We arrived around 6 p.m. Vegas time, had dinner, unpacked and changed [...]]]>

Recently I vacationed in Las Vegas. I slept at Excalibur. It was a 20+ year planned vacation. When I was a teenager, my friend Shannon and I had planned to go somewhere…anywhere. Finally, it was here and we were excited to celebrate.

We arrived around 6 p.m. Vegas time, had dinner, unpacked and changed into our PJs. STOP! HOLD ON… We were in Vegas! Since we didn’t want to miss anything, we headed out to explore the hotel as we were dressed. No big deal, right? We were in lounge pants and t-shirts – no one was going to stare at us. And, no one did. There were women walking around in their teddy’s. SAFE! You can do just about anything you damn well please and it is sociably okay.

We were up at 7 a.m. every morning. We’d get breakfast, a cup of coffee and hit the slots. Around 10 a.m. we’d head to the pool. At 11 a.m. we’d order frozen margaritas from Dick’s Last Resort. Around 1:30 p.m. we’d go get lunch and margaritas at Dick’s Last Resort. After lunch, we’d head to the room, with more margaritas, and get ready for an evening out. Then, for dinner and margaritas, we’d hit Dick’s Last Resort.

Dick’s wasn’t the only thing we did. “That’s what she said”...We did see Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil “O”. Both shows were unreal. We bounced in our seats and bobbed our heads for Blue Man and held our breath in amazement during “O” – two shows you don’t want to miss.

One night, we had dinner at the Stratosphere’s Top of the World resturant.  I had the best filet migon. The price was, well, pricy but worth it.

We did a strip stroll one day and it took us five hours to walk a quarter of the way down the strip; of course stopping and sightseeing. When we were hot and very thirsty, we decided to head back. We stopped and ate at Serendipity’s at Caesars Palace. I think we both drank about eight tall glasses of water. We did the strip stroll mid-afternoon while it was about 90+ heatwave. I highly recommend walking in the evening hours, plus, there’s more things going on, and the city lights up at night.

Coyote Ugly was on our list of must sees. I have to tell you, I was very disappointed. The bar was very small and not too much going on other than the bartenders dancing on the bar. I can get that in Pittsburgh.

Overall, we spent most of our time poolside sipping frozen margaritas at Dick’s. Though, I’m not sure why exactly we frequented Dick’s because the bartenders and wait staff our unbelievably rude, throw shit at you, write nasty things about you on handmade, paper hats, and do obscene things behind your back. I never enjoyed anything as much as I enjoyed Dick’s. This comment goes out to Blink and Taco.

Las Vegas Got Dick’s!

Blue Man

Picture taken from Stratosphere

Las Vegas Strip

Dick's Last Resort Las Vegas

Went to Pittsburgh’s South Side Mid-Winter Soup Walk fundraiser. Proceeds go to The Brashear Association food pantry. Many South Side retail businesses hookup with some of the restaurants and hand out free samples of soup – served up in a biodegradable dixie sized bowl and spoon. The bowl and spoon were made out [...]]]>

Went to Pittsburgh’s South Side Mid-Winter Soup Walk fundraiser. Proceeds go to The Brashear Association food pantry. Many South Side retail businesses hookup with some of the restaurants and hand out free samples of soup – served up in a biodegradable dixie sized bowl and spoon. The bowl and spoon were made out of potatoes.  Not a ‘too new’ concept but it was cool the event was green.  The event was helping build their local food pantry, and it was also to help build awareness of their local business district.

It ended up being a beautiful, warm(er) sunny day. We were expecting rain, snow and wind chills – so we were happy even though our fingers and cheeks (refers to both butt and face) were cold.

We met at one of the registration tables. My friend Alexis bought the tickets in advance so we did not have to stand in line. When we walked up to registration, the line was long. We established this line was for those ‘non-registered’ kind of people. Alexis went in search for the ‘on-the-ball’ people line.  She asked, “we already purchased our tickets online, where do we go?” The volunteer chick said, “over there (pointing to the same line of the non-registered). WHAT! We stand in line with those people? Alexis nicely replied, “SO OVER THERE THEN!” What was the point of buying our tickets online?

We got registered, put on our wristbands to prove we were not degenerates and we were on our way. Our first stop was the place right next door to the registration area. No soup for you! They weren’t ready yet. But we were kindly told we could hangout and shop while they make the soup. Hmmm, now that’s a novel idea. We headed to the next place on the list. Finally, we had our first taste of soup, and a good one at that. “Please sir, may I have another?”

As the event went on, walking from one place to the next, we found good soups and bad soups but all-in-all, I liked most of the soups. The lines were getting longer. We actually encountered a real live soup Nazi.  It was at a Bed and Breakfast (forget the name). This little old lady was standing at the door, kept saying, “LET ME SEE YOUR WRISTBAND AND LINE UP AGAINST THE WALL!” Ok, so she wasn’t yelling but it was pretty comical.

We didn’t hit all the shops, and decided to head somewhere for lunch. Yes, I know we just ate many different soups but let me remind you, it was DIXIE sized bowls. OK, so we get to a restaurant and guess what I order? Yes, soup! Overall, the event was a pretty good idea. Again, it was a nice day, lots of good soups, lots of fun laughs, good times with the friends, the niece and the boy. It was a quality time for me.

After we ate, we headed back to the boys place. He just moved and wanted to show it off to his friends. I headed to Big Bird a.k.a. Giant Eagle and bought some snackies. We spent the night playing Farkle. Basically, you roll six dice and must get 1,000 points before you can even START tracking your points.  It’s very frustrating and you get ‘Farkled’ all the time.