No "ifs", "ands", or... talent

I went to Vegas this weekend to pick-up some money I loaned to the casinos. I drove out Friday afternoon with Vanessa and Albert. Traffic wasn’t bad (except where the 15 and 215 meet), but they really need to get a train going from the LA area to Vegas. Jennie, Adam, Kirsten, Ryan, and Jerome showed up a little later.

It was a relaxing trip. The first night we gambled until 3 AM and slept until noon. We hit the buffet at the Sahara (where we stayed), as did the 400-pound bride, her husband, the 350-pound bridesmaid, and the rest of the wedding party. Classy place for a reception! The Sahara has been remodeling their rooms, so they’re not as bad as they used to be and for $54 a night it was a good deal.

Albert caught a flying elbow in the eye from Kirsten while jumping on the bed and we spent the rest of the weekend creating colorful stories he could tell when getting home when people ask about his black eye (picture below). We spent Saturday at the pool and hit the Pink Taco at the Hard Rock Hotel for dinner. This is my second time eating there. The food is amazing and we always have a good time.

Afterwards we went to Crazy Girls at Riviera. This is the show advertised everywhere with 7 girls butts and interlocked arms. Terrible show! We called for tickets ahead of time, but it’s first come, first served seating, so we stood in line for over an hour to get mediocre seats. The theatre seats 400, so it’s kind of small. All of the music is lip-synced, and the girls’ dances look like they made them up in their living room that afternoon. The best part was the juggler who came out halfway through the show. The audience was not happy when the juggler came out, since they paid $45 to see topless girls, but by the time he was done he got a standing ovation. The girls only received pity applause.

We gambled some more that night, but nothing exciting. Sunday we had lunch at Café Lago (Caesars’ Palace). The prices are high, but you can order a buffet or off the menu. The buffet was $22 and my sandwich was $10 (add $4 if you want fries). The quality of the buffet was high with peeled shrimp, large crab legs, nice desserts, etc.

I think everyone won money gambling. The big winner was Jennie who left with $300 more than she came with (including paying for the room, show, food, etc.). Jerome hit a $400 slot machine and a couple of other smaller amounts, but lost most of it by the time we left. Kirsten won quite a bit on the slot machines (as always). Vanessa and I won about $100.