After dropping Dad off at the airport today, my Vegas Adventure ™ is officially two-thirds over. I figured CGE to be the first third, my time with dad the middle third, and Defcon this weekend the final third. As of 2:20pm today, Dad will be aboard a Southwest jet, zooming back east. I am currently sitting at a small table at a small McDonald’s inside the very large Stratosphere Hotel and Casino.
It seems weird to talk about the middle third before covering the first, but the time spent with my dad was much less overwhelming so I suppose I’ll jot that stuff down and get it out of the way.
I picked Dad up from the airport Monday, around 6pm. Earlier that day I dropped two separate friends off at the airport on two separate trips, so I knew my way around the airport pretty well and had no trouble being where I was supposed to be; only problem was, not only was dad not where he was supposed to be, but he didn’t know exactly where he was! I think the overwhelming size of the airport gave dad a glimpse at just how large Vegas is. After taking down down Las Vegas Blvd (the strip) we had dinner at Johnny Rocket’s. Dad said it may have been the best burger and onion rings he’s ever had. From Johnny Rocket’s we hit Fremont Street so dad could experience the downtown light show. After parking and making our way through the casino, we arrived within seconds of the show’s beginning. Dad enjoyed the show (I’d seen it) and after it was over we began our week-long tradition of losing money at slots and video poker machines. Whee! While leaving Fremont Street we discovered that the elevator we had ridden down on from the parking garage was now out of service. Five flights of stairs later, I picked up dad on the first floor on my way out and the two of us made it back to the hotel.
We began Tuesday with breakfast at Denny’s. From there we hit the strip. parking at New York, New York and setting out on foot. After cutting through the MGM Grand we ended up at the M&M store, after which we went to GameWorks. GameWorks was pretty impressive; they had a ton of newer machines including three House of the Dead 4 big screen cabinets (along with HOTD2 and HOTD3 cabs) and Mario Kart Racing cabs (4). Around lunchtime we left the strip and drove north to Chicago Style Hot Dogs, which were “okay.” After lunch it was time to hit the room for the first of several much-deserved naps. After nappie time Dad and I hit one of several Las Vegas machine gun shops. We didn’t shoot one, but we could have emptied two clips for $50. Tempting. After visiting the “World’s Largest Souvener Shop” we made our way back down to Planet Hollywood for their buffet, which rivals the Rio’s and was $10 cheaper at $23.99/person. The buffet was large as suspected. It’s not everyday you can fill your plate with Alaskan King Crab, meatballs, sushi and prime rib. After dinner we made our way through the Planet Hollywood museum which contains lots of autographed movie posters and gold records. Most everything there was for sale, too. An autographed postcard of Abraham Lincoln was on sale for $125k. What a bargain! After Planet Hollywood we swung by the Luxor, but didn’t spend much time there as we were both getting pretty tired. We gambled and drank just a little before making it back to the hotel room.
We began Wednesday with breakfast at Kady’s, one of the restaurants located inside the Riviera. After breakfast we drove back down to Fremont to walk around and gamble a bit. Dad did better on the tables than I did but at some point he lost his digital camera so in the end I came out ahead. After buying a few more things downtown we drove over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. I was excited about seeing the memorabilia but 99% of it was hanging on the walls behind people’s tables, so I didn’t feel like walking around staring at people eating. At 2pm we swung back by the Riviera to use one of their Internet kiosks to print out dad’s boarding pass ($5, minimum charge). After that, we decided to drive to California since neither of us have ever been there. 45 minutes later we arrived at Primm, NV and drove a mile or two across the boarder before turning around. I was literally falling asleep on the drive back so we decided to head back to the room and take a nap. After naptime we found Windy City, a Chicago-style restaurant which was much better than the other. Dad and I got a Chicago-style pizza that was as good as any we’ve ever had in Chicago. After dinner we were looking for some place to hang out off the strip so we ended up at the Big Inning Sports Pub and Pizzaria. Nice place, cheap drinks. We had a couple before hitting the hotel room.
Thursday morning we had breakfast at The Egg and I. Another day, another giant meal. By today we were both pretty burnt out on the casinos, so we were looking for cheap stuff to do to kill time. While driving around we ended up at a Classic Car Museum (lame) and the world’s largest Harley Davidson dealership (slightly less lame, but not much). I can’t think of anything else we did today. I dropped dad off at the airport, drove back to the Stratosphere, came to McDonald’s, started typing this, and am now getting ready to go check in to my room.
2/3 down, 1/3 to go.