A Day in the Life...: Vegasssss

I'm not really sure why, but whenever anyone posts about Vegas, it always is written "Vegasssssss". Is there a reason we include so many s's? I mean really...As you can see from my title, I decided that the s's are necessary. Not sure why, but they are.

Vegasssss was pretty incredible. We had tee times off two tees from 6:30 am to 8:30 am almost every day. You know what that means? Early off, early in. We were finished every day by about 4 in the afternoon. It was glorious.

These early tee times gave us much more time to go look around Sin City. Now, before any of you jump the gun, we weren't staying on the Strip. Let's keep in mind that AJGA is non-profit, so unless the Bellagio wants to give us 50 free rooms like the Best Western Plus did, I don't think we'll be pitching our tent on the Strip anytime soon.

Regardless, we were able to get all dressed up and hit the Strip. However, since we were given courtesy cars, we rocked our van all the way down to Caesar's Palace. When we rolled up, the party started.

Who could resist us in this ride?

Once we got down to the Strip and found a garage that would accommodate our 7+ foot tall van, we put our walking shoes on (high heels) and headed out to the street. We ended up parking at the Aria, and then walked probably a total of two miles the whole evening. You don't want to know what my feet looked like after that trek.

We stopped at the Cosmopolitan to grab some photos in front of the diamonds, then headed toward the Bellagio. Perfect timing, as we caught the fountain water show at just the right moment.

Perfect time of night

Let me just say this. When you go to Vegasssss and you decide to wear heels, make sure you know where you're going. I tell you what, we walked around aimlessly for at least an hour, and finally decided to take a pit stop at the Bellagio. That wasn't the brightest idea, as I think the Bellagio marks up their prices about 400 percent. (I'm being a tad sarcastic, but I'm telling you, it's ridiculous.)

We gathered ourselves, put our heels back on, and headed across the street to Planet Hollywood. Jackpot. They had the big drinks, great deals, and good fun. We grabbed a few fun things and then headed for a place to sit and rest our toes.

The other thing to keep in mind when you go to Vegassss is that it would probably be the most enjoyable if you didn't need to get up at 4 am the next morning. I say this because just about every nightclub won't open until 10:30, at the earliest. That's about the time we had decided we needed to leave to get home to get to bed if we wanted to function at all the next morning. Even though we didn't quite get the typical Vegassss experience, we sure had fun. All the lights, all the sights, it was quite an experience.

I also found out how small of a world it is. I ended up running into one of my college coaches while walking around in ridiculously high heels searching for a cheap drink. Coach Chad was there randomly on a spontaneous vacation with his girlfriend, and we met up outside Planet Hollywood for a little chat. Random huh?

Inside the Cosmopolitan with the girls from Team 6

I couldn't resist these heels!

I'm happy to report that the next morning we were all awake, functioning, and on time. We ran the second round of the championship tournament without any issues, and then scarfed down an incredible BBQ dinner at our Tournament Chairman's house. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or what, but she made some baked beans that were to die for. I think I gained five pounds just from stuffing my face for ten minutes. They were legit.

During my stay in Vegasssss I was also able to meet up with one of my former teammates, Katie Schafer. She graduated two years ahead of me, and I have only seen her a couple of times since. We were able to meet up for some sushi on my last night in Vegasssss. It was great to see her; she is now the manager of a hotel, moving into a brand-new apartment...she is doing so well! She and I are very similar in the way we think, act, and expect from others, and she really helped me to put a lot of things in perspective.

Now, Katie and I have a similar obsession with Forrest Gump. Whenever we are together, we tend to speak with a southern accent and keep quoting the movie. When I was in Savannah and was able to see the Forrest Gump bench in person, she was the first person I called. Random, but true. She is the second teammate I have seen while on my internship (Tiffany in Houston in April), and it really is incredible to me how this internship has brought me to see so many of the people from my past. I am very thankful for that.

Loving my orange uniform!! So glad we were ale to meet.

I am finding that being a CA has it's benefits and also some downfalls. I love being able to fly everywhere; the trek from Vegasssss to my next tournament near Chicago would be a pretty long drive. The only downfall from my perspective is that I don't get to spend more time with the wonderful people I work with week to week. I get to know all of them and then I have to leave. However, when I look at it from a different perspective, I do get to meet a lot more great people. Hmmm...I think I like the latter.

Anyway, now that I've got Aspen and Vegassss under my belt, I'm so excited for the next few weeks. I get to work with Ben, my former teammate, this week, and then I get to travel to Vermont, which I have never set foot in, and then head to New York. I can't get over all the great places I get to go, all the people I get to meet, and all the opportunities I'm being presented with. No room for complaint here!

Wish me luck this week at Galena. 144 player field....whew.