Fly into Vegas on Saturday the 13th around 11:30pm, jump in a cab right away with no problems. Get to PH (Planet Hollywood) and check our bags. The hotel/casino was hoppin with beautiful people and I felt sorta out of place wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a zip-up jacket (flying from MN) Most of the people were dressed to impress. A very hip and trendy casino. Now we didn't have a room until the next day...thought it'd be a fun and exciting way to start the trip. We walk the strip and decide to eat at Bills gambling hall (been there before, it's reasonable, and we figured it'd be a good spot to kill some time) Walked some more, saw the dueling pianos play, had plenty to drink but had to be careful since we didn't have a room to pass out in yet. Played a little blackjack as the sun was coming up, but didn’t have much luck.

Finally get our room after being up for 30+ hours around noon (not the best way to start off the trip). Had placed a few sports bets before crashing for a few hours, get up and watch the NBA All-Star game go OVER for a win. Went 3-1 with the help of some college ball too. Got some eats at the Venetian food court late that night after the game and just called it an early night. (again, paying for pulling an all nighter)

Monday we had made plans to be tourists and have a local friend take us around town with her friends. First we placed a few bets on some college ball, than drank a few “Fat Tuesdays” slushy drinks on our way to the shark reef aquarium at Mandalay Bay (free tickets). Ate supper at Battista’s (shrimp scampi with free house wine). After we ate, had tickets to the Beatles LOVE Cirque du soleil show at the Mirage. Great show, and I thought it was well worth the $. After the show, checked the scores and went 3-0 on my bets!

Tuesday ate the buffet at PH which was pretty good. Played some blackjack and left the table ahead. Placed some bets that went 2-2. Local friend picked us up again and took us to the Las Vegas sign to snap a picture, than all the way back to the Stratosphere for some site seeing. Being she was a local, she picked up some Louie Anderson tickets for that night at Excalibur. Since they were free, and Louie is a fellow Minnesotan, I figured a few laughs couldn’t hurt. He actually put on a good show. Had a few $10 drinks at the bar and called it a night.

Wednesday was spent playing some 1-2 nl poker at PH for a couple hours, had a few drinks, chatted with a few cute girls from Tennessee at the table, ate at Margaritaville in the afternoon with our local friend. She knew one of the managers there and was able to get 40% knocked off the bill! She than dropped us off downtown for the night. I played some blackjack at the Golden Nugget (didn’t fair too well), but my buddy won $1100 on a penny slot betting 50 cents, watched a few of the light shows, and we capped off the night with a pizza and pitcher for $10 at Binions. Went 2-2 again on the sports.

Thursday we ended up eating lunch at Pinks…I had a double bacon burrito (tortilla wrapped around 2 dogs, 3 pieces of bacon, and stuffed with chili and cheese) and some chili cheese fries to add to the madness. I don’t recommend this being your last meal before getting on the plane back home! Played some more blackjack and was able to go on a nice run and win some more money back before packing up and heading to the airport.