Prior to April 2008, I'd never really done Vegas. Josh and I stopped in Vegas when were 18 and driving out from Florida to California. We gambled a small amount before getting kicked out of the casinos. We went to Deja Vu, an all-nude strip-club (the only kind you can get in at 18 since they don't serve alcohol but the topless ones do). But we were only in Vegas for one night, and we really didn't know what to do, or where to go, and even if we had, we weren't old enough to do most of it.
Years later, I drove through it on both of my Metallica tours. The second time through I had drinks with some of the Metallica crew in their hotel (not the band's hotel, the crew's hotel), but that was about as Vegas-y as it got.
So, I decided, before I leave the states, a proper Vegas trip was in order! I invited thirteen people. Seven of them came out.
The plan was to go out Friday afternoon, do some casinos, hit a strip club that night. The next day was casual check-out-Vegas day (walk around, see the free shows, gamble, whatever). Then Saturday night we had really good tickets for Stomp (6th row, orchestra, center). We do the show, dinner, and hit some casinos and bars. Stay out late, party, etc. Sunday we were going to do the Paris champagne brunch and then head of town.
As is often the case, the plans changed a lot over the coarse of the weekend, but it was still lots of fun.
Now, you may be asking, But Phil, I thought 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,' so how can you chronicle it? The answer to that is... with discretion. What casinos we went to, and our general itinerary is no secret. The specifics of certain events - such as what happened at a given strip club - on the other hand, will be glossed over a bit. One anonymous quote I will share from the weekend, "Big dumb black guys turn me on!" Ah, Vegas baby!
We got into Vegas around 4:30, but due to excessive traffic didn't get to Circus Circus, our hotel, until after 5:30. By the time we checked in, pre-checked everyone else in, and got to the room to put down our stuff and get changed, it was after 6. KC and Allie were staying at Flamingo courtesty of Allie's father. Bill and Cheryl would be driving up after Bill got off of work and planned to hit town shortly after midnight. Jeff and Vanessa were in the same boat.
KC and Allie were going to have dinner with Allie's family, so Josh and I ate at Strip Burger, a nice-ish burger place on the strip that's a part of Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba. This place was really good. They had some of the best burgers I've had in a while, made with great beef that was cooked to order. They also had awesome sides like fried pickles, shoe-string fried onions, fries, and more. They also had a selection of cakes and shakes. At dinner I asked our waitress where she likes to hang out, and she gave us the names of several "local hangout" bars away from the strip.
We then headed to meet KC and Allie at Mirage. We met Allie's dad, chatted for a few minutes and then we were off. First stop was over to Caesars to check out the Pussy Cat Dolls dancers that are in the black-jack room. The idea of a casino putting cage dancers behind the dealers is brilliant! What better way to distract players into losing their money? But it was so outrageous I had to see it. So KC and Allie took us over there, and sure enough, caged dancers and scantily-clad dealers. While many people were taking close-up pictures of the dancers, I (a) felt that was in bad taste and (b) was more interested in capturing the insane feel of the room. Hence,
Some dude even posted video of it on youtube.
And of course a picture of my friends, for prosperity. That's KC, Josh, and Allie.
Anyway, after that was a tiny little hole-in-the-wall bar that KC had found last time he was in Vegas called The Stage Door Casino/Bar. They have obscenely cheap drinks, like well drinks for $1.50! They're claim to fame, other then insanely cheap drinks, is they have 22 more years on their lease - which is in huge letters across the front of the place. The place is a total dive, but its clean and its cheap. Apparently the big casinos have been trying to buy them up for a while, but they're standing firm since they have 22 more years. KC got a Stoli and tonic, Josh and I both got captain and cokes, and Allie got water. I paid a whopping $7 for the bill. That place rules. Chet, who was supposed to be joining us on Saturday had bailed at the last moment, so we decided to start sending him late-night text messages. We all sent him texts berating him for his lack of presence. This became a habit throughout the weekend.
At this point, it was getting close to strip-club time. We'd pushed it until late so that the rest of the gang could join us when they arrived in Vegas. While we discussed which club to attend, we headed back to KC and Allie's hotel room. At this point, Jeff and Vanessa called to say they weren't going to go out that night. There wasn't much explanation, but I gave them sufficient crap for it. Bill and Cheryl were still on their way. There was some dislike of spending $30/person to get into any of the strip clubs, but alas after some nudging, everyone "agreed" that Vegas isn't Vegas without a strip club. So off we headed to the infamous Spearmint Rhino. When we got in a bit before midnight it was shockingly crowded and dark enough that even after your eyes adjusted it was hard to see. I've never understood that - the whole point of a strip club is to see. Anyway after a while, we found a table, but found out tables cannot be taken. So after paying off a guy at the front (and I'm pretty sure he wanted about 10x what I gave him), we got a table. Finally the night became fun.
