Viva Las Eagle

Sunday Oct 18th I woke up about 2:45am. I laid there for a few minutes and decided to check the time. 2:48 stared back at me, mocking my alert face. I tossed about and whispered 'go to sleep' for 10-15 minutes before giving it up as a bad job and going downstairs. About 4am I woke up MJ to get ready after breakfast and blasting gums we got dressed and waited for the taxi. Guy was spot on time and pretty decent fellow. We flew with Frontier airlines. I had zero experience with them, they seem to be modeled after Southwest airlines. No first class, reminds you of greyhound bus set up, but for an airline. We land in Denver and had to beat feet to the opposite end of the terminal to catch the connector. No restroom, no water, no time. Another 90 minutes in the air and we touchdown in Las Vegas. The guy at the car rental desk tried to sell us on more insurance three times after we said 'no thanks'. With the time difference we are standing at the desk of the Hard Rock Hotel before 10:30. We knew that we wouldn't be able to check in that early but wanted to get our name in all the same maybe even leave our bags while we went out to get the lay of the land. Now, about 2 years ago we paid down a big chunk of debt and got rid of all of our credit cards. Life has been less stressful and the changes we made allowed for things like...a trip to Vegas. So, the check in desk had the first time we have felt not smart for not having any major credit cards in pocket and lead to the first of the lessons of Vegas. Always read the fine print. We had booked the trip with Expedia and thus had read the fine print with them over and over never leaving any doubt of any limits or loopholes. We had not however, read the fine print for Hard Rock Hotel which will hold $100 per night of your stay off of your debit card if no major credit card is available. 20 foot inside the front doors on the first day and we are $500 down already. Vegas one Eagle and MJ zero. MJ was pissed, asking on the spot if I thought there were rooms at the Motel 6 down the road. I just kinda shrugged and thought 'okay, so, that happened, okay, there goes all of the money I figured we would use on gambling, so, now, no gambling.' I smiled at the wife, smiled at the desk clerk and signed off on it. We left our bags and a cell number and we went to Target. That is right kids, second stop in Las Vegas was Target. We got some supplies to make the stay cheaper and grabbed some lunch while we were about. While we were talking about how smart we were to load up on supplies at a discount store we got the call that the room was ready. I loved the room. MJ had read about the mini bar and had even overheard a mini bar victim while we were waiting in line to check in. The mini bar fridge has a sensor on it. If you open it then you are paying for something; it matters not if you actually did eat of drink anything. So, we located it and stayed away for the rest of the trip. The rest of the day we merely got familiar with the surroundings. Took some pictures here and there, made sure we could find the strip, and find our way back to the hotel. We were so worn out from the early start that we got in bed and was passed out by 9pm. We don't know how to party.

Monday my internal alarm clock reared its ugly self at 5am. Hey, it was 7am at home. Just like the morning before as soon as my eyes were open there was no stopping. I roused the wife while getting out of bed. After a small discussion about what a ridiculous time of morning it was we decided that if we hurried a bit we would be able to watch the sun rise at Red Rock Canyon. We didn't quite make it but the fact that we were fighting traffic with a bunch of poor saps that had to be going to work whereas we had the week off made up for it. Just as well that we didn't make it to the canyon in time as it had not been open but about 10 minutes when we got there. The visitor center still was not to open until the top of the next hour. So, after we drove around for a bit trying to decide which trail to take on and just enjoying the view. What a view it is; although a bit of a noodle bake that less than 30 minutes in the car from the Las Vegas Strip is such a display of nature and beauty. Makes one feel tiny and gives a challenge to any sense of control. Red Rock Canyon brings us to lesson two: Plan ahead/do your research. It was not until three or four miles into our hike that we figured out that Red Rock is a dry canyon. No water plumbed in anywhere inside the park. MJ and I had a 12 ounce bottle of water each. The last hike away from home I took 24 ounces for less than 4 miles for myself, and that was the Ozarks, not the desert. By the end we probably did around 8 miles. That is after had taken not one but two wrong turns and we are totally guessing from looking at the map once we escaped. I would go back but I would take much more water and at least some suntan lotion. That afternoon we marveled how lucky we were to have been lost in the desert and survived over some NY style pizza. I finished off lunch by trying to build some karma helping a guy that was having car trouble. No dice. Anybody know if effort is counted towards karma. After a much needed shower we waited for nightfall and went to Freemont Street.
On the 'kinda cool' side CSI was filming a scene while we were there. Mainly the area that was blocked off for said filming just ended up being a bit of a pain. We didn't stay and gawk long enough to see any actors we knew so navigating the mash of people was interesting but also a headache. It was really nice to see such icon landmarks like the neon cowboy and the golden nugget. For some reason, we blame the CSI filming, the ceiling was not lit up and going when we were there. Major bummer. We did however get to watch a drug deal when walking from the parking lot. All the stuff we had read said that Freemont was safer and more laid back than the strip. So, being within arm length of street pharmacy deals just a half a block away upon arrival we were doubting either how current the travel books were or how much luck we had going for us.

