Fond of Snape: Places I've Been Archives

Vegas :-) or how I spent my 50th birthday

Finally!

First of all, I'd like to thank Betsy, Diane, Maureen, Heather, Megan and her fiance, Jimbo for taking the time out of their busy schedules and making the loooong trip to celebrate my birthday with me, not to mention being so much fun to hang out with! You guys are simply the best...and Jimbo went along with everything and was a wicked good sport:

the lone (oops, I typed long first hahahah) banana

Secondly, it wasn't nearly as x-rated as ~~Maureen~~ I'd hoped, but for me, it definitely was drunken!

Ok, here goes:

Thursday:

Woke up at the @$$ crack of dawn; it was actually kind of nice being up and out at that time! Hopped on the plane and 5 hours later, we were in Vegas, where, HOLY MOG it is HOT!!! Waaaaaaay too hot for me; I swear I'll never complain about the heat here in New England again! Checked right in, no problem whatsoever, even though we were very early (arrived at 10 am). Beautiful room at Paris Las Vegas, comfortable, clean.

Right away, we went and had crepes for lunch...yummy! Then we just wandered around I think, taking a ton of pictures

...had a extra dirty martini at some bar where the bartender was a huge Yankees fan but still pretty funny and ate dinner at Margaritaville, where I have absolutely no idea of what I had, other than the free shot of tequila for my birthday.

Friday:

Made it on time to the breakfast buffet, thanks to Kim who called at 7 am to let us know she wasn't going to be able to make it (long story short: The airline she was traveling on canceled her flight when they realized she wouldn't make her connecting flight, then put her on STANDBY for the next day. Let's just say she was NONE too thrilled with C*ntinental. We missed Kim, but persevered as best we could. The buffet rocked! Maureen and I scheduled massages (thanks to my brother for mine!), went to the jacuzzi afterwards and then back to the room. Some of the girls went to the pool and I chilled out reading my birthday book from Betsy, The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson.

Then ... it was time to go see Love! Now, I'm a wicked Beatles fan from way back (my favs were John & George, who was your fav?), so I expected to like the show. But...it exceeded my wildest dreams! No pictures allowed, unfortunately. The sets were fantastic, especially for Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (think of lots of twinkling diamonds (or fireflies!) in the darkness) and Octopus's Garden (the flossy floaty creatures were cool!). Oh, and while I didn't get a picture of it...I ordered a rum and coke and it was HUGE! I mean, I think he poured a quarter of the bottle into the glass (it WAS a big glass, but...DAMN!). Anyway, as much as I didn't care for Vegas, I would go back again in a heartbeat to see that show again! Maribeth! Let's GO!

Saturday:

Took a tour to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which was one big huge photo op! Our tour guide was enthusiastic, to say the least.

We also visited Spring Mountain Ranch, which belonged to Howard Hughes at one time and to Vera Krupp, who owned the Hope diamond. The coolest part of the tour was the secret passageway Vera Krupp had built into the ranch.

When we got back, Maureen, Megan and I walked in the 112 (or was it 117? and does it matter?) degree temp to get henna tats; the guy doing them was so sweet and gave me a free one for my birthday!

Got bubble tea and was amused by the look on Maureen's face when she sucked up a tapioca ball ROFLMAO!

Back to the room, played Apples To Apples while drinking heavily. Then the chicks and the banana took me out for dinner, where we terrorized the waiter:

...and that's all I'll write about that, other than that the code words to let ~~Betsy~~ ~~Megan~~ me us know we had to chill were platypus, pomegranate and phoenix, not that they helped. Afterwards some of us tried to get tickets to O over at Bellagio, but no luck, then we walked the strip, rode the double decker bus and dropped into bed late, late that night.