Finally, Vegas
Mar. 18th, 2010 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batskeetsI've been rolling around thoughts about Vegas, and it's been hard, because it was, well, kind of a blur.
Basically, I got 4 hours of sleep on Friday night, pulled a full day at the Collegiate Tournament, and then got 5 1/2 hours of sleep on a *very* hard floor on Saturday night. So, by the time I drove back from Eugene, packed my stuff, and hopped on the plane to Vegas on Sunday, I was completely wiped out. I spent most of the flight napping.
...and then, I somehow found the stamina to get off the plane, dress fancy, and traipse around with Alicia until 5am Sunday night. XD
Alicia and I had a room at the Treasure Island, so we met up with Alyson and Carolyn and the two other friends sharing their room, and we went to the club in the hotel first for some booty shakin'. The club had some tie-in with Ed Hardy that was equal parts appalling and amusing, but otherwise it was pretty uneventful. Alyson & Co. had to be up at 6:30am for their textiles show, so after they went to bed, Alicia and I and the other girl who *wasn't* going to the textiles dealie went over to the Bellagio to roam around. It was definitely classier than the Treasure Island, and the blown glass pieces they had all around the place were *very* cool. We had a few drinks, and then tried out a club inside the Bellagio, and that made for a pretty amusing bit of people-watching.
One odd thing was that we kept talking to people from the Northwest all weekend. We met people whose parents were from Portland, or people from Seattle, or people from towns near the Oregon/Washington border... I'm hard-pressed to think of a conversation where our origins came up, and they *didn't* have some connection to the Northwest. Amusingly, one of these people, who had a cousin in Beaverton, was also sporting a coke nail--which I was too tired to notice until Alicia mentioned it later--and blabbing about how his two super-fancy cars got reposessed. Keep it classy, guy. ;p
Anyhoo, we came back to our hotel after we used my exhaustion as an excuse to escape from Coke Nail Guy, and met a dude there who was at least kind enough to buy each of us ladies a drink. But, disappointment struck when he mentioned that he'd been playing poker at a table with three Chinamen earlier, and he actually used the word "Chinamen." So, of COURSE, I had to bust out with, "Dude, 'Chinaman' is not the preferred nomenclature." Except that he completely didn't get that it was a Big Lebowski reference, and thought I was actually offended, and I had tell him that I was quoting a movie. I kind of didn't want to talk to him anymore after that. XD I bailed shortly after.
Monday involved traipsing around at the Forum Shoppes for a bit, and that place was *huge* and seemed to go on forever. I was also amused at the fake "blue sky with clouds" treatment that was painted on the ceiling... not that it was badly executed or anything, it was just odd. Later in the evening, we biffed over to the Mirage to have dinner and go to their nighclub, because we all had free passes. It's apparently really easy to get free passes to clubs in Vegas if you're female, but this was apparently the best of the choices we had.
That, um, didn't work out, because some quasi-famous DJ/rapper dude (Li'l Jon, I think?) was making an appearance that night, so we stood in line for an hour before finally giving up and going to a smaller club that was also in the Mirage. That place was actually pretty fun, though: they had karaoke, and good dancing. There was also a kid, who was essentially Pretty Fly For A White Guy personified, and he actually came up to us, a group of 5 girls, and danced with us without a care in the world. He wasn't trying anything skeevy, either, he just wanted to be nice and dance! He was equal parts clueless and endearing, actually. I also kept getting hit on by 23-year-olds who were there on Spring Break, and it was hilarious to watch their reactions when they found out that I'm 29. XD
Tuesday was the day we were supposed to fly out, and most of the girls were tired, so Alicia and I decided to take off on our own adventures, so our first stop was at Old Downtown, where we roamed the streets and checked out the old-school casinos that were prominent before the Strip took over. We also went to the Golden Nugget and found their display for, yes, the world's largest gold nugget.
THEN, we wound up going to the Liberace Museum, which was probably the highlight of the whole trip. There was a free shuttle bus to the museum, and it was empty aside from Alicia, myself, and two blue-haired old ladies, and we had our run of the place. They had several of Liberace's spangly cars, many of his *gorgeous* pianos, a bunch of his wacky rhinestone-encrusted outfits, and the world's largest rhinestone.
There were videos playing of him flying onto stage on wires, and being generally ridiculous, and just, WOW. I was amazed that such an over-the-top character came to prominence back in the day, but then I think of people like Lady Gaga, and it's suddenly no longer shocking. ;p Anyhoo, I'm glad we did that, because that was *definitely* a uniquely-Vegas activity, heh. After we got done there, we lounged around and people-watched at the Venetian over wine and nibbles, and then headed over to the airport to go home.
