if she is lost, to which she replies, “Yes, can you help me find my mommy.†I just had to laugh as she wanders off. I get bored of the video blackjack and accidentally hit the max coins button. Even worse, the Mirage has the max coins button set to 100 coins, so the next pull is for $25. Wouldn’t you know it; I pull up a 12 versus the dealers 9. From listening to Corey earlier in the week, I decide to hit my 12, against my better judgment, and bust out with a face card. The dealer flips over a 3 giving it 12, which would have busted it out if I hadn’t taken that card. Thanks buddy!

I tuck my tail between my legs and go over and sit next to Angy while she is just racking the points up. Drea reappears and says that she is calling it a night herself and heads up to the room. I sit around chatting with Angy until she runs through all of her credits and decides to call it a night herself, then head back downtown to call it a night when I can’t find anyone lurking about at Binions or the Vegas Club.

Sunday
I roll out of bed and realize this is the last day of the trip. I get a call from Marty who is over at the Carson Street Café starting breakfast with Sticky and to come and join them. I have to pass, but make plans to meet up with them afterwards. I get my act together and meet up with them afterwards where we decide to hit the Plaza for some slot action. Marty finds his 100 play video poker machine and Sticky falls in love with a Hee Haw game. I give a whirl to some video poker, but find no love. Sticky come over and we go looking for the Plaza’s version of her Marty machine, but end up playing a Money Storm and finding no action there either. We eye a bank of Star Wars slots, so we give those a whirl and I pick up a little of what I’d lost up to that point. We find Marty again and it’s about time for him to head toward the airport. Back over to the Vegas Club and we all say our goodbyes.

I head back up to the room and start packing. We kept the room for an extra night so we could have a home base to rest before our red eye flight. Dustin gives me a call, saying that they made it to the Luxor and that they had all kinds of trouble getting checked in, but they got an upgrade and to come on down and check it out. I get a hold of Rocky and we check out and grab a cab to Luxor.

We check our bags and head up and meet Dustin in their fourth floor suite in the West Tower. This was definitely a great upgrade being a 3-room suite at the end of the hallway. We site around and oh and ah some and Dustin asks if we’re hungry. Why sure.

We leave the luxury, grab a cab and head over to the Bellagio to give the buffet a whirl. The line stretches out the door, and I look and see that Rocky and I might be cutting it close if we have to wait in line, eat, and grab our bags from the Luxor, then over to the airport. I decide to play hero and go over to the Players Club desk and ask for a line pass. The lady says “No problem,†and we walk right up, past the jealous masses to the front of the line. Priceless. Dustin ponies up for all 4 of us, with Rocky’s eyeballs popping out of his head to see the cost for four people. It’s yet another enjoyable meal with my hometown friends, which ends too quickly.

With dinner out of the way, Rocky and I say good bye to Dustin and Anna and grab a cab back to the Luxor where we pick up our bags and are at the airport right on time. I hop online and chat with Sandra and Snert while waiting on the plane, which ends up departing about 30 minutes behind schedule. An uneventful flight home in my exit row seat and we are in Knoxville with me barely getting any sleep. Another trip in the books.

End

Overall, this was a great trip. I got to meet several members from the board who I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting before and had an amazing time with them and my previous get-together friends. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would like with everyone but enjoyed the time I got to spend with them. Thank you all for making Vegas even more fun. A big thanks to Larry and Sandra for contributing the pics as well.

And if I learned anything from this trip… turn your f*#king cell phone off when you go to bed… Bitches!

 

Buddy you ROCK! Great to hang out with you again!

 

It was a pleasure meeting you!!

Sounds like you had an excellent week, and I'm glad I was there for at least 24 hours of it

 

One Word: EPIC

very nice.

I especially liked the picture of you "pacing yourself"....

 

great tr man. it was an enjoyable read.

 

hahaha I have no idea what you're talking about.

You did justice to what sounds like a fun trip.

 

Great read, thanks.

 

Thanks so much for a great report. I've been enjoying everyone's take on the festivities. But I have to ask...how in the hell can you remember all of these details? Are you carrying around a mini tape recorder or something? I can barely remember what I did yesterday!

 

Excellent report! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

 

awesome

awesome report...you guys kill me....

 

Nice TR Scott. How Do you remember all that?

Always many laughs when we get together...can't wait to do it again.

 

Great TR Scott. I'm finally getting around to reading some of these & yours did not disappoint. Nicely done.

 

Great TR it makes me wish I were there.

 

awesome.... someones missing! me!! what a great time you all had...

 

Scott, what they ^ said.

Also, nice to see you can still booze up at the vending machines in Tennessee.

 

I may have been the only person who actually saw Scott sober during NSF! During his first hour anyway. Then I saw the first beer. The second beer. The third beer. It was all downhill from there! And good fun! Can't wait til next time dude!

 

Scott is my kinda guy!

 

Great trip report! Sounds like a great time!

 

Great to see you again buddy! Great write up.