Vegas, Day 1

It already seems like such a long time ago that we were in Vegas, but it's been just over a week! It was sad to return to the snowy cold and to work, but the weather has been getting better and it was nice to have just two days of children and the rest conferences. It was a lot of prep but it went well and I managed to leave work about an hour early yesterday. Enough of that boring stuff, though: here's more about our Vegas vacation. *Pictures coming soon*

We left early last Friday morning to bring Jackson to my parents' house and drop Sadie off at Curt's parents' house. Sounds like my parents got the better end of the deal, but both sets shared Jackson, so don't worry. Leaving him behind was easier than I thought it would be and I was surprised by the unexpected amount of self-control I demonstrated while trying not to bawl my way to the airport. I kept saying, "Curt, aren't you proud of me?! I'm doing really well!!!"

We proceeded to Andrew's place of work to meet Cody & Sara and be driven to the airport. While it was great to see them again, I found myself thinking, I hope this trip goes well. One week together is a long time to spend with another couple... let alone with my husband without our daily 8+ hour break from one another... In my excitement the thought soon faded. I was so much looking forward to flying again and being on vacation that I didn't even get airport tummy (the name I've given for the nervous condition and upset stomach I normally experience while waiting for a flight). After eyeing a heavy-set man in a bright white suit with the biggest and strangest helmet-looking white wig I've ever seen (I've seen many), we checked our gate, found that our flight was scheduled to be on-time, and mosied around the airport. Turns out Mr. Weird Wig was waiting there when we got back. We knew from the moment we first spotted him at check-in and exclaimed over his oddness that he must be headed for fabulous Las Vegas.

While we were waiting for the flight I swore to Curt that I saw someone from Princeton. He glanced over and didn't believe me, but we kept looking. Pretty soon I realized that it was a friend of Curt's brother Matt (he had changed quite a bit), and I knew for sure when I saw his sister, who is a friend of Curt's sister Sheila. They, too, were headed for Vegas! Small world. Curt went over and chatted them up while we heard that our flight would be delayed slightly due to... a mechanical error. Oh, great. Just what we wanted to hear. We realized that they tell people so that everyone doesn't go up and ask, but Sara and I could have done without the info. The rest of the time - until we were walking down the hallway to board - Cody thought it'd be funny to tease us about the broken airplane we were about to risk our lives on. Ha ha. Thankfully they had fixed the problem and we were on our way. Curt was nervous, but he wouldn't admit it. He wasn't worried about the plane, but he doesn't like heights, so flying is not exciting and fun for him like it is for me. He didn't want me to call attention to that fact, either, but to try to distract him with games and regular conversation instead. It helped that Cody & Sara were seated right behind us - they even shared their deck of cards as we had forgotten to bring one. Once we took off (Weeee! for me, stressful for Curt) and were high above the clouds, he was able to relax a bit. I had a window seat and I think he liked it that way (although he kept pushing me back from it when he did feel like taking a peek).

We landed in Vegas 3.5 hours later and ended up experiencing the worst night of the whole trip. Landing was fun (especially for the Chatty Cathys who drank the whole way there) and we made it to Tahiti (the timeshare) just fine. Once we checked in, the girls were ready to take in the views, explore the room, and get settled, while the guys were ready to hit the streets and get drunk. We reminded the boys that coming up with a plan might be best as we were hungry and wanted to make the most of our night. By this point I had not eaten since our early lunch, which was 7.5 hours before, and a hungry Ashley is not a happy Ashley. While we debated about what to do, I started throwing out food options that were nearby so we wouldn't have to wait (Curt hadn't eaten, either, but Cody & Sara bought snacks on the plane). No one was able to agree on a decision. This stressed me out, and I was starting to get pretty upset. The boys had a let's-play-it-by-ear mentality, which was driving me crazy in my food-deprived state. I tried my best to grin and bear it as we decided to head to Fremont Street ("Old Vegas") and find something to eat down there. (Fremont is known as the site of some of the original casinos in the '50s. You can also get cheap gifts and choose from lots of bars. The main attraction is an overhead light canopy and sound system which encourages visitors to sing, dance, and be merry in the street. There is plenty of booze down there to help do just that!) We went outside to wait for the 6 p.m. shuttle bus. We waited 15 minutes which made the bus 5 minutes late. I was crabby, unhappy, and let them know it. We waited 10 more minutes. We checked in with the front desk who reported having heard nothing from the driver. I suggested walking around the corner to some of the fast-food places just to hold us over until we finally made it to dinner, because with the bus running so late, who knew when that would be? No one said anything. I was starving and getting downright pissed. I moaned and groaned and continued to throw out the fast-food snack idea until I remembered that I had put some trail mix in my carry-on bag, so I ran up to the room to snack on it and get a drink of water. Cody followed me up there to settle me down. He made me laugh and realize that I was being a spaz. He assured me that I was not going to starve to death so I munched my snack, went back outside, and apologized for being a freak. The shuttle finally arrived AT SEVEN O'CLOCK and we were finally off.