Tuesday morning we woke up at a more vacation friendly time of 8:30am and had no plans at all. Once clean of body and fresh of breath I simply suggested we walk the strip. We started at NYNY and just casino crawled most of the day. A co-worker of MJ's had told her the cheapest token you can get in Vegas is a $1 chip from the cashier at various casinos. We thought this was a great idea and set off to collect as many chips and pictures as we could. I personally think that vacations are for letting it all hang out. I don't care what people think most of the time as is but on vacation I really feel that I will never see any of these people ever again. Heck, the only reason we were in Vegas a second time was because I felt like I had a score to settle from the Fear of Dying in Las Vegas tour of April of '08. We window shopped, snapped pictures, collected chips, and just generally had a ball. By the time most people were just getting off from work we had collected $17 in chips and seen all kinds of awesome. The Pink Taco happy hour was from 4 to 7 each day and we just made it in time for the two for one margaritas.

Wednesday morning MJ's dollar sense was tingling. She asked to borrow my phone to check our bank balance. Good thing too. The HRH had taken not $100 per night off our debit card but $150 for each night. I immediately called the desk to ask WTH? and was told that they 'used to charge $150 per night in holdings but recently changed it to $100' to the fault of 'nobody' there was a 'glitch' in their system that nobody could correct some guest 'at random' were charged the old $150 nightly rate instead of $100. After MJ used some of her super book keeping skills to rearrange and switch about and reschedule things we were back to a comfort level despite the additional $250 hit. So, $750 held hostage for the length of our trip. The Sux. Oh, Hard Rock Hotel, you make it so hard to love you. Once her ninja finance skills had been flexed, MJ and I set out on our latest start of the whole trip. We hit another 4 casinos for the sights and $1 chips. The Playboy store at the Palm's was my favorite for sticker shock. A onesy for baby Maxton was north of $44. Eeeak! I dropped it back to the table as if it was engulfed in flames. We even played some slots at the Palm's. I could see plugging money in those machines until I injured my arm from repeated pulling of the lever. I liked it but knew when to hold em and when to fold em. At one point we were about $30 up...of course we didn't stop until we were $10 down. After another round of window shopping and casino crawling we went to the Pinball Hall of Fame. Score! I discovered I still suck at Donkey Kong. There is around 200 different pinball (and about 10 classic arcade) games there to play ranging from 25 cents to 75 cents per play. My inner geek was blissed out. I would have gladly spent hours there plugging quarters. From the Pinball Hall of Fame we headed back to the HRH for some pool time. Big letdown. The water was freezing and all of the sunny spots poolside was taken up by symmetrical (read: prettier than me) people. We hung about for a little while and just watched people from the shade. Very entertaining but I would have much rather been riding the lazy river I had read about on the HRH web page that we had no access to. Plus, I was kinda counting on getting some sun in the middle of October. No deal. IT PUTS THE LOTION ON ITS SKIN! Happy hour at the Pink Taco was more fruitful...strawberry to be exact. Once the effects of happy hour were washed away we went back out to the strip for Pink's hot dogs and a few water shows in front of the Bellagio.

