If you haven't already, please read part I first.

After sleeping for only a few hours, my wife and I awake, not to the alarm clock which Nikki had set but to a static noise the alarm clock made about 30 minutes after the fact.  So we're up!  Luckily, her father calls -he slept in too, whew.  After getting ready, we go down stairs and eat breakfast; this time, we get the buffet.

Now, for those of you who haven't done a buffet in Vegas this is what you can expect.  Picture 100 to 200 hung over, sleep deprived vacationers who look nothing alike, lining up like cattle almost pushing and shoving because they think the food is goind to run out any second.  Of course, the food never runs out, one thing Vegas wants is you to be happy; happy people like to gamble.  I mentioned how nobody looked alike, what I mean by this is well, if you go outside and walk around your town/city, people have a certain look like they belong.  Because Vegas is 90% out-of-towners, that look is gone.  While this isn't bad, you do see some really ugly people stuck in different eras.  This one guy I saw was stuck in the 80's.  Bad big hair, horizontally striped shrit tucked into acid washed jeans.  Good lord, I want to know where this one came from because they need help, I'm sure the entire town looks like that.  Back to breakfast.  We thoroughly stuff ourselves on the fare and proceed to venture outside, into the light.

Wow, was it bright there in Vegas.  You have to realize, we're from Portland and it's been cold and rainy for the past couple of weeks, so walking outside to a cloudless, bright, sunny, warm day was a nice feeling... albeit, a bit blinding.  We decide that we want to go to the Bellagio, Paris, and then the Wynn casinos.  Nikki and I are the only, oh, how do I put this, non-seniors, of the group so we're up for walking the distance on the strip.  Luckily, Margie is in pretty good shape and likes to exercise so she's up for walking.  Neal, as you remember, is on wheels.  Unfortunately, Ed (Nikki’s dad) was none too happy.  We tried to catch one of the busses up but they seemed to be lagging so we just started walking.

Honestly, I've never really walked around in Vegas during the day.  Oh sure, I've been there at night before and always took taxis too and from the hotels.  I must admit, it was nice.  It also makes you appreciate how spread out everything is.  Walking from one casino to the next can be quite a trek, they're on acres of land and they are not small.  So, we all thought the Bellagio wasn't too far away, hell, we could see it.  But don't be fooled, like a mirage in the dessert, it kept eluding us.  Poor Ed was bitching the entire time because he had done this exact same walk yesterday.  The nice sun, wasn't so nice 30 minutes into the walk.  Due to the heat and the sun even I was trying to find shade and the occasional oasis to give nourishment to me and my imaginary friend who joined us 10 minutes into the walk -heats a bitch.

Finally, the Bellagio is within reach, again, just like every intersection we came to but this time it was true.  We entered the mall there, I forget the name, which housed all the places we shouldn't shop at; Prada, Tiffanys, Cartier, etc.  Of course, this is EXACTLY what my wife has been waiting for.  Like a kid in a candy store, her eyes light up and money seems to be aplenty.  I indulge her and we go where she wants and look around.  Of course, her father doesn't seem to understand and just wants to get thru the mall not realizing that that's where we were heading to all along.  Luckily for my wallet, Nikki doesn't buy anything... although she did find a nice little Prada wallet for only $110 -she passed though, good girl honey.

After the Bellagio and the mall, we cross the street to Paris.  Now, one thing I should note is that we're trying to catch the lunch buffet at Wynns before 3pm, because after that the price doubles for dinner and if you're in you're in.  So 3pm is the target time.  Ed, sensing that we won't make it, is trying to convince us to go back to Wynns, THEN go to Paris.  Sounds good but you have to realize that Paris is just across the street, while Wynns is about 6 to 7 blocks down.  We're not buying it.  So off to Paris for a quick walk around.  Then we caught a bus to Wynns.

Another buffet, in one day... my stomach was not happy with me but let me slide due to how good the food was at this buffet.  For those who haven't been, Wynns buffet was quite possibly the nicest and fanciest buffet I've ever been too.  Although my wife and I aren't that hungry, we know that we need to eat because it'll be our last meal there before we start our trip back.  Neal ate so frickin' much, I seriously think the casino took a loss that night.  That didn't surprise me, what did surprise me was that Margie at almost as much!  She couldn't have been more than 100 lbs!  Where the hell did it go?

After that we played some slots and did some gift shopping for us and Ty & Bernie (friends of ours who watched one of our dogs -Brian).  We got back to Circus Circus and had to say our good byes.  Nikki’s family was nice, loud, and a bit obnoxious but they were truly good people and I'm glad they were all those things and I'm glad to have finally met them.

Now, we pull out of the parking lot and within 100 feet, we're lost!  Yup, we took another wrong turn, fuck.  We drove about 3 miles down, come back go about 2 miles in another wrong direction just to head back to where we started almost 30 minutes later to find that we should've turned right, THEN left instead of just left.  I'm driving so I'm getting frustrated and we finally find the rent-a-car place almost an hour after we leave.  We get out of the car, and look and I shit you not, we could see the strip and Circus Circus and they looked so damn close.  Fuckin A!

We then get to the airport, not late, and check in and the lady behind the counter says that the flight has been overbooked and is looking for volunteers to give up there seats and take a later flight.  In agreeing, we would get 2 free round trip tickets to anywhere in the country, Canada or Mexico.  HELL YEAH, we say.  We have to go to the plane because there is a chance we wouldn't get it but we were numbers 3 & 4 on the list so we had a good chance.  Going thru security, my wife was selected.  Oh yes, she got the super deluxe search.  Funny, she kept walking up to the next point in the screening and smiling saying "I've been selected for the strip search".  Too much, I just laughed.  She goes one way, I empty my pockets go thru the metal detector and set it off... so, they redirect me and next thing you know, I'm next to my wife -we got to keep our clothes on.  Batteries!  I left batteries for the camera in my pocket, dumbass!  

We finally get thru, get to the plane and sure enough, we got bumped to the later flight, 2 free round trip tickets and the coupe de gras, upgraded to first class.  Unfortunately, we were so tired and the seats in first class were soooooo comfortable we both slept home.  We got to enjoy first class for a bit, her coffee and Baileys, me red wine. 

A perfect end to our spontaneous, one day adventure.