How to get the most out of the last days as a parent of only two kids...
Back to the Diary
I never thought that Vegas was the place for me for several reasons. First, I wasn�t sure if a trip by the unluckiest person I knew (me) would be considered good financial planning. That combined with the Flying Elvises and the mandatory satin jackets everyone must include as part of their wardrobes after returning from trips didn�t make me want to visit. The place is the most gaudy vacation destination you will ever see. The bright lights, the constant ringing of the slots, the crowds�it all is great and I now love it after my first trip for Rich's wedding! It is an experience that words cannot do a good job to describe�you have to live it. Much to my disbelief after my trip for their wedding, I was instantly hooked and I needed to get back soon. This story is about me twisting my cousins� arms to return to the scene of the crime less than a year after the wedding day.
We started to plan the trip back to Vegas probably in the October/November timeframe. I emailed Rich, which was our usual means of communication after I moved to Florida, and he definitely was up for the trip. We asked Matt if he wanted to go also and he was instantly on board. I convinced Rich by saying that we could use this trip to celebrate the births of our two kids and he agreed that was a good excuse to meet in Vegas. We looked at our calendars and thought that February 28th � March 3rd, 2002 would be perfect. March 1st is when most of my reports are due to the state and is the busiest time of the year for me, almost like tax-time for you accountants out there, so this was a great time to blow some steam is Las Vegas. It was also far enough time away from Madi�s birthday in December and only 6-weeks prior to the due date of the birth of my third child, which we thought was a safe interval away from only to find out differently. Matt, a single and childless adult, didn�t need to plan around much; he just had to request time off from his supervisor. We chose the Flamingo for our lodging because it was in the middle of the strip, it was reasonably priced, and it was a new place for Rich to stay. Rich was the veteran at the gambling wars, so he wanted to try new places to stay; Matt and I were newbies and just wanted to stay somewhere with a bed.
Now that all the planning was complete, it was time to catch the planes from three different locations; San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Orlando. I got in first and did the convenient Park Place quick check-in at the airport, which is the best idea ever�kudos to the inventor of this. Rich and Matt met at their gates because arrived only about 15 minutes apart from each other. This trip took place post-9-11, so I was not allowed back in the terminal area, so I just met them near the luggage carousels where the quick check-in is located. Picture me standing there waiting for Matt and Rich to arrive with possibly the rosiest cheeks ever. For those of you that don�t know me very well, I am famous in my family for my rosy cheeks when I get excited. My mom and my Aunt Elaine (Matt and Rich�s mom) and all my relatives for that matter love to tell stories of my rosy cheeks when my cousins were coming for a visit and the stories would always end with me in the time-out-chair. I was standing there staring at the one centralized location where all the arrivals are walking past, then I hear them both in the distance from a completely different spot making fun of me and my rosy cheeks. They both got punished by one of my also famous hugs of death. My hugs are not for the weak hearted, I want you to feel my hugs. Matt and Rich are both slender people and are risking their lives when they embrace me and they both know it, but at this point they don�t care�we are just happy to see each other!
Our next obstacle is getting a cab to get us to the Fabulous Flamingo. Little did we know that we selected the same weekend to hit the town as the NASCAR race. We stood in line for the better part of an hour with the Jimmy Bobs and Bobbie Sues of the country. I am not one to mud-sling so that is all I will say about that. Because of the race, the town was crowded with people every where we went. It was more crowded than it was for the wedding and that was during a fight-weekend. So we finally get to the front of the line and got in a taxi. On the way to the hotel, there arose a sand storm from the depths of hell. We were driving down Interstate 15 and the car was swaying back and forth, into and out of each and every lane. Luckily, all other traffic knew to stay home and the road was relatively clear, except for the occasional orange, metal construction sign flying by the car looking for a head to dismember like the sound stage at the shooting of the �Wizard of Oz� (and that is not an exaggeration). When we arrived at the Flamingo, we would have kissed the ground, but had we of bent at the knees, the wind would have forced us to remain in that compromising position for the remainder of the storm, and so we just went inside.
We finally got to the room and unpacked. At this point we were almost ready to go until Matt reaches into his pant�s pocket and pulls out a bean burrito from Taco Bell. He sat down and started to eat it at the little fancy desk that has room enough to furnish only the telephone. This sends Rich and me into hysterics. First of all, where did this hors d'oeuvre come from and second of all, how did he sneak it past the top notch, post-9-11 security at the airports? It was late and we were punch drunk, so we laughed about this the entire time while Matt sat and ate his whole meal without cracking a smile. After the laughter subsided and Matt�s belly was full, it was time for some light gaming. We went next door to throw some money at the Barbary Coast and catch-up with current events. We did this until about 4 am and then it was time to catch a few winks.
