Celebrating 30 years

We flew out early - on an almost empty plane.
It's been decades since I was on such an empty jet.
The flight went well - we had some free drink coupns and we worked them like rented mules.
I wouldn't be driving in the next three days so I had a couple of vodkas and the flight got a little smoother.

When we landed at McCarren our bags were already waiting for us in the carousel (new management?)
so we grabbed a cab and headed towards the Big B, stopping at a spirits store on the way.

          The Big B

She wanted to stay at this fancy, five star hotel and since it was our big 30th wedding anniversary
I found a way to make it work - I traded a reader a pair of SW FF tickets for the price of the hotel.
We got a room on the 16th floor so Mrs. Bart could watch the fountains dance.
The Big B is a really nice hotel - I guess the best we've ever stayed in.

Marbel floors, granite counter tops, (both pointless) electric drapes which rule because
there's nothing that stings like the morning Vegas sun after a night of hard partying.

It was Sunday, and the Big B is famous for their Sunday Champagne Brunch.
Apparently it's underpriced because there were hundreds of people in line
so we grabbed a burger and saved a bunch of money :)

She wanted to do some shopping so I took a cab to The Palms to play some poker.
I assumed the high-rollers at the Big B would make poker there too scary.
I stuck my head in their Poker Room and saw a guy leaving with about $20,000 in cash.
I also looked in the "High Stakes" room to see if anybody famous was playing - no dice.
I had my usual bad luck at The Palms, but I managed to leave $40 ahead.
Back at the Big B, we partied and had drinks.

Sidebar: Good thing we stopped at the spirits store - they wanted $44 for a bottle of Smirnoff
and a whopping $140 for a bottle of Chinaca Anejo - over $100 more than I'm used to paying.
From there we watched some TV and the dancing waters and I got a pizza and she got some
fancy chicken dish from The Big B room service for supper.

Monday we wanted some Mexican food and tequila, so we dropped by the Hard Rock.
They make great margaritas there (she cuts her tequila) and their tequila prices are the best!
We thought we wanted to sit outside (temps in the low 70s) but there were enough birds there
to make a sloppy Hitchcock movie so we moved back inside - our waittress was not amused.
We had a better time than we intended, so it was nap time when we got back to the Big B.

Of course, that means we woke up around midnight - ready to go. Maybe the best thing
about Las Vegas is that it never sleeps - you can do anything you want at any time you want.
Eventually we wore down and called it a night.

Whenever I had a few minutes, I read some mail and did some blogging.
Funny, I keep getting e-mails asking if I'm OK.  Whenever I "go missing,"
you can probably find out why by reading the bottom of the current page.

Tuesday was another busy day. We walked over to Paris, Tally's favorite hotel and then
over to Ceasars Palace - no shopping at that place.  I guess Ceasars exists for people
upon whom God bestowed too much damn money and thus need to give some away.
We ended up having a late lunch at The Mirage.

Then it was back to the Big B to watch the American Music Awards.
Our spirits timing worked perfectly - we ran out late Tuesday night.

Wednesday we prepared for the flight home - I always dread that.
Did I mention that this place is hueueueueuege? She tricked me into going for "a walk"
that lasted for hours and you never leave their property - how do they do that?.
We ran into the world's largest chocolate fountain - 2 tons of chocolate at 120 degrees.

So we took another cab to the airport and guess what - there was no line.
The security people were standing there, talking to each other.
Reminder: It's the busiest travel day of the whole year - 30M people - and no line at the airport.
 

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