The Weekend: Vegas, Baby!

So the first typical Vegas story is the way we followed the signs to the hotel registration desk, parked the truck and then went in to check in. But of course the desk was on the far side of the casino, so you could play all these beautiful slot machines on the way... Plus then it was 10:30 and apparentally that is prime time to check in to hotel in Vegas. Most people who come to Vegas these days stay on the strip. It is questionable whether THE STRATOSPHERE is really on the strip or not, if it is, it is certainly on the far end of it, which is also funny to me because the last time I came to Vegas I stayed just one hotel closer.

Anyway, we picked up Brian at the airport and zoomed back to the hotel, with plans of going to sleep early so we could get up fresh the next day. But that was before we realized that Colin had never seen Misery with Kathy Bates, so of course that put off the going to bed... Spending time in your vegas hotel room is actually difficult, because unlike every other hotel in the world where they want you to be comfortable, here they want you to leave your room... and go down stairs, and gamble. Cruddy airconditioning, no fridge, expensive cokes and would you beleive is no FREE WIRELESS INTERNET!

The next day we headed back out to the Hoover Dam (in day light this time) Did you realize that the new parking garage next to the hoover dam cost more than the dam itself? (not adjusted for inflation). Apparently the tour has been shortened since 9/11, can't blame them, but we didn't get to go into any of the tunnels etc. THe oddest part of the damn are these giant bronze wingered guardians on either side of a floor of astrological designs...free masonry at its finest, showing all human history from the building of the pyramids, to the birth of 'Our Lord Jesus CHrist The Savior' as one tour guid described it, to the building of the hoover dam.

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent 'on the strip.' The first night we had amazingchips at La Isla in Treasure Island (the rest of the food was good too) and felt jipped when the free pirate show was cancelled on a account of high wind. We then took in the the volcano at the Mirage, the Anamatronic destruction of Atlantis at Caesar's and the dancing fountains at the Bellagio. The next day we started at the Monte Carlo, whihc is actually pretty old school now, but nice (and we did pretty well there), New York New York, The MGM GRAND (we saw the lions), Paris, and we went in the Belagio, saw the conservatory and ate great gellato. We especially enjoyed O'SHEA'S one of the many low end casinos still surviving on the strip. The highlight of the weekend for me was going to the Wynn to see the just open AVENUE Q, fresh from Broadway and featuring several of the original cast members. Its a puppet musical that plays like an adult version of sesame street. Hilarious. After that we began to search for food 'off the strip' to save a little money. An hour later we returned to the hotel with Wendy's.

That quest continued in the morning. We though we remembered seeing signs on the highway for a $3.99 buffet at Boulder Station, a casino off the strip that makes the stratospehere seem classy. Plus there was this huge line to get in to the buffett so we ended up in henderson, the town half way to the hoover dam where I had bought an electric razor the day before, and ate at an Applebees. Which actually has queso. Not great queso, but at this point it has risen to a high 2nd on the things I am missing on the trip. That's also not the full story, as we somehow took the wrong turn on our way to Boulder station and ended in the desert half way to salt lake city. But we did find cheap gas. $2.79 a gallon. After lunch we hit the strip again, the excalibur which is CHEESY, the luxor, which we really liked and mandalay bay. Overall, my favorite slot machines were ENCHANTED UNICORN, SEA MONKEYS, and SALMON RUN which featured bears. But I mostly played video poker.

Then Colin and I had to abandon Brian to drive to Los Angeles. Brian's plane was leaving at 6 ... the next morning, so we dropped him off back at the stratosphere $50 dollars down, we'll see where he ends up. I ended $30 down and Colin, a dollar. But then again Colin only bet $2 the whole weekend... We drove on through Nevada, taking a stop at JEAN, where I had set the opening of a screenplay, taking pictures of the prison. A trip across the Mohave Desert brought us into L.A. around 10 pm. Actually I'm pretty sure we were in the LA suburbs by 8:45, it just took us that long to get around to where we needed to be.



Best Slots: O'Shea's
Best Decor: Bellagio
Cheesiest Decor: Excalibur
Hotest Cocktail Waitresses: Treasure Island
Best Free Show: The Fountains at the Bellagio
Best Show We Didn't See: BITE (the erotic vampire revue)