Vegas Vision Board
I’m in Vegas this weekend with Tiff and her family to celebrate my brother-in-law’s 50th birthday. They are a traveling family, a tradition largely instigated by her father, who passed earlier this year, making this the first family trip without him. A bittersweet thing to note, though it’s also a comfort to know that these things continue.
It is also, above all for us, a much-needed child-free vacation, the first time the two of us have travelled somewhere together on our own since December 2019, a birthday trip to San Francisco mere months before COVID and our first child took us out of the adult traveling game for a while.
So no newsletter this week per se, but I did want to share my First Time in Vegas Checklist-cum-vision board of sorts representing the vibes I was trying/hoping to carry into the weekend.
Get more sleep than I get at home while also staying up until (for me) ungodly hours of the night.
Maintain a fairly consistent level of inebriation throughout the weekend. I was at least somewhat tipsy from just about the moment we set foot in the hotel.
Eat like an asshole. Done and done.
Eat at a Buffet. We found and treated ourselves to a nice bougie one in The Cosmopolitan. It was so good that even Tiff, who loathes the very concept of a buffet, couldn’t get it out of her mind the rest of the day.
Do some gambling, meaning that by the end of the trip I have either won big or lost enough to have a story while not coming home completely empty-handed. I will spare you any suspense by confessing that it ended up being the latter. We were however able to spread the wealth, as it were, as we played at Caesar’s Palace, The Golden Nugget, and The Bellagio as well as our hotel.
Visit an old-timey casino in addition to the more modern resorts that the strip has to offer. Part of the allure of a city like Vegas is the history. Tiff and I - Casino mega fans as we are - became obsessed with the story of the city and its founding, particularly when we went to the original strip of casinos on Fremont Street. I spent down time reading up on Bugsy Siegel after our visit to the Flamingo and Googling things like, “Did the original casinos have air conditioning.”
Play Baccarat. I won both hands I attempted.
Play Roulette. I mainly broke even at this, but it ended up being Tiff’s game of choice.
Play Black Jack. My fortunes swung the wildest with this one, and it was the one that took the most of my money.
Play the Slots. I won a decent amount on a Frankenstein-themed machine our first night in town, which both spoiled me and gave me a sense of invincibility that was corrected quickly the next day (see above).
Until next time…
-cs