Vegas! - Day 5

Finally, the last day of the Vegas trip.

As I said at the end of the previous entry, one thing we were looking forward to doing was going down to Guitar Center to play out a little.  We left fairly early and got down there without much trouble.  We then spent a couple hours screwing around with whatever we could play on.

I found out that ESP guitars are fun to play and worth whatever they cost.  I also found out that impulse buying could be a killer, as I tried out a couple of Les Pauls and found that I didn't really care for the feel of either.  So buying one of those without putting it through its paces could be a tremendous setback.

We also hit up the acoustic section to try out various steel and nylon-string guitars, plus a ukulele and acoustic bass.  Smaller instruments are particularly challenging for me because I have fairly big hands.  Fretting strings on them can be a bit of a pain.  On the other hand, the nylon-string acoustics were easy to play.  I should have started off with one of those, I think.

I also messed around on an electronic drumkit that had double bass pedals. Not as fun without the sticks.

While there I got some picks, so now I am set on those.  I am very particular about the picks and strings I use; consistent use of them provides me with a consistent sound that isn't terribly difficult to reproduce.  Although most stores make it difficult by not stocking the exact kind of strings I want.

One place I had yet to see was the Cosmopolitan.  It was one of the high-end casinos that was somehow left out of the whirlwind tour of the first night. It was surprisingly narrow.  This is because the building is housed on a smaller bit of land than most of the other casinos and thus it had to go upward instead of outward.  There is a different vibe in that place that I really enjoyed.  It was just classier overall.  As I recall, we didn't do much gambling there, so we didn't really win or lose much of anything.

With those things done, it was time to eat.  But instead of going there right away, I decided that I wanted a trophy from the trip and so we hit up the mall to see if there was a place to get sunglasses.  Truth be told, I could have used them at the Valley of Fire and probably won't have much use for them now that I'm back home.  At any rate, I managed to find a pair I like that weren't too expensive.  I was still ahead in terms of money even after the purchase.

Red Robin was the destination, a timely one at that and conveniently located near the parking lot.  I got a chicken sandwich and fries.  Both were more than I bargained for, in a good way.  We got the food and headed back to the room.  Once we were finished eating, we had one last run at the slot machines downstairs.  Then it was time to part ways.

The next morning I got up early for my flight and ended up back at my place around 5:30 PM.  It was a fun time and I'll probably go back before long.