Vegas Baby!!!

Greetings everyone! The past few days have went by pretty quickly. I finally found a free WiFi spot here in Vegas. After my last post, I made my way to the Salt Lake City Bees game...the long way. I ended up taking the wrong train, so I went a little outta my way. Luckily, I realized my mistake fairly early. I finally made it by late in the 1st inn. I'm upset I didn't bring my camera, the stadium was beautiful. Of course, the backdrop was the mountains. I got to sit 15 rows behind home plate for a whopping $10; that's not even the best part though, it was $1 hot dog night. I think I had about 3 of them. After the game I went to a park downtown to listen to some local live music. It wasn't really my crowd though, a little young and a little too punkish. So, I went back to Murphy's. I only lasted for one there, the bartenders weren't too friendly. I figured it would be wise to call it an early night. I walked my 30 minutes back to the hostel.

When I got back to the hostel, I ran into this guy I had met earlier in the day, Jeff. Jeff is 43 and thinks he's going to start over the road trucking. He's from Detroit and worked in Chicago for many years. He's traveled all over the world and is extremely knowledgeable. I'm not really sure what he's doing at the hostel, he said he just likes to come to Salt Lake now and then, "It's an easy place to be". If you're reading, hey Jeff. Anyway, I begin talking to one of the guys that runs the hostel, Phil. He gave me the scoop on all of the Eastern Europeans. Apparently, every 4 months this company sends student workers from different countries. He said they all come through the hostel doors. They are supposed to find housing for themselves.

I then met two guys from Bogota, Columbia. They were very friendly and spoke English well. They were telling me how hard it was to find housing for just four months, everywhere wants 6 or 12 month leases. I told him to just sign one for six and leave after four. I don't think the landlord is going to hunt them down in Columbia.

Earlier in the night, I noticed I had gotten 4 new roommates. When I went to put my laptop up in the truck, I saw one of them on the front steps. I introduce myself and we have a good conversation. He and his friend, Uls and Mathias, are from Switzerland and have been traveling the world for the past 6 months. They had just came from Fiji. After a few minutes into the conversation, I realized he is a little intoxicated. He was quite comical. I never met one of the roommates until the next morning. I wake up to this smiling Sri Lanken going through his bag. I say hi and get up myself. He's in town for the National Rotary Convention...seriously.

Later that morning I had to pick up mom from the airport. I picked her up and we began our 6 hour drive to Vegas. The drive was pretty, it's amazing how the landscape changes so much in so little time. I'm gonna attach the photos. After arriving in Vegas, I was a little beat. I stayed up way too late the night before meeting all the foreigners. Of course mom was ready to gamble. I relaxed and met her for dinner later. After dinner, we walked Freemont St. and saw the light show. We decided to gamble a little bit and that's the last I saw of her. I played keno for awhile and had no luck at all. I then was drawn in by a .50 roulette table. I don't know how long I played, about 5 beers long I think. I just kept hitting and hitting. When the dealer changed, so did my luck. Didn't take me long to leave too. I ended up $85, not bad for the first night. I made my way back to the Plaza to crash for the evening.

Oh how heavenly the bed was, I didn't want to get out of it this morning. I hadn't slept in a real bed in over a week and it was awesome. After finally talking myself out of bed, I decided to check out the fitness center. Of course, it was like any other hotel fitness center. They did however have a running track and tennis courts on the rooftop. For some strange reason, I decided to run 2 miles. It was extremely hot, but I barely broke a sweat. It really is a dry heat out here. After the run, I was sucked in to the US Open. I met mom for some lunch and then we split again. I went searching for somewhere to get online. Here I sit on the ground outside of Krispy Kreme so I can use their WiFi. I really hate to eat a doughnut just to sit in their patio when I can sit right here on the ground for free. Until next time...

Dough