When we last left you, girl and I were starting a drinking adventure in Las Vegas. On a Sunday night at 8 pm. I remember the time well because we saw the Simpsons start up on the telly and it was this year's Treehouse of Horror episode, where Homer tries to vote for Obama.
Sunday, December 21st continued - We left our room with our yard drinking glasses in tow, and immediately headed to Fat Tuesday in the lower level of MGM Grand. It's a bar, but really, there's only a couple of seats there and it's a place where they have pre-made frozen alcohol drinks. Girl got one flavor with an extra shot, while I got the mojito. And so the drinking began.
We set our goal to hit as many casinos as we could that night, staying up at late as we could. So, it was first off to New York, New York, which again is a great looking casino from the outside, with large buildings resembling New York. Inside, however, it's kind of bland. We hit the casino floor and headed over to Nine Fine Irishmen, a pub that was recommended to us by some friends. However, the pub was closed for renovations, so we just wandered about and really didn't stay very long. The walkway connected from New York, New York to Excalibur, so we wandered there.
And it was crazy loud, with a band playing there, and people everywhere. We ended up finding a couple of slot machines called England, which displayed all sorts of English symbols, and I did Ok for a bit. Well, enough that we had money to refill our yard of drink at Dick's Last Resort there. We gambled for a bit, but then wandered down to the kid's area, where they have skee ball, other arcade games, and it was crazy fun there. Too bad most of the quarter machines were busted, because I wanted to get change and play some games, but overall, it had an energy and it wasn't too obnoxious with kids. Ok, by the time we left there, it was after 11pm and kids were still up, so perhaps that was the only thing wrong.
We then wandered to the Luxor, and gambled a bit more on the Cops and Donuts machines for a couple of hours, drinking our yard of drink and generally having fun. I was doing Ok, but girl kept hitting the bonuses, so she was racking up cash like crazy. We kept drinking, and wandered around the Luxor, which seemed to have a good size crowd about, and so about 1 AM, we decided to wander to Mandalay Bay. It's a nice casino from the outside, but on this night, it was freaking dead. There was a tram running from Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, and after a few minutes in Mandalay Bay, we left because it was boring. We took the tram back to Excalibur, and had our yard drinks filled for the third time. Thankfully, the bartender remembered us so it was an easy transaction, and besides, once you buy the glass from anywhere, it's only between $9 to $11 to refill each time, so it's a great way to get drunk. The band was also playing the song "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the Madness, and so we all had to sing along. At the top of our lungs. I can say that Dick's Last Resort sounds like a blast to visit, but they advertise that they have good food but surly service, and it's part of the appeal. At least on the drinking side, there was a lot to be happy with.
We left Excalibur and decided to head north towards other casinos. We walked for a bit, and stopped by the Planet Hollywood Casino, which is now where the Alladin used to be. It's a fancy, upscale casino, and the music made it sound like a dance club. We gambled for a bit there, sipping on our drinks. I found it interesting we didnt' get offered any free drinks all night because we had the big cups. Apparently, they didn't want to get us completely drunk, but not to be offered was interesting. Anyway, we decided to continue north and stopped inside Paris to see it. Paris is one of my favorite casinos, with the Eiffel Tower Experience there, but for the night, we used the loo and wandered around to see what was up. Not seeing a whole lot, we continued on to the Bellagio, which was actually a bit busy for a Sunday night. The card tables were all filled, and people were partying like crazy. However, after our experience with trying to find someone to cash out a machine, we didn't stay very long, instead wandering up to Ceasar's Palace. By this time, it was just after 2 AM, and so we wandered to see the shops, see if there were any machines to play, and the like. We did stop and rest for a bit at the sports book area, which was completely closed at this point, and we walked by some college kids who had a huge drinking glass full of alcohol. He commented that we should have gotten the bigger glass, but I don't think he had been through his three times in a night like we had.
The clock had finally hit 3:30 AM and so we decided to wander back towards MGM because we were getting hungry from all the walking and drinking. It was rather chilly outside, but we walked briskly to get back to our hotel. And since it was late, there were no vendors our pushing their services or wares, so the walk didn't take very long at all. We got in about 4 AM, and went to the Studio Cafe and asked for a table for 2. We got a pager and an explanation we should be seated within 10 minutes. By the time we had wandered away, the pager went off and our wait person sheepishly said, we had something immediately available so sorry we sent you walking.