It was fun to see the Strip at night again and to re-orient myself to what was where as I tried to remember some of the favorite places I wanted to make sure we'd get to see during the week. (Brea, Curt, and I went with my parents over Christmas when we were 20. In the end we regretted not being at home for the holidays. It was still a fun trip, but not as exciting as this trip was sure to be.) The shuttle bus did not drive all the way downtown, so we had to get off at the last stop near the Stratosphere, cross the street, run to the bus station, and buy passes for The Deuce, the city bus. It was rather confusing as none of us had done this before and we didn't really have a clue what we were doing. The shuttle driver had a schedule to keep and could only say so much before closing the door and leaving us on our own to figure things out. We sat up top on the double-decker bus, Curt and I looking for familiar lights and landmarks so we'd know when to get off. This was not the way we'd arrived at Fremont Street six years before. We thought we saw something familiar and decided to get off with a slew of other people. We wandered around taking in the sights.

I was looking for somewhere decent to eat; Cody was salivating over his first chance to have an open container in the street. We tease him about having ADD (he's got to be at least borderline), and it was really kicking in down there. He was so busy trying to take it all in that he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going and we were soon across the street at Fremont Street West District: seedy, icky Vegas. We passed several rough-looking dudes, a few panhandlers, and a super drunk guy who called me "Princess" before us girls decided it was time to turn around and get back to the more civilized side of Fremont, if you can call it that. Cody was bummed that we didn't continue on to eat at the dive bar with glitzy lights across the street (he is a huge fan of dive bars, seriously), but we were more than happy to stop at a pub called Hennessey's, ready to order some grub! We weren't sure what to expect but knew it had to be better than some of our other options down there. It was more expensive than the trashy dive would have been, but it was worth it for the best club sandwich I've ever had. It probably tasted better because I was starved, but damn, was that good! They also had awesome potato wedges topped with cheese sauce and bacon... Oh my goodness...

After we ate and I was happy again - it had been 11 hours since my last meal! Imagine how you'd feel! - we walked around some more and they found some cheap drinks at kiosks and inside some of the gift shops (Yes, they sell reasonably priced alcohol inside of gift shops in Vegas so people can drink on the streets. I guess the law is that you have to be 100 feet from the storefront or something. ) and we took in two light shows: tributes to Queen and KISS. They were pretty cool and played some good music. Cody and Curt were pretty buzzed by the time we headed back to the bus stop at 12:30. We were tired after a long day of traveling and a rough start to our night, so we were really looking forward to a quick, easy ride back to the shuttle, then back to the Tahiti. But that was not meant to be.

We waited in the back of a long, growing line of tired drunks with empty collectible cups in their hands. It was so crowded that we had to wait for two buses to fill before we were able to hop on. We found some seats up on top and said how relieved we were that the night was nearly over. We weren't sure how long it would take The Deuce to get us near to the casino where the shuttle would pick us up, but we figured we had plenty of time, and we did. We got off the bus after a short while and walked a little ways to the pick-up point, where we waited for 10-15 minutes. The white shuttle bus got there and we climbed aboard thinking about how much closer we were to the pillows in our room. As we talked and laughed about the misadventures of our night, we looked out the window to see that this was not the same route we had come downtown on, and that it was taking considerably longer than we thought it would. Oh well, we thought, they probably don't take the same route both ways. It's our first night; we're just not used to this yet. We let it go and continued riding quietly, becoming more and more tired. Pretty soon the driver came to a stop at an unfamiliar resort with an unfamiliar name and called its passengers to get off. Every single person on that shuttle left but for us four young kids in the back. We looked at each other in confusion. We spoke up and the driver crankily clued us in to an important piece of information we did not forget the rest of the trip: we were on a white shuttle to Club de Soleil. We were staying at Tahiti, which uses only gold shuttles. He radioed a gold driver who told us to get off and wait there for him to arrive. It seemed at that point that the night wore on and on. It was a long, miserable (at times) day, and by now I had pretty much had it. Our shining gold shuttle arrived after what seemed like forever, and we rode back in silence to grumpily hit our pillows, ONE AND ONE-HALF HOURS LATER than when we lined up for the bus. I could not rip my clothes off and get into bed soon enough after all the ridiculousness. It was wonderful that the shuttle was free, convenient, and supposedly easy to uset, but what a pain in the ass the whole thing turned out to be on day one!!!