Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

Ah, how nice it was Friday afternoon to leave work and know that, not only would I have two additional days off, but I’d be spending them in Vegas!

Saturday, Shelly and I got up bright and early, finished throwing a few odds and ends into our suitcases, and hopped into Jason’s waiting SUV for what was undoubtedly the most dangerous leg of our trip (which included walks in ghetto neighborhoods, plane rides thousands of feet in the air and at hundreds of miles an hour, and more encounters with time share sellers than I care to remember). Fortunately, Jason had recently taken out his demolition cravings on Erika’s Camero, so we did arrive safely at the airport.

Before I forget, now’s a good time for a big THANK YOU to our friend Jen Glass (she who hasn't blogged since last OCTOBER- and you thought you had it bad!), whose Southwest buddy passes allowed us to fly for free in both directions, although we were subject to space and availability. This ended up being no problem, though; Shelly and I checked in fine on the way out and on the way back. Upon receiving my ticket, I discovered that Jen’s fine airline had me confused with the Son of God, though they did at least get my last name right:

I don’t know whether it was my exotic moniker or the box of chocolates we gave to the flight crew, but they treated us like royalty on the first leg, checking up on us frequently and even offering free adult drinks, which we of course refused on general principle (how would it look for "Christ" DeAdder to be sucking down complimentary margaritas?). The icing on the cake was that Shelly and I also got a row to ourselves, so we rode in comfort the whole way. All in all, our service on Southwest left nothing to be desired- it was a great beginning to our vacation!

Six hours later, we landed in Vegas; not having checked bags, we immediately proceeded to the taxi stand, where chance landed us with a most memorable driver. In the 15 minute, $30 cab ride, he regaled us with tales of 1)how he’d come to Vegas 30 odd years earlier and won hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight, 2) his troubles with his ex wife and current stripper girlfriend, both of whom need his help to keep their homes, 3) his previous job parking cars, which had netted him $160,000 a year, until he lost it for 4) punching the comedian Gallagher, and how now 5) he drove the cab just to have something to do but today was his last day for the next six months. Despite his previously stashed millions, and for-fun taxi driving, he also still found time to complain of the lack of satisfactory tips of late. Between us, Shelly and I later agreed that he was ‘putting us on’, which is a more polite phrasing of my exact words, which implied he could store no further excrement, being at capacity.

Our hotel, the Stratosphere, offered a comfortable room with a nice view down the strip (though it did also overlook the top of the casino, giving us a bird’s eye view of the AC units), and the room was comfortable enough, despite not having many frills. Here’s a shot from our window:

It took us forever to check in, though; we did arrive an hour before the appointed time, but the room wasn’t ready until after 4pm. Passing time, Shelly and I played some Blackjack, and during our first attempt we got up about $30. Upon cashing in and finding our the room still wasn’t ready, we made the mistake of returning to the table, where we quickly lost it again, plus some more. That’s all I’ll say on the whole issue of gaming- suffice it to say, Lady Luck didn’t particularly favor us this weekend.

Once checked in, we didn’t have a whole lot of time before we met up with our compadres, Heather and Milt, and Jen and Tim. We’d made reservations for Top of the World, the restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere Tower, and the six of us met up and were quickly ushered to the summit. I took one for the team and bought this picture, which was kindly provided to us by the staff for the low, low price of $21.95:

Speaking of which, I need to email that to the other interested parties. And… done!

After dinner, the six of us visited the Observation Deck, where we took the following pictures:

At that point, the Maryland/North Carolina folks were pushing 1 am (Eastern Time) and getting a bit fatigued. Shelly and I made an effort to hang with the Utahs (who only had an hour difference to cope with), but alas, we only made it another hour before calling it a night. And that was Saturday.

Alright, this has gone on a bit- I'll write about the rest of it tomorrow. Yes, TOMORROW! Check back in, will you?