Clearly, discretion is required here. But I will say a few things: women are treated, as you would expect, very different than men in a gentleman's club. To be clear, I mean, they're treated better. In addition, men with a woman in a strip club are also treated better. Sadly, only a few dancers that night seemed to have any talent with the pole on stage, but the ones that did were very impressive. I will also say that watching people you know get a lap dance can be highly humorous and entertaining. Just after getting the table Bill and Cheryl called to say they weren't going to come to the club either. I would have argued, but it was way too loud. Anyway, we didn't leave the club until 4am, and when we did, there was unanimous agreement that fun was had by all.
Post-Rhino, it was definitely time for some sleep, so back to the hotel it was to catch some z's.
A phone call from Jeff at 11am woke Josh and I up. Him and V were going to get some brunch. I woke Bill and Cheryl up and we said we'd all go find food together. KC and Allie were doing and early brunch with Allie's family that day - so they were already up and at their own breakfast. The buffet in Circus Circus was pretty decent, and we all ate lots of breakfast food. Then it was off to wonder around!
KC and Allie had planned to watch some of the Final 4 games that day, so it was Bill, Cheryl, Jeff, Vanessa, Josh, and myself.
After a while, Jeff and Vanessa separated to go shopping and we agreed to meet back at the hotel before the show. The rest of us went to go check out the fountains at the Bellagio.
Back at the hotel we all went to our rooms to shower and change. We then headed off to go walk to Planet Hollywood to see Stomp! Since Vanessa wasn't wearing walking shoes, Jeff and her took a cab. The rest of us met KC and Allie at Flamingo and then headed to the show.
The show was spec-fucking-tacular. We were all excited to see it, but it vastly exceeded everyones expectations. It truly was an absolutely amazing show. I can't recommend this enough.
After that we headed to the Planet Hollywood buffet for dinner. They wanted to charge us almost another person just to seat us at a large table, so we sat at two tables of 4 instead of a table of 8. We rejoined after dinner, and Bill and Cheryl wanted to do some $3 blackjack at Circus Circus. Jeff and Vanessa said they'd join them. KC, Allie, Josh, and I decided we'd check out the Mirage again, and then work our way back to Circus Circus. I took some parting pictures.
And a few other pictures of the strip on our way.
Interestingly, on our way, we randomly stumbled into some chick who also grew up in Boca Raton, FL - where Josh and I grew up. After a few "do you know so-and-so?" "no." rounds, we went our separate ways. While KC and Allie were getting ready (we made a pit stop at their hotel room), I took some interesting pictures out their hotel room window.
And a few of them:
Aw, the photographer never gets to join the action. Sadness. Anyway, we headed to Circus Circus to meet up with the others and for some cheap blackjack. Unfortunately only 3 tables were $3, the rest were $5 and $10. After a few rounds we met up with Bill and Cheryl. Jeff and Vanessa had called to say there were going to stay in again. Bill wanted to gamble more, but the rest of us wanted to check out Griffin, one of the local bars the waitress at Stripburger had told us about. So off we headed, but sending regular text messages reminding them to meet us there later. Thanks to what I can only assume was heavy persuasion by Cheryl, they did in fact meet us there later that night. The bar was very cool. It had two rooms, fireplaces, and a great vibe.
The front room was the pub/bar area, and the back room was the dance floor. While the front room was playing great music, the back room was playing horrible indescribable music when we arrived. After a while, the back room moved onto R&B, and eventually some rock music. Once the rock music hit, Josh and I hit the dance floor (though, not to dance together). At one point some drunk guy apparently decided to fuck with one of the bouncers and got dropped. This was all out front, so it caused almost no disturbance to the patrons. But we saw it on our way out. Around 3am we left - KC and Allie in a cab, and Bill, Cheryl, Josh, and I in Cheryl's car.
We woke up around 10 since check-out was at 11, and started getting ready and packing. Jeff and Vanessa headed out of town, and the rest of us went up to meet KC and Allie for the champagne brunch at Paris. We drove up there and found an hour-and-a-half long line that was still growing. Bill and Cheryl went looking for other options while the rest of us met up with Allie's dad to see if his employee status could get us in quicker. When it didn't, we settled for the brunch buffet at Flamingo. It was a bit better than the Circus Circus buffet, but nowhere near the Paris one (it's world famous, and according to Allie, unbelievably good). Some stuff was excellent, other stuff not-so-good. But it averaged pretty good. We all had a long, leisurely and tired breakfast. Then KC and Allie dropped us off at Circus Circus and went to go play some poker at Mirage. I played $5 blackjack for about 45 minutes and lost $35, and then we headed home.
Vegas was a ton of fun. I learned a lot about how to do Vegas. I learned that alcohol is free in a casino! I learned that at least half of the buffets are reasonably priced. I learned parking is free everywhere in Vegas (well, at least on the strip). And I learned a lot of people are apparently scared of Vegas! It was a great trip and I'm glad I did it.