Vegas Baby: part 5

Morning after the biggest night i think i have ever had.......

Half the team had to be on a plane at 8.30am to see the sights of San Francisco, we werent so adventurous and had decided to stay another night, really we hadnt done enough so far? 

When i half opened one eye at about 9.30am, i do this all the time after a big night, one half open eye can indicate how the remainder of my day is going to pan out and i can confirm, this was not good.  We had forgotten to 'unset' the automatic curtain open, and when it slid open i had the feeling a vampire might get when exposed to light and this was even through one half opened eye.  First step was to find the remote and shut the curtains.  I found all of this automation amazing in Vegas (yes off track for a minute) we could set the ambience of our room via our smart TV, there were even three smart TV's which is kind of handy as you could access one while sitting on the toilet....odd.  Anywho, your curtains/lights/music/TV could come on in any variation: black out curtain or sheer, volume and lighting was all adjustable, it was really all too hard and i just wished i could flick a switch...there were no switches, even the toilet flushed on its own when you stood up.  While still off track and onto toilets, i was concerned about the water level in the loo, i reckon, and it was discussed at great length, that when a man sat on the seat, his bits might just touch the water (no one admitted it so lets say it is unconfirmed).  My drama was that if i was to vomit, there would be more surface area for me to have to look at, and seeing as i wasnt standing up after going to the loo, would it flush automatically or would i have to stand up after every retch...something to think about.  Fortunately i went a whole week without having to find this out.

Back to Vampire......

So we dont have too much planned for the day after the biggest night ever except horse riding in the dessert.  The shuttle was to pick myself and Pop Princess up at 12.30pm.  Great, time for a 2nd nap.  I need a second nap these days to get over a big night, it might only be an hour, but really it helps.  I had a quick shower and went back to bed.  When i did the one half opened eye deal after my second nap things were not good, i was concerned about the water/vomit and i think this is why i didnt spew the 50 litres of bourban and coke i had consumed the night before. GET up GET up GET up.

So i meet PP downstairs and need to eat something so that this desert ride doesnt kill me.  Fruit salad...cost about $9 and every bit i put into my mouth made me retch.  The fruit looked like our fruit, it just didnt taste like real fruit, or perhaps my taste buds were destroyed. So we wait for shuttle in 40 something degree heat, with jeans on, it was good to see we werent the only idiots in jeans, i felt ok with this, man my head hurt.  Apparently there are 2 pick up spots and of course we wait for an hour in the wrong one, once we found our driver, after rolling my ankle on a gutter which apparently was obvious it was there (it was painted fluro yellow), i think i also may have damaged my retinas the night before...we were on our way to Red Rock Canyon.  Did i mention we ran out of time and never saw the Grand Canyon.  This was the closest we would get, take pics, no one will know (unless you have actually seen it).

Our cowboy drives us there, says leave our handbags in the truck, he wasnt going anywhere.  Another cowboy offer me an aspirin and a soda.  We pack plenty of water and our cameras and we are off on our horses.  Extreme trail riding, over rocks and windy tracks, it was very cool.  Actually it was fricken hot and i was hungover, but i loved it.  We even saw chipmunks, although i thought Alvin was big on TV so we werent sure at first if these were real chipmunks.  They were, and they lied about Alvin.

After an hour and a half we return back to the ranch, and guess what....the truck has gone, with our handbags.  Now PP is thinking he has stolen them and we are going to be left to die in Red Rock Canyon, i am kind of agreeing with her.  They offered us a free shirt, and never gave it to us.  We didnt leave a tip.

Finally back to the hotel, nothing missing from our handbags (PP checked her purse).  I need food. We headed to the Hard Rock for dinner.  Food was great, the non alcoholic coctails were great and the service was fantastic.  One thing we do not have in Australia, is exceptional service.  It is disappointing, and i told every American who said they would love to visit Australia...not to bother.  Think i might try for a job with tourism Australia??

Early night tonight, i needed to buy another suitcase (we had already three) and attempt to turn 500kgs of goodies into 4 suitcases.  Success.

Back to LA in the morning, but not without a visit to Sheplers (a western store).  Now this seemed like a great idea, get up early, get a taxi to Sheplers, shop, back to hotel, airport, LA, Ananheim. 

Up early: check
Taxi 8.30am: check
Sheplers 9.00am: dont check, it didnt open until 10, so the cabbie dropped us at his favourite restaurant, 'The egg and I'.  He said the coffee was great.  The menu was like a newspaper, 12 pages of egg recipes.
Coffee was shit, the meals were massive and also shit but we had time to kill.  When Elvis eggs benedict came out in a bowl, i was concerned, even more so to see that the benedicts were floating in cheese, it resemble eggs benedict soup.  Star rating 5 for heart attacks.  Please let me see Sheplers before we die.

Sheplers 10.00am: check, stranger gives us 20% off voucher, even better.  We have scheduled 30 minutes to shop, taxi booked for 10.30, back to hotel, to airport in time for 12.15pm flight.

Taxi 10.30: late

Trying to drag 5 bags and a hat can (case to carry recently purchased cowboy hat) down our 203 step hallway out of the hotel, then try to fit it all into another taxi to get us to the airport, very fricken difficult, and i could taste the eggs the whole time. 

Vegas Airport 11.45: check, we come flying into the airport after dumping bags (and not overweight woo hoo), security check and find our fellow team members as they announce my name over the loud speaker.  Phew...we didnt miss our flight and i got to shop at Sheplers, super effort.  I can still taste eggs.

Only one more problem that my hat can does not fit in the overhead in our cattle class flight, they might have to delay on my behalf, until one of the aged hosties, came and shoved it in, neally broke it.  We were on our way back to LA, over to Anaheim and a fun filled day at Disneyland. 

We did Disney land in 6 hours, and were even evacuated from a ride which broke down (fortunately we scammed a front of line pass which enabled us to see Disneyland in 6 hours)...it was hard but we did it, even got to see the parade, PP was so happy.  Now to meet up with our San Fran team members for a well earned drink (like we havent had enough) at Bubba Gumps...just in time for happy hour, wearing our 'first timer' badges from Disneyland.