Vegas '06

I didn't attend any of the Vegas Vacations in 2005 due to trying to save for and afford a house and then the basement in it. One might question if I could afford this trip due to continuing to pay off the basement. That is all beside the point. This year the original idea for the trip was a potential bachelor party for Dan and his pending wedding. However as is often the case with Vegas trips, many dropped out from original plan. It ended up being Roger (the planner), Jim (I can drink again), Greg (Uh oh I guess I should wakeup to see what I won) and me (I lost what how fast). Later in the trip Mandy and Mike showed up and stayed after we left. We left DC on 6/23 and returned on 6/26.

The primary purpose for me to go to Vegas is gambling. Every time I go I say I will see some shows, well that hasn't happened yet. I still would like to see some shows like Blue Man and Penn and Teller. In recent trips my bankroll to lose had been larger. This time I shrank it a bit, since it really is how much I am able to afford to lose. Losing is what I did and fast. In past trips I would play blackjack primarily and be able to have some ups and downs to allow me to play for a long time. I tried three card poker this time however and didn't have a similar experience. Instead I lost and lost fast. I just didn't get enough wins to allow me to play longer. Even in slot play I had no winnings to speak of. Oh well, next time.

The other problem with this trip was the weather. The temp was a high of 110 in the day and a low of mid-80's at night. The next trip I am voting for winter, and then it is only highs in 80's. Much more pleasant.

Our trip home was relatively painful as well. Our flight from Vegas to Fort Worth was on time and fine. It was the Fort Worth to National leg that had issues. On that day (and before and after) there were massive storms in the DC/Balt area, it was equivalent to a hurricane in water dropped and length but was simply a big normal storm. This caused our plane to take off almost 2 hours late. Once we got close to National the visibility was so low that the pilot couldn't land. We kept circling for an hour or so. At one point the pilot said it was likely we would have to divert to Dulles. Luckily we were able to approach from the North instead of South and land. I finally got home about midnight that day.

Who knows what Vegas 07 will bring?