CHAPTER I: ?In The Beginning?
Well, most of you know that I was a last minute availability for a ?guys trip? to Sin City from the 2nd to the 5th of April. You also know that the plans we had did not appeal to me all that well. The trip had its highs and lows, its expected and unexpected. Strap yourselves in, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
My friend Dan picked me up, and we went to meet the other 4 guys at one of their houses. Our potential 7th man decided the last minute plane fare was too steep, and we were once again down to six guys. ?Spuddy? is the guy getting married at the end of the month, so he is the reason we all got together for this outing. After all the boys arrived, we did the drive to Milwaukee, and were on our way!
My first ?bone of contention? on the trip involved parking. Dan decided to park in the airport ramp. I informed him that not only is it a little cheaper to park at All-Right, but they will shuttle us right to the door. It is actually even quicker! He whatever?ed me, and headed for the ramp. After picking out a spot about 600 yards from the terminal, we schlepped our bags to the ticket counter. Now, I had a pre-printed ticket, and only a carry on, so I was able to eschew the line. We noticed our plane was one of two on the whole board that was delayed. The lady at the counter told us is was weather related, and was about an hour late. (Our flight was at 10pm) She told us that the original delay was for three hours! We got all squared away, and went to our gate. Our luck seemed not so good, when our plane was finally here, and they announce it is getting a full cleaning, and will be a ?few more moments?. (We didn?t know that read: Another hour!) At any rate, we were on our way, and hit Vegas about 3 and a half hours later.
At the airport, it was a zoo like always. The boys got their bags, and we decided to grab a limo. This was one of the few suggestions I made this trip that was taken. I explained that with six of us we needed two cabs, and a limo would be about the same, so why not? We walked out, and the line for shuttles was huge! I saw a limo driver and asked him if he was for hire, and off we went. The ride was $36, but the guy was fun and polite, so we tossed him $50.
CHAPTER II: ?The Inferior Phallus?
We were lucky to get an immediate limo, and lucky to see only a couple people checking in in front of us at the IP. That was the end of this short ?lucky streak?! At the counter, Gary had a problem. He booked through a travel agent, and had confirmation for two pre-paid rooms. The IP had us for one room. This led to calls to bosses, and their bosses, and back again. After about 20 minutes, we had secured another room, but Gary had to come back in the morning and speak to someone else. Not a great start. We went to our rooms (Yes?..three guys per room) and got settled in. It was me, Gary, and Dan in one room. I was the first to grace the bathroom, and was greeted by some nice hair in the shower. I mean about four hairs in different spots in the shower. Thinking about the clean room thread that we had going last week, I was chuckling a bit. It seemed obvious that the shower certainly didn?t get a good going over when the room was ?cleaned?. The hair that was stuck on the back ledge of the tub was a mainstay throughout the entire trip. That?s right. We checked out Monday night, and it was still there! I sure hope the next people don?t think it was ours! LOL. Room 5145 has a terrific view of a building about 20 feet from the window! A beautiful shade of puke brown, with a walkway that separates our building from whatever it was that this building was. The walkway was not a main artery, so it was not well traveled. I think its travelers were mostly lost drunks. I assumed this, because over the next three nights, we would hear plenty of ?Whooo-hooo?s? and ?Yeeeeaaaaaah? coming from down there. I never made it to the room that was shared by ?Spuddy?, ?Franklin?, and ?Zeke?. Since each room had a cot, I made sure to grab a bed. I figured we would each spend a night on the cot, but Dan decided since he was the smallest of the three in our room, he would sleep on it each night. (I didn?t argue!)
