vegas

lincoln and i went to vegas for my 25th birthday this past weekend (sorta for his too since his is just 5 weeks after mine).

we drove the 6 hours through the boring desert. plus it rained all the way.

we stayed at the new york new york hotel and casino. it was nice. a little jam packed, but nice. we were on the 18th floor so we thought we might get a nice view. once in the room i excitedly scurried to the window and threw open the curtains to find a beautiful view of... the parking lot. and the top of the roller coaster. we heard a lot of screaming.

we wandered the strip, rode in cabs, ate at the hard rock restaurant, went to fremont street, wandered the strip some more, saw the fountains at the bellagio, played the slots, bought stuff, ordered room service, and stayed up until almost 4am. the next day we basically repeated the same thing. we walked and walked until my poor little old lady feet ached and blistered. and we didn't even make it to the end of the strip.

i have a weird "thing" where i like to collect store bags. i have hundreds. and i have done this since i was little. so it was my goal to get a bag from every hotel/casino we went to. i would by shot glass from each gift shop and get excited when they would pack it up all nicely in a cute little bag with the casino's name and logo printed on it all colorfully. it is a stupid compulsion, because honestly, what am i going to to do with all these bags? right now they are just taking up storage space. but i can't help it.

the strip is an interesting place. you look up and you see all these beautiful hotels, flashing lights, interesting designs. but on the street level it is full of drunks, pervs, and homeless men begging for money.

i love to people watch and vegas is a great place for it. there was so many different types. you had the serious gambler who would play 3 slots at a time. all while chain smoking and throwing back cocktails. you had the old "rich" guy with the trophy wife on his arm. you had the tourists in visors and fanny packs with cameras around their necks. you had the shoppers, carry bags from every high end store imaginable - coach, hermes, fendi, chanel, gucci, prada, jimmy choo. you had the cougars out to score. you had the drunk "frat" guys ogling the cougars and cocktail waitresses. you had the foreign couple having an argument in another language before the woman stormed off yelling profanities known in all languages.

then there was the girls there for the bachelorette parties. we rode the elevator with a group of 10+ who simultaneously yelled and jumped around while apologizing the whole time for their behavior.

and this was just in casino.

street level you had the guys and girls forcing cards with nudie girls on them advertising who knows what. the shady guys at the corner trying to sell vip passes to night clubs. the ladies that would offer you "free stuff", like show tickets.

it was a fun trip, for the most part. the smoke got to be too much. my eyes were bloodshot for the whole time. the constant noise was annoying and the 6 hour road trip back was a long one.