Yes, I was only in Vegas for 2 days and 3 nights, but man do I have a lot to write about. On our first full day there after roughly 3 hours of sleep from our outings the night before, us ladies ventured out. We had a lovely dinner at PF Changs to which my husband says, "Of all the places to eat in Vegas and you pick Changs? Ugh."
In our defense though, we were looking to eat on the cheap and Changs has an excellent happy hour and since he hasn't worked there in nearly 4 months, I was seriously craving some Changs food. After our dinner, which was much better than our sandwiches the night before where we had to wait in line behind an entire family who did not speak a lick of english and watch while the counter girl translated the entire menu about 55 times to each individual, we decided to check out Minus 5.
What's Minus 5 you ask?
It is a bar made entirely of ice found at the Mandalay Bay. There is also one located at Monte Carlo. Ice chandeliers, ice polar bear sculptures, ice seating, ice glasses, ice bar top. And the room is kept at a balmy 23 degrees F or -5 C. For an Arizona gal who had been waltzing around the 50 degree temps in Vegas desperately wishing for gloves, it was a tad chilly. Thankfully, the $20 entrance fee included a parka, gloves and boots. I totally should have tried to gank those gloves. Anyhow. One of my girlfriends paid a little bit more and received 2 cocktails with her entrance. There was also a photographer there as you were required to leave all cameras, cell phone and other recording devices in a locker. These Vegas people are evil geniuses for sure. One photo of our experience at Minus 5 cost $20.
So when we walked into the cooler, I mean bar, we were the only people there so the bartender was more than happy to chat with us. Apparently, we were pretty nice because for the price of 2 beers we scored 2 rounds of shots. Good grief, I felt like I was back in BG or Dayton. Or post grad with Alli in C-bus. Or Des Moines. Whatever, I had not done shots in probably 4-5 years. Okay, except for the grape bomb we had after Trace won $150 playing shots. That, by the way, was the worst shot I have ever tasted. The bartender did NOT chill it. It was like drinking gasoline, seriously. And they were $36. Anyhow, maybe, I did have a couple of shots when I was back in Des Moines last February. So it's likely that I am exaggerating, but only a little. Let's amend the statement to this: I haven't had 2 shots in a row in about 4-5 years, definitely pre-kids.
Shockingly enough, I was still very functional and after leaving the ice bar we journeyed down to the main casino and proceeded to play slots. Again. This time I managed to win about $20. These slots are a bitch, man. I seriously do not know how my almost 80 year old grandmother can play slots for like 12 hours. Never underestimate an old lady's desire to make it to the bonus round.
We left and quickly determined that we could not make the walk all the way back to Planet Hollywood so we hopped in a cab and for $7 were back "home" faster than you can say "Hit me." Erin was a little tired so she said in the room to sleep and Trace and I ventured back out. It took all of 30 seconds to decide that we wanted to go to O'Sheas. This little casino is quite the gem. They always have $5 blackjack tables, which is my game of choice and plenty of slot machines for my Tracey. I settled into my spot and went on to win about $50. All of which I managed to lose again within the hour.
Around 3 am I started to get hungry so I headed over to Subway, which is conveniently located inside the casino and proceeded to wait about 20 minutes for the guy to return and make my sub. I have no idea what he was doing, but I made sure he washed his hands prior to making my delicious sandwich. While waiting, I got a phone call from Tracey who was, mind you, a mere 50 feet away just out of my eyesight.
"What's wrong?"
"I just won $5000."
"YOU DID WHAT? Are you effing kidding me? Hold on I'll be right there."
I raced over to the machine and Tracey is sitting there in shock. I look at the screen and sure enough it says 5000....CREDITS. Folks, she was playing a penny slot machine. I looked at her and said,
"Tracey, you won $50, not $5000."
"Oh my God."
"But hey, at least it's fifty bucks, right."
In her defense, the machine did start going crazy and people were gathered around looking. $50 isn't too shabby on a penny slot machine. After all the excitement, I went back to Subway and continued to wait for the guy to show up and make my flipping sub. Which tasted amazing by the way.
When I finally got it.
Love and Peace,
~Andrea
No comments:
Post a Comment