Stiletto Diaries

Viva Las Vegas - Day 3 & 4 & 5

Posted on April 4th, 2009 in Bucket List, Does All Her Own Stunts, Photos

On Saturday morning we woke around 9:30am.  The first order of business was to dial room service and have them bring up a $14 pot of coffee and a pitcher of ice water.  As mentioned in my previous post, there were no coffee makers in the hotel rooms, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

The coffee was actually pretty awful, but I managed to drink several cups worth, as did Roxy.  We took our time getting ready for the day, and then caught The Deuce down to the Sahara for brunch.  The buffet was pretty good overall, although none of us felt that it was worth the price.

On the way back to the Flamingo we stopped to do a little shopping.  I was desperate for new sandals, and the ones I had brought along were not designed for so many miles of walking.  I found a pair of comfortable (although likely overpriced) replacements and then we headed back to the hotel with plans to lounge by the pool.

Despite the fact that the Flamingo is an older hotel, and not as nicely appointed as many others, their pools and surroundings are quite beautiful.

Before we went down to the water, we stopped for yard-long margaritas. At $32 bucks each, I’m not sure that you get your moneys worth, but it’s something you should do at least once in your life.

506. Drink a yard-long margarita

Laying in the sunshine, among palm trees, while the DJ booth pumped out music, and surrounded by so many hot men, was completely fantastic.  It took me an hour and a half to down the contents of that cup (which is the equivalent of 4 regular sized drinks, apparently) and I was the first one done.

Once the sun disappeared behind the hotel, we went upstairs to change and then grabbed $2 hot dogs at the casino next door.  We refilled our cups with gin and 7up and then went upstairs to our friends room to check out The Strip during Earth Hour.  It was weird to see the street in relative darkness.  I tried to get a photo, but as all the lights were off, that didn’t really accomplish much.

We’d decided after the disappointing turn of events the night before, that we were going to spend our Saturday night at JET, a 3-room club in the Mirage.  I’d obtained some passes from a guy on the street that allowed us to bypass even the VIP line.  After dressing and primping and drinking most of our gin and 7up, we were ready to go.

We only had to wait a few moments to get inside.  The place was already pretty packed, the music was great, although at $11/drink we were glad that we’d arrived fairly intoxicated.  There were ‘free’ shots however (free meaning you had to tip of course) and we drank several rounds of those.

The three of us staked out an area to dance and got down with our bad selves.  During one song I dirty danced with an attractive black guy, who didn’t stick around once I’d refused to feel his package (I mean seriously!  At least kiss a girl before you grab her hand and put it on your crotch).  Then V disappeared, which only concerned Roxy and I after she didn’t come back.  We took turns looking for her, but the place was a maze, and there was so many people, and we’d had far too much to drink.

Roxy ended up entangled with a guy, and I decided that I’d had quite enough party for one night.  I ran into V on the way out, pressed up against the wall with a fine young man.  I told her where to find Roxy, and then bade her a good night and left the club.

I sent Jack some drunken text messages while I wandered up the street.  It was probably around 5am his time, which didn’t exactly cross my mind until later, LOL.  I missed him a lot, particularly because I wanted someone there to hold me up just then

I hardly really remember walking back to the hotel, but I made it ok, and I was getting ready for bed when Roxy came in the door.  She hadn’t been able to find V (nor V her, apparently) and had decided to come back to the room in case she was already there.  I told her that I’d seen V on my way out, and we both felt badly that we’d left her there alone.  We also discussed what we would do if she didn’t come back, as she hadn’t taken her cell phone with her.

Since I couldn’t stay awake any longer I eventually dozed off, only to wake up sometime later when V arrived at the room with a different guy in tow.  Apparently he’d only come to walk her to the hotel, to make sure she got there safely, and then excused himself after saying good night.  I think it was around 4am before we were all settled in for the night.

V and Roxy had decided to spend most of Sunday beside the pool, enjoying the final day of vacation.  I, on the other hand, wanted to see some more of Vegas before we left.  I got up in the morning before they did, showered, dressed, and left them a note to let them know I would see them later.

I caught The Deuce up to the MGM Grand and checked out the M&M World, where I bought souvenirs for the kids, and for padme, who had mentioned the place to me initially.

I also walked through the Coke Store, and took a ton of photos of other hotels (as you can see above, and below). I took the bus down to the last few hotels on the strip, including the Luxor, where Jack stayed when he went to Vegas in 2001.

On the bus we were delayed by some sort of an accident on the road ahead. As the bus turned to take an alternate route, I saw a man being taken down and tazered by 5 police officers. I’ve never seen anything like it before, it was wild.

I dropped my purchases off at the hotel, stopped by the pool to say hello to V and Roxy, and then caught the bus back up The Strip to Freemont Street, where I had lunch and browsed some of the shops.

At night that arched cover over the street provides an amazing light show. Unfortunately I didn’t make it there to see it at night, so I’m adding that to my list of things to do next time I’m there. It’s a really old-school part of Vegas, and an interesting experience unto itself.

After that I visited The Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace, which are like nothing I have ever seen before. It was…remarkable! They have these curved/sort of spiral escalators between floors, and breath-taking marble statues and fountains everywhere.

I didn’t get to see everything in there, since I was meeting the girls to go for supper, but I think I could spend several days just looking at everything. I also totally fell in love with a green bag at a Coach store, but I thought Jack might kill me if I dropped $800 on something to haul my crap around, LOL.

We grabbed dinner at the Nascar Cafe and then V and I headed down The Strip to visit the Outlet Mall, while Roxy got off at our hotel to take a nap.  Unfortunately, by the time we got down there, the mall had just closed.  We were disappointed, but it was our own fault for not going earlier.  We changed buses at the transfer station and then stopped at the M&M Store again so that V could see it, and did the last of our souvenir shopping.  I took some photos of Vegas at night during our trip back to the Flamingo.

We’d talked about going out that evening, for a last night on the town, but by the time we were all back at the hotel, none of us really felt like it. Aside from that I had to be up early the next day to catch my flight, and so we spent the evening gathering our things, which had exploded into every corner of our rather large room. I re-packed, set my alarm, texted Jack to give me a wake up call, and then we went to bed.

I was up at 7am the next day, showered, dressed, rounded up my stuff and left for the airport before V or Roxy were even awake. I checked in, caught a plane to Denver where I had a three hour lay-over, and got a proper coffee at Starbucks. Once I made it to Denver I ate a steak at a bistro with plastic cutlery, which was my first food of the day. The flight from Denver to Toronto was uneventful. I watched Twilight, and I sort of understand what the big deal is now, although it’s not really the best film I’ve ever seen. It did make me more curious about reading the books though.

I landed in Toronto at about 9:30 local, passed through customs, and then met V at the arrivals area. It took us a while to find the vehicle, since I’d forgotten where I’d parked, but we managed, and eventually we got home, at about 11pm. Jack had a wonderful supper ready for us, and a bottle of wine. It was so very sweet. We talked and ate and told him all about our trip. It was nice to be missed, and to be greeted with hot food after a very long day of travel.

All in all Vegas was fantastic. I had such a good time there, and now I can’t wait to go back, with Jack this time, so I can do all of the things I didn’t manage to see/do while I was there!