40 Years, Friends and VEGAS
“YES!!!... NO!!!....COME ON JUN!!, COME ON BABY!!”
“You boys are so
loud. I have for boy at home and I know
how boys are.’”
Her name was Jun (pronounced June) a sweet old mom from
Taiwan, but tough as a bulldog and she was working us as the Blackjack Dealer at
the Bellagio Hotel on an early Saturday morning. We didn’t care she was giving me and my
friends the evil eye of embarrassment. Even
at one point, we said “Jun, please take an Excederin, everything is fine.” If some of us were going to make multiple
trips to the ATM, a random dude at the table was hitting stiffs into stiffs
(that’s when the dealer is showing 2-6 and the player has 12-16) we could say
whatever the hell we wanted.. but in a nice way.
“YES!!, NO JUN!! NO!!,”
.. And that was just ONE hazily remembered morning for our trip to Las
Vegas at the Bellagio to celebrate the 40th Birthday of one of our
old friends with a total of seven couples.
Let’s REWIND it back <-
Each Vegas trip is your own animal of survival and
adventure. This weekend even with couples was no different. I tip my hat to the mastermind of the whole
plan, my friend’s wife who organized everything (Rousing applause!!)
Our trip went off without a hitch and the beauty of it
was the spouses could have fun on their own and the guys could do our thing separately,
but in the end all couples would meet up, making it a tremendous team effort.
Highlights in Some particular order:
ü
Mixed drinks on the flight to Vegas
ü
Waiting stretched limousine with champagne to go
to hotel
ü
Surprise friends from around the country meeting
at hotel
ü
Early morning run or walk on the Vegas Strip
·
perfect way to start the day and get rid of
previous nights alcohol toxins, watching the sun shine low off of Mandalay Bay
and jogging by the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign, scenic, peaceful and a
must
ü
One husband meeting an old college buddy from LA
the night before and passing out at a slot machine at 9:00 AM
ü
6 Casino Couples Roulette Game
·
Fun game because you get to see different
casinos, walk outside in between and take in the Vegas architecture and strip
energy.
·
Each couple puts down $60 into the pot and has a
favorite number to always use (ours was #14)
·
Next, go to six different casinos and place $10
on your number at each one. When one
number hits, always double down on the same number for the very next roulette
wheel roll (THIS HIT TWICE ON #19 at ARIA!)
·
All in all the couples earned over $1,300 in
winnings going 3 for 6 at Roulette, and this is the fun of Vegas instead of
collecting, we all put forth our winnings to the payment of the reserved Pool
Side Cabana for the next day’s activity, perfect and everybody wins
ü
Pool day at pool side Cabana – perfect fun in
the sun and relaxing and incredibly therapeutic
in the water with mixed drinks and food
ü
Sports Betting at the Sports book – Ex. 7 team, 7
for 7 team parlay = 84 -1, I didn’t win.
BUT, it was sort of close for a while!
Fun to always have action going..
ü
Blackjack – JUN.
Winning and losing, back and forth, knowing when to get out and enjoy
throwing down $60 and walking away with $550
ü
Comedy Club at the Tropicana
·
Think Golden Girls Retirement Community in
Florida, nice hotel, and a solid young and
older crowd. But this night had TERRIBLE acts, ex. One guy
really felt re enacting Michael Jackson’s moves from “Beat It” video and
pretending to get pummeled by the gang was funny…hilarious. The best part was seeing everybody’s face in
the audience and throwing the guys a bone for laughter, but still very fun to
hear live comedy and kudos to them for getting up on stage.
ü
Techno Club Hakkasan at the MGM Grand
·
Shoulder to shoulder kill or be killed territory
dominance to see Chain Smokers (who I had never heard of, and still don’t know
who the hell they are? I realized I was out
of my realm when all the twenty something’s pulled out their phones and
recorded their entrance)
ü
Shake Shack at New York New York Hotel and
Casino – Maybe better than In and Out Burger
ü
Birthday Shots of Petron Tequila
ü
Bloody Mary’s – anywhere, all the time
ü
Nice Dinner at Harvest in Bellagio
·
The culmination of the weekend’s activities in a
great restaurant with excellent food and wine and desert and to stamp the final
40th Birthday toast
ü
Early bird flight out of Vegas and to get the
dang “Wheel OF Fortune”
ring out of your head
ü
Try and recover and go back to work the next day
Whew.. That about
sums it up. An amazing couples trip celebrating
#40 with old friends from long relationships and childhood history. We are 40 and we are still here.
Just another weekend on the strip..
90-80% A-B (this one depends on if you break even or not)
Thanks for reading,
The Family Man
