Our return trip to Vegas was fun, warm and relaxing. Everyday we slept in, went to the gym and spent time by the pool. We checked out a bunch of hotels along the north of the Strip gambling along the way and planning our next visit, headed downtown to frequent dive bars (I lasted 1 drink), walked back to the Strip from downtown at 3am (blisters, bad neighbourhood and bathroom desperation), indulged in a buffet at the Aria and attended an impressive cirque du soleil show, Zarkana. After 4 nights, we packed our bags and headed back to LA to say goodbye to the west coast and the Yaris (+5000km on the little beast) before flying out to NYC.

T & J

hurdy gurdy

mating call?

nice murse

street drinking like a boss

Our first visit to Las Vegas had us leaving Phoenix and driving via Lake Havasu to Laughlin. A poor man’s Vegas where we stayed at the cigarette perfumed Colorado Belle hotel for $19. We watched the Canucks lose a playoff game, sharing a plate of nachos that could feed a family and then sunk a buck into a pokey machine that kept on giving and therefore kept us hydrated on free rum & cokes until the wee hours of the morning. Still, we weren’t at all saddened to depart in the morning for the real Vegas!

We were picking up my friend Ron who was flying in from Vancouver later that night so avoided all temptations to start partying when we arrived at our hotel (LINQ) in the early afternoon. We had procured a 1.75L bottle of Captain Morgan from Costco for $18 and stopped in at Wholefoods for some green smoothie ingredients – it’s all about balance! We purchased a personal blender while in Phoenix in an attempt to maintain some element of health while on the road and surprisingly we used it almost daily on this stop. After picking up Ron we found out that Jaymin’s friend Dave and his sister were in town for the night also. Let the fun begin!

Shall we start at the end, when Jaymin climbed onto the bed fully clothed and shoed, complete with drink still in hand. Needless to say it was an eventful night filled with drinking, gambling, random new friends and probably a lot of other things that may never be remembered! The bottle of rum was almost empty. Yikes. Still, by midday I was up and ready to hit the pool and Jaymin had no choice but to join. Ron met us and we resumed where we left off with a round of ciders. It wasn’t long before we were playing beer pong in the pool. We were most likely the worst contenders the pool had ever seen. Our opponents weren’t much better so anyone else wanting to have a go soon gave up hope. The rest of the day/night took a sharp turn towards fatigue and an early night it was.

The next morning we woke fresh and decided to attend a day club. After waiting a long while in line to get in and then waiting even longer to buy a bucket of beers we were front and centre of the stage splashing and dancing the day away at Daylight at Mandalay Bay. The DJs disappointed Jaymin to no end but clearly Alesso was keeping everyone else happy…

The rest of the weekend was filled with eating, drinking and gun shows. You know, the usual stuff.

T & J

lake havasu, london bridge