We met the others in the casino, and played for a short time before calling it a night. We were going to do a little Strip walk, but decided we might be up all night, and we wanted to enjoy Saturday as best we could. Besides?..it was a little wet out side, marking, indeed, my fourth straight trip with rain. I played some 21, and went to bed out $300. We went to Betty?s Diner to grab a little grub before heading up, and the fuel there was barely that! Being from Wisconsin I love a good kraut dog! I ordered one up, and watched her pull it off the roller it was sweating on for the last 12 hours, and slather it with a pretty generous portion of sauerkraut. Upon my first bite into this gastric delight, I was hit with the shock that the kraut was ice cold! I don?t mean room temp, I mean right outta the fridge cold! Who the hell eats it that way? I was going to ask the gal to nuke it for me, but was too tired to fight the crowd a second time through. (All in all? It was not too terrible.) Side note about casino. The dealertainers at the IP are okay. Some you can tell who they are supposed to be, such as the Blues Brothers, Elvis, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart. Others, well??.let?s just say that I had no idea who they were supposed to be!
CHAPTER III: ?Oliver Twist says, ?Seconds? Not me!?
We decided to meet in the casino at 7 am to start the trip. Now, tucking in at 2am and gearing back up at 6:30 is getting a little tough for a 40 year old goat like me. Couple this with the fact that I thought I was at the Hayward Lumberjack Challenge all night, with dueling chainsaw snore-ers and farters, I had gotten minimal sleep, indeed. I held no grudge, and each of my two roommates informed me that the noises emitting from my orifices rivaled anyone else?s!
We all did a little early gambling at the IP, and did the ?What should we do for breakfast? shuffle. After hearing everyone say ?I don?t care? when asked where we should eat, I suggested the Tea House. Then it was, ?Let?s just grab the buffet.? We?ll, I had heard enough horror stories about this thing that I was not ready to try it, but I went along. This meal was appalling! I have worked in a prison for the last 18 years, and this stuff would make those criminals cry if they had to eat it, and we were PAYING for it! I tried a few of the things they offered, and stuck with boxed cereal. This was very low-grade chow, people. Non of the guys were overly concerned about it, but I told them, ?If you want buffets, there are plenty around that are decent. We don?t need to eat like this.? After eating, we agreed we would check out some of the nicer spots on the Strip.
We walked outside to a steady downpour. We headed back in to gamble here for a little while, and see what the weather would do. The rain subsided, and we opted for the Mirage for our basketball venue. A very nice place, and comfortable sports book.
Well, most of you know that I was a last minute availability for a ?guys trip? to Sin City from the 2nd to the 5th of April. You also know that the plans we had did not appeal to me all that well. The trip had its highs and lows, its expected and unexpected. Strap yourselves in, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
My friend Dan picked me up, and we went to meet the other 4 guys at one of their houses. Our potential 7th man decided the last minute plane fare was too steep, and we were once again down to six guys. ?Spuddy? is the guy getting married at the end of the month, so he is the reason we all got together for this outing. After all the boys arrived, we did the drive to Milwaukee, and were on our way!
My first ?bone of contention? on the trip involved parking. Dan decided to park in the airport ramp. I informed him that not only is it a little cheaper to park at All-Right, but they will shuttle us right to the door. It is actually even quicker! He whatever?ed me, and headed for the ramp. After picking out a spot about 600 yards from the terminal, we schlepped our bags to the ticket counter. Now, I had a pre-printed ticket, and only a carry on, so I was able to eschew the line. We noticed our plane was one of two on the whole board that was delayed. The lady at the counter told us is was weather related, and was about an hour late. (Our flight was at 10pm) She told us that the original delay was for three hours! We got all squared away, and went to our gate. Our luck seemed not so good, when our plane was finally here, and they announce it is getting a full cleaning, and will be a ?few more moments?. (We didn?t know that read: Another hour!) At any rate, we were on our way, and hit Vegas about 3 and a half hours later.
At the airport, it was a zoo like always. The boys got their bags, and we decided to grab a limo. This was one of the few suggestions I made this trip that was taken. I explained that with six of us we needed two cabs, and a limo would be about the same, so why not? We walked out, and the line for shuttles was huge! I saw a limo driver and asked him if he was for hire, and off we went. The ride was $36, but the guy was fun and polite, so we tossed him $50.
CHAPTER II: ?The Inferior Phallus?
