Where the heck did I leave off? This is what happens when I get too busy with work and such, I loose track of my stories. So, we arrive in Vegas finally! After getting off the plane the first thing anyone ever notices i8n the Las Vegas airport is the slot machines! They certainly know how to make you feel like you are in Vegas instantly. Our plane landed at the same time at Arik and Sam, so we needed to make our way down to baggage claim to go find them. As we were standing just outside the tram to baggage claim, we were looking up at the arrival board to see when their plan might have landed. Just then, this really rude guy starts pushing me towards the tram! Not even 5 min in Vegas and I am already getting shoved around, How rude!! Of wait, it’s Arik. I guess he found me first.
We do all of our initial hugs and greets on the tram and eventually get our luggage. Now it’s off to the shuttle stop. Here is where I give you Vegas hit number 1. Take a damn Taxi! You see, Arik bought their tickets for Vegas from Expedia.com, and apparently they got free shuttle passes. To keep everyone together, I got Amy and I tickets on the same shuttle. They were 5 bucks for each of us so $10 total. Then we sat and waited for the bus.
And waited
And waited
20 min later we finally ask one of the other bus drivers if he can take us and he does. Now we all pile on this very full bus with the windows all shaded and some really ugly carpet lined ceiling (think Farpoint, only worse (very inside joke)). We can barely see out of the windows to know where we are and we are in there for well over 30 min. The Sahara hotel is the last stop of course. Turns out a taxi from the airport takes roughly 10 min total and costs 12 bucks. (Really Lee, you got jipped!)
Since Amy and I were rooming with Lee and Missy, we waited with Arik and Sam to get their room. Then we were able to stow our bags until Lee arrived. I guess there are a lot of people checking in mid day on Sunday because the line for the front desk was huge! It felt like celebration 3 all over again! We get up to Arik and Sam’s room and they have a really cool view of this test track behind the hotel. Apparently for $10 you can take a sports car around this track. It looked pretty tempting but we had much more stuff to do. First on the list was some food!
One side of the Sahara has a whole Nascar theme to it (no, I don’t know why). So we thought we would try out the Nascar café. Seeing as how we knew that once Lee and Missy got in we would probably be getting some food as well, we opted for just some Nachos and Buffalo wings. Arik got the bright idea to get the wings full up buffalo style. Oh man were they hot. We were both sweating buffalo for the next few hours. Amy was doing her best to get some food in her but she was still suffering from a topsy turvey stomach. After trying our hand at a few Nascar trivia questions (and failing) we went outside to figure out what was next.
About 2-3 blocks away from the Sahara is the Stratosphere hotel. If you haven’t seen it, it looks a lot like a version of the Space Needle in WA. Except this one has a number of carnival rides on the top of it. We figured it would have one hell of a view so we started off towards it. Vegas hint number 2: Stay away from the newspaper machines that are filled with pr0n! As I was walking along the street, tactfully avoiding all of the people and porn pushers, I walk past one of these newspaper dispensers that has the call girl ad’s in it and my hand smacks into the corner of it, hard. I know it doesn’t sound bad, but I hit right on the corner and I had what looked like a bite mark on the back of my hand. After about an hour it even started swelling a little! Anyways, we made it all the way to the Stratosphere and are about to get in the elevator to head to the top when we get a phone call from Lee and Missy, they are in their hotel room and ready to meet up! Doh! So we make the trek back to the Sahara.
Amy and I move our bags into Lee and Missy’s room and start getting ready for the evening. We have tickets to see Avenue Q. This was playing over at the Winn hotel and casino. Apparently this was also the last show for the Vegas tour. Given that it was close to 7 and we needed to be there by 9, we needed to get going pretty soon. We caught the new monorail system from our hotel to the Winn. Well, soft of. The monorail station closest to the Winn was the Flamingo. This of course was only slightly shorter of a walk then if we were to just walk from the Sahara. Yet another lessoned learned. When we got to the Winn we figured out where the theater was and stopped off in a small deli for a snack before the show. It’s amazing how you can end up paying 7 bucks for a bottle of soda and bottle of water.
We got into the theater and the stage was open and set up great. I was so excited. I had bought the soundtrack to the show well over a year or two ago. You better believe I had already had the songs memorized. (I did my best to not sing out loud). If you haven’t seen the show, Avenue Q is a musical that, for the most part, makes fun of Sesame Street. It’s basically what would happen when you mix Sesame street and the modern ghetto. This makes for 2 hours of “oh my god” funny. With such classic songs as “What do you do with a BA in English” and “The Internet is for Porn.” (yes, that’s where the song came from) This is a must see for anyone! (except kids)
After the show, we thought we might just walk back instead of taking the monorail. I am sure that most of the people on the street thought we were drunk, but that would certainly come later (I think). It was a long walk and it almost wiped us out. Missy and Amy headed up to the room while the rest of us went to the Circle K to get some drinks. Hey, why pay 8 bucks for a cocktail when you can make it yourself for 3! While in the store, Lee and I had a small run in with a few gang bangers…… Well, at least they thought they were gang bangers. It was really just a few kids trying to act tough. (Ain’t nobody gonna mess with us!) We grabbed our booze and headed back to the room where Arik taught us the fine art of Texas Hold Em’ to prep me for Monday night. It wasn’t long till exhaustion set in (remember I only had 3 hours of sleep) and I faded out.
Next in Part 3: I love New York, Star Wars the Slots, Is that a fountain cause I have to pee, where is the thunder storm, and the Serious Andorian.
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