Vegas Jan 16-21

Wedding time!!

Jason and I headed out to Vegas a few days early to have some fun and go to Adrienne’s wedding. We got in very early on Wednesday, did a few errands, before hitting up Gold and Silver Pawn, the pawn shop from the History Channel show Pawn Stars. I’ve seen the show, but I don’t regularly watch it, so I was surprised at how small the store was. It was very busy, but Phil wanted me to get him a silver coin with the Old Man on it, so I picked one up. The guy said the Old Man was there and could sign it, so we went to cash out, but ended up missing the Old Man so no autograph. They made an announcement that the store had to be cleared out because they were about to film a new scene for Pawn Stars, and since we didn’t have anything to look at anyway, we headed out. I guess you can’t be there during filming, and the guys on the show are only there when it’s a filming day…so we checked into the El Cortez Cabana Suites earlier than I thought we’d be able to, and took a nap. Everyone familiar with Vegas was like why would you stay there? Cuz it’s fun, retro, downtown, and cheap. I know the casino is a small old local joint, but it was more than adequate for playing, and the room was really nice. Not sure what the normal hotel rooms are like, but the Cabana Suites were great. Headed out after the nap for dinner at a Mexican place Jason always would drive by on Main, which was tasty, and started the “skuffle” with all the various match play and free slot play coupons Jason had gotten from the Las Vegas Advisor and American Casino guide. It didn’t go too well for me, and I didn’t end up with any free money from the coupons, but he did ok. Headed to the strip to Bill’s for kareoke for a few hours before heading to Ellis island to eat, then back downtown.

Thursday I had gotten us tickets to the Neon Boneyard. It was a place I had wanted to go on all my previous trips but never got to. They’ve got a new building and set up, and offer hour tours of the various old signs that have been donated to them, but not yet restored. It was really cool, but I like that kind of thing. From there we headed out to see Adrienne and Tom’s new house, caught dinner with them, before going for some more “skuffling” at various off strip casinos. It went much better this time. I won about $80, ended up back at Ellis Island with the coupons, so we ate there again, $7.99 steak dinner! Then we played mechanical slot machine horse racing for 2 hours lol.

Eric arrived Friday, so we after we got up we met up with him to do our last “skuffling” in some shady North Vegas casinos. Some of the coupons Jason couldn’t use, as he was not new members at these places, so Eric got to use them and make a few bucks. Friday night was a little bachelorette evening for Adrienne, starting with dinner at 4 Queens, and a few drinks at Don’t Tell Mama piano bar downtown. The boys were on their own for a few hours but I think they had good fun. When Adrienne and her “normal hours” teacher friends left for the night, I walked around a bit with her to-be in-laws but it seemed like they were going to go to a club, so I said my goodbyes and went to find Jason and Eric, who were playing coin op horses again haha. As it turns out, explorer friend Chris was in town with the Air Force, so he met us there for a bit. We ended up back at El Cortez, played some pai gow for a bit before calling it a night.

Saturday was the wedding rehearsal and luncheon at Sunset Station, at noon, then I had to take the rental car back to the airport. Thankfully Eric picked me up there, we went back to El Cortez to get Jason out of bed, then down to the strip for the night. Caught some dinner at the PBR Rock Bar before heading to the Orleans for the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey game. Had to prepare for the NHL season somehow! And it was something Jason has always wanted to do while in Vegas. They lost the game, but it was fun. After that, back to Ellis Island for the 3rd night for some kareoke. Chris met us out again, we hung out there for the rest of the night. Eric got to sing, it took forever though because it was so busy. Chris had talked me into doing Salt n Pepa’s “Shoop”, but (thankfully) we never got called before we turned in for the night. That didn’t stop us from singing in the car on the way back downtown though 🙂

Sunday was wedding day. Adrienne picked me up early in the morning to go to her hotel, got to watch some of the Sabres game before catching lunch, and the hair and make up people arriving. I didn’t end up getting my hair done, since I don’t have much and Adrienne liked it the way I do it anyway. Off to the banquet hall to change, get pics done, and wait for the ceremony. Adrienne looked super pretty, her dress was so nice, and she was super happy! It was nice and short, given that it was a bit chilly outside, but it was perfect for them. It was a great night. After the reception, Jason, Eric and I headed to the Goretorium, a horror movie haunted house and bar on the strip, another place I wanted to go. We had a drink there before going back to….Ellis Island. The intent was more kareoke but I was hungry so we ate first, and by the end, we were all kinda done so we just headed back to the El Cortez. Jason went out to play a bit more, but Eric and I were done for.

Check out was monday at noon, which was a tad too early, but what are you going to do. Jason and I dragged around downtown that afternoon, getting lunch at the Mob Bar, wandering around, betting on the Sabres, playing a bit of Let it Ride (no idea how he talked me into that one, but i ended up hitting a full house, though I didn’t play the 3 card bonus), and finding the Sabres game on tv at the Golden Nugget. We caught dinner at a pub on Freemont, played a bit more at El Cortez before heading to the airport. A mighty long journey home, since we had a 4 hour layover in Newark, but we made it. Exhausted, but in one piece.

It was a great trip. Had a lot of fun, the wedding was great, it was awesome to get to hang out with Eric again for more than a few hours at a show. Now I have no vacation time scheduled until September, which was kind of a bad move on my part I just realized haha. I should have taken Memorial Day like I usually do, but I saved my 4th week for whatever comes up. Not that I have any money for another trip but still…Sept seems so far away!

Vegas Photos

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