Girl and I both ordered huge burgers, and we split some chicken tenders. The tenders weren't oily at all, and very well cooked, while the burgers were simply tasty. We didn't even eat many of our fries, we were so full from the food and drink. By the time our meal was done, it was 4:45 AM and we had made it through most of the night. And by the tally, I had only lost about $40 in the machines, had three yards of drink, and a big meal at the end. Not bad at all, and we knew that we still had a day in Vegas, and then were heading home on Tuesday. As we nodded off to sleep with the sounds of casino machines dinging in our heads, I can't help but think this is the Vegas experience we had really wanted, but had to build up to. Ok, we weren't getting up anytime early on Monday, but we partied hard and for a long time, and that's what counted.
Monday, December 22nd - Well, we did make it up around noon, a bit hung over, but happy for making it as long as we did partying. Ok, the kids did wake us up again at 8 Am, waiting to go to breakfast, but we soon turned over and slept more. We had warned girl's mom we were partying like crazy people, so she didn't expect us for food in the Am at all. We got up and about around 1 pm, showered, and left the room at about 3 pm. Not a terrible departure time after being up all night, but it was the last full day there, and we still had some things to do and see. I had forgotten to secure playing cards for my friend Wade while at the Bellagio, so I needed to go there after getting some food.
We discussed food options, and decided to eat at the Rainforest Cafe there at the hotel. The food there is usually really good, and the whole eco theme is a good touch. We did get asked about joining their club to save money on meals, but since the closest location to us here is at that place up north that we don't speak of, there was no way we were buying the membership. Our waiter was very nice and chatty, and we had a really, really good meal. Complete with a birthday song for another diner, a few thunderstorms, a little rain, and then girl and I with our picture with a large monkey. Not bad, indeed. We paid for our meal, and then I left to go find the playing cards while the girls shopped a bit at the cafe.
Monday night was seriously cold, as I walked along the Strip, freezing my butt off. The wind was absolutely biting, but I was determined to walk and get my errand run. Bellagio is a nice casino, but it took me forever to find the gift shop and when I finally did, they didn't have cards from their casino. Interesting, but at least I found a few, purchased them, and then decided to take a cab back to MGM. It was only $6, and didn't take long at all. Once I got back to the room, girl and I fussed with our luggage a bit to get everything all back into bags, knowing that the shuttle was arriving for us at 11:30 AM tomorrow. I was planning on doing the desk checkout, mostly to review our bill and mention the loud kid issue. Once we got our bags dealt with, we headed down for some more gambling and a late night snack.
I'd never had Nathan's hot dogs before, but for $4.95, I'd expect a cheese hot dog to have a bit more than just a small weiner and cheese. I will recommend Nathan's cheesesteak, because it was a great value and very tasty. After eating, it was off to play Lucky Lemmings, which went on until about midnight when I finally cashed out $25 ahead, and it was up to get some sleep before heading home. We'd spoken with girl's brother about the conditions in Portland, but we still hadn't really seen any pictures or had any descriptions about what was going on. Needless to say, we were in for another adventure in getting home, but it's probably not exactly what you might expect to happen.
Next Time - Final Day in Vegas, well, Ok, final two days in Vegas, Huh? And, wow, there is a lot of snow around here.
Showing posts with label snack food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snack food. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Monday, May 26, 2008
It's F***ing Cold Out Here, But These Guys are Really Nice, and Saying Goodbye to our time in Seaham.
April 14th - Seaham and around Sunderland.
Monday had always been a play it by ear day for us in our honeymoon travels up north, because nothing really was planned for that day. We had talked about taking the train to Scotland, going up into Sunderland and seeing more of the city, heading to the outlet mall for part of the day, or just chilling about in town. Gary had mentioned that because of the loss on Saturday there would probably be practice on Monday, and it might be fun to go check it out. We thought sure, but he did tell us that we'd get a chance to lie in for a bit.
The lie in lasted until about 9:00 AM when we were awaken by a knock at the door. Gary had called the hotel to tell us that practice was indeed on for the morning, and he'd be here about 10 AM for us to head up there. So we scrambled about to find some clothes and get dressed, and then Gary was indeed here at 10 AM to head up to the practice area.
