(AKA "A Journal on How to Lose ALL Your Money and Have Fun Doing It!")
Amy, Coral, and Jordan dropped Dan off at the airport for the big, long-awaited trip to Vegas for training/fun. The plane trip was good with a quick stop in Phoenix. It�s always good when your plane trip is boring. After arriving and changing the time to Pacific, Dan unpacked at the Flamingo (home for a week) on the 20th Floor and with a great view. The first place Dan went was to see where the training would be held at Harrah�s Casino. After winning a little money there, he then walked over to the Mirage because this is one of the few places he has never been to yet. Remember that money won at Harrah�s, now MGM-Mirage Corporation is the proud owner of those notes. It was time to see another new place�the Stratosphere was next on the tour. You would think a Meteorologist would do well here, but on the contrary. At least they will be sending me a check for 15% of my loses to redeem on my next trip to Vegas. Because it was such a nice evening (and there was no need to throw away any more money), Dan walked back to the Flamingo with some stops at Riviera, Circus Circus, Westward Ho, Stardust, and New Frontier along the way for some wins, but more loses.
Day 2 � Training Day
This was the first day of training and for those of you that have no idea what Dan does for a living, there were about 15 others in this class that have the same problem explaining it to their friends and family. This training is an intensive look at some very intricate permitting that no one seems to understand, including the teacher of this course and he helped write the regulations when he ran the program while he was in the EPA. The trouble with the program is the EPA changes its mind on what is the correct way to do it from day-to-day. After the class, Dan toured the southern part of �The Strip�. Some of the stops along the way were Bally�s, Paris, Boardwalk, Monte Carlo, and Excalibur.
Day 3 � These Places Weren�t Built on Winners
More training and more gambling�what Dan gained in intellect during the day, he lost in wealth at night. His first trip to the Orleans (which everyone tells him is a great place to win), ended up to be his biggest hit monetarily. So Dan got out of there as fast as he could and went to one of his �happy places�, the Excalibur. This is where his cousin and one of his closest friends (Rich) got married (to Deni) and during that trip it was a place were we spent a large amount of time winning. Dan made up some ground, but not enough to consider it a winning plan.
Day 4 � Baby�s Back in Town
Training was constantly interrupted by phone calls to find out when Amy�s plane would be arriving in town. It was originally supposed to leave at 4:40 PM (1:40 PM Pacific), but there was a hole in the storage compartment. Luckily this happened on the ground and Amy didn�t end up on this plane. So, after training and some time spent at Barbary Coast (another one of Dan�s favorite Casinos) at the nickel slots, Dan met Amy at the airport. Even though she left 4 hours later, she only got in 2 hours after her original arrival time at 10:30 PM pacific time. In true Amy fashion, she met 2 ladies on the plane and they shared a cab to the hotel because they were staying at the Flamingo too. On the way in the cab, Amy looked at a crowd of people getting on an escalator to a walkway in front of Caesers Palace and asked, �What at they waiting for?��that is how jam-packed this place is to the untrained eye. Amy loved the room and the view and was excited to be in Vegas. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at New York � New York and then met Beth and Frank (he works with Dan and surprised Beth by taking her on this trip) at the Excalibur. Amy�s first shot at gambling was a good one; she hit the machine for $5. Amy was tired from her long trip so we turned in early at about 2 AM.
Day 5 � The Golden Child
Amy got a manicure and pedicure while Dan finished learning. The last day of class ended early, so Dan met up with Amy for lunch at Caesers Palace and they started the vacation-part of the trip. The first thing Amy did was to flash her $100 bill that she won at video poker after her appointment. We then ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and if you have never tried this place, it is great! After lunch, Dan started his only day of good luck�every game he played turned to gold. It started with a $200 hit at video poker and didn�t stop until bedtime (now that I think about it, I should have never gone to sleep that night). Dan kept on winning while Amy got her hair colored and cut. Later we met up with Frank and Beth and headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The meal at Lucky�s was not the best we had, but at least the luck for Dan kept going. Once we got back to the Strip, Frank and Dan gambled while Amy and Beth window-shopped. Dan and Amy left the Klines at the Venetian (where they were staying) and went to bed around 2 AM.
Day 6 � Vegas Vacation
The first full day of vacation started with lunch at the Rainforest Caf� in the MGM Grand and a short trip to see the MGM Lions. Then the bad luck caught up to Dan again (must have taken yesterday off). Amy had her usual good streaks and bad streaks. At 2 PM we got free tickets to an afternoon burlesque show called �Bottoms Up� at the Flamingo. It was pretty good; basically, it was worth the money. After that, we went over to the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian to do some window-shopping to make the girls happy. For the romance portion of the trip, we did the ever-popular gondola ride on the grand canal of the Venetian. It was very nice and amorous with the gondolier singing and talking with an Italian-accent. Almost forgot, when we went to see Frank and Beth's room at the Venetian, we walked by Shannon Sharpe getting his shoes shined and that's not the exciting part, Amy was the one that recognized him. To top off the night, we took a trip to the Downtown part of Vegas. This is were you can find the old-time Vegas Casinos like Binion�s Horseshoe, 4 Queens, the Golden Nugget, etc. and the Freemont Street Experience. We ate at Zax, which is a newer restaurant and had excellent cuisine with extra-large portions. Amy and Dan then needed some alone-time�get your mind out of the gutter, they just went to the Mirage to gamble a little before bed.
Day 7 � Long Strange Trip
As was the case everyday, we slept in and left the room just in time to get some lunch. We made a deal with the devil to get some free show tickets, so we had to make lunch quick to get to the time-share presentation promptly (don't want to lose our deposit). After the 2-hour tour and saying, �We just can�t afford it right now.� about 50-times, we got our �Folies Bergere� (the longest running show in Vegas) and buffet vouchers and were on our way. We got dropped off at the Tropicana to get our seats for the show, which were, as Frank would say it, �close enough to see nipples�, and did some gambling. We then walked in the northern direction, hit some casinos along the way, got our free mugs at the bankrupt Aladdin, saw the fountains at Bellagio, and watched the pirate show at Treasure Island (I think that�s all the free stuff you can get in one sitting, you can tell it is getting late in our trip and we are running out of money). We then get a little dressed-up and saw the shows at the Tropicana. To finish out the night (the last with Frank and Beth), we visited the Luxor and Mandalay Bay.
Day 8 � Last Day in Paradise
We got up, packed, and said good-bye to our room�Amy was very sad, but Dan was ready to leave after a week of this pseudo-life. After we checked our bags, Dan played Let-it-Ride Poker (which was the only game he did good at on the trip) and rented $175�just enough money to last the rest of the day and give it back to Vegas in small pieces. If you are wandering about Amy�s gambling, she had her ups and downs but in the end she came back a winner. We visited a few other places before we left for Rio via Harrah�s shuttle bus. Rio has this HUGE buffet called the World Carnival Buffet because it has foods from all over the globe. We also saw the parade in the sky at Rio before we left. We then shuttled back to the Strip and said a few good-byes to our favorite places. Amy said that she had a great time and would go back �in a minute!�, so we look forward to the next trip to the land of dreams�Las Vegas.
Day 9 � Leaving on a Jet Plane
We caught the �red-eye� back to Florida�left Vegas at 12:44 AM (Pacific) and got in at about 8 AM (Eastern). We got home to Coral, Pap and the Grammas at about 9:30 and showed the pictures, handed out the gifts, unpacked, did laundry, checked the mail, and then caught a quick nap before we went and picked-up Jordan and Ian. The kids were very excited to see Dan and Amy and we were just as excited to be back with them.
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