Post Mortem, 4/2017

Quick and dirty birthday trip done.

All went more or less according to plan, aside from more fucking flight delays.

Got to the airport here in plenty of time Monday, they had a shortish but still annoying delay on this end that pushed me forward on arrive time by a half hour. Eh. Got into Vegas around 7:15, cabbed over to Flamingo. Room check in painless, got up to the room with no delay.

The Go room has pretentions at being nice, but is still basically a low-end room in a low-end resort. Room was fine size wise, but had simple, dumb maintenance and detail stuff wrong with it that just a little bit of care could correct. Multiple light bulbs out above the beds. No batteries in the bathroom remote. The Go rooms are supposed to have in in-room sound system, mine had none. Scuffs on the walls from former guests. Nothing that really seriously diminished the room's basic functionality, just things that an Aria or a Cosmo or even a NYNY would take care of.

In all the room was comfortable enough for a quickie trip though, the bed was fine, it was quiet, shower was OK and the elevators were copious and a breeze to get up and down in.

So unloaded my crap, took a quick shower and I was out and at it by a little after 8p. Headed straight over to the Dorsey at V/P, had a couple there...not much going on so I decided to find something to eat. Wanted to stop in Rockhouse but they had a private event on, so headed back down to the Linq and stopped into Yardhouse for dinner and drinks. Watched the end of the Dubs demolition of Portland and munched on chicken strips, then headed out to the Cosmo. Big convention in town that night so every bar venue in the place was slammed, I was finally able to sit down and have a drink at an auxiliary bar of the 2nd floor Chandelier, and rang in the 12a birthday arrival with a personable enough bartender.

Left there and was feeling a little tired from the long-ish day so headed back to the Flaming Go. Stopped into Tag at the Linq on the way back to the room for one last beer and shot. Was back in the room and racked out relatively early.

Tuesday, birthday, got a decent night's sleep and bounced out of the room after a shower around 10a. For some reason wandered around in the very not busy Caesars Palace and it's Forum Shops for a while, then headed down to The Henry at Cosmo for breakfast. Had a meh scrambled eggs and bacon, but started a good trend of staying fed and hydrated during the day. Wanted to go up to Chandelier to see a bartender buddy of mine, Abel, but he was off and the guy taking his place was sort of a bro douche, so just had one there and called it. Threw the one hundie I played in slots all trip there to no good effect. Don't think I helped my Identity points any.

Then rolled over to PH/Miracle Mile and did more aimless wandering, wanted to stop in Twin Peaks but it was overrun by middle-aged bald chubby guys (like myself), so I just decided to get to the valet and catch a cab to Venetian. Spent a couple hours watching the NASCAR channel at Rockhouse (why?), then made my way down to the Dorsey again. Couple shot, couple cocktails, then left there and hit Public House in there to have a late lunch. Had a nice poke snack and again soaked up a little liquor.

It was about 4p at this point so I decided to make my pilgrimage to Mandalay Bay for Skyfall. Got there a little early (cabbed it) so went into The Franklin (all these pretentious cocktail bar names in Vegas). and had a cocktail and got into a convo with a rum rep who was there shilling his brand. I'm not at all a rum guy but this wasn't horrible, and it was free. Then it was up to Skyfall, as always the amazing view and good cocktails made it one of my go-to's. There was yet another corporate party up there though so I didn't stay long, bounced out and headed to Slice in the MB Shoppes for a pizza and a Framboise. Both great, and keeping the belly full.

Then began the long march back up the strip, walking the whole way. Walked through Luxor and the Ex, both I hadn't been to for a while. For the fuck of it made a stop at Dick's at the Ex for old time's sake. Always a fun atmosphere in there and left my dollar bill calling card taped to the bar for posterity. Place is very lowballwhitetrash but it's still got its charm.

Walked across the bridge to NYNY, didn't stay just used the restroom then stopped at Double Barrel outside MC for a couple. Boring, really, and they were making noises like they were going to close so I left out. Kept heading north, ended up, despite my objections to their bullshit "concession fee" they tack onto everything, at the Beer Park at Paris. It's nice enough, multiple bars and a beer hall feel, though it's outdoors. Probably was there for an hour, and it was getting slightly late at this point so I started making my way back to the Flam. Got pulled into a little mini-bar called Fuel by a hawker in the Bally's shops thing, it's a flair bar which I can usually not stand but the bartenders kept it fun. Had a couple more there and got pretty toasted.

That was basically it. It was about 2a by this point so I hit up a Subway for a (bad) chicken sammie and then hit the pillow.

Fly out day should have been a breeze as my flight was at 1:50p, should have been easy to just go straight from checking out to the airport, but just as I was leaving the room I got the email that the flight was delayed and hour and a half. It didn't end up getting off the ground until after 3:30. What the fuck is the deal with my luck on flying out of LAS. Finally ended up making it back to my hobbit hole after 6p.

So, fairly standard, all said. It was different from a normal trip in a few ways, not the least of which I was very conscious of only being there a short time, I probably tried to jam too many resorts and too many of my normal haunts into one day. It might have been better if I had just stayed center strip and not wasted a lot of time resort hopping.

I was also trying to conserve money by the end of the night so I would be able to go out here this weekend. I never felt like I was quite "free" to have a normal blowout Vegas trip. It was, though, still a lot better than the alternative, which would have been going out and getting drunk here on Polk Street all day.

Going to Vegas at least made the day feel special - I mean, when it comes down to it I'm 48, I have heart disease and I'm overweight and out of shape...who really knows how many more of these I'll have. Not trying to be morbid, just stating facts. It was good to make it a celebration and not just stay here in the rut.

And now the rut returns for the next three months until the next trip. Have to start saving up for that one the 2nd check of May, i.e in about 3 weeks. Unreal. That's all booked and set, so not much to report here for a while, talk to you all when we get a little closer.