If you drive through Sunderland and keep heading north until you are about the edge of Sunderland, there's the practice facility. Actually, it's in the town north of there, and it's a fairly nice area of fields with a large building right in the middle. We parked our car to the far north park of the area, and took some trails to meet up with the main field. While driving up there, the weather had gone from sunny with a little wind to clouds and a bit of a drizzle and wind like we have here on the eastside of Portland. I had dressed in my colors, jacket and scarf, and I could have used another layer as well. We walked past the main building on campus, where we saw a small pool and a couple of water jet pools for therapy. Apparently, they have a full clubhouse there, complete with a cafeteria, recreation room, large TV room, and other things for the guys to relax with after training to help the team chemistry.
As we walked closer to the field, we saw the players parking lot, and you could tell we were dealing with EPL players as there were BMWs, Audis, a few SUVs, but everything there was brand new and very sparkly. The players were on the far south field doing drills and playing a game called two touch, where you could touch the ball twice and then you had to pass or shoot. The keepers were off to a field on the left doing agility drills and passing drills. It seemed very efficient as coaches were barking orders and then players would follow the request quickly without any words. It was quiet except for the wind and the occasional comments from about 20 of us there. Gary had said if the weather was nice, there would be hundreds of folks there but not today.
After about an hour, the guys were done and started heading off the pitch. Gary had a autograph book and he borrowed my camera to get some pictures, and next thing I know, Michael Chopra was standing next to me as Gary shot a picture. As guys walked past us, Gary said we were on our honeymoon and could we get pictures. And many of the guys stopped and chatted with us for a bit while we got pictures. I found Kenwyn Jones hysterically funny, especially after we told him how far we'd came to see the match. Nyron was still slightly miffed at the penalty call from Saturday, but I saw determination from him to play well next week. Craig Gordon chatted with us for a bit, and wished us a good rest of our holiday. What was amazing is that as we chatted with them, they were very nice and thanked us for coming, especially after knowing the great distance we'd came. They signed a few shirts for some folks near us, but we were the only ones to get pictures with them. I felt really honored to have them talk with girl and I, and at that point, the sleepiness, wind, rain and cold didn't matter.
We wandered back to the car, and headed further north towards Cleadon and found an Italian restaurant near the practice area that many players visit. Gary had eaten there many times, and of course, knew the owner when we walked in. About 5 minutes after we were seated, one of the Sunderland players, Ross Wallace, came into eat with his family. We ate massive amounts of really good food, drank a little bit, warmed up from the cold, and generally filled up. We had also found our first copy of the Sunderland Echo, and on page 3, we found the article that was published about our trip. Overall, I was pleased at the pictures and most of the text, but the article did make it sound like I had convinced girl to blow off Rome for Sunderland, and really that wasn't the case. We decided to make a few stops on our trip, and Sunderland was our first destination to meet up with my friends that now are girl's friends as well. They showed us an amazing time, and I won't forget it ever.
We headed back to Seaham, where we got a few more copies of the Echo, and then set up plans for the afternoon and evening. Paul had dropped by to get us access to a computer at the Seaham library, and so we were able to check email, post on our board things we'd done, and generally get caught up on things back in Portland. The Chelsea -Wigan match was on later, so girl and I decided to head to the hotel to pack up and get prepared for our flight the next day, then come to Gary's later for the match.
Paul wandered back to town with us and soon we found a store for some treats on the plane flight. We found an amazing candy store in town (Somerfelds), and loaded up on lots of snacks that Paul sprung for. He also asked us about Tootsie Rolls, which have never been available there and he'd heard it was the most disgusting candy ever. We will have to make sure he tests this theory sometime. We packed our stuff, keeping with the one bag per person restriction. While you can have two bags going from the US to the UK, we could only have one bag up to Newcastle and to Rome, so we were doing some rather creative packing to get everything in. The gifts we got were all packed in clothes and scarves, and we got everything in our luggage.
After a final meal in the Harbour View, we headed down to watch the match at Gary's and have a few drinks. The match was actually pretty close, with Chelsea needing points to catch Manchester United in the title race. Chelsea got a goal in the second half, and seemed on their way to winning, but Wigan got a late goal in stoppage time to get a draw, and severely dent their title hopes. This would be something we'd have to keep an eye on. We decided to call it an early night, because Oddie, girl and I all had early flights on Tuesday, so we left Gary's to walk back to the hotel. We had said some goodbyes to the staff, and wandered up the stairs for a good night's rest. I was sad to see this part of our trip end, because it was amazing to see everyone again and be treated so well. But also knowing how much trouble Gary had gone through to do things for us, despite some medical issues he'd been dealing with. He was the very good host, and made our trip most amazing. Honestly, now that girl has experienced the northern hospitality, we will have to come back again to say hi. I mean, hey, we're members of the Scout Club!!
