Vegas and more

For the record...

It's been a quite a while--here's what's up. I'm up in Burlington for a few weeks more finishing the internship before having a week off and moving back to the 'Cuse. Since the last blog entry, I went to Vegas and turned 21, had practically the whole family out to CT for Katie's graduation and then moved out of the house and to VT for good. I also went to Saratoga this past weekend with the Doddster and saw him for the first time in over a month.

Vegas is first. We got there in a semi-heat wave in mid-June where the desert temps were around 110. We stayed at the Riviera, with the grandparents across the street at Circus Circus. I didn't entirely know what to expect in Vegas, but it was a fun time. The first night, we had dinner in a restaurant in an off the strip casino with some extended family who live in the Vegas area, then had some gelato and watched the water show in front of the Bellagio.

There are definitely some characters in Vegas. I went in after hearing a story from my aunt and uncle about a guy who they saw on the Strip who bent down and slurped water out of a puddle on the street. And of course there were some things you might expect from Vegas. This next statement may be in poor taste but, in a place where prostitution is legal and flyers for hookers and strippers and other sorts of naked women litter the streets, why is anyone catcalling me?

The next day we went on a tour of all the big casinos: Caesar's, the Bellagio, New York New York, Paris, Bally's and MGM Grand. Then we went for dinner at a pretty spectacular restaurant inside the Venetian, and Mom and I headed over to The Mirage to see Cirque du Soleil's Love, set to Beatles music. She got a $14 margarita, which we both drank and the show was amazing. (I'm pretty sure it would have been amazing without the margarita too, but I can't be sure.) We got out of the show around 11:30 p.m. on June 20 and by the time we cabbed it back to the Riviera for a couple more margaritas, my first use of i.d. as a 21-year-old, opening cards and playing a couple of slot machines, it was the birthday.

Then it was to bed, only to wake up in the morning to go to Denny's with the family and then sat at the bar in Circus Circus to watch the Cubs game and play video poker. I got 4 aces and won almost as much money as you can win on a penny slot. The g-rents left to get back to Chicago and get ready to come out to CT for Katie's graduation. We went to the Riviera to play Caribbean Stud poker for a while, before heading to the Social House at Treasure Island for sushi and blueberry mojitos. Then it was a couple more slots in Treasure Island before going to the Venetian for raspberry martinis, and back to the Riviera's Caribbean table to play and simultaneously witness drunk Asian tourists pissing their money away at the table, while drinking Jameson and coke. Around midnight it was time to head up to the room for 4 hours of sleep before catching the first leg of the day's flights to D.C. at 7 a.m.

After a variety of liquors and beer the previous night, the early morning flight was less than pleasant. I've never thrown up from drinking, but that day I sat myself conveniently near a garbage can at the gate and stared up at the ceiling in misery. We, of course, were seated in the last row of the plane where the trip is the bumpiest, but luckily it was pretty smooth and I was feeling less nauseous by the time we took off. It was a short trip, but it was fun and it feels pretty great to be 21.

We got back to Hartford that night to a full house--the Munks grandparents and Auntie Brenda and the three Berndt kids. The next day was graduation, and since it was raining I had to sit in the auxillary gym with the four grandparents. Then Katie opened presents, including the quilt from Grandma Munks and the scrapbook from Mom. The next day a group of us headed to southern CT for some gambling and eating at Mohegan Sun, where I won $80 at the good old Caribbean table. Thursday was the grad party and Friday was the last time I'll ever be in the CT house.

Leaving the CT house was really hard--after crying at Katie's graduation party when I said bye to some people, the floodgates were pretty much open for the next few days. This might sound a little dramatic but when I left I hugged the yellow walls of my bedroom and went from room to room. I had a hard time tearing myself away from the house to say goodbye. Even though I've probably spent more time in the Vermont house than the CT one since starting at Syracuse, middle and high school and so much else has gone on there. Plus, all of the difficult stuff with moving from Illinois way back when, was sort of transferred onto that house. It's where I grew up and I will really, really miss that house.