Short TR for Dec. 8-11

[Augustine]

First I received my AOD dog tags on Monday 12/6...nice.

Theme: Cowboys Everywhere (The National Rodeo Championships were in town)

Wed
Got in to Vegas on Wednesday around noon. Checked in to the Flamingo since I had 3 free nights - tried to talk my way at least to a strip view but I got the 60yr old lady with an attitude and an accent that sounded like Jersey Shore 40yrs later at the counter. Pretty much just hung out, bought alcohol for the room and had some dinner most of the day. That night I went to Gold Lounge at Aria around 11pm. Not much of a line so I got in very quick, a guy named Jack Ross was at the door and did it right. No attitude, got me in and gave me his card in case I came back later in the week. Gold was decent for a Wednesday night...good music and a mix of people (old, young, vegas style and cowboy hats). Had a few drinks and sent a text to Darryll. They had a table at Ghostbar at the Palms which is where I ended up around 1. Darryll had left already but got to meet JustCole and Hung from the forums. Great to meet them...we had a great time with unfortunately included the longest wait for a drink in the history of Vegas. Music was good - mostly same songs I just heard at Gold. Things slowed at Ghostbar by 2 and a little later we decided to try Gold again. Gold was closed, like as in nobody there, lights out closed??? We just hung in a lobby bar an talked for a bit then I headed back to my hotel to get some sleep...I actually had some work to do the next day.

[Augustine]

Thursday

Completed my work and got some food did some tourist stuff. Decided to go to Tao that night. They were having a birthday party for Nicki Minaj, so I had dinner at Tao Bistro at about 7pm and had my hand stamped for the line pass entry.

Back to the hotel, took a nap from 8-10 then drank a few while getting dressed. I was trying to see if I could meet up with some JC people but couldn't get anything going. Got to Tao around 11:15 and the lobby was crammed. Must have been 400 people waiting in and around the lobby. With my line pass stamp I walked around the mass of people by the line and right in...thank you again JC for excellent advice on entry.

Tao was packed. The music was great, hard house music. Saw the Nicki Minaj group go in and later they announced Don Johnson was there. I heard a few other celebs were there as well. The club stayed absolutely crammed the whole time. I did enjoy the shot girls that came around wearing fur bikini tops and boots. Kinda wanted to pet them but didn't think that would go over very well. Enjoyed the music, danced a little and just hung out till about 3am.

Back to the hotel...gotta sleep for work in the morning...unless..hey, Drais is open and right next door. It was my first time at Drais. The club had a real cool feel to it and had two rooms with different music. Mostly a mix of locals and tourists with a few Cowboys thrown in. Saw a lot of them at Tao earlier. Left Drais at 5:30am. Got a quick nap and shower and went to work.

[Augustine]

Friday

Managed to cut out after a half day and walked the strip down from the Flamingo to MGM. Then back to the hotel. Man my feet were starting to hurt. Found a WIFI spot and checked the forums to try and set something up for that night. I knew there were a couple groups comming onto town and already had plans to meet up with Amanda221 who was flying in from Canada that afternoon. Connected with Amanda and Aroc's group and made tentative plans to hit Surrender at Encore.

Texted Shannon Dupont at Surrender and told her we were with a group from JC.com and she was good enough to put Amanda and I on her guestlist. Got comped admission and gave Shannon a thank you tip just so she knows the JCrs do it right.

Ok...the weirdest thing I've ever seen in Vegas. It's 11:30-11:45pm on Friday night when I get into Surrender. There must have been an 80-20 ratio of women to men. There were groups of 5-6 girls just standing there drinking and talking to each other. Never seen anything like it.

Met up with Amanda and her friend, then found Aroc (Alex) and his boys. His brother Chris, turned 21 at midnight then walked in the club. I hung with Aroc and his crew for the evening. They gambled a little in the outside bar/casino at Surrender and walked away with a nice amount.

Unfortunately, the 80-20 ratio corrected itself with more guys showed up and a bunch of girls seemed to take off. It was just OK, definitely not packed. So we took a cab to Wild Bills and hit Drais. The gamblers in the group were good enough to give a nice tip to the doorman to get us (4 guys) by a pretty large group waiting outside.

This time Drais had one of the two dance rooms set up as a VIP room. The music was so loud I could feel the beat as much as hear it, but it was very cool. There were a lot of experienced locals there, especially girls looking to get in on bottle service with anyone they could. Ended up dancing and drinking till I walked out of the club at 7am.

It was too late to go to sleep without possibly oversleeping for my plane. I packed had a bite to eat and checked out. At least I managed to sleep on the plane.

Good trip. Got to meet JustCole, Hung and Aroc (and the boys) and got to see Amanda again.

Really think I need to move heaven and earth to make the May Invasion!!!

[hug it out]

Very nice TR!!

Augustine, it was nice to meet you on wed. That drink order did take order forever, even though I had order my usual 2 drinks per order. There was some mix up with the waitress, she came back and said we didn't have to tip which save some $$ I guess. I didn't realized there was that many AOD/JC that weekend, I should check the forums more often .

Hope to see you in again at mAyOD.

[aroc]

Hey Augustine,

Good times that night and great TR. I should post mine soon.