Ninth Day: in Las Vegas

Sunday, July 15, 2007, 10 pm:

Lee left for airport around 6 am. Suraj left around 10 am.

Dave and I went down to the Imperial Palace in the morning and very quickly started giving all our winnings back. We took a break and went to Denny’s for brunch. At some point when Dave and I were playing blackjack at the IP we played at one of the Dealertainer tables, where all of the dealers in this area are dressed up and look like real life entertainers, such as Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Madonna, etc. They take turns performing on a stage in the center of the pit area. There was also a guy claiming to be Elvis who was a dead ringer in the face and even the hair for Johnny Cash. We played with Alice Cooper. At one point after losing the fourth hand in a row and being almost out of chips, Alice gave me a laugh by telling me that “There’s no shame in getting your ass kicked by Alice Cooper.”

Jason and Konlee got up and ended up going to Denny’s for lunch after us.

We eventually met up with Jason and Konlee and played some blackjack. We were sitting at a table with a guy who was going for a Fidel Castro look. He wasn’t a dealertainer I don’t think, but he really looked like Fidel with the beard, hat and coat. He split 10s three different times because as he explained to us, the dealer had 4 through 6, and that’s the worst card the dealer could have there. He made a lot of money while all of us lost ours, and it was all really annoying because the guy barely understood blackjack. Twice he split the 10 out to four ways because he kept getting more 10s.

Konlee and I checked out the IP’s classic car collection, which is something like the biggest permanent viewable car collection in the world. And almost all of the cars are for sale. We saw a bunch of classics: several rarities valued in the millions, a few from movie sets, some randoms like a 1974 VW with only 600 miles on sale for $6,000, also some road race or rally cars including a mid-80s rally car that went 0 to 60 in 2.2 seconds, which I didn’t even know was possible. That was a cool exhibit.

Konlee left for the airport mid-afternoon.

Dave, Jason and I went to the Italian place at the IP for dinner which was passable. Nothing like a classic Vegas buffet or anything—the place seated maybe thirty people and was mostly empty.

Dave headed to the airport early evening, and Jason and I, exhausted, have decided to make it an early night to keep our bodies functioning on this trip. Goodnight.