Vegas Vacation 07

We took off to Vegas for a few nights - the only family vacation we're taking this year unless you count going to Stockton for a basketball tournament.

Things were kind of not going our way the whole trip, but we mostly didn't mind and had a good time anyway. First, we drove by way of the only Long John Silver's Fish and Chips place we know - in Bakersfield. It's a tradition for us to go there on our way to Vegas, and every year I take a picture of the kids with their pirate hats on. Well, guess what, this year we drive there, and it's gone! Sure, they're rebuilding something there, but will it be a Long John Silver's? We were disappointed, but bought food at Taco Bell instead.

We got to Vegas in good time, and made our way to the Flamingo. It's unbelievable how much building is still going on there! Now I think they're building time-share condos as well as new casinos. There's a new one called Planet Hollywood (altho the restaurant is at Cesar's palace), and Platinum.

Anyway, we got to our room, and it just wasn't as clean as we are used to. There were little hairs on the floor in the bathroom! We don't need anyone else's little hairs, we have enough of our own! It creeped me out. So I asked housekeeping to sweep it for us, and I have to say that they came and did it right away.

There were other little things about the room, too. I opened up the book that has stationary in it, and there was a phone number written on the sheet! They hadn't checked it or changed it. K said we should call the number and ask them to get their hairs out of the bathroom! Also, a few of the pillowcases looked inside-out, and when I opened the ice bucket, it still had water at the bottom from someone else. Just little things that weren't right.

Next we headed down to the pool. The kids took off for the water slide, and we sat down, only to be informed that the pool was closing in 5 minutes! At 6:00! Evidently a "private party" was being held there, and ALL the other guests had to go! Well, half the reason we like the Flamingo is because of the pool, so we weren't real happy about that. The kids got wet on one trip down the slide, and that was it!

So we trudged back to the room, showered and dried off. We debated what to do about dinner. The housekeeper said the Flamingo's buffet was really good and about $19.99 each, which sounded like a lot to me. The Boy wanted to do one non-buffet meal, so we decided to walk over to Caesar's Forum and eat at Planet Hollywood. That sounded like about half the price of that buffet per-person, so that was fine with me.

When you walk outside, you're hit with a wall of heat that's unexpected after the cold air conditioning inside. We walked in through the end of the Forum, which we've never done before, because it looked closest to Planet Hollywood. I was taking lots of pictures, as I've been known to do, but when I went to take a picture of the "Playboy" store, my camera suddenly developed a "zoom error" that will not go away! I wasn't even using the zoom! Was my camera a feminist? So now my camera won't do much of anything, except maybe I can get the pictures off of it. This was an unexpected loss, and the only thing that bums me out about this trip. We all know how much I love unexpected expenses.

After dinner, we walked around Planet Hollywood looking at all the movie props, and the Girl was scared of the Werewolf costume. Then we went into the mall to find FAO Schwartz for The Girl. We all could pick one thing to do on the trip, and The Girl LOVES this store. It's probably the biggest toy store we've ever been in. We don't buy much there, but it's fun to look.

After the mall, we walked back to the room and just wanted to stay there. We adults made some cocktails, The Boy was reading Harry Potter, and The Girl watched TV until she went to bed. That night no one felt comfortable sleeping with The Boy, so three of us crowded into one bed, and that was not a very comfortable night. The Girl kept scooting backwards into me, and making cranky noises in her sleep. I was stuck in the middle most of the night, which made it a real production to roll over.

The next morning I had to make some calls for work, then we made our way to the Paris buffet - MY one thing I love to do in Vegas. We arrived too late for breakfast, though, and I was considering bailing out and coming back the next morning. No one else liked that idea, though, because they were really hungry. So we waited in line, and I was glad we did. Lunch was delicious there too, with a beef Burgundy dish that I especially loved.

Our friend Schlow found us there. He was in town for business, so it was hard to get together. It was really nice of him to stop by and find us, even if we only saw him for about 10 minutes. He lives in Connecticut, so we rarely see him these days.

We went back to the Flamingo, bought a disposable camera, and went to the pool for most of the afternoon. The kids disappeared onto the water slide, and K sat by me while I read. They played some good songs out there, and when they played Amy Weinhouse's "They try to make me go to rehab, I say no, no, no" it seemed to strike a cord with a lot of people drinking in and by the pool, because I heard lots of singing along to "no, no, no."

I was lucky to find a chair (at all!) that was somewhat in the shade. Nearby were some chairs that had towels on them, but they were soaked from the misters located on the nearby palm trees. One guy tried to turn off the mister that kept spraying his back, and finally put a towel over it. This caused all the other misters to mist overtime, and every time the wind shifted I had to hide my library book under a towel.

Late in the afternoon we went back to the room, showered and changed clothes. Then we headed out for "Downtown" Las Vegas. I think it had been awhile since the kids were there, and they didn't even remember it. Downtown is covered, and at night they sometimes do light shows on it. We found a very cheap buffet there - at Union Station ($7.77), and it was indeed very basic. The family loved it - mashed potatoes is their only requirement.

When we came out, there was some entertainment going on. There was a motorcycle driving around in a metal ball, and some gymnasts throwing a girl WAY into the air and catching her on a little board. We were full, which made us tired, so we headed back to the room.

Since the boy was engrossed in his book and up for babysitting, K and I decided to gamble for the first time in I don't know how many years. First of all, when did they quit using coins? I headed out with my quarters, and none of the slot machines take coins anymore! They have slots for dollars and for cards, but no coins.

We wandered to a casino next door, where K spotted a $1 margarita sign. So he went off and came back with 4 small margaritas. I sat at the bar and played the poker machine there, until a spot opened up at the $5 blackjack table behind us. So I turned over the poker machine to K, and went to the blackjack table with $20.

The dealer gave me some chips and I started to play, and actually was winning more than losing. So I doubled my bet, (to $10!) which made me so nervous that I accidentally stayed on 11 instead of hitting, which I thought I did. So when she turned the cards over, the dealer was confused too (I think I DID hit), and after that she kept looking at me funny. I felt like she was judging me, so she didn't get a tip.

The whole thing is a little nerve-wracking, especially since I hadn't done it in a long time and people at the tables expect you to know what you're doing and you have to add the cards up really fast and make a decision. Whew! Every time I doubled my bet I got more nervous too. K and I are not really gamblers, and if we lose $20 we're likely to get sad.

After awhile a seat opened up next to me, and the guy walked away saying he'd just lost $100. K took his seat and played next to me, and promptly lost $20. I guess I should have warned him that that was an unlucky seat. I more than doubled my money, and then got even more nervous, so I decided to quit. I tipped the new dealer, since she hadn't judged me, and we walked back to the room.

Between the two of us, we evened each other out and came out about $1 ahead. Wo-wee! That night K slept with The Boy, so the Girl and I had the other bed to ourselves. Everyone (except the Boy) slept a lot better that night.

The next day we ate at Denny's on our way home, and hit traffic on a Friday!

Unfortunately, I am down a camera now. I'll update with pictures when my disposable camera gets developed.