It was still a 6 hour drive to make our way out of California. We followed the Mohave River, at least that is what they call it but it is literally a river of sand through the Mohave Desert. In our 5 days in Cali we have spent time in cities, forests, beaches, farm land, and now desert. We watched the thermometer in the truck climb as high as 109 degrees on this part of the trip.
Like a mirage rising from the desert, there is Las Vegas. Now we have been really fortunate on this trip so far and we have missions from 2 people to complete here but no worries. I managed to find us a decent rate on a clean suite along the Boulder Highway just to the west. Yep, Saturday night of Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas and we had a room; our luck was holding.
Pam Krodinger, my college roommate, sent us to the brand new Aria resort and casino for our task. We drove to within a block of the Strip, found a parking garage, and then the real Donnie and Lisa showed up. We struggled with finding our way through the Plant Hollywood casino and shops to the street and finally had to ask a cocktail waitress how to get out!
Once we were on the street, we realized we could see our destination. Everything looks so close in Vegas! We walked forever (thankfully all that hiking has paid off) and walked circles before we ever made it to the Aria entrance. I told Pam I would throw a $10 down on the roulette wheel for us and had her pick the number. She chose 21 because it was a great age for us. (They have all been great ages as far as I'm concerned). The minimum bet was $15 so I got my chips and decided to do the corner bet of 17,18,20,21 because when she and I met she was 17 and I was 18. It all seemed to fit! The wheel spins and the ball drops.....and you'll never guess! Yep, we lost :). 27! But my first mission is complete.
Moving on to our second mission (which was actually a double challenge) from Crystal Bowyer Pierce. Now Crystal is still off on her honeymoon in Cabo so the directions came from her mom, my bestie Kelly who can be really mean to me so these may have not actually been Crystal's ideas. We were to ride the Big Shot on the top of the Stratosphere and have cocktails on the VooDoo lounge rooftop bar at the Rio. Here is where our luck turns from bad to worse.
We decided having a drink was needed before we shot ourselves into the sky so we headed to the VooDoo. We stood in line (in the years since we've been here it has changed from a lounge to a nightclub). When we got to the door, the bouncer checked us out and said "you aren't chic enough to get in here". Actually what he said is men can't have open toed shoes and Donnie was wearing his sandals but the message was the same. It was Saturday night and they were culling the herd and we didn't make it up. It is a great view but I've seen it before. I was just disappointed that we couldn't accomplish our task. Instead we hit a dive spot off the strip for cheap beers and video poker, more our style! While there we made an executive decision - since we couldn't complete part of the mission, we were chucking the whole thing and using the money it would have cost us to go up the Strat and ride that thing for a decent meal :). Sorry Crystal!
Stats:
474 miles
Gas $83.75
Suite $79.45
Bets $21
Dinner and drinks $20
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That tree looks SO cool!
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