This may be my last Vegas trip.  It is so f’ing HOT here!

While walking back from the pool, attempting not to melt directly into the scorching black asphalt, I turned to Lindsey and proposed the following question: “I wonder if I am who I am because I have always been in a hospitable environment?”  Not to say that the Vegas locals are not a kind and happy people, they are.  I just find that I am not so kind or happy when the outside temp is over 100*, and inside the A/C is struggling like the little engine that could to keep us at about 90*.

Still, I am who I am thanks to the hospitable environments that I have lived in (namely Colorado and California), so I’m trying to focus on the positive.  Here are the positives since we rolled back into Las Vegas:

1. Matt is having fun here.  Really, this is the reason we are in Vegas.  He loves the process of playing satellites to get into tourneys, playing in the tourneys, cash games at all levels and all times of day and night.  He is in his element here in June.  June offers him the World Series of Poker at the Rio, The Grand tourney at the Golden Nugget, The Deep Stacks at the Venetian, and any cash game he wants to play in.  This is why we are here and he is really enjoying it.  And when he’s happy, I’m happy.

2. We have friends here!  Yay!!  During our last stay here I became great friends with 2 locals: Joyce and Elaini.  While Elaini has moved back to CA (no doubt for the better weather).  I have had some great dates with Joyce.  Also, our good friend Greg Kelley moved here a while ago.  In his free time we have been able to hang out.  AND MY BFF LINDSEY IS HERE VISITING FOR 10 DAYS!!  She is a wonderful friend, but due to the heat, I think she is already counting down the days till she gets to land back in Denver to a nice 70-80 degree day.  Still, June is sprinkled with visits from friends and family and friends make everything better (just don’t ask Lindsey to confirm that right now!).

3. Circus Circus RV park is not a giant meth lab.  Contrary to all of the warnings that we heard, we rented a space here for the month of June.  I am so glad we did.  It is really centrally located RIGHT ON THE STRIP.  And the travelers are really very nice.  The majority of folks cycling through here are Euro’s, many of them German, Polish or Austrian.  So Matt (who was fluent in German at one point in his life) taught me a phrase: “Gooten Morgen.  Habenzee gut geh schlaffen?” (phonetic spelling of course, for correct spelling please use Google translator).  It means “Good morning.  Did you sleep well?”  in German.  I have said it to 3 people.  All of them kind enough to give me a moment to get it together in my head then spit it out with my best possible accent.  On one occasion, an older man -who reminded me he was “Austrian NOT Australian” several times- gestured to the setting sun and laughed at me.  “I know” I said with a smile, “It’s all I know”.  I spent a little time in Germany with my Dad.

(Hello and happy Father’s Day!)  While I was there I learned a couple phrases, but I have long since forgotten them all.  It’s nice to learn a little German again.  Now we know who rents ALL the rental RVs in the USA.

4. There is entertainment here for both us and the dogs.  The dog’s comes in the form of a dog “park”… well, it is sort of just a litter box.  And while it’s not huge, the dogs can run.  I can toss a ball for Hank and he can get out some energy chasing it and Cali can get out some energy chasing him.  Also, there are some dog obstacles there.  Henery LOVES running through the 6′ yellow tunnel and Matt trained Cali to jump up on one of the table things.  They will both leap over the dog jumps.  All in all it is a good exchange for the lack of actual walks in actual nature.

Our entertainment comes in all forms: food, people watching, shows, etc.  But some of my favorites have been the mini circus shows here at Circus Circus.  They do about one an hour from 11am till midnight.  There are about a dozen performances that cycle through, some doing 2 or 3 shows a day.  They are free and in my opinion FANTASTIC!

5. Pools!!  I love wearing heels to a pool sometimes.  There are not many places where this is acceptable.  (In fact this may be the only place?)  Even if I’m in flip-flops I still love spending a day at the pool.  Recently, I have discovered I love spending a night at the pool too!  Encore has a Dance and Dip where you dance around the pool, or you can swim instead of going to the club at night.  I LOVE IT!!

Before I close I want to share a story with you.  It is a funny story with a happy ending, and while it may seem random in this post I want to document the rollercoaster that was Thursday morning.  I had no camera, so forgive me that it’s not documents in pictures.  I’ll do my best with words…

We all woke up late and started to get ready for the day.  Matt was hustling to get out the door to make it to his tourney.  Linds and I in the mean time headed over to the park showers to get cleaned up and ready for the day.  I had finished showering when it hit me that I should run back to the RV to make sure Matt didn’t lock us out, or to catch him before he left to make sure he didn’t.  I was walking up to the RV and could see the scooter was already gone.  “Crap!” I thought and ran to the door.  Yep, locked.  “Crap!” I said out loud!  I walked back to break the bad news to Linds.  We were locked out.  No clothes (jammies and towels only), no money, no phones, no breakfast, no water… nothing.  After we accepted our fate I began to look for a solution.  We found a guy who was cleaning RV’s and asked to use his phone.  Knowing Matt doesn’t usually answer numbers he doesn’t know I left a message the first call, then proceeded to bombard him with calls.  He said when he saw the call the 3rd or 4th time it hit him.  “Bree’s locked out and she’s calling on someones phone”.  “Hello, you’re locked out aren’t you” he answered the phone.  “Yes!” I said.

He went on to explain that he was in a tourney and would loose considerable money if he were to walk away, but he would get here as soon as he could.  For about an hour and a half Linds and I sat in the shade, in our jammies, in 100* heat, starving, and getting more dehydrated by the minute.  We decided to relocate to a shady spot that had a clear view of the RV when we passed by a wonderfully sweet, Southern woman.  She had watched the entire episode unfold from her lawn chair –that she set up right in the middle of the blacktop in the 100*+ heat.  We knew she must be from the South.  Anyways, when we walked by her she asked “Y’all girls hungry?”  “yes” we said with our heads down and as much energy as we could muster.  She asked if we wanted some cheese and crackers and I jumped on it.  She also gave me a couple dollars to get some water from the store.  When I came back I saw Linds with the CAN of cheese and “toast”.  Not quite the cheese and crackers we had in mind, but at that point we’d take anything!

During our “breakfast” with the sweet, Southern woman I spied Matt scoot by at the other end of the RV park.  He was unable to find us, but at least we knew the RV was opened.  We were so happy to get into the RV!  We just stayed for hours, enjoying the air conditioning and basically afraid to leave.  Though I was pretty upset, the events have quickly turned into a joke and Linds and I have some pretty funny stories from our time “on the outside”.

So next year when Matt comes out to play in the WSOP we have decided that I will be safely tucked away somewhere that has wonderful temperatures and wonderful family and/or friends.  He will fly in and enjoy his stay and I will enjoy my time elsewhere.

While we are still here though… SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL!!

xo

Bree.

PS. We want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all our Dads and all our friends and family who are Dads. Keep up the good work! :)