viva las vegas
i am finally legal…yup, 21 here and gone. and what better way to celebrate than in vegas?
wil and i were the first to land in vegas (after enjoying a flight with a singing flight attendant), so we waited in the baggage claim for the rest of the groups to arrive, about a half an hour later. not even outside of the airport and we were bombarded with lights, billboards and ads for the excitement that was about to present itself to us once we walked out of those doors. to say the least, i was not bored while waiting…i was torn between watching the ever changing movie screen or the addicted get an early start on the airport slot machines.
as it always is, seeing everyone as they arrived at the house (rented for all of us instead of being spread across multiple hotel rooms) was great. we settled into our rooms (wil and i stayed in the “sinatra” suite while others stayed in rooms like “presley”, “cash”, and “dion”) and later got ready for our girls night out to bodyenglish, a nightclub in the hard rock hotel. treated like vips, we walked past the line, dropped a name (thanks to danielle!) and walked right in without having to pay for the cover charge or champagne. what a way to be treated on a girl’s 21st! the rest of the group explored the city and got busy gambling.
with an SC game against CAL on the schedule, saturday was spent lounging around the house, playing pool, darts and watching the game into the late afternoon (while a few took a drive to hoover dam, where my great grandfather was a doctor on site during construction). a quick dinner and we were off again for another night on the strip, sipping drinks and singing along to dueling pianos at the “bar in times square” in the hotel new york new york. i tried to enjoy my first actual drink ordered from a bar, but couldn’t enjoy it in its entirety since as of friday i woke up with a sore throat/cold, which overall did not make me feel so hot all weekend. the rest of the night was filled with more gambling and perusing the hotels as the group split to differing casinos…with some not coming home till 4:30 in the morning! (who ever said new york was the city that never slept?)
with a late, lazy morning, our last full day started around 1, splitting up again, and doing what else, gambling! wil and i and a few others headed to the hotel mandalay bay, where i watched wil play texas hold’em and never get dealt a good hand while brett scored 600 bucks at nearby table. i tried my luck with $5 in a nickel slot…not winning, but not leaving empty handed. but as vegas would have it, i then lost it all a few minutes later on roulette. (i’m a big spender!) losing all track of time, we realized the dinner hour was upon us and we had our birthday dinner at the house and readied ourselves for the last hurrah. around 10 or so, a group of us went to the newest hotel on the block, the wynn. inside we had ourselves a heck of a time in the coolest nightclub i have ever seen- tryst. while others hung out at the house, or gambled at other casinos, we danced the night away, sipping expensive drinks and taking in the entire scene.
after a couple hours of dancing we had yet another exciting moment…while josh took a break off the dance floor he watched britney spears and paris hilton brush past him into a nearby booth. we “took a break” as well, gawking at the fact that we were within 6 ft of the two biggest names in pop culture (who cares if you like them?). keeping one eye on them for the rest of the night we danced and observed them partying just like they do on tv and in the photos. click here if you don’t believe me!
with the night young, we split from the club and joined others at a cheaper hotel, the sahara for some late night blackjack. my first time sitting and playing at a real table, i played and won 40 bucks! (i’d say that’s pretty good since i only started with 50). too anxious to continue playing for fear of losing everything i quickly cashed out while the rest of the boys at the table continued to have a lucky night and called it a night.
after saying goodbyes throughout the morning and one last stop to the fountain at the bellagio, we made our way to the airport and hopped on our flights to our far away homes. now that i am home, i am happy to be back, as vegas is just a different lifestyle i could not keep up. i tend to like me, my husband and our dog in our quiet little house… most of the time…
