You are so welcome, Beth. It was really fun seeing you two in person again! Poor Amy, I hope she recovers in time to enjoy part of her holiday weekend.
Everyone - you are going to have a fabulous time in June, Vegas is so amazing. And I didn't even see it lit up at night the way you will! The big intersection as you enter the strip is like Times Square on steroids. And everything is bigger than you can imagine. I wish I had worn a pedometer today so I'd know how many steps I took - and I never left Mandalay Bay!
I see why Beth says you will need comfortable shoes. She's not kidding.
We were having so much fun that Beth and Jane wished they could play hookey but both really had to return to real life (Beth to pick up her kids and Jane to a work meeting). I had a little planned casino time. So many machines! And they're all colorful and singing out, doing a little song and dance vying for my money. My fantasy is I'll put a dollar into a machine and it will spit out a million. I was drawn to a $1 machine because it had a payout of 6 or 7 figures. It said something about three dollars so I fed it three dollars. And with three quick tries, there went that money!
I quickly moved on to the penny machines. I found a Leonardo one that had paintings and jewels. Okay, I would rather stare at those than some donkeys and cherries. I fed it $5. I could barely understand how it determined when I won and when I lost but I was doing some winning.
Then some Italian girls came and sat down two seats over from me. One was yelling into her cell and they all three were smoking. I looked over and realized they werent even playing the slot machines they were just using this as a place to sit and smoke and drink. But I didn't want to leave my machine.
Anyway, I was playing along, not winning, and then it said something about how I was a random winner. It wasnt like the right paintings lined up or anything but it more than doubled my money.
That seemed like a good time to move on.
I found the video poker which to me takes more skill than these slot machines (or maybe I just dont understand them). I know poker, so I did jacks or better. I was distracted by some college kids behind me. They hit some jackpot on their slot machine and it was spinning and spinning. Every 30 seconds the guy would say, its still f-ing going! Then hed say to the girl, Youre buying drinks! They were just a shade short of screaming. I figured maybe this is what you do when you win big. You let everyone know.
After what must have been 15 minutes of this, the machine finally stopped. We were all curious to see what theyd won. It had to be big money. $10,000? $50,000? No. $50.
They stopped screaming.
Anyway, returning to my poker, I was winning enough to double my money (hey, much better than current CD rates!), when I thought I should consult my phone to see what time it was. It was 5:15 and my flight was 5:45! I fell victim to the well-known no-clock policy!
I cashed out, hopped in a cab. The doorman said to take Tropicana to get to the airport fast. The cab driver thought that meant go to the Tropicana club first, but I managed to straighten him out. Happily, no one was flying out of Vegas this weekend and the security line was empty. I made it on the flight with a few minutes to spare.
As we climbed into the air, I looked out the window and saw Mandalay Bay shimmering in all her goldness in the sunset. I wondered who was sitting at my lucky poker machine now... and would they win the jackpot?
Maybe it'll be one of you.
