Las Vegas - February 11 thru 16 | 2015

WE'RE BACK!!! Five years in the making. I know it's common for people from Hawaii to go to Vegas twice a year, my parents do and I'm sure a lot of other people do too. However, since we had kids, couple trips don't happen to us very often. Add that to the fact that everything is so damn expensive in Hawaii, money is scarce. So when we chose to come to Vegas, we goin' to make it happen! For sure.

Last time we were here, it was the time of our lives. That was 2009. But things were left unfinished. We only did half of the Vegas Strip (bottom section) and so this time the goal was to complete the entire strip. Not only did we want to finish the upper half of the strip, we wanted lots of good quality food. We wanted to eat well, very well. We were supposed to spend time with our friends Jenny, Blaze, Erik, and the rest, but that was going to be difficult because they were staying in Downtown Vegas and we were staying on The Strip.

short story time

Read the stories below

Big Ass Minion

As we walked down from the Bellagio near the lake with Blaze, Erik and the rest, we saw these two short minions. I took a picture with them. As I gave a tip to one minion, the other minion said in her minion voice, “me too please”. I was stunned for a bit and laughed it off. 

We caught the monorail back to Circus Circus and needed a rest. After a short rest, we decided to venture inside the hotel to the Midway. We thought Astrodome and Midway were combined and assumed that both closed at 6pm, however Midway closes way later like at midnight. It's like the 50th State Fair year round there. Shell decided to play the ring toss game. Rarely do people win the ring toss game, however Shell can. We gave the lady 2 dollars which afforded us 20 rings. On Shell's third ring toss she got it on the bottle, thus winning the big ass minion. 

This minion was about 3+ feet tall. It was huge, I couldn't wrap it around my arms. The lady gave us a small toy...we were perplexed, but the lady said take the small toy to the office and exchange it for the minion. We went to the office and the lady walkied someone to grab the big ass minion. After about 5 minutes, we carried the big ass minion around the Midway. 

Shell wanted a snack, so we went to McDonald’s to grab french fries. Shell sat with the big ass minion next to her, it is the size of a small boy. Solving the airplane situation is going to be difficult, but we will figure something out.

Fat Tuesday - 2015

Fat Tuesday is the English translation for Mardi Gras. I’m not religious or anything, but Fat Tuesday comes before Ash Wednesday. According to Christianity and some Catholic religions, Ash Wednesday is when they celebrate lent, 40 days of fasting. Fat Tuesday is a day of binge eating and I guess nowadays a lot of drinking. In New Orleans, where they celebrate Mardi Gras, someone opened up a number of Fat Tuesday Mix Drink Bars.

While on the Vegas Strip, about day 3 on our trip, something enamored me about Fat Tuesday. I don’t know what it was. The Louisiana based company opened 4 Fat Tuesday Bars on the Vegas Strip. You can buy their big ass oversized cup and put mix drinks inside. They have these machines, which appear to be slurpee machines that dispense the mixed drinks. Alcohol is already mixed inside. They also serve extra shots for only 1 dollar a shot. I guess they already make bank because everyone is drunk on the Vegas Strip. Probably cost only $3 to make the drink, but they sell it for $14.

We passed about 2 Fat Tuesday Bars before I got interested in the bar and oversize cup. It was late one night and for some reason I decided that I wanted a Fat Tuesday mixed drink. We were probably somewhere near the Paris hotel. I thought there was a Fat Tuesday near the Miracle Mile Shops near The Paris. We saw this girl with a Fat Tuesday oversize cup. Shell asked her where she got it. She said MGM. So we went to the MGM Grand Hotel. I had my gps on and still couldn't find it, so we asked a guy who worked there and he said we were on the wrong floor. That's the one thing gps doesn't tell you ~ elevation. 

Shell and I got the oversize cup and drank it on the way to the hotel. We were both inebriated on the monorail. I couldn't even remember going back to the hotel because I was so drunk. The empty oversize cup is the only memory of how drunk we got that night and that picture to the right.

gondola ride las vegas - 2015

The city of Venice, Italy is underwater and that means of transportation is by boat. Therefore, the gondola, a flat shaped boat, is used for transportation. For some reason Italy and France are two countries known to be romantic places. Why? Probably many factors. The gondola ride may be one of those factors in Italy.

Somewhere between the Venetian and Palazzo hotel are the Grand Canal Shoppes. They have a small canal with gondola rides. The atmosphere feels like Venice (although I haven't been there I could only assume). Last time we were in Vegas, I really wanted to go on the Gondola Ride. However for some reason we didn’t have enough time. This time we would not be denied. 

We started early and walked the 1 mile to the Venetian from the Circus Circus hotel and made our way to the Grand Canal Shoppes. The line was short, thus the wait was short. We paid $40 for the both of us. The setup is a group of 4 for $40 or a couples ride for $80. Ideally, you'd want to come with a group of 4 so you wouldn't have to share the gondola with strangers. Being that it was only us two, we assumed we had to share the gondola with another couple. Since we went so early today, no other couple was in the line with us. What to do right? We ended up getting the private ride which would have cost us $80. A private gondola ride! We just won. 

Our gondolier was an Italian guy who sang a few Italian songs. The ride in itself is only 10 minutes and not even worth the money. But it is a good attraction to go to. It is the closest thing to Italy we can get since we ain't going there anytime soon. After the ride, a person escorts you and persuades you to buy some pictures they took of us at the beginning of the ride. It is definitely a rip off at $23, but since we got the private tour, it was well worth it.

The Las Vegas Sign 

This sign has been popularized by movies and media. I didn't know what the big deal was? But we decided to take some time to visit it. What was interesting was that there was another Vegas sign on the North end of the strip, but nobody goes to that one because that one isn't in the movies.

The Deuce only took us to Mandalay Bay. From there we had to walk 20 minutes or 1 mile to the Vegas sign in the hot ass sun, it was hot today. That dry dessert heat was getting to us. The walk was easy nevertheless.

When you get to the Vegas sign, there is this long ass line to wait in. A guy who claims to be a professional photographer was taking pictures of the people waiting in line. We first took a picture of the back of the sign via my tripod. Since we did walk the mile in the hot ass sun, we decided to wait our turn. We were sweating profusely waiting in line. After about 20 minutes, it was our turn. The photographer had difficulties taking our picture because of my 40mm fixed lens, so he could only get ¾ of the Vegas sign in the picture. What a waste, some photographer he is! Photographers should know that a fixed lens means you have to move and be in the right place to get the shot you want. Being in the tourist mood, I ended up tipping him for his efforts. You'd be surprised at how many people stiffed him.

After the sign, we walked about 1 minute northbound and took another picture at the other Vegas sign at the Harley Davidson store. This was the shining moment for my tripod because we wouldn't have to cross the street to take a picture. My ultra wide angle lens would get the whole word 'Vegas' in the picture without having to cross the street. Two other tourists came after us and asked if we could take a picture of them via one of their phones. Michelle took their picture. When the guy saw it on his phone he said, "can you get the whole sign in the picture". Michelle promptly replied, "you'd have to go across the street, your camera doesn't have a wide angle". Chalk one up for the good guys!