Viva Las Vegas!

I started my long drive Friday at about 9am.  When I drove up the I-5 into Las Vegas, I could almost feel the smile that was on my face as it stretched from cheek to cheek.  The massive neon, the view of people crawling across the strip, looking for the next big jackpot.  I was home.  Even if it was only going to be for a couple of days, I was home.

The first stop this evening was of course downtown.  I stopped at the Four Queens and walked the casino floor, stopping to say hi to everyone I knew who I worked with.  It is really amazing how Vegas tries to stay the same as the rest of the world changes so rapidly.  The casino was just the way I left it.

Across the street is the Fitzgeralds, my dad's place of employee.  He's the man behind the main bar on the first floor.  You can see him work with enough flair to impress the people at the bar but enough personality to become everyone's best friend.  He's great to watch and he's happy to see me.  I sit at the bar and watch him for a few minutes until my friend Ben shows up.  I'm going to be staying at Ben's house while I'm here and we're going to pretty much hang for the rest of my trip.

Deciding what to do next really took no effort at all.  The Emergency Room Lounge is our destination.  The bar is quirky, with fake IV's at the ends of the bar.  I've had some really wild nights at this place and tonight appears to be packed.  There's a DJ playing in the corner some great music and the drinks are flowing.  Unfortunately, all the bartenders are new and I don't recognize anyone.  Besides that, Ben and I enjoy the night drinking, talking to people and grooving to the music.

We end up at Ben's new place in Northern Las Vegas.  It's really out of the way and the neighborhood is dark and quiet.  A completely different feeling to normal Las Vegas.  My trip is going to be over in a little over 24 hours.  It's not enough time to really do all that I wanted, but I'm glad to be here.