The next morning, Friday morning, I was up first�big surprise. Rich always said that I may have a gambling problem and this was probably the first sign for him. I woke up at about 8 am, which is 11 am Eastern time, got a shower, got dressed, and visited the craps table. What can I say, I was excited and my body is not used to sleeping past 10 am with kids, so it was time to get the day started. You may think that I left my two friends behind, but believe me, this was what they wanted to do also. I gave my allotment of funds to the casino and proceeded back to the room. I found the two of them still out-cold. Time for round 2 of table games�ding, ding! The Flamingo won this round also and this trip wasn�t looking very lucky for me. While I was taking a beating, back up in the room, Rich and Matt arose from their slumber and were getting equipped to take on Vegas for the day. When I walked in the room, as Rich often does, the two of them were singing a made-up song, �Down by the Animals�. It was a song about the penguins and flamingo that are housed in the wildlife habitat just under our window. They taught me the song and by the end of the weekend it expanded into an entire opera with movements and acts.
The first stop of the day was Caesar�s for a late lunch/early dinner at the Forum Shops. At this meal, we celebrated both Rich�s (March 9th) and Matt�s (February 2nd) birthdays. Each day during this trip, we ate one big meal and that lasted us until we stopped again for coffee and doughnuts or other snacks. We stopped many times for coffee. Rich was in the middle of his interferon treatments at this time and they made him sleepy and made him lose his appetite, so food was out and coffee was in. You could tell that Rich was really fighting to stay awake during the weekend, but that didn�t stop him from having fun. From there, we headed south of the Flamingo on the strip. The Bellagio was too rich for our blood, so we simply walked-through and looked at the sights. We usually goof off and make fun of everything we see at each stop, but this place is so pretty that we didn�t say much to each other, we were in awe. We proceeded toward the areas were we felt most comfortable�the south part of the strip. This is where we spent all of our time on the last trip (with the exception of the Barbary Coast). We visited MGM, New York, New York, and Excalibur and all points south. We had fun reminiscing about all the jokes from the wedding, but these will be told at a later date. We may have had some luck here and there, but nothing to write home about. We returned to the Flamingo and actually turned in pretty early on this day.
The next morning, it was time to assess the damage. My wallet was pretty empty. I�m not sure how the other two were doing at this point, but I was looking at most of my gambling budget gone and we still had one full day in la-la land. Saturday started with a trip to the north end of the strip. None of us had been to the Venetian yet and it was time to visit. Like the Bellagio, this place is unbelievable. Just getting to the front door is a trip with about 2 miles of people movers. Once inside, it was time to eat for the day. We looked around until we found a Mexican Restaurant that caught our eyes. It sat right on the banks of the Grand Canal. We enjoyed watching the couples riding by in the gondolas getting serenaded, but with our better-halves back at home, we didn�t partake in the action. As we sat there, we noticed that we got the distinct feeling that it was evening and no matter how many times we looked at our watches we were not convinced that it was the middle of the afternoon. This was because the lighting at the Grand Canal Shoppes is done with this principle in mind, but it is a strange feeling.
After lunch/dinner, it was time to tour. We went through the Venetian pretty fast; high rollers only. We stopped to see when the next pirate show at Treasure Island was, but it was 10 minutes away and the crowd was already pretty thick; time to move on. We hit some old-time favorite casinos from years gone past like the New Frontier, Westward Ho, and the Stardust. I remember Rich mentioning that one of these was Whitey�s favorite spots, but I�m not sure which one. By the time we got to Circus-Circus, I was pretty frustrated with my gaming losses. The fact that every person with a gambling problem and a family (excluding me of course) frequents this particular casino for their needs didn�t help my condition. Let me get on my soap box for a second. I like to gamble, but it is for adults. I don�t want to see a three-year-old boy in a stroller looking up at me as I lay my bet on the table because some kind of Catholic-guilt thing takes over and it throws me off my pace. Call me old-fashioned, but keep your kids away from the sins of others. I don�t take my kids to strip-joints or whore-houses; keep your kids out of my favorite vice site�the casinos. Now back to the story. I�m not sure if it was all the kids throwing off my gaming-tempo or just an act of God, but I started to win. It was a miracle�woo hoo!
After visiting the big-top, it was time to move on. We stepped outside to hail a cab and were on our way to old Vegas, down town. When we let our driver in on our plans, she laughed and said, �You guys don�t want to go down town?!� After going back and forth in argument, we finally convinced her that we truly DID want to and she BETTER take us. To this day, I have no idea why she said that. Was it because we weren�t tough enough for the �streets of down town� or that we were younger than the usual crowd�who knows. All I know, is I was on a winning streak and I wanted to get back to gambling before the gods of chance turned on me. There was a band playing on the stage and we watched the Freemont Street Experience, which is a cool light show that canopies the 2 or more blocks of casinos. Isn�t it ironic that at the Venetian you are inside, but you feel like you are outside and on Freemont Street, you are outside, but you feel like you are inside. We all had some good luck while we were down town. Rich and Matt were doing a great job of taking money for the slots, while I was doing the same at the tables. After a while, we decided to head back to the newer casinos. We hadn�t been to the Hard Rock Casino, so we jumped in a cab and requested to be driven there.