We were lucky to get an immediate limo, and lucky to see only a couple people checking in in front of us at the IP. That was the end of this short ?lucky streak?! At the counter, Gary had a problem. He booked through a travel agent, and had confirmation for two pre-paid rooms. The IP had us for one room. This led to calls to bosses, and their bosses, and back again. After about 20 minutes, we had secured another room, but Gary had to come back in the morning and speak to someone else. Not a great start. We went to our rooms (Yes?..three guys per room) and got settled in. It was me, Gary, and Dan in one room. I was the first to grace the bathroom, and was greeted by some nice hair in the shower. I mean about four hairs in different spots in the shower. Thinking about the clean room thread that we had going last week, I was chuckling a bit. It seemed obvious that the shower certainly didn?t get a good going over when the room was ?cleaned?. The hair that was stuck on the back ledge of the tub was a mainstay throughout the entire trip. That?s right. We checked out Monday night, and it was still there! I sure hope the next people don?t think it was ours! LOL. Room 5145 has a terrific view of a building about 20 feet from the window! A beautiful shade of puke brown, with a walkway that separates our building from whatever it was that this building was. The walkway was not a main artery, so it was not well traveled. I think its travelers were mostly lost drunks. I assumed this, because over the next three nights, we would hear plenty of ?Whooo-hooo?s? and ?Yeeeeaaaaaah? coming from down there. I never made it to the room that was shared by ?Spuddy?, ?Franklin?, and ?Zeke?. Since each room had a cot, I made sure to grab a bed. I figured we would each spend a night on the cot, but Dan decided since he was the smallest of the three in our room, he would sleep on it each night. (I didn?t argue!)
We met the others in the casino, and played for a short time before calling it a night. We were going to do a little Strip walk, but decided we might be up all night, and we wanted to enjoy Saturday as best we could. Besides?..it was a little wet out side, marking, indeed, my fourth straight trip with rain. I played some 21, and went to bed out $300. We went to Betty?s Diner to grab a little grub before heading up, and the fuel there was barely that! Being from Wisconsin I love a good kraut dog! I ordered one up, and watched her pull it off the roller it was sweating on for the last 12 hours, and slather it with a pretty generous portion of sauerkraut. Upon my first bite into this gastric delight, I was hit with the shock that the kraut was ice cold! I don?t mean room temp, I mean right outta the fridge cold! Who the hell eats it that way? I was going to ask the gal to nuke it for me, but was too tired to fight the crowd a second time through. (All in all? It was not too terrible.) Side note about casino. The dealertainers at the IP are okay. Some you can tell who they are supposed to be, such as the Blues Brothers, Elvis, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart. Others, well??.let?s just say that I had no idea who they were supposed to be!
CHAPTER III: ?Oliver Twist says, ?Seconds? Not me!?
We decided to meet in the casino at 7 am to start the trip. Now, tucking in at 2am and gearing back up at 6:30 is getting a little tough for a 40 year old goat like me. Couple this with the fact that I thought I was at the Hayward Lumberjack Challenge all night, with dueling chainsaw snore-ers and farters, I had gotten minimal sleep, indeed. I held no grudge, and each of my two roommates informed me that the noises emitting from my orifices rivaled anyone else?s!
We all did a little early gambling at the IP, and did the ?What should we do for breakfast? shuffle. After hearing everyone say ?I don?t care? when asked where we should eat, I suggested the Tea House. Then it was, ?Let?s just grab the buffet.? We?ll, I had heard enough horror stories about this thing that I was not ready to try it, but I went along. This meal was appalling! I have worked in a prison for the last 18 years, and this stuff would make those criminals cry if they had to eat it, and we were PAYING for it! I tried a few of the things they offered, and stuck with boxed cereal. This was very low-grade chow, people. Non of the guys were overly concerned about it, but I told them, ?If you want buffets, there are plenty around that are decent. We don?t need to eat like this.? After eating, we agreed we would check out some of the nicer spots on the Strip.
We walked outside to a steady downpour. We headed back in to gamble here for a little while, and see what the weather would do. The rain subsided, and we opted for the Mirage for our basketball venue. A very nice place, and comfortable sports book.
