They Only Come Out at Night
Monday, October 30, 2006
Halloween is a strange event in any region, but in Vegas, “strange” takes on a whole new meaning!
This weekend, i went to Vegas with Slim, Joe, Kenny + Cat, and Keith + Sue. I’ve never been much for Vegas, so this is only my second time going there for fun (no conferences or work) in my adult life. That being said, i obviously didn’t do much of the planning. That also being said, there wasn’t much planning except to get a hotel room. We had such a chill weekend.
So what do i have to rant about, you ask? Well, I had a bit of rocky beginning just getting on the plane.
RANT 1: TSA
Who doesn’t have a TSA rant? If you do not, then please step forward! I thought I had done everything to keep myself from pain the security line by putting all my liquids into my check-in bag. However, I didn’t realize that lips stuff was considered liquid. Oops. So that was my bad. But even when i got through line and they pulled out the lip balms, they said, “You have to go get a clear plastic bag to put these in.” Why? Now that you’ve identified them, what will putting them in a plastic bag do? I’ll put them in there and pull them out when i need it, thus it will not STAY in said bag. What then is the point of such a recepticle?
But no, the TSA guy ushered me out the exit as i began to protest and told me to go cut in line to get a plastic bag from SouthWest. I was then pointed to the gift store by the SouthWest people. The Gift Store clerk said, “I’ll give you a bag if you buy something.” Out came my $1 to pay for mentos that i didn’t want, thus spending half of all the liquid assets that i had on me at the moment. -____-
Then i had to go all the way through the security line again. Curses upon TSA. By the year 2010, we’ll be walking naked through x-ray machines to make sure we don’t have any explosive suppositories.
RANT 2: CAB
Upon arriving in Vegas, we jumped in to a cab. Instead of taking us to the Westin, he took us to the Hilton. How on earth did he get the idea that we were staying there? But he insisted that he asked twice and that both times we said that we were headed to the Hilton. Kenny called shenanigans on him. Then he got really mad and started yelling that he had been driving for 11 years and that he really had nothing to gain by taking us to the Hilton instead of the Westin. Am i wrong or did he just get twice the amount of money for taking us to some place that was the opposite direction from our hotel? Hmmm...What DID he have to gain? Obviously his argument had some holes in it.
When we tried to find out how much the fare should have been, the driver got all upset and threatened that he would call the Taxi Authority if we refused to pay. By this time, i just wanted to sink out of sight and just not exist. That’s when everyone got really heated. Kenny unleashed: “WE NEVER SAID WE WOULDN’T PAY. JUST STOP TALKING. ALL I WANT IS A PEACEFUL RIDE TO THE WESTIN.” That pretty much quieted everyone down to an awkward silence. Despite our assertions that we would pay, the driver still called the Taxi Authority and told them that we might cause trouble. I just wanted to get out of there. Yeek.
RANT 3: ATMs + no banks
So the other rant has to do with the fact that there are no banks ANYWHERE near the strip and every ATM is going to make you poor just by looking at them. Being the Vegas noob, i had no idea that there was such a high service charge for cash withdrawals. AND of course, stupid me didn’t have any cash at all. Make that, I had $1 going into Vegas. The other dollar i had was spent buying a $1 plastic bag for my liquids to go on board the airplane, remember? It’s a $4 fee and then another $1.95 + 3% of anything you withdraw. How do they get away with that? It’s crazy.
OKAY, ENOUGH RANTING! THE REST OF THE WEEKEND WAS WONDERFUL AND RELAXING!
So that night we went to a nice restaurant, FIX, at the Bellagio.
Me and Slim at FIX
The restaurant had a cool warped and wavy ceiling made of suspended wooden panels. Cool. AND we had Kobe beef chilli cheese fries. Mmmmmmmmm...so worth it.
The next day we got up and wandered around. Mostly we spent time at the new casino, The Wynn. The inside garden is beautiful. It’s very reminiscent of the Bellagio as it’s by the same owner. The same owner who recently put a hole in a 130 million dollar Picasso painting.
The gardens at the Wynn
Cat, Slim and I headed to The Buffet at the Wynn. I can’t remember that last time i ate so much. Well, actually i can: it was 2 weeks ago at the soul food restaurant, Miss Peach. Mmmmmm. But really, i think my stomach expanded to 3x it’s normal size. Phew.
me, slim and cat: it’s a C/Kat Sandwich!
After eating for about 2 hours, we did a bit of wandering. We discovered many interesting things. The pool at the Wynn is cool. There are at least 2 waterfalls within the facility. We also discovered, quite by accident, that they have “european style sunbathing,” which roughly translates into topless sunbathing. Ooops.
We then went to Smith and Wollensky for steaks and other forms of meat. Check out how big Slim’s steak is.
Big enough for you? We actually split this and even then it was a lot of meat!
Finally it was time to get into costume! That’s the reason you go to Vegas during Halloween, right? It’s where freaks come out at night and parade the streets! Here’s our costumed trio pic:
Cat is the penguin with a black angel on one should saying, “eat that fish! it’s tasty!” and a white angel on the other shoulder saying, “No! Fish are friends not food!"
I’ve got to say that there were some really interesting costumes out that night. Tigger, Balou the bear, a gold digger, girl scouts, soccer teams, nurses, Axl Rose, Garden of Eden: Eve, and lots of other weirdos. I was pretty impressed for the most part. Some were just plain lame though. I got to say that the guys in the Tigger/Balou outfits, the nerd outfits and the other “harmless” males were getting a lot more attention from the females than the other guys who came dressed as pimps and boxers.
And then the weekend was pretty much over. We got to eat one last time at the Bellagio Cafe and then took off to the airport where we stayed in line for a good long time. I did manage to get this pic of the boys before we all took off.
Joe, Slim and Kenny--the original Halloween In Vegas Crew
Kat, you look beautiful and like you had so much fun. I miss you lots. (and are you telling me that you’d never seen Bridget Jones’ Diary before now? <v. appalled!>)
Posted by on 11/07 at 06:37 PMwhy didn’t you guys drive?
Posted by Ryan Moore on 11/15 at 12:30 AM