The more following the before....
The event.....pre...
I call my uncle, whom had arrived the day before me and proceeded to rub in my face the news of good weather and the fact that he won 150 quarters from a slot in the airport. He was at the center, because it was brought to his attention by a couple of our teammates that the dopes working the event didn't have any paperwork that he submitted roughly a year ago. Well, he was there to get that mess straightened out, so I offered to meet him there and hang with him for a bit. Binion's, which was right next to The Nugget in what I'm referring to as "The Four Corners"....pics forthcoming....offered a free shuttle service to-and-from the event, so hop aboard I did and meet my uncle I did. Short story long....the debacle got straightened out, to a degree. A bit more on that later. Afterwards, he had scheduled a lesson with an instructor who goes to the event on a yearly basis and offers tips and suggestions using video technology and computermatronics to aid his lessons. We high-tailed it out of there, and subsequently went the wrong direction on the same expressway in which I was almost sent to my death....or at least ruination....hours before. We found the nearest off-ramp and got turned around and headed back to his hotel.
He was staying at Bally's, which was little more than a half-mile from the hotel which contained the bowling alley where his lesson was at. He was more at the epicenter of The Strip, being right at Las Vegas Blvd. and Flamingo Dr., right near The Bellagio, Paris Las Vegas, Ceasar's Palace, and The Flamingo among others. Just to get to the hotel part of the compound we had to trek through seemingly endless upscale shops and restaurants and casino. This just to get his bowling equipment, then we had to....I offered to....wheel it down for him to make up time. Why? He has six bowling balls, all of them contained in an apparatus of three bags stacked on a small rack with wheels on the bottom. He's 6foot 3inches tall, and the handle on the apparatus doesn't extend far enough for him to not constantly bump the side of his foot on the dingus, so, me being only 5'9" on a good day, offered to drag it to keep from stopping every couple-hundred feet and making him lose even more time. Again, short story long, we made it through, got to the car, navigated traffic jams, got the 1000 brown m&m's filled in the brandy glass, Ozzy went on that night, and did a great job.
The Strip, a part of it anyways...
My uncle, his gf, and I geared up to walk around a bit and take in some of the sights around their area of Las Vegas Blvd., and get some food. I hadn't eaten a proper meal all day since I had been up @ five in the morning. I had some yogurt before I left for O'hare. Got some Dunkin' D's iced latte before the flight, a big-ass cookie on the flight(about 10ish or so), but that was it. I was famished.
Put all three of us together, you get a combined solution of "I don't care. Let's see if there's anything better, first." I don't think we even bothered to walk into the Bellagio. We made our way towards Ceasar's and I got my picture taken with Cleopatra, Ceasar, and a guard. I admired their dedication to their roles, Cleo stood there looking pretty, Ceasar spoke very manorly and lordlike, and the guard, well, guarded. I was the last one to get a picture outside, to which they stated that they were to retire. Having thought the show was done, we followed them(non-stalker like) into Ceasar's Palace. Well, I guess retiring to them meant moving the shtick indoors. They started in with the routine to all of the indoorsy lobby-folk. Me, uncle, and his gf found no restaurants of interest, so it was onward and upward for our travels. And on our travels, there were the people that hand out little advertisements for which escorts to call. I helped myself to as many cards that I could get my hands on.....as souvenirs. Lord knows I can't afford escorts, and after Reno, I won't pay for it again.
...The Bellagio, Ceasar's Palace, Cleo and Ceasar and The Guard and Your's Truly, Paris Las Vegas
After all was said and done, we ended up at the buffet @ Harrah's. Can't go wrong with a buffet. Don't want something, move down the line 'til you find it, dammit! And find it you will. With our fill eaten, we traveled some more until we came to Treasure Island. They hold a spectacle every hour or so, and the first two had been canceled due to "high winds" which weren't that high. We had arrived about a half-hour before the next show, and decided to claim a spot before the crowd really started to swell. And swell it would. About ten minutes before the show, an announcement interrupted a bevy of 93.9 fm-like playlist of Nickleback and Lady Ga-Ga songs to say that they would be monitoring the winds for the next show. So, it was possible that the waiting crowd might not get a show. That would've sucked for a few of us that had been waiting for the half-hour or longer. But, they went on with the show. And I got an idea as to why it would've been dangerous with wind. Pyrotechnics and dancers who were one or two wrong moves away from working at near-by strip clubs/chippendales venues navigating high jumps and drops down all manners of rope while lip-synching needs proper conditions to work. It wasn't a bad show for being free to watch, so I can't complain. And the girls were nice to look at, so it was win-win. By then it was about 1030, and there was a water fountain show @ the Bellagio @ 11, so we hoofed it over there and caught that. I've got some video on my phone that I'll try and post at a later time.
And now pics, and then bed, because @ midnight vacation ends, the chariot becomes a rotted pumpkin, the slipper busts its heel, and I go back to wrrk. Stupid, stupid wrrk.
The Mirage @ Nite
Bust outside of Harrah's
