Day 21, the day we bring out the big guns
First thing on the agenda is getting the shades of Ouwkes fixed. So, Roald, Ouwkes and I are off to the Fashionshow mall.
The people at Lenscrafters are really helpful and after they repaired his glasses there is no charge.
On the way back to the car we decide to put 20$ each in a buffalo gold slot machine. Lo and behold, we actually win something! Not much, but a win is a win on a slot machine in my opinion.
A few months back Ropski took us all out to dinner for his birthday and as a gift we promised to take him to a shooting range in Vegas. Today is that day and after some online comparison we landed on Battlefield Vegas, near Circus Circus.
Most of us have never fired a gun before (besides some skeet shooting that we did a year ago), so we really have no clue which guns we should pick. They have this whole menu we can choose from and after a while we randomly pick out a few, varying from a Glock to an AK47 and M60.
We get a quick safety instruction, a pair of safety glasses and ear protection and then it’s off to the shooting range.
I must admit, this gets the juices flowing!
After we have paid the bill (almost 550$ for a total of 11 guns, so not really cheap) we want to get a nice picture of the Strip. We think that the roof of the parking garage of TI provides a good view, but unfortunately this is not the case.
We have some time to kill before dinner, so we stroll through TI and enter Senor Frogs for a drink. The TV is on and we see that game 2 of the Knights is about to start. Ouwkes suggests watching the game near the T-Mobile arena. We all think this is a great idea, but first we must get back to the apartment to drop off the car and change into clothes that are a bit more suitable for dinner and the rest of the night.
It’s almost 7pm when we arrive at the T-Mobile arena and the place is buzzing. So many people gathered there to watch the game on the huge screen on the Arena itself.
A DJ is spinning during the commercial breaks and when the Knights score, the crowd goes nuts. I quickly start filming, here are some screen grabs.
It’s 7.45 and unfortunately, we must leave (knights were behind and lost we found out later), because we made a reservation at 8pm. The guys still have no clue where we are going to. We enter the Cosmo and when we take the escalator to the 3rd floor there is a small doubt that we are actually going to Secret Pizza. Instead, we walk over to Beauty and Essex. For those who don’t know, Beauty and Essex doesn’t look like a restaurant, but has a pawn shop as a facade. Sort of like a speak-easy situation. Luckily, they never heard of the place and are a bit puzzled when we open the door inside the shop and enter this establishment.
The food is real nice. Everything is for sharing, we have bone marrow, small goat cheese pizzas, tacos etc. for starters and for the main we have Salmon, rack of lamb and a Tomahawk steak. There are no windows, so it’s fairly dark, therefore the pictures aren’t all that great.
before
after
Fedor mentions to the staff we are here because both Roald and I are celebrating our birthdays. So of course, after a while the staff comes over with chocolate lollipops and start singing happy birthday. Not embarrassing at all! Roald is clever enough to start singing and clapping too, so now it looks like I am the only one.
When we are finished we are in the mood for (not surprisingly) some cocktails. We haven’t ticked off the Mandarin Bar yet, so it’s an easy choice.
Vending machine just outside the Mandarin Bar
Even though it’s pretty crowded, the atmosphere is not that great, so we start making plans of what to do next. The plan is to go to the Coyote Ugly bar in NYNY. Not my first choice, but Mrs. Ouwkes is fan of the movie and we want to see with our own eyes what kind of place this is.
Somewhere along the way some of us think that we are going to the Irish pub (which was also an option), so when Fedor walks by the first entrance of NYNY, Roald, Ouwkes and I are entering the casino. Ropski is caught in the middle of this and thinks we are pranking Fedor and trying to ditch him. This is not the case and I figure that he is going to take another entrance and that we meet up with him in Coyote Ugly.
The 3 of us pay 5$ to enter the bar. Worst.Place.Ever. Don’t ever go there. What a dump. While we finish our drink as quickly as possible there is still no sign of Ropski and Fedor. We do get a text message from Ropski that he is going back to the apartment.
We leave this place and sit down at the Crazy4Poker. Funny detail in this casino is that they don’t have cards with hearts on it but with red apples (New York, the big apple….get it?)
After an hour or so, without letting us know where he went, Fedor joins. When we didn’t show up at the Irish pub, he decided to just leave and head over to the MGM and win some money with roulette.
It’s close to 3AM when we are back in the apartment. Ropski is still up and after explaining it was all a big misunderstanding it’s time to hit the sack.