Gemini in Vegas!

I am still just reeling from the last 4 days or so. Last years birthday was a bittersweet day of realities. I was actually not looking forward much to this years. Tiff was all too patient with my indesicion on what to do. The day itself came with little on my book as to what was going to be done, as my last post indicated. However the evening took off when Tiff got home and our good friends Scott and Jodi let me know they were available.

I found a Mexican place on City Search and chose it. Ernie's in Studio City turned out to be fantastic. Scott suggested going to see Pirates afterwards at Universal, to which we agreed to. Unfortunately, they were unable to stay the whole movie. I will be honest though, just getting to see some good friends on Sat was worth it, however long we got to hang out. Thank you for the movie!

Sunday,Tiff worked and I went to my meeting and hung out with some friends at a Founders Day BBQ. Very cool. I came home and opted to run the hill rather than hit the gym (a choice I am procrastinating right now). When Tiff got off at 6, we hit the road to Vegas.
She didn't tell me till we got very close that we would be staying at Treasure Island! So friggin' cool. We checked in and I have to give a quick account of our check in experience. We were told that they only had Smoking Rooms available (HA!) to which Tiffany responded with a plea if there was anything else available, "he just quit smoking 5 weeks ago, please." I was pretty moved by the sudden urgency. Our sympathetic check-in woman not only found us a room, but upon hearing it was my birthday upgraded us to a view of the strip and sent a bottle of Champagne to the room. Happy Birthday... Tiffany! :)

The room was gorgeous! I loved the view so much. What blew my mind was turning around and seeing Tiff smiling holding another gift. She had saved one as a suprise, tickets to tomorrow night's performance of Stomp Out Loud! Wow! That is one of my favortie shows! We ate an outstanding and overdue meal and made our way down to The Sahara for some Blackjack. Uh, dessert distance being an ellusive thing, we walked way too far. I got a little time on the table before she was finished. Up $6, I sprung for a Deuce (bus) pass for the both of us. Truly one of the best parts of Vegas! We made our way back to the hotel and crashed hard.

We hit the pool the next morning after way too little sleep. Why do hotels have such early check-outs and lousey pool hours? Seriously? We were determined to get down there and did. Such fun. We cleaned up and checked out, but left the car based at TI while we wandered. The shops around the old Aladin, now Planet Hollywood, have been a favorite haunt of ours. The remodel to the old Casino was pretty nice too. I was impressed with the new look, although it was amusing that Planet Hollywood chose to actually look a little more like Hollywood. The decor reminded me of many places in my neighborhood here. Apparently dark wood and decco are the style in Tinsletown.

We managed to book a room at Four Queens for dirt cheap before our show. That bemused me some as well. Apparently the customer on the internet is worth a hell of a lot more than the one at the counter. As the rates well much higher when we walked to a counter. Our room at the Four Queens we booked on the internet using the business center next to the check-in desk at the MGM Grand. Seems flawed to me, but hell if you have a laptop...

The show was amazing too. I saw it in New York in there modest theatre. This was a Vegas theatre build for them with all the options. It was incredible! This is the sort of show that stokes my creative fires and keeps me going. I truly needed that. We slowly matriculated our way back to old Vegas and cheecked into the Four Queens. It was nice enough, but we quickly chose to wander across the street to the Golden Nugget. At Tiff's enouraging, I snuggled up to a $5 Blackjack table. After an hour or so, I dropped a $5 chip as a tip and cashed out my $65 in chips, having started with $40. That felt good. Not just to come out ahead, but to have had the chance to play for a while. Double-downs, splits, and natural blackjacks... it was great!

We milled a while the next day, enjoying the shoppes at Caesars.
I even got some birthday cake there, Cheesecake birthdaycake to be precise. DELICIOUS!! We had to walk a bit more after that before hitting the road home weary and happy. Yet another accomplishment as a nonsmoker under the belt too. I am starting to suspect this shot at being a nonsmoker may be fairly serious. Heh. It was an incredible trip and I am so thrilled.
Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. Much thanks to Tiff though for wanting so much for my birthday in Hollywood to still mean something. It really did. Thank you, thank you, thank you!




Yes, Tiff is in a Broncos jersey! I know Ohio... first the Drive and now this.