Forgive the lack of updating over the last week. I just got back from Las Vegas.
To begin…
Day 1
My friends, Toys, had a hook-up at the Mandalay Bay with his cousin’s girlfriend. She got us an incredible rate for the 4 days covering the 30th through 3 January. Mandalay Bay is awesome with the only negative being that it is at the southern-most portion of the strip requiring a cab for just about anywhere. I met up with my friends around 3 on the first day and, after taking a nap, went to a great sushi spot entitled Ra. Following dinner, we went back to the Casino. My friends “pre-gamed” in the room, but I went down to the casino. After a breif stint of Blackjack, my friend Vest and I were wandering around (you really do get lost in Casinos) when we stumbled upon this girl giving out “free entry” tickets to the ultra-lounge on the top of Mandalay Bay, The Foundation Room. After visiting Manhattan a thousand times and having to fend off the people on Las Vegas boulevard offering hookers, I was a little skeptical of this “free-entry.” Regardless, we decided to try it out and amazingly we got in immediately – for free. At that point in my life, it was arguably the coolest place I had ever been…that is until the last night. Here is a picture of the view we were getting of the Strip from the outside part of the “lounge”
I was already aware that I really enjoy lounges – a nice mix of a bar and a club. Great music mixed in with most people just hanging out, messing around, as opposed to breaking a sweat on the dance floor. At about 4, I retreated to my room, but my ridiculous friends stayed up till about 7:30 playing craps downstairs. This became the standard operating procedure for them for the entirety of the trip – their endurance was pretty incredible.
Day 2
After waking up to a pretty bad hangover, we all decided we needed to go to In & Out Burger. If you haven’t been, or read Tucker Max’s book, they you don’t know how simply good this place is – believe the hype. This day was New Years so we needed to buy tickets to the Mandalay Bay “Block Party” where we had access to 5 bars/lounges/clubs with a free drink at each. Of course we put off the purchasing the tickets till about an hour before it was to begin and of course it was sold out. It was 8 p.m. on New Years Ever and we had absolutely no plans! After we ate at Hubert Keller’s “Burger bar,” we decided that we would start out in this lounge in the middle of the casino, EyeCandy, and we ended up staying there till 5 a.m. It was basically a bar with a dance floor, but it was awesome. But as stated earlier, I spotted all of my friends working up a pretty serious sweat. While I went to sleep around 4, they cooled off with craps till 8 a.m. Oddly enough, New Years was the worst of the 4 nights there.
Day 3
I actually felt great this morning, but some of my friends were undoubtedly hurting. Today was to be the obligatory “suit-evening” where we visited arguably the best chef in the country’s restaurant, Thomas Keller’s Bouchon, followed by visiting the ”Wynn’s” hottest lounge, Blush.
Yes, Easley went to Cascia Hall.
I thought Keller’s place was great, but some of my friends disagreed… likely because for $792, you expect your taste buds to explode – at least when your 22. Either way, we headed to this lounge in the Wynn, Blush, and it was, of course, awesome (another time we picked up free access from the street). The Wynn is arguably the coolest Casino in Vegas and the places inside have to equal its proclaimed status. It was here that we met some fellow Okies, as well as partying next to the infamous Perez Hilton.
The club in the Wynn is called Tryst and it was absurd. I thought there was no way we were going to get in (which is why we headed to Blush), but since the Okies we met knew the people, we walked right in. The club was, to be expected, ultra-packed, but even more impressive than the energy of the club was the club itself. A half-moon shape with a dance floor both in and outside … all connected to a 50 foot waterfall. I was blown away by this place. Another 4 am return for me, another round of craps for my friends.
Day 4
Up until this day, the trip had been excellent. However, this night made the trip the best I have ever had – hands down. To start, I stumbled upon Bobby Flay’s “Mesa Grill” in Caesar’s and it was incredible – and cheap. I wanted to check out Caesars mostly because of “The Hangover” , but it is also pretty highly rated etc… It just sucked because the three that went had to walk for about 45 minutes – the Strip makes things look closer than they really are. Regardless, my friends finally decided to ‘use our hook-up, the VIP coordinator at Mandalay Bay, to go to the newest club in town, Vanity, which only opened two nights before. She told us that we have to show up around 9:30 to get in like we desire – of course, we didn’t show up till 10:15 and of course the line for the “VIP” line was 1 1/2 hours. Procrastination ALMOST ruining the night seemed to be the story of the trip. Either way, this club turned out to be one of the coolest things I have ever done. In addition to it just being awesome, I was partying, literally, with Puff Daddy (or is it P. Diddy or just Diddy?), Nelly, and Floyd Mayweather – we were literally dancing right next to them. It was awesome. I had to roll out a little early for my flight was leaving Vegas at 6:30 and they have a mandatory check-in of two hours. That made for an interesting airport experience. I found out later that, after 3 nights of not really making any money playin craps, my friend Toys turned $20 into $1000 – he didn’t walk away from his heater
Things I learned in Vegas
Cash gets you whatever you want – honestly
Despite what Allan said, street people can be real “straight shooters”
A lot like high schoolers in Mexico, people come to Vegas with a particular mindset usually relinquishing all former inhibitions
All Vegas Clubs are required to have stupid-ass names
Believe the Vegas Hype
High School friends will rival any group of people you will ever meet
