Meeting of the 3JXPRESS in Las Vegas, NV for the Vegas Travbuddy meet-up!
WARNING!!!
HOLD ON TIGHT!!!
“Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a…” Oops wrong song for this blog! I need a song that has got some beats, because this was one crazy weekend! Let’s see
Friday, April 4, 2008 could not come soon enough. I have been itching to “Get The Party Started…” since last weekends meet-up in Los Angeles! Poor Jillian (jillianj) she does not know what she got herself into bunking with me in Vegas! The first meet-up I attended was nice • I enjoyed the company of the people and everyone was very welcoming. The second one that I planned with the help of Alice (alicegourmet), Melanie (mellemel8) was fantastic…but this third one…Whoo-hoo!!!! Melanie knocked my socks off with how much fun I had! Great organizer and coordinator! Always the conscientious host!
I was excited because not only seeing Melanie, Tracy, Jennifer, and Will again, I was going to meet-up with my “lil sis” Jillian (J1) and James (pearcetoyou) (J2) the other two thirds of the 3JXPRESS!!! Long story but the gist of it is…one day and night of commenting on each others page causing us to not realize who we were commenting to and became so confused that we decided to just call each other J1, 2 & 3…anyway, I guess you had to be there!
After many phone calls between Melanie, Jillian, James and I; activities were planned.
Cool… I’m on the plane, sitting next to a guy (Max) who was on his way to see the basket ball game in San Antonio (I think…zoned out because not a big sports fan) and on the other side I had a girl who was going to Vegas to have some fun with her husband…
Max asked what I was going to do in Vegas and I told him about the Travbuddy meet-up and he was interested in seeing the site and reading the blog • so what did I do? Got his e-mail address and invited him to the website! Whoo-hoo another travbuddy! :)
Once I landed…I got a text message from Jillian • or was it a phone call? Can’t remember, just wanted to start the fun…I located her standing against a pillar, looking a little apprehensive, but once I yelled her name from across the room, a big smile appeared on her face! I hope that my enthusiasm was infectious! We hugged like long lost sisters and we were so excited to get the adventure started! Whoo-hoo! We were talking a mile a minute and got along instantly…
We walked through the airport…and of course with us talking non-stop we were a sight to be seen! Actually, Jillian (hot mama) was a sight to be seen • many men gawking her way.
James rented a convertible…of course it wouldn’t be Las Vegas if you didn’t have a convertible to drive around in. The evening weather was perfect! Jillian and I were practicing our “incognito” look and broke out the sunglasses at night…James dropped the roof and we were on our way! Whoo-hoo!!!! Yeah baby…whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!
We were headed to Melanie’s place, because she wanted us to see where she lived, but we realized the time was almost 8pm and we had to check in at the Red Rock by 8pm! We called the reception desk and let them know we were on our way!
This is the hilarious part! We get there and James and Melanie are trying to figure out where we park and where do we go to get to the reception desk to check in! I think we went up and down the elevators from the garage a few too many times.
The Red Rock was a beautiful hotel, absolutely beautiful, but WTF??? Long curved hallways! The elevators were located on only one side and we had to pass 53 rooms prior to getting to our room! This was tiring sober, do you know what kind of feat this was when you’ve had some wine in you! Wait till you hear the stories of the walls running into us • or maybe it was just me? Hmmmm?
We dropped the luggage in the room! Infamous room 4-153 and touched up our make-up and headed out to Terra Rossa • an Italian restaurant instead of Thai, because it was located in the Red Rock. Our reservations were for 9pm.
The guest list for this evening’s dinner was:
Our special guests:
Will (www.
John (www.travbuddy.com/jpchoi)
Others:
Melanie (www.travbuddy.com/mellemel8)
James (www.travbuddy.com/pearcetoyou)
Jillian (www.travbuddy.com/jillianj)
Harriet (www.
Jennifer (www.travbuddy.com/jenn79)
Tracy (www.travbuddy.com/tre69)
Matt (www.travbuddy.com/matrilla)
Joy (me) (www.travbuddy.com/pvtjoy)
Since the table was not ready yet, we were able to partake in some wine drinking! Yes, you all know that I enjoy my dry red wine! James and I ordered a wonderful Cabernet and also picked one up for Jillian, the others followed suit with their spirits and this was the start of an incredible evening!
Dinner was fabulous…finally had the opportunity to meet John that evening and what a nice guy • too bad he’ll be moving, maybe our paths will cross again when I head out to Korea in 2009…who knows!
James and I shared a pizza that was heavenly • made exactly the way I love it • extra thin and vegetarian and we also shared a risotto with black truffles and I can’t remember what everyone else had…because the wine was flowing.
After dinner we headed over to the ROCK Lounge that was right next door! Before, walking in to the lounge Tracy, James and I had a cigarette after the HUGE meal. We were standing right outside the ROCK Lounge enjoying each other's comapny and smoking the "cancer stick." The music was thumping and we started bumping! I hate to say this, but I don’t remember everyone who went to this venue…I remember glimpses of Will, I know for sure that Harriet, Melanie, Matt, Jillian, James and Tracy were there, but I don’t remember seeing Jenn and John…Oh no!!!!! We danced up a storm and I must admit we had a blast! Tracy, James and I of course the “heaven forbid” smokers when we’ve had some drinks • were intermittently in and out of the lounge • trying to have a cigarette…the last I remember was James and I having a cigarette in the Casino right in front of the Lounge and the lights went dark…WTF??? Where did everyone go? Had we been out there talking, smoking and drinking wine that long? I remember a phone call from Jillian wondering where we were and we told her we were right outside in the first row of slot machines I thought she was on her way over, but James and I realized everyone was gone! We realized that it was 3 or 4 am and James and I tried to figure out how many glasses of wine we each had.
It was a wonderful evening had by all • tomorrow another fun-filled day in Sin City! I have 3-4 hours of sleep, before I need to be up hiking!
Whoooooo-hoooooo…
My whoo-hoo’s have "petered" out by now from all the partying!
Good night everyone • had a blast with all of you…
OH NOOOOOO!!!!! What’s tomorrow going to be like?
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