Porn, Porn, Porn, $20!!

This past weekend Nick and I went to Vegas for the second time this year. This trip had a completely different purpose however: to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Cindy and her new husband Ryan :) We flew in Saturday morning and settled into our fancy-dancy room at the Bellagio. It was probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but it was definitely fun to do! After a quick trip up to the Monte Carlo to see if our favorite 100-Hand Poker machine was still there (it was) we met Cindy and Ryan, Sandy and Bob, and Mike and Michelle at the Riviera (where they were staying) to ride the Deuce bus up to Freemont Street, something Nick and I missed the first time we were out there. The light show was amazing - not at all what I expected!!

Nick and Karin outside the Bellagio. We ran into Sandy and Bob on the street in front of it and had them take this picture :)


Our fantastic bathtub at the Bellagio! It was heavenly.


The Freemont Street Experience gang


Random mural we saw on the outside of one of the downtown casinos. Go Packers!


One of the scenes from the light show.

Sunday we got up bright and early and headed over to the Imperial Palace for the wedding. Everything went quickly and smoothly. Cindy looked just radiant in her dress. After the ceremony we hopped into a limo with Cindy and Ryan and Matt and Jodi (best man and his wife) and rode out to the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign - something we also hadn't seen before. Our driver was very friendly and knew a lot about Las Vegas. When the ride ended, we ate a group brunch at the Imperial Palace before the bride and groom disappeared! Mom and Dave and Sandy and Bob walked over to the Wynn with Nick and I. It's one of the newest and fanciest hotels in Vegas and we wanted to be slightly more dressed up when we went. The coolest part? They had a circular escalator inside! Of course we rode up and down it just so we could say we've done it.

Cindy and Ryan, post ceremony.


Standing at the Las Vegas sign - our limo driver took the picture for us.


Circular Escalator!

After changing out of our wedding clothes, we met up with Mom and Dave again to watch the Packer-Bear game at the Monte Carlo Pub. Unfortunately it was a case of the Jekyll and Hyde Packers. They looked really good in the first half, even getting a running game going, but fell apart in the second half and lost by seven. It was a huge disappointment and the worst part of the trip. Nick and I did win $10 playing slots afterwards though.

We also caught the fountains on our way back to the hotel. I think we watched them about 10 times while we were there.

Monday and Tuesday we were pretty much on our own. Cindy and Ryan were off doing honeymoon stuff and everyone else had left the great state of Nevada. Monday we gambled a little and saw the white tigers at the Mirage. We wandered into the Flamingo casino and found that they had a flamingo habitat, so we got to see real flamingos too! From there, we walked to the Paris and "Mon Ami Gabi" to eat supper outside on the sidewalk with a great view of the Bellagio fountains. We watched the second quarter of the Dallas-Bills Monday Night Football game (can't believe that Dallas won after 6 interceptions!!) then went to see The Producers starring Tony Danza!! Neither Nick nor I had seen it before and it was excellent! 90 minutes long with no intermission and completely enjoyable the entire time.

The white tiger.


Flamingo habitat. The guy on the right was photographing that dark-colored bird the entire time we were there. He was practically in the water trying to get a shot!


View from our dinner table (yes the fountains can shoot higher than the hotel)

Tuesday we ate at the #1 buffet in Las Vegas 2007 - it was fantastic! I couldn't even eat my way to all the different cultural stations they had (it was the Spice Buffet at Planet Hollywood). They also had areas where they would make pizza, a brat or a hamburger to your specifications. The burger was delicious. I didn't try anything else custom-made but the pizza they had out was some of the best ever. I would defiantly recommend this buffet to anyone going to Vegas. My greatest gambling coup also came at Planet Hollywood. While waiting for the buffet to open for lunch Nick and I each put $5 into 10-hand poker machines. Nick ran out of money and I had enough money left to bet the max possible (10 hands at 12 cents each). I got 5-of-a-kind on the flop! That was a $10 payoff- enough to get us back to even :)

After lunch we didn't have much time left, but we buzzed on over to the Tropicana to see the Titantic exhibit that was there. It was really neat, I'm happy we went. They had lots of artifacts that have been brought up from the wreckage on display. The coolest part was the re-creation of the Promenade deck. You went through a swinging door and out onto what looked and felt like the actual deck of the ship. They had it overly air-conditioned so it was only about 50 degrees, a fog machine making fog where the water would be, and little Christmas lights on a dark background where the sky was. Unfortunately no pictures allowed but it was pretty sweet!

That's the trip! We got back to Minneapolis around midnight, and went straight to bed after eating some Taco Bell. Until next time - Viva Las Vegas! Oh, wait, you're probably wondering about the title to this post. Well, if you've never to Vegas, there are a ton of guys who are passing out "porn cards" (size of business cards). On Monday morning, we were walking over to buy tickets to The Producers and I was looking down because the sun was really bright. Mixed in with all the porn card litter was a $20!! What a find! Nick and I gambled it all away though!