Part two: It all comes crashing down....
I just realized I have a timeline wrong. It was during the second run at the tournament that I proposed to Jess the dealer. I told her however that my heart had also been captured by Barb from the pool, so we'd have to work out some kind of sister-wife thing.... I told her that I'd buy the ring with my winnings that night, and she said "Well, I hope you bust early!". I made the money, but it wasn't enough to win her heart. Also, this is the first time I've seen a dealer yell "Yes" and fist pump when I busted out of a tourney (well, in a casino at least).
So, breakfast on Sunday is much more subdued. We are looking haggard as the wear of travel, time, and tequila hits us. None of us are feeling "A-game", with a range of B at the best (myself about a B-), and a solid F for some. The breakfasts are helping, but I stomach no more than half of it. The pool is much better however, cooling us off and letting us work out some of the booze. Since we were fairly rough, we spend a good few hours in the pool, and there's this one woman who seems to be doing circuits of the pool swimming around the edges (it's a shallow pool, no deep end, and not a standard shape, kinda like a shamrock or the club on a card perhaps if you were to look down on it). Anyways, whenever she comes near us, and we're in a group, she swims right through us, making eye contact, and not saying a word. This woman is freaking me out! lol
Our friend Barb is there again, and sympathetic to our plight. She tells us that her friends are all getting together and getting a party bus to head over to Larry Flynt's hustler club, and we should all come along. Precisely none of us believe her, but I for one forgive the poor girl just struggling to make a living... she also explains why there is sometimes this weird sewage smell. I guess Vegas has a hilariously poor sewage system, and much more rain than a drizzle up here will cause flooding. It rained for maybe a quick 15 minutes while we were there total, so no floods, but the occasional unfortunate whiff.
Since none of us are feeling great, it's going to be a low-key, touristy crap kinda day. Zithal finds a sandwich shop that is supposed to be good, and we head over to Planet Hollywood. It is the hottest goddamn day I've ever experienced in my life, and I feel disgusting! My shirt soaks my entire back through with sweat, and I can only imagine it looks like that "U" of sweat 48 year old overweight men get at the gym. We get to the sandwich shop (eventually - GPS on your phone is almost useless on the strip by the way), and it's packed! We do lunch at a cowboy themed bar where the best part is that the person running the mechanical bull knows how to strategically work it when the right gal goes on. After lunch, we head to the Pinball Hall of Fame - sometime I myself and pretty excited by.
The place is essentially a big room with row upon row of pinball machines, and some old-timey arcade games. Many of the machines have a story to them about how many were made, and when. I'll post a pic of Zithal playing one that only 2 were ever made, and tried to take pinball from a table-style to arcade box style of play. It was very cool though, and nice to reminisce.
Anyways, since we are all feeling at least a B by this point, we head back to the hotel and someone (Larry) suggests we play some craps. Several of us point out that we have NO idea how to play, and Larry assures us he can show us. We find an empty table for some lessons, and it quickly becomes apparent from the several "Umm.. not really sure what that one's for" and "Well, you have to do this, but only after something happens first... I think", that Larry may have misrepresented his expertise. So, like any responsible degens, we play anyways. I lose my first forty odd, and decide there must be an app to teach you craps and go up to retrieve my phone. Zithal arrives and pulls up some youtube vids, and I decide next time, I will use the "IRON CROSS" strategy.
Zithal wanted to hit a place he heard had good beer called "Public House" so we had to head over through Venetian, but this ended up being a mistake. The TI pirate show had started and there was a mass of humanity watching this terrible production. There was a roped off area to go through, but it only got you so far before hitting a wall. At this point, I'm surrounded by tourists, all sweating, our friends, and suddenly... Buddhist monks in full on orange robes / white sash and shaved heads. I don't know why but this really stuck with me as to just how absurd this town can be. The Public house is alright, if pricey, but American's clearly have NO idea what poutine is (Fries, cheese curds, duck, something that looked like soya sauce, and a fried egg).
We head back down and check out Gilley's Mechanical bull bikini contest, which is devastatingly less impressive than it sounds. It's getting late (I'm sure there's something in here I'm missing, but I can't remember what), so we decide to just have drinks upstairs and hit the hay.
Again, we're up by 7:30. I hate that... The final day's posting will be coming soon.