Vegas, baby, Vegas – Part 1

The weekend after we headed to Seattle for Megan and Kristen’s wedding, I had the opportunity to fly out again, this time to Las Vegas with a group of girlfriends for a few fun nights.  It was a lot of travel in a short period of time, but it was worth it!  Backing up just a bit…

A few months ago, I happened to be walking back to work from the gym with my friend Taira, when we started discussing how much vacation time we still had left for the year.*  I only had a few days (for use in Seattle, as mentioned earlier), but Taira had a good two weeks, and she mentioned she was planning on spending part of that in Las Vegas with our mutual friend, Erin.  I immediately wanted to go, but not wanting to crash their party, I mentioned that if they wanted a tagalong, I’d be happy to go – you know, just to help them split the cost and whatnot.** 

Taira texted me the next day to let me know I was in!  What I found out a little while later was a very similar situation occurred with Trisha, another friend of ours, and a teammate of mine at work.  We had a solid foursome, and we started to plan.  Erin and Taira would drive up on Wednesday, and Trisha and I would fly in on Friday, with everyone departing by their respective methods of travel the following Sunday.

On Friday, Erin and Taira woke up in Vegas, cleaning up their items and moving from the Monte Carlo to the Luxor, our home for the next two nights.  Trisha and I worked in the morning, and my friend Kristen drove us to the airport to start our journey.  Since Trisha had never eaten at Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles, and one just opened in the airport***, lunch was pretty much decided.

Noms!

We headed through security and grabbed some drinks at the Barrio Café, to officially kick off vacation time.  The flight from Phoenix to Vegas on a Friday afternoon pulls an interesting crowd, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves people watching and assigning names to the various and sundry frat boys, overly botoxed ladies, and other very tan individuals who were to share our plane for the next hour.

After arriving at McCarron Airport without incident, we grabbed our bags, hailed a taxi, and arrived at the Luxor, where Erin and Taira thoughtfully left a key for us at the front desk.  We dropped our items in the room, then set about a seemingly never-ending quest to find reliable internet service, so we could log into and participate in our respective online workshops/classes.  This took a bit longer than anticipated, so we ended up hanging out at the bar at the Luxor while Erin and Taira finished with Taira’s favorite bartender at the Carnival Court, then headed back to see us.

That’s Taira with the bartender, “Flippy," and another buddy.

Yup, you read that right.

Erin and Taira, waiting for Trisha and I to arrive

What in the name of Ra were they doing to cattle in ancient Egypt?!?!

My little section of stuff in our room.

Mom and Chris like to tease me about always smacking my forehead against the window in Luxor when trying to look out – you know, since it’s diagonal, not completely vertical –

but I didn’t this time at all!  Ha!

After the whole band was together, we got ourselves gussied up and headed out to dinner for the evening at the Hofbrauhaus, a replica of one of the famous German beer halls.  Overall, the experience was only so-so.  Most of our food (with the exception of Trisha’s schnitzel) was overwhelmingly disappointing and rather pricey ($25 entrees), and the beer was just meh.  It was also crowded and noisy; the structure has soaring ceilings and lots of hard surfaces, so there’s really no place to escape the roar of the nearby frat boys.****  Even with all of this, a good time was had by all, mainly due to the delightful company.

Prost!

The aforementioned schnitzel

After escaping the Hofbrauhaus, we grabbed a cab back to the Strip and spent some time in the P.U.B. at Monte Carlo, a Todd English gastropub with a truly impressive beer list.  There were tons of great offerings on tap, including several local brews.  I did a sampler of pours from Tenaya Creek, one of the better locations in Las Vegas, and all of the varieties were fantastic.  We enjoyed the brews and listening to the dueling pianos, and we ended up closing the place down (or at least, the piano set).  After that, we headed home via foot, from the Monte Carlo to New York, New York, over the pedestrian bridge to Excalibur, then finally through the covered walkway to Luxor and up the inclinator to our room.*****

Magical things happen in Excalibur

Particularly after a few beers

We all headed to bed pretty quickly after we made it home, so that’s it for Day 1!  Day 2, coming soon!  A big thanks to Trisha and Taira for sharing their pics with me!

Later!

Amy

* Our fiscal year – and thus, our vacation time – starts on September 1st, so come August, it’s pretty empty around the office as everyone tries to use their time before it expires, never to be seen again.

** Mmm, hmm.  Sure.  Just for that reason.

*** Remember the one from the Seattle blog two weeks ago, you frequent reader, you?

**** Including Stefan, Asian Mike, and White Mike, three of the frat boys we noticed on our flight from Phoenix.  Fair warning that these might not be their real names.

***** Yup, an inclinator instead of an elevator, since it doesn’t go just straight up and down but travels along the diagonal incline that is the inside of the pyramid.  It’s kind of fun, but after a crappy German-esque meal and a decent amount of beer, it can make you feel a little swimmy.