THE VACAY OF DESTINY: Pt. 1 "What Happens in Vegas..."

Welcome back to the blog! I know that it's been a while since we've chatted, and even longer since I've made an appearance, much to the chagrin of the Mrs. Well, here I am to rock you like a hurricane with a tale so immense that it's gonna take more than one post to spin this web of words. Grab a Coke slurpee and bag of sunflower seeds, 'cause if you're invested in actually reading this thing, you're gonna be here a while.

We returned about a week ago from our little breaky break in San Diego. Coming back to work after not having to do anything for ten days is a bucket of suck. We'll get through it though. The whole idea for the trip came about with Nassari's family planning a baby shower for her in SD. We thought it a great excuse to take a break after the winter semester and working. We told our good friends about our plans, and it just so happened that they were planning to go see Cirque du Soleil in Vegas that same weekend. So, we decided we'd meet in there, and then all go down to SD together. 

We all stayed at the luxurious Las Vegas Club Hotel & Casino, located in the old scary historic end of Vegas. I think we got the true Fremont Street Experience. Rooms there are $25, but I went upscale and paid for the deluxe room which was a whopping $30. Deluxe means that the room also has a love seat and five extra square feet. Deluxe. Anyway, we got there kinda late, and it took us forever to find the parking lot because of construction. When we found it, we discovered that we had to pay $5 to park and it was cash only. We only had $2 in cash on us, but the parking lady was kind enough to let us through on the condition we came back and paid her later. After finally finding the one ATM in the place, I came back to the parking lady's booth and she told me that I didn't have to worry about it. That was really cool of her, even though she made me run a $5 errand to the other side of the casino. 

We took a quick ride down the strip to find somewhere to eat, but the only place that seemed to be open was Denny's. I've never driven down the strip looking for food, but now that I have I realize that there are like, 50 Denny's restaurants located on the strip. Does anyone else think that's a little odd? The casinos there pull out all the stops to provide upscale shopping and entertainment, but the only late night eatery available is Denny's. 

Deluxe.

We opted to go for the one closest to our hotel in sketchy historic Vegas. We made a fun game out of it. Two fun games, really: "spot the Denny's" and "count the hookers" with the latter proving to be more exciting for Nassari as she had never before seen a lady of the night on the job. Finally we decided to stop at the 6th Denny's we found (with the 10th hooker working in the parking lot). Never order the southwest steak burrito. I have no idea why I thought that might be good at freaking 12:00 in the AM.

The next morning we were awakened by a call from our good friends who were already checked out and ready for the Circus Circus breakfast buffet. Nassari and I must have timed it just right, because by the time we got dressed, packed, and checked out, they had started the shift from breakfast food to lunch food, so we got both. I didn't realize this until just now, but we meet with those same friends regularly to eat together. It's ironic that we all traveled 378 miles just to do the same thing we always do. It was a TON of fun to hang with them for a couple hours in Las Vegas, but we were soon on our way to paradise. 

Except for some traffic around San Bernardino, the trip went off without a hitch. San Diego welcomed us with open arms and sunshine. Again, we met up with our friends to eat dinner. This time it was at Tacos el Gordo, which was frigging phenomenal to say the least. If they ever opened one of those up here, they would make bank. More so than if they were to open an In-N-Out in Provo (which is totally overrated by the way, and NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN, SO GET OVER IT, UTAH).

Thus, our adventure in San Diego began. If you've been sutured into this tale, then stay tuned. I'll feed your psyche and give you all the nourishment you need. We'll be one. I realize that last part was a bit inside. That one's for you my film friends.