Day 5 - Vegas
We got up Friday morning, showered, loaded up the van and said goodbye to Utah. We had one last stop on our trip, Sin City.
I had been to Las Vegas once before, but I was 19 and with a girl I was dating and her parents. She was a bit of a wet blanket (and I was underage), so I wouldn't say it was your "typical" Vegas trip. Now, I'm not much of a gambler, but I do enjoy an adult beverage, so I was looking forward to seeing what Vegas had to offer. On top of that, two of my traveling companions had never been to Vegas.
One more thing, it came up during our trip planning meetings (aka, sitting at the bar back home) that three of my buddies had never been to a Hooters before. Now, this is not some impeachable offense, but I do happen to think Hooters food is actually pretty tasty (albeit overpriced due to the "atmosphere"). As it turns out, there is a Hooters Hotel & Casino right off The Strip and the rooms were pretty cheap, so I secretly booked those and waited until we got there to surprise my buddies. It was a good laugh.
Here's what sucks about Vegas, though: We got to the hotel around maybe 12:30 or 1. Check-in wasn't until 3 or so and we had all of our luggage, but nowhere to put it. Hooters was happy to let us check in early...for $25 for each of our two rooms. Oh, and there was a $35 resort fee that wasn't mentioned anywhere (that I remember seeing) when booking the rooms. So, that kind of stressed me out since our cheap rooms quickly doubled in cost. But, after we got checked in, I just kind of let it go.
After getting up to our rooms, we went back down to the gaming floor where the actual Hooters restaurant was located and we had lunch. I had wings and a beer and it was way bueno. But, again, overpriced. After lunch, we set out to explore The Strip.
So, like I said, I'm not a big gambler, but I love Vegas. It's like being in a whole different world and I find the atmosphere to be really energetic and entertaining. We first popped in to New York, New York where we purchased alcoholic slushies and then dropped a few bucks in the casino. We continued our way down The Strip making short stops at the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. I don't think I gambled at the Bellagio, but I spent a few bucks at Caesar's Palace. And when I say, "spent a few bucks," I mean 10 bucks in a slot machine, which is about all I do.
We crossed The Strip, went down some side street and bought another slushie (those things go fast when you're walking and it's hot out) and made our way back up the Strip toward our resort.
Back at Hooters (I'm not going to lie, I feel a certain degree of shame every time I say that), we got cleaned up and went down to the pool/bar area where we cashed in some coupons for free drinks.
After grabbing some drinks, we went onto the gaming floor for some slots and waited for a blackjack table to open up. We got a table together and a very patient dealer who talked us through strategy and whatnot. This was probably the highlight of Vegas for me. It was low stakes and we didn't have to worry about anyone else at the table. We could just play cards, lose our money and have a good time together. Unfortunately, after a bit, some dude with like $400 in chips (we were all playing with $20-$40) sat down. Since you can get hosed over by a bad player (us) at a table and I didn't feel like being that guy, I cashed out and got up. My buddies did the same shortly thereafter.
At some point after all of this, I played some slot machine and won $100, so that was cool. Then we ventured back out on to The Strip. The sun had gone down and it was a GORGEOUS night.
We worked our way to our next fine dining stop - The Taco Bell Cantina. Yes, there were far better dining options for us, but two of my buddies and I go to Taco Bell back home together all the time and this was supposed to be the Mecca of Taco Bells. We wanted to check it out. Another one of my travel companions had never been to a Taco Bell, so we wanted him to have his first Taco Bell experience in Vegas.
The Taco Bell Cantina was ... fine. The food was about the same, just more expensive. You can (and we did) buy alcohol there, which is novel. They sell T-shirts and stuff like that. Mostly, it was just novel eating Taco Bell on the Vegas Strip, so I don't regret my decision at all.
After dinner, it was dark and we went back to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. To be honest, it was a lot cooler in Oceans 11, but now I can say I've seen it.
I'd like to say we had some wild, crazy and rowdy night and Vegas after this, but I think we were all feeling the wear and tear of several days of hiking. We went back to Hooters (shame) and gambled a little more and then popped over to Excalibur, where they have a giant arcade. Unfortunately, the arcade closed just as we were getting there (around 11). So, we grabbed drinks and gambled a little bit at Excalibur before heading back to Hooters and calling it a night.
Despite a pretty pedestrian night, I had so much fun in Vegas and it was a great way to end an awesome week (and I broke even on gambling!).
The next day, we flew back to Iowa. THE END