Go West! (Part IX: Vegas Day 2)

Friday morning Linda made some bacon for breakfast. She was game to make eggs, toast, anything we wanted but both me and Jay like to be up for awhile before we eat too much so we passed on the extras & just had a few strips each. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with high temperatures so I got to wear capris and sandals, which I loved!

Then Stan told us of a good place we could go to get our hair cut. Mine hadn’t been cut since Irene cut it for me at Rainbow Acres park in Virginia probably last August and she cut Jay’s some time in October or November so we were both long overdue! My hair was so thick it was driving me crazy!

My hairdresser’s name was Misty and she was another talkative bubbly sort. Really, all the stylists in there were like that, which was another reason I thought everyone in Vegas must take some kind of Super Host course 🙂 She did a really good job and fast too! Jeeze it was the quickest cut I ever got! Like maybe 10 minutes from the time I sat down in the chair. Yet it’s all even and layered and thinned out and everything. I haven’t had an experienced pro like that cut my hair in a very long time. And the whole time she was cutting she was telling me what she was doing and why she was doing it that way and giving me tips on how to make my cuts last longer so my head doesn’t get all bushy looking when we’re on the road. It was fabulous!

After we got our cuts we went back down to the strip so Jay could do a little gambling. I’m not big on gambling, never have been really. I kind of just see it as a waste of money. But Jay likes to do it and that’s how he was brought up so I was okay with him taking some cash to play the machines.

We went to the Hard Rock, apparently he’s won lots of money there in the past, so it’s one of his favorite places to gamble. It’s also one of the places that Dave Navarro and Jon Bon Jovi like to play at 🙂 And I knew Jon Bon had a concert at the MGM Grand on Saturday night, so I thought maybe I’d get lucky and get a glimpse of someone … but no such luck unfortunately 😦

The Hard Rock

Hard Rock again

And the restaurant part.

And the restaurant part again.

The first time I ever in my life stepped into a casino was the day before when we stopped for lunch in Mesquite just inside the Nevada border. It was kind of a sleepy little casino with not too many people around and we didn’t stop to gamble or anything, we just went straight to the restaurant, ate, and left as quick as we could. Stepping into the Hard Rock was an entirely different experience. It was so loud! I mean really loud! I kept having to get Jay to repeat himself and likewise I had to say everything three times before he knew what I was saying. It was like being in dance club only on top of all the different music you also had all these TVs blaring different sports games, people cheering & booing, scantily clad women walking around screaming “Cocktails!” at the top of their lungs, and of course all the different bells and whistles coming from the slot machines as people played them. The noise was almost unbearable to me. You certainly don’t get the full effect from watching movies or shows on TV. I was completely unprepared.

And the place was huge. Nothing really looks that big from the outside, I guess because everything is huge so they just all look the same, but I could totally get lost in any of the casinos or hotels. Because this was the Hard Rock, of course they had memorabilia all around from various musicians. There was nothing really super cool though, well at least not that I saw, except for a dress that Fergie wore in one of her videos and a cop type hat that Madonna wore in one of hers. I couldn’t believe how tiny the dress was, who knew Fergie was so freaking small! I mean she’s got curves and stuff, she’s hardly the stick figure that a lot of stars seem to be. I didn’t take any pics inside casinos. I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it, nobody else was taking pics, and occasionally I’d see a sign that said no photos so I didn’t know if there were areas that I could photo and areas that I couldn’t or what, so I just left the camera alone and took in everything on my own.

Jay found a machine that was calling to him and put in a $20 bill. My initial reaction was TWENTY DOLLARS!! But when he told me he normally starts with $100 bill, when he’s working and stuff, that kind of put it into perspective for me, he thought he was being conservative and gambling responsibly at least. I had no urge to play, so I just watched him. When he got it up to $30 I told him that if it was me I’d cash out already, but he just laughed at me and thought I was nuts. We so come from different worlds! But when he got it up to $50 he did cash out so we were up $30, which paid for both our hair cuts, so that was good.

Then we headed down the strip to get this one particular picture that I wanted …

Heading down to the strip.

Coming up on the MGM Grand.

x2

New York, New York again.

The lion again.

The roller coaster.

I was a bit obsessed with the MGM ... you know, cuz John Bon was there 🙂

Tourists posing with the Las Vegas welcome sign.

Close up of the sign.

Back of sign; if you look close at the bottom left you can see a guy dressed like Elvis that would pose with you in front of the sign or his pink cadillac for about $15 a pic.

x2 ... minus Elvis

The pic we came to get! Me with the Las Vegas sign!

And me at the back of the sign ... without Elvis.

After we got the only photo of me in Vegas that I really wanted, we headed back to the folks’ place to start on dinner. We were starving because I wouldn’t let Jay take us to a buffet for lunch 🙂 By the time we had gotten our hair cut and all that it seemed too late in the day, plus I knew Jay was going to be grilling and in order to get him at it as early as possible I figured it would help if he was real good and hungry himself. We stopped by the Safeway along the way to pick up some garlic butter and tossed salad fixings. Different cashier, but same level of enthusiasm and personalization. Then we went to the house and Jay got busy grilling some huge chicken breasts. Linda made mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus, spinach, and added some more veggies to our salad fixings. Delish!

The wind had picked up during the day quite a bit and as the sun sunk lower there was actually a bit of a chill in the air. Jay and I planned to go back to the strip that night so I could see all the lights in the dark and actually park the truck and walk it for a bit. I was going to change into jeans and a hoody, but Jay said it would be warmer down there so I stayed in my capris and took my hoody with me just in case.

(…to be continued…the strip at night next)