Oh Vegas, How You Rocked My World...

Can I first say how happy I am that all of the Christmas gayness and glee is over! Man, I didn't think I was going to make it there for a minute. But, here I am, on the other side of "the holidays", looking forward to the next chapter.

During the week that would normally be spent wandering the crowded shopping mall amongst the hyperactive children and Emo kids, I decided to introduce myself to the majesty of Las Vegas, Nevada... and it was beautiful. I loved every second of Vegas, well aside from the hangovers, and the $86 bar tab, and I can't wait to go back.

A' and I landed in Vegas on Wednesday and about an hour after we arrived at our hotel it started pouring snow. Yes, snow in the desert. Everyone in the town was freaking out. Driving like morons, canceling school, even closing the airport, but we didn't let it stop us. Actually, it was warmer there than it was when we left Kansas City that morning, so we kind of enjoyed it. Some people told us it was the first time Vegas had seen snow in 5 years, others said it was the most snowfall since 1979. In the end, nothing really accumulated and it just looked like it had rained but by that point we were already exploring the town and all of it's glory.

Our first night there we experienced a $30 buffet at the Rio, beers were another 5 bucks a pop. I wouldn't really mind paying $30 for a buffet if I ate even half of what they offered but unfortunately I don't eat seafood, crab legs, sushi, or anything fishy. Don't worry, I made up for it at the dessert bar. After dinner we played the bar for a little bit and met this really interesting couple from Palm Springs. John and Judy. These two were something else!

John and Judy had to have been in their 70's and had the stories to back it up. These two have been everywhere, seen everything and knew everybody! They had stories of everyone from Clint Eastwood to Mohammad Ali. Not to mention, John is nearly best friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger and had so many hilarious stories about their friendship. On top of all of their great stories, John and Judy were just great people. They are Vegas regulars and shared tips on the best places to go and things to see and do. Not only that but they were definitely the VIP high rollers in every casino, you could tell they have spent a lot of money at those places.

From the casino bar we went to a couple of other bars inside the casino then made our way over to Bally's to dance the night away with this awesome band. Judging by their dance moves, you would have thought J&J we're teenagers!? They were awesome! And I'm not talking your grandma's dance moves. John later told me that he frequently wins dance contests.... hip hop dance contests. No lies.

At the close of our drunken evening J&J told us to meet them at Caesar's Palace the next night and they would take us to the VIP lounge for dinner and drinks. We stumbled back to our hotel and crashed for the night.

The rest of our time in Vegas only got better from there. Caesar's Palace, New York New York, Moon @ the Palms (*amazing*), Fremont Street light show, Stratosphere, and so much more. I plan on writing more Vegas adventures but if I cram it all into this blog it will be exhausting to read. To sum it up, it was great. You should go.

However, it did put a huge dent in my Christmas shopping, but I managed to get it all in somehow (I finally finished all of my gift buying at 4:30 on Christmas Eve). And now we're counting down to the New Year! I'm pretty excited for 2009, it can't be much worse than 2008! More to come...