April 15th - Flight to Rome
We woke up on time, but honestly sleep wasn't all that good. I had a telemarketer call my cell phone at 3 AM to pitch some cell plan or something, and I politely told him to fuck off as it was 3 AM in England. The alarm rang at 5 AM, and we picked up our last things and hauled our bags downstairs. Gary and Oddie were waiting for us, and we filled his car and headed to the airport. We reminisced about things that occurred, but mostly, it was time to reflect at the whirlwind that was 5 days north.
We said goodbye to Gary and it was sad to finally say cheers. He had done so much for us, and all I could do was say thanks and see you very soon. I know that at some point he'll be back here or girl and I will head back to England, but the friends we've made up north are some of the most amazing folks about. We immediately headed to British Airways to check in for our flight to Rome, and had to wait for a few minutes before we could officially check in. After completing that and dropping off our bags, we whisked through security and found some snacks. Knowing that the waiting area for all flights was at one place, we waited for Oddie to check in and meet us there, but apparently he had some issues negotiating through the airport labyrinth. We did get to say goodbye to our newest friend, and we have an invite to come to Norway at some point, which might be a fun trip indeed.
As we settled into our seat, it was time to head back to Terminal 5 and then to our second leg of our trip, Rome. And I couldn't wait for what adventures awaited us in Italy.
Next time - The Colisseum at Night, and Adventures in Pickpocketing.
Monday had always been a play it by ear day for us in our honeymoon travels up north, because nothing really was planned for that day. We had talked about taking the train to Scotland, going up into Sunderland and seeing more of the city, heading to the outlet mall for part of the day, or just chilling about in town. Gary had mentioned that because of the loss on Saturday there would probably be practice on Monday, and it might be fun to go check it out. We thought sure, but he did tell us that we'd get a chance to lie in for a bit.
The lie in lasted until about 9:00 AM when we were awaken by a knock at the door. Gary had called the hotel to tell us that practice was indeed on for the morning, and he'd be here about 10 AM for us to head up there. So we scrambled about to find some clothes and get dressed, and then Gary was indeed here at 10 AM to head up to the practice area.
If you drive through Sunderland and keep heading north until you are about the edge of Sunderland, there's the practice facility. Actually, it's in the town north of there, and it's a fairly nice area of fields with a large building right in the middle. We parked our car to the far north park of the area, and took some trails to meet up with the main field. While driving up there, the weather had gone from sunny with a little wind to clouds and a bit of a drizzle and wind like we have here on the eastside of Portland. I had dressed in my colors, jacket and scarf, and I could have used another layer as well. We walked past the main building on campus, where we saw a small pool and a couple of water jet pools for therapy. Apparently, they have a full clubhouse there, complete with a cafeteria, recreation room, large TV room, and other things for the guys to relax with after training to help the team chemistry.
As we walked closer to the field, we saw the players parking lot, and you could tell we were dealing with EPL players as there were BMWs, Audis, a few SUVs, but everything there was brand new and very sparkly. The players were on the far south field doing drills and playing a game called two touch, where you could touch the ball twice and then you had to pass or shoot. The keepers were off to a field on the left doing agility drills and passing drills. It seemed very efficient as coaches were barking orders and then players would follow the request quickly without any words. It was quiet except for the wind and the occasional comments from about 20 of us there. Gary had said if the weather was nice, there would be hundreds of folks there but not today.
After about an hour, the guys were done and started heading off the pitch. Gary had a autograph book and he borrowed my camera to get some pictures, and next thing I know, Michael Chopra was standing next to me as Gary shot a picture. As guys walked past us, Gary said we were on our honeymoon and could we get pictures. And many of the guys stopped and chatted with us for a bit while we got pictures. I found Kenwyn Jones hysterically funny, especially after we told him how far we'd came to see the match. Nyron was still slightly miffed at the penalty call from Saturday, but I saw determination from him to play well next week. Craig Gordon chatted with us for a bit, and wished us a good rest of our holiday. What was amazing is that as we chatted with them, they were very nice and thanked us for coming, especially after knowing the great distance we'd came. They signed a few shirts for some folks near us, but we were the only ones to get pictures with them. I felt really honored to have them talk with girl and I, and at that point, the sleepiness, wind, rain and cold didn't matter.