Anyhoo, overall, the trip was worth it. I went into it with very little concept of what to expect, and no concrete expectations, and it was nice to just do things on the spur of the moment, and enjoy the ride. And, being away from The Job and The House didn't hurt anything, either. My only regret is that we didn't see a Cirque du Soleil show--especially since there are at least half a dozen going on in Vegas at any given time--but eh, maybe I can catch them when they come to Portland. :)
Basically, I got 4 hours of sleep on Friday night, pulled a full day at the Collegiate Tournament, and then got 5 1/2 hours of sleep on a *very* hard floor on Saturday night. So, by the time I drove back from Eugene, packed my stuff, and hopped on the plane to Vegas on Sunday, I was completely wiped out. I spent most of the flight napping.
...and then, I somehow found the stamina to get off the plane, dress fancy, and traipse around with Alicia until 5am Sunday night. XD
Alicia and I had a room at the Treasure Island, so we met up with Alyson and Carolyn and the two other friends sharing their room, and we went to the club in the hotel first for some booty shakin'. The club had some tie-in with Ed Hardy that was equal parts appalling and amusing, but otherwise it was pretty uneventful. Alyson & Co. had to be up at 6:30am for their textiles show, so after they went to bed, Alicia and I and the other girl who *wasn't* going to the textiles dealie went over to the Bellagio to roam around. It was definitely classier than the Treasure Island, and the blown glass pieces they had all around the place were *very* cool. We had a few drinks, and then tried out a club inside the Bellagio, and that made for a pretty amusing bit of people-watching.
One odd thing was that we kept talking to people from the Northwest all weekend. We met people whose parents were from Portland, or people from Seattle, or people from towns near the Oregon/Washington border... I'm hard-pressed to think of a conversation where our origins came up, and they *didn't* have some connection to the Northwest. Amusingly, one of these people, who had a cousin in Beaverton, was also sporting a coke nail--which I was too tired to notice until Alicia mentioned it later--and blabbing about how his two super-fancy cars got reposessed. Keep it classy, guy. ;p
Anyhoo, we came back to our hotel after we used my exhaustion as an excuse to escape from Coke Nail Guy, and met a dude there who was at least kind enough to buy each of us ladies a drink. But, disappointment struck when he mentioned that he'd been playing poker at a table with three Chinamen earlier, and he actually used the word "Chinamen." So, of COURSE, I had to bust out with, "Dude, 'Chinaman' is not the preferred nomenclature." Except that he completely didn't get that it was a Big Lebowski reference, and thought I was actually offended, and I had tell him that I was quoting a movie. I kind of didn't want to talk to him anymore after that. XD I bailed shortly after.
Monday involved traipsing around at the Forum Shoppes for a bit, and that place was *huge* and seemed to go on forever. I was also amused at the fake "blue sky with clouds" treatment that was painted on the ceiling... not that it was badly executed or anything, it was just odd. Later in the evening, we biffed over to the Mirage to have dinner and go to their nighclub, because we all had free passes. It's apparently really easy to get free passes to clubs in Vegas if you're female, but this was apparently the best of the choices we had.
That, um, didn't work out, because some quasi-famous DJ/rapper dude (Li'l Jon, I think?) was making an appearance that night, so we stood in line for an hour before finally giving up and going to a smaller club that was also in the Mirage. That place was actually pretty fun, though: they had karaoke, and good dancing. There was also a kid, who was essentially Pretty Fly For A White Guy personified, and he actually came up to us, a group of 5 girls, and danced with us without a care in the world. He wasn't trying anything skeevy, either, he just wanted to be nice and dance! He was equal parts clueless and endearing, actually. I also kept getting hit on by 23-year-olds who were there on Spring Break, and it was hilarious to watch their reactions when they found out that I'm 29. XD
Tuesday was the day we were supposed to fly out, and most of the girls were tired, so Alicia and I decided to take off on our own adventures, so our first stop was at Old Downtown, where we roamed the streets and checked out the old-school casinos that were prominent before the Strip took over. We also went to the Golden Nugget and found their display for, yes, the world's largest gold nugget.
THEN, we wound up going to the Liberace Museum, which was probably the highlight of the whole trip. There was a free shuttle bus to the museum, and it was empty aside from Alicia, myself, and two blue-haired old ladies, and we had our run of the place. They had several of Liberace's spangly cars, many of his *gorgeous* pianos, a bunch of his wacky rhinestone-encrusted outfits, and the world's largest rhinestone.
There were videos playing of him flying onto stage on wires, and being generally ridiculous, and just, WOW. I was amazed that such an over-the-top character came to prominence back in the day, but then I think of people like Lady Gaga, and it's suddenly no longer shocking. ;p Anyhoo, I'm glad we did that, because that was *definitely* a uniquely-Vegas activity, heh. After we got done there, we lounged around and people-watched at the Venetian over wine and nibbles, and then headed over to the airport to go home.
Anyhoo, overall, the trip was worth it. I went into it with very little concept of what to expect, and no concrete expectations, and it was nice to just do things on the spur of the moment, and enjoy the ride. And, being away from The Job and The House didn't hurt anything, either. My only regret is that we didn't see a Cirque du Soleil show--especially since there are at least half a dozen going on in Vegas at any given time--but eh, maybe I can catch them when they come to Portland. :)
