Stop 10: Las Vegas, NV

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After finishing up at the Grand Canyon the race to Las Vegas was on, as we had tickets to see the show “O,” the water themed Cirque du Solei show. On the way to Vegas, we passed the Hoover Dam, which is pretty big. We stopped to take a couple of pictures and continued on. For our stay in Vegas, we were lucky enough to stay in a nice, gated-community home owned by Allison’s friend Brittany (a fellow Theta...yay!!). The house was sick, with a pool, hottub, outdoor fireplace, plasma TVs in every room, and just an all-around awesome place. We sat shocked for minute, at both how great the place was and how lucky we were to stay there, but then quickly got showered and ready for the show.

Looking our best, we went to the Bellagio to see the show. Overall, “O” was pretty good and really weird. It had no story line, many odd-looking, bizarre characters, and is kind of indescribable. Besides that, the collection of trapeze artists, acrobats, gymnasts, divers, synchronized swimmers, and contortionists were really cool. They did all sorts of crazy stunts, flips, and acts that were entertaining and suspenseful. The stage was huge, with a giant swimming pool in the middle which had a floor that could rise to the top of the stage. At some points they were swimming and diving, and others they were dancing on the stage. We agreed the show was unique and a good start to our stay in Vegas. Tired from the early morning, hiking through the Grand Canyon, hours of driving, and the show, we decided to call it a night and adventure through the Strip the next day.

The next day we slept in and made our way over to the strip in the early afternoon. We went back to the Bellagio to check out the casino and gamble a bit. Stuck at a $10-a-hand black jack table (the cheapest they had) with a dealer who was a complete *witch (*b), (and not because of the cards she dealt, because of her mean/ugly demeanor and attitude), I lost $100 and Allison lost $50. After a while, we decided to walk around the strip a bit, explore other casinos, and maybe meet up with our friend Eric, who coincidently was in Vegas as well. We watched the Bellagio water show (neat) outside then moved on.

Walking around the Strip is not fun at all. The casinos are spread out and take a while to walk to. Since everything is so big, it always looks like you’re much closer than you really are. Getting to these places can also be difficult as you have to cut through traffic, take hidden escalators, and deal with the desert heat. Four hours later, we had seen five casinos (Bellagio, Monte Carlo, Caesars Palace, Treasure Island, and Wynn), and were extremely tired and hungry. We met up with Eric and hung out for an hour or so, then decided to go. At this point, we were both tired, cranky, and mad at each other from the enormous amount of walking and lack of gambling/fun/food. We decided to just call it a night, go back to the nice house, and relax.

The next day, we awoke refreshed and ready to gamble. We went to the Monte Carlo, where we had found $5-a-hand blackjack tables. We played for a while, both of us getting up over $100 at a point, but I ended up losing $50 while Allison stayed even for the time. We sprinkled in some video poker, roulette, slots, Starbucks, and McDonalds as we walked around the Casino for a break. I decided to play a poker tournament and Allison went back for more blackjack. The tournament I played in had 80 players with a $50 buy-in. With the top-10 spots of the tournament getting paid, I managed to finish 12th (way to go Brian…..not). When I went back to find Allison she had been doing just okay, probably down about half her chips. As soon as I sat with her though, she caught fire. Winning hand after hand, her chip stack was soaring (she especially likes stacking in those green $25 chips). I wouldn’t let her leave the table under such a hot streak, and played myself, losing another $50. I didn’t mind so much seeing Allison cruising along on her hot streak though. We played until Allison had gone down a little from her peak and cashed her out. She was up $25 from that series and was very excited to play again.

We left the casino and went to a tapas bar called Firefly’s. We had three tapas (Spanish appetizers), duck meat rolls, spicy beef salad, and chicken skewers, which were all delicious. We headed home to rest, change, and get ready for the rest of what we thought would be a promising night. At midnight we headed back to the Monte Carlo to face some familiar dealers with high hopes. These dreams were quickly shattered. Allison hit a cold streak like I’d never seen, and I wasn’t fairing much better. She lost 25 out of 30 hands (a quick $100) while I lost 20 out of 30 (another $50). Very disappointed we walked away from the table shaking our heads, thunderstruck at our terrible luck. After walking around the casino a bit (and listening to Allison’s inner dialogue out loud), we finally decided to call it quits and head home. Allison was pretty disappointed, and vowed to get her blackjack revenge. We got home late, packed a bit, and went to bed. For those of you scoring at home, I lost $250 and Allison lost $125. With a free place to stay, losing that much isn’t bad for three days in Vegas, right? We had an extremely good time and really enjoyed all the sights, shows, gambling, and atmosphere of Vegas. (Anybody know the number for Blackjack Anonymous???.....Allison may have a problem…..haha, sike)

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