We wandered back to the car, and headed further north towards Cleadon and found an Italian restaurant near the practice area that many players visit. Gary had eaten there many times, and of course, knew the owner when we walked in. About 5 minutes after we were seated, one of the Sunderland players, Ross Wallace, came into eat with his family. We ate massive amounts of really good food, drank a little bit, warmed up from the cold, and generally filled up. We had also found our first copy of the Sunderland Echo, and on page 3, we found the article that was published about our trip. Overall, I was pleased at the pictures and most of the text, but the article did make it sound like I had convinced girl to blow off Rome for Sunderland, and really that wasn't the case. We decided to make a few stops on our trip, and Sunderland was our first destination to meet up with my friends that now are girl's friends as well. They showed us an amazing time, and I won't forget it ever.
We headed back to Seaham, where we got a few more copies of the Echo, and then set up plans for the afternoon and evening. Paul had dropped by to get us access to a computer at the Seaham library, and so we were able to check email, post on our board things we'd done, and generally get caught up on things back in Portland. The Chelsea -Wigan match was on later, so girl and I decided to head to the hotel to pack up and get prepared for our flight the next day, then come to Gary's later for the match.
Paul wandered back to town with us and soon we found a store for some treats on the plane flight. We found an amazing candy store in town (Somerfelds), and loaded up on lots of snacks that Paul sprung for. He also asked us about Tootsie Rolls, which have never been available there and he'd heard it was the most disgusting candy ever. We will have to make sure he tests this theory sometime. We packed our stuff, keeping with the one bag per person restriction. While you can have two bags going from the US to the UK, we could only have one bag up to Newcastle and to Rome, so we were doing some rather creative packing to get everything in. The gifts we got were all packed in clothes and scarves, and we got everything in our luggage.
After a final meal in the Harbour View, we headed down to watch the match at Gary's and have a few drinks. The match was actually pretty close, with Chelsea needing points to catch Manchester United in the title race. Chelsea got a goal in the second half, and seemed on their way to winning, but Wigan got a late goal in stoppage time to get a draw, and severely dent their title hopes. This would be something we'd have to keep an eye on. We decided to call it an early night, because Oddie, girl and I all had early flights on Tuesday, so we left Gary's to walk back to the hotel. We had said some goodbyes to the staff, and wandered up the stairs for a good night's rest. I was sad to see this part of our trip end, because it was amazing to see everyone again and be treated so well. But also knowing how much trouble Gary had gone through to do things for us, despite some medical issues he'd been dealing with. He was the very good host, and made our trip most amazing. Honestly, now that girl has experienced the northern hospitality, we will have to come back again to say hi. I mean, hey, we're members of the Scout Club!!
April 15th - Flight to Rome
We woke up on time, but honestly sleep wasn't all that good. I had a telemarketer call my cell phone at 3 AM to pitch some cell plan or something, and I politely told him to fuck off as it was 3 AM in England. The alarm rang at 5 AM, and we picked up our last things and hauled our bags downstairs. Gary and Oddie were waiting for us, and we filled his car and headed to the airport. We reminisced about things that occurred, but mostly, it was time to reflect at the whirlwind that was 5 days north.
We said goodbye to Gary and it was sad to finally say cheers. He had done so much for us, and all I could do was say thanks and see you very soon. I know that at some point he'll be back here or girl and I will head back to England, but the friends we've made up north are some of the most amazing folks about. We immediately headed to British Airways to check in for our flight to Rome, and had to wait for a few minutes before we could officially check in. After completing that and dropping off our bags, we whisked through security and found some snacks. Knowing that the waiting area for all flights was at one place, we waited for Oddie to check in and meet us there, but apparently he had some issues negotiating through the airport labyrinth. We did get to say goodbye to our newest friend, and we have an invite to come to Norway at some point, which might be a fun trip indeed.
As we settled into our seat, it was time to head back to Terminal 5 and then to our second leg of our trip, Rome. And I couldn't wait for what adventures awaited us in Italy.
Next time - The Colisseum at Night, and Adventures in Pickpocketing.
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