Pain, Planes, and no more trains -- Vegas '09

Vegas Baby!

Normally these words have wonderfully influenced memories associated with them as they flow from my lips. This year.... not so much.

First of all getting up at 4 a.m. just plain (get it, plane!) sucks. Had to be on the road yet again by 5 am. My dh, Mike, just HAS to have noise around him at all hours of the day/night. It's really quite annoying since I am a quiet-is-preferred-before dawn type of gal. Nope, not him. Had to suck it up and listen to several different cd's for the 1-1/2 hours to the airport. Nothing like hearing Pink signing about "Let's get this Party Started....".... um... hello.... way too early to be thinking about this. Too bad they don't make songs such as "it's too damn early to be on the road" or "Can I kill my husband for being noisy".... or maybe.... "Shut the FARK up and drive"...
Ok... can you tell once again, that I am sooooooo not a early morning person!?!

Also... I am 100% convinced that it's impossible to drive to the airport without rain, ice, or snow. No kidding... it was raining yet again.

For some reason (gee could it be the incessant NOISE?) I tend to be very grumpy by the time we get to the airport. I know, I know... I really shouldn't be -- but I am. I'm one of those that like to get there really early (ie - 1-1/2 hrs early) and go all psycho until I'm fully checked in, thru security and see our gate. THEN (and only THEN) can I relax a bit. Grabbed my normal early morning airport fare -- croissant and Starbucks coffee latte for the two of us. My other psycho trait? Buying one of anything and having DH eat it all. Pahleez -- if you wanted a croissant you should have told me when I asked. Please don't eat 3/4 of mine and expect me to be all sweet-as-pie to you! Ok... maybe it was only a bite or two but come on'.... lol

Onto the meaning of this title... PAIN, Planes, etc.

Once settled in the plane, I opted to pull my lovely reading glasses out of my purse and try my luck at the latest crossword puzzle book. There is no better way to waste 4 hours than to do crosswords. I made it through a few before my head was bobbing, and the drool was forming. Yes.... I FINALLY got some sleep. Too bad for me that dh had to "go". Urghhhh. So I followed. Figured why waste a trip. I shoved my half-fallen glasses on top of my head, and off we go.
On the way back, it's my turn to slide in to my middle seat when I hit a mack truck. Or so I thought. Oops... out came a rather loud "f" bomb, and the swear tourrettes followed shortly thereafter. WHY THE HECK did Midwest Airlines feel the need to add a new "safety grab bar" to the bottom of the overhead compartments? That mack truck was actually me smashing my head, or more specifically smashing my glasses INTO my head and THEN banging the hell out of it too. Oh yippee.... way to start the trip to Vegas -- bleeding from the skull and broken glasses.

Something was telling me this was "an omen" for things to come. Maybe I should be frugal with my gambling money, huh?

Once the sappy-ass tears stopped and the gash was assessed I was able to arrive in relative comfort. If you can ignore the constant "arm rest" battles that Mike and I were having?!?

Hence the reference of PAIN....

We arrived - and made the trek (via the train) to the baggage carousal.. and much to my SHOCK my big ole bag was the 4th or 5th bag up the ramp. Holy cow -- is this the "baggage" gods reimbursing me for the 3 days of lost luggage in Mexico? Things were definitely looking up again! No waiting in the taxi line (normally an hour), and we were all checked in the hotel in record time. So now what?

We made the first of a couple jaunts to Paris and Planet Hollywood for lunch/ dinner. I am sooooo out of shape that I pretty much was ready to KILL dh for making we walk so far/so many miles. For the record, Paris is only 3 hotels away from ours. He lived. Of course the sweat was pouring down me, and I guzzled three glasses of water once we were seated for lunch. All this for three resorts away? I could hear my heart ticking... and the voices in my head were getting much louder...."you are REALLY out of shape"....... tick tick tick.... "It's time NOW to go back on that diet, exercise program"............. tick tick tick..... "could you BE anymore out of shape"? ................ got it already. At least he was kind enough and let me watch the nascar race on tv while dining. I was actually quite pleased by that point -- happy enough to even try my hand at some video slot machines. Yeah, well... remember that omen? It pretty much rang true.

Headed back to the room and crashed. There is something about hotel rooms and naps that go together. I NEVER take naps at home, but took one every day while in Vegas. hmmm... what's up with that?!?!

Had a fantastic dinner at P.F. Changs (back at Planet Hollywood).... best dinner for the entire trip! Our waiter was worth the price of gold too. Should have given him even a bigger tip based on what was to come later in the form of waiters.

An observation that I made was while the casinos were less crowded, as was Vegas overall, the attitudes of the local staff members were the nastiest/testiest that I've ever seen. It didn't matter if we were at the Flamingo, Paris, Caesars or the RIO.... restaurants or casinos... cabs or the street - the locals were grumpy. Maybe the economy? Who knows.

I was able, however, to get in some good ole people watching though! My all-time favorite activity in the City of Weirdos. Again... due to economy the "strangest" ones didn't seem to be around this year. But there were a few "odd balls". Another notable observation: a lot less sequined shoes and purses. Bummer! I saw my fair share of drunk college kids, and people trying to act like college kids. Only one "puker"... which is a record! For those of you wondering.... no it wasn't anyone from our group either!

Our group had a wonderful happy hour one evening. This was my big drinking night, and only one, I might add. Yes... 6 chocolate martinis might seem excessive -- but really folks, it was over a 6 hour period including a big dinner! That still doesn't excuse my lack of coherent memories of the walk from the cab to the room though. The best part? I woke up fresh as ever with no hangover! Hate me.... I really need a hangover to remind me to behave - it's a wonderful control mechanism invented for us middle-agers.

So imagine the shock on the faces of our group when the very next night I opted to sip on only one cocktail at the Voo doo lounge! Earlier we had the entire group for dinner, and then off to the Rio for the Voo doo lounge. After that place, it's no doubt... I AM MIDDLE AGED. I belonged there like Madonna belongs to a Virginal Conference. Not so much. We were able to take a group picture or two outside overlooking the strip. Can't wait to see those. The pole dancer in the bus was also worth the trip to "la la lounge" also. Yes.... who knew that a sales guy could be so talented on a pole! And yes... my camera "caught" that moment..... lol

In review, this year was "off". I'm blaming this years' "eh" week to the economy downfall, or maybe, just me being a total lazy ass, who knows. But it seemed like I just "never got totally into it", or something like that. Oh well, c'est la vie. There's always next year, baby!

Oh yeah.... the plane ride home? I DID THE EXACT SAME THING.... call me smack daddy... but at least this time my glasses were off.

Hopefully we will recover and dh's cold will improve. And that diet? yeah well... I started that one today too.