3AM
During the homestretch into Vegas as I was driving I found myself needing to pass a few slower vehicles on the two lane road we were traveling with a 70 MPH speed limit. The road was very straight and very wide open with a line of sight that extended for miles. As I swung out to pass I had the urge to try something I was unsuccessful at doing at the salt flats, get the Prius up to 100mph. It took a little while but with constant pedal pressure the car actually hit 102 which may be a new land speed record for the hybrid.
As we pulled into Vegas the thermometer in the car touched 100 degrees outside, quite the contrast to the low 60’s we started the day with. It was about 5:15 local time, we lost another hour during the days drive and were now on Pacific time.
As we pulled into the drive in front of the Stratosphere I saw 4 rows of vehicles, each with a sign that said VALET above them. At first I thought these dozens of cars were all waiting to be parked. I then realized that almost all of them were empty and waiting to be driven into the parking garage. I did not want to use valet, I never want to use valet, but it looked like there was no other option. I stopped the car and started to pull out some bags as one of the valets walked up.
Cindy didn’t want to valet either and thought there had to be an option to self park. Well the valet started tagging our vehicle when Cindy asked him about self parking. He said we could self park if we wanted to as he pointed to around the corner. At the far end of the lobby ceiling there was a small SELF PARK sign that pointed around the corner. I thought it was bullshit that there was no such sign when you enter the area as I threw the bags back in the car, annoyed. We followed the signs up into the garage and found a place to park on the fourth level.
As we were unloading the car some man that had been on his phone came walking up to us. He seemed distressed. He told me his truck had a flat, which he pointed to down the row of parked cars. I did see a red Ford truck that looked like it was leaning to one side like it had a flat tire. He said he has been calling around to a bunch of places to come out to fix it and only one place would come out on a Sunday but they only would take cash. He said he was twelve dollars and some change short of what they charged and they only would take cash. He said he would let me hold his watch or his wedding ring as collateral to assure me he was on the level.
Cindy said nothing during this encounter as she later told me she didn’t buy the story. I thought the guy seemed legitimately in need so I pulled 13 bucks out of my wallet and gave it to him. He said he could try to pay me back if I had a room number. I told him we didn’t check in yet and to not worry about it. He was very grateful and got back on his phone, presumably to call back the garage as he walked back towards the truck. As we were getting ready to walk down he thanked me again from across the garage.
So as we walked Cindy voiced her opinion to me that she thought the guy just worked me and he will probably work the same story on the next nice looking person he sees. I hoped she was wrong but even if she was right my conscience was clear. If I truly helped a man in need I feel good about it, if I just got shook down for 13 bucks, oh well, life goes on.
The check in line was long but moved quickly. As we entered the main casino area it was my turn to sidestep another much more expensive shakedown. A nice woman called Cindy over and said they had a free gift for hotel guests. Cindy, being naturally friendly engaged the woman who started asking her questions like if we were on our honeymoon.
The woman walked us over to a counter and turned us over to another woman that would “show us the gifts”. I looked at the signage on the counter and immediately realized they were trying to sell us a timeshare. I stopped the woman very early and told her we weren’t married and that we had no interest in a time share. I told her I had one in the past and had no interest in another. The woman realized she was wasting her time and told us to have a nice day.
We made our way through the casino, found our elevator and went up to the 6th floor. Our room was very nice and modern although the view out the window of the wall surrounding some cooling units was less then spectacular. We found it odd that housekeeping neglected to leave any soap or shampoo in the bathroom. Cindy tracked down a housekeeper and grabbed some soap.
After eating a simple dinner at a spot inside the Strat mall, we decided to go walk down the strip. The Stratosphere is located at the very north end of the modern strip. It quickly became apparent we would have a very long walk in front of us. I did not make a great choice in footwear to do this with just a pair of flip flops on my feet.
I was disoriented as we walked, very little looked familiar. I was last in Vegas about 7 years ago for my 40th birthday. Things looked much different than I remembered. There were huge construction walls covering blocks of real estate where something was ripped down in order to put something bigger, brighter, and more high end. There were some casinos that I never saw before like the Cosmopoliton. For the first 30 minutes of our walk it almost felt like I never had been in Vegas before, things looked so different.
Eventually we got to more familiar sights. We went into Senor Frogs and grabbed a beer while we watched the end of the Cowboys-Giants game. (nice choke Giants) We wind up talking a decent amount to one of the bartenders that was a beefy guy. It turns out he used to play college football and later Arena 2 ball. He was a running back. His time as a football player has left him with two wrecked knees. He said he is looking to get a double knee replacement soon even though he was only 37 years old, ouch.
We then got smart and hopped on the Deuce bus, buying two 24 hour passes for 8 bucks each. It will allow us to hop on and off as we chose to save us a ton of walking in the hot, dry desert air. The bus was very full with hot, stale air. We rode it down a couple stops which got us into the heart of the strip.
We stopped by a group of street performers that were getting ready to perform. Cindy wanted to see the performance. I was fine to hang and watch. It was 4 young guys that were street dancers along with a guy doing an incredible job of using Home Depot style buckets as drums. The did some impressive moves before they started pulling people out of the audience to help with their big final stunt which involved one of them doing a running front flip over them. In total they pulled out 5 people and of course two of them were Cindy and I. At first they made it appear the kid was going to jump us while we were standing upright. In the end it was just me and one other guy bent over that were the hurdles to be cleared. Cindy was recording most of the experience, it will be some great footage when we get it online.
We then wanted to grab something sweet before heading back. I pulled Cindy into a place called Hexx that was a high end candy store and ice cream place. We got a small cup of decadent chocolate ice cream to share. We enjoyed it at an incredible spot, a small ledge in front of the store looking out over the sidewalk. We loved sitting there and watching the crowd funnel by. There is nowhere better to people watch than the Vegas strip. Man, it was just crazy. We sat there for a long time, long after the ice cream was gone, just taking it all in, it was great.
Before getting back on the bus we briefly dipped into Planet Hollywood so Cindy could try her luck at slots. We were very conservative only doing penny slots. Cindy went to several machines, cashing out each as soon as she got slightly ahead. At the end of the brief gambling session she was 24 cents ahead, a small win but a win none the less.
We hopped back on a bus and road back to the hotel. I was surprised when we got back in the room and realized it was nearly midnight, or 3AM EST. No wonder I felt like my eyes were burning into my skull. I am sure today will have enough activity to fill a week of normal blogging.