I�m not sure how much cabbies get in kick-backs, but it must be a lot. When we got in this cab, the guy was like, �No, you guys don�t want to go there!� What was up with all the telepathic cab drivers? Except, we were pretty sure that we were right and knew were we wanted to go. After the next couple minutes of debate and us insisting that we came to Vegas to gamble, he reaches into a bag and grabs one of those girly cards with the call girls on it and says, �Now, this is what you guys want.� Now that we caught on to his scam, I had the perfect come-back, much to Rich and Matt�s surprise, �No thanks, we�re gay.� Without missing a beat, he states, �I got places for that too.� As I was looking at Rich and Matt, who�s jaws hit the dirty floor of the cab and had looks on their faces like, �dude?�, they quickly turned to look at this guy like, �DUDE!?!?!� We must have tipped him great before we even paid the fare because we finally got him to take us to Mandalay Bay where 311 had just finished a show at the House of Blues.
Matt had been talking about this show and was very disappointed when he found out that is was sold-out, so he was excited to get there for the �after party�. There was also a Aaron Carter show, so there would be many teeny-boppers roaming around. When we arrived we also found out that the dance club there was just getting hopping. All the pretty people were walking around in their clubbin� attire (tight outfits with a lot of skin showing) and then there were us. We were kind of grungy and fully clothed after being out all day in the cooler weather. We stood out like sore thumbs, but we didn�t care. We got right down to scouting the place for a seat at a hot table, when Matt spotted someone. I walked over after Matt had gathered enough courage to approach him like a love-struck groupie and asked Rich who that was. Rich answered by saying, �That�s one of Matt�s girlfriends.� Still puzzled, I asked, �Who?� Rich reiterated for the impaired (me), �Chad Sexton, the drummer from 311.� He was with their tour manager and his girlfriend, who was the only one playing at the $25 minimum roulette table. Vegas is a great place for some star-gazing. Matt was genuinely in admiration. 311 is one of his favorite bands and it must have been great to meet him; �cool stuff�, as he would put it. We continued to do some winning and some losing at this place. We even caught set of a great �Lounge Act�. This band was tight and was playing some good, groovy 70s songs, so we saved our money for the next place and relaxed and drank while as we watched them jam.
We caught a cab back to our neighborhood without any questions asked this time. We went back to a favorite spot of ours, Barbary Coast. For the most part, the three of us have been gambling separate on this trip, so we decided to sit at an open roulette table and gamble mutually. We found the perfect spot, right in front of another lounge act and with a dealer that was doing a great job of increasing our chip amount. I am one that believes that roulette is beatable if you get the right dealer and you pay attention to the spins and I know Rich and Matt agree. Well this was a good case of exactly that. When it gets late enough, the casino chooses not to switch out dealers as often for some reason. It was great! We had the table all to ourselves and we were dancing and singing and placing checks down on winning numbers for the better part of three hours. Then all of a sudden, the singer announces, �Thanks and good night!� We looked at the dealer, who was our buddy at this time, and we must have had a look of complete disappointment when she said, �It�s 5 am and the band is done playing.� That�s what you get for not putting clocks in these places. We were devastated. So we cashed in our winnings and walked over to the Flamingo and then to bed.
I caught a 2 hour nap, got up and packed for my trip back to reality. Rich and Matt had the whole day left so they slept until check-out time and got to see the Hard Rock Casino among other stuff (you will have to get the rest of that story from Matt). We did a great job of cramming a lot of fun times into about 2 � days. I lost money, but had a great time with two of my best friends. The reality that I returned to was witnessing the birth of my third child, Ian. As I stated earlier, he was due in 6-weeks, but came 40 days (5 � weeks) early, March 6th only 3 days after my return flight from Vegas. I hate to even think what would have happened if I would have missed this event, but luckily I was there and Ian was healthy.
This kind of weekend was tentatively planned again last summer when I saw Rich. It was supposed to take place right around now (early March 2004). It was also planned for the rest of my life, but now Matt and I will have to go it alone. I�m sure we will do exactly that in memory of Rich. Every time we step into McCarran Airport, we will think of Rich and have fun with him in spirit. To me this is one of the saddest parts of losing Rich so early. All the plans of growing old and having fun with him, especially the trips to Vegas year after year are gone now.