Thursday we went to Hoover Dam. Dam good tour! Dam good trip! Dam...I am out...good. It is one of those places that makes my 'history nerd' side jump for joy. Roosevelt and Truman both were very involved with the project. I didn't really hear much I didn't already know but our tour guide did have some information that I was glad to hear. Plus, I wish I had been so lucky at the slots, our guide was a second generation guide. His father had been a guide so he had a much wider time frame to pull from. By the time we got back to Vegas it was already the afternoon and the shadow of check out time was casting over our room. We did some actual shopping and mostly kicked around the HRH area the rest of the afternoon. That night we had reservations for Nobu. I had never had sushi before. The plan was that Nobu would be my first. As many other things on our trip this didn't go as planned. Nobu was very loud and thus instead of sushi as one of our dishes we got sashimi. I didn't know the difference and it tasted great so, no harm, no foul. That said we still had a great meal. The Yellowtail with Jalapeno sashimi is really good but the Black Cod with Miso is perfection. Hands down the best fish I have ever put in my mouth. One of the few times I wished I had a larger stomach.

Friday we woke up on a mission. We had to be packed and headed for the desk by 11am but we were not due to turn in the rental until 1:30pm. So, it was clear what had to be done...shopping. Paul Frank and Adidas we love y'all. The trip home was largely uneventful. From Denver to Tulsa we sat next to a hippie chick and her scruffy boy and got out our earphones to drown out the noise of a social butterfly a few rows behind us.

The cat has still not calmed down and attacks our laps for endless petting/food begging. The dog took two days to recover from exhaustion. All in all even with the surprise charges and evil mini bar, even with getting lost and countless u turns. I feel like I won the war of Eagle v Las Vegas. I enjoyed it but I will not even think about going back for at least 20 years or so. As long as this entry is I edited out quite a bit. I figured a PG rated post would be best. Viva Las Eagle! MJ has all the pics on her net-book and will post in time. Right now I gotta get back to work Hallow Marine starts in less than 3 hours and that Tyler Durden pink robe and rose lens shades don't wear themselves.

5 at a time

Age ain't nothing but a ... wait ... wut?

1. At what age do you think it's appropriate for someone to get their driver's license?
16 works but maybe if it was pushed to 18 it would be seen as more of a privilege than a right.
2. At what age do you think it's appropriate for someone to first drink alcohol?
21 works though for some it should be 30+
3. At what age do you think it's appropriate for someone to become sexually active?
they are gonna do it whenever they find a willing partner I don't believe this is something you can stick a number to. I don't think anybody waits until they are ready.
4. At what age do you think it's appropriate for someone to vote in elections affecting national and/or local government?
18 if you are old enough to be drafted of sign up for the army then you are old enough to have a say in the direction of the nation.
5. At what age do you think it's appropriate for someone to be conscripted for military service?
18 works. really it should be as soon as you are finished with school. GED or diploma.

When I grow up

1. What did you dream of being when you were a little child?
Quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, Rock Star, and Superman
2. What did you think you might become when you were between the ages of 12-13?
A lawyer or politician. I considered PR head of Phillips Morris too.
3. What career choices did you consider as a young adult?
History Professor, High School Football coach, Speech Therapist
4. Did you follow along one of the career paths you considered?
Not so much.
5. Have you changed careers since then? Was it by choice or necessity?
A few times. Choice fueled by fear for my soul.

Then & Now Five

1. how old were you when you first started your livejournal account?
twenty eight
2. how has your life changed since then?
numerous ways, go read and see, I went through some darkness and currently I am much better off
3. if you could go back and change one thing from your past, what would it be?
nothing, it all leads me here
4. what is one thing you would do to make livejournal better?
I don't know.
5. if you joined the spice girls today...what would your spice name be? (ie, baby spice, scary spice, etc)
Flabby Spice

ACK!

1. If there was one thing about your body you could change, what would it be?
Less fat and less loose skin
2. Would you rather lose 10lbs or 10 points off your IQ?
10 lbs who the hell answers any other way!?
3. When you look in the mirror, are you happy with what you see?
from the nose up and the knees down yes. between the nose and knees no.
4. Have you ever dyed your hair?
A few times. probably will again
5. How often do you weigh yourself?
At least once a week

Great now I have the GoGos' song vacation in my head

1. Will or did you go on vacation this summer?
I went hiking in the Ozarks in September and Leave for Las Vegas on Sunday. I don't vacation in the summer as that is the busy time at my job.
2. Where will/did you go?
Ozarks and LV
3. What do you like about the place?
The Ozarks are quiet and natural. LV is not anything quiet or natural.
4. What don't you like about the place?
It rained everyday in the Ozarks. I nearly died when I went to LV last time.
5. Where do you want to go next summer?
Jamaica