What Happened in Vegas

Ok, I’m recovered. I think.  I’m almost caught up on sleep and I’m able to look at a drink without being repulsed.  They say that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But I’m a blogger so I’m naturally an over-sharer, so I think I’ll give you guys a glimpse.

We stayed at one of the nicest (in my opinion) hotels, The Cosmopolitan.  When I visited Vegas in high school (a much different experience), it hadn’t even been built yet (opened in 2010).   The Cosmo lived up to the crazy commercials of bunnies in the elevator – just the right amount of wrong.  I didn’t see any bunnies, but we did find a Stonehenge of dog sculptures which we all vowed to meet by if we got lost.  (Don’t worry, no one got lost.)

The first stop was hitting up Bamboo pool, getting some Miami Vices (and many other tropical drinks), and meeting some fellow vacationers.

Then, we headed back to get all dressed up like we were back in college.  We went to one of the best Italian restaurants in Vegas – Lavo at the Venetian – where I had spaghetti with Kobe meatballs and ricotta.   It was so good I nearly cried when I was too full to finish it.

Then, for first night, we went all out.  Thanks to a friendly promoter, we stopped by Tryst in the Wynn and skipped the line with free drinks for the ladies.  Then moved on to another free entry (it really sucks to be a guy in Vegas) at Xs, also in the Wynn.  Being in a group of six girls in Vegas is wonderful and it was pretty easy to have an awesome first night…for free.

Saturday was the pool party at Marquee, the club in our hotel.  And, to make it extra special, Avicii – best DJ in the world – was there.  Avicii is a big deal. But Avicii at a pool party in Vegas where I was able to get about four feet from him … unbelievable.

Saturday night we headed out to do it all again, with a fancy dinner at Tao in the Venetian.  We had every intention of having a full night of partying Vegas-style but we were clearly exhausted from our vacation, only on day two. Wow, Vegas takes a lot out of you.  But by happy accident I left my credit card at Tao which forced us to walk the Strip the next day and explore the amazing hotels of Las Vegas.

Another happy accident (well, not so happy for Ashley) was that we ended up getting FREE day beds at the pool on Sunday…. as a result of Ashley nearly losing a finger while rearranging lounge chairs which had a dangerous nail protruding out of the bottom.  Terrified we would be suing, the hotel staff gave us some royal treatment.

And for our last big night we had dinner in the hotel at a Mexican Chinese place (or was it a Chinese Mexican place?) which ended up being really good.

Then we went to the brand new club we had been hearing about all weekend: Hakkasan at MGM Grand.  To me, the place had an identity crisis – too many stairs, too much incense, and a confusing layout. But it wasn’t until the cab to the airport the next day that we learned the story.  As told by our cabbie: apparently a rich guy visited Xs (where we went the first night) and was an hour and a half late so they had given his table away.  Angry and annoyed, he opened his own club, Hakkasan, to put Xs out of business, hiring all of their DJs in the process.  My theory: with the amount of stairs in Hakkasan, lack of lights, and girls in too-high heels, in about a month someone will trip and break their ankle, sue the place, and put Hakkasan out of business.  We shall see how the story ends… but in the meantime, we still had a good time on our last night in Sin City.

Oh Las Vegas, the city where prostitution, weddings on a whim, and open containers are no big deal.  It was a fun four days but I am so glad to be home.  Maybe I’ll be back, but not for a long, long time.