Surviving Vegas

We just “survived” yet another weekend in Las Vegas and guess what??  We lived to tell about it.  Yep, despite the excessive drinking, gambling, and eating, we all made it out alive.   Now the “WE” that I am referring to consisted of 7 friends from Chicago and California that decided it would be a good idea to meet in Vegas for March Madness. Our original group consisted of 9, but some last minute circumstances prevented two of them from coming.  Boo hoo.

Since we like these friends so much, we were not about to let this stop them from enjoying Vegas with us (sort of).  So we did what any normal people would do…we drew a picture of them and toted them around all weekend!  Actually only one of them got toted around, her name is Karen.  For some reason Eric was left upstairs in the room and didn’t get to come out to play.  Sorry Eric!

Meet Karen!

Karen accompanied us to the sports book, she hung out in the diamond lounge, and even came to dinner and a show!  One morning, I sat down at the bar and the bartender asked me where Karen was!   Apparently she made an impact on him.   

Karen being social

Yikes...Karen got kissed

The original “Karen” got lost by day two, so we improvised and made a mini napkin version for the remainder of the journey.  Normal behavior huh? 

Karen came to dinner

Shes at the head of the table

uh oh... we lost karen.  Heres her replacement

 

The journey began early each morning with booze….lots of it.  The one thing you can be sure of in a casino full of adults drinking lots of booze is that they are going to eventually act like idiots.  We were no exception.  What do you expect?  When a bunch of idiots get together they meet more idiots.  Suddenly all the idiots are making bad decisions and taking pictures of each other.  That’s what they do. 

random stranger with Slice

Hey Boys

Without sharing too much, our weekend included a bull ride, rock climbing a casino wall,  falling asleep in a show, steak dinner in a private room (some of us may or may not remember this one), and many hugs to Javier.   Don’t ask…  Oh, did I mention the gambling?  There was plenty of that as well!

another random girl in a shoe

posing with a passed out guy!





rock climbing and spanking a complete stranger

So that is basically Vegas in a nutshell: Drunk idiots hugging other drunk idiots while losing money gambling on anything.  Good times huh?  Actually it is!  Trust me…we will be back with another group to repeat the performance!!

Javier with Josh

Three things I learned in Vegas (on this trip):

1.    Extra olives in bloody marys = breakfast

2.   Earl of Sandwich is the best sandwich ever

3.   When in doubt, pose for a pic with a stranger

Stay tuned because I think the next stop is Montreal!!

"Chalk" Walk...in NYC

       

           

     Okay people, normally when we go on vacation, we make plans.  Dinner plans, show tickets, some sort of reservation or tour... right?  For some reason or another this past weekend I found myself in NYC with no plans.  Now I know there is tons of stuff to do there, I have been before.  Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Broadway shows…blah blah blah.   Been there, Done that.  I was feeling frisky and looking for something different.

           It all started Saturday morning…we looked at a map, jumped on the subway, and ended up on the lower east side.  Yep, we simply got out and aimlessly walked around.  You know what?  No monsters attacked us and we didnt get mugged!  We were survivors!  The more we walked, the more we noticed the chalkboard signs.  You see, a bunch of stores, restaurants, and bars placed signs out front advertising current deals.  Most the signs were hilarious and geared toward the hungover brunch crowd. I liked their sense of humor on the lower east side already. 

            We chose to have brunch at one place where the chalkboard said “$20 bottomless mimosas”- ummm... that means “welcome”to me.  We were pleasantly surprised by the food, drinks, service, and the live band that starts “whenever the band wakes up” at this brunch place. 

            A few hours later, we stumbled out of the suddenly packed restaurant and decided that instead of taking the subway back, we would just walk (3 miles) towards the hotel.  Since all great ideas start after mimosas, it’s no surprise that it was there and and then that we invented the “chalk walk”.  The one rule to the “chalk walk” was: we could only stop at bars with chalk board signs out front (you have to keep the rules simple while drinking).



crab cake brunch at Sons of Essex!



            This ultimately led us on an adventurous day through New York City.  We had no place to go and no plans that day so we just kept walking.  We walked.  And walked.  And walked.

     We saw the famous “Katz’s Deli (When Harry Met Sally Diner), the Brooklyn bridge, and who knows how many pizza places, flower shops, and interesting characters along the way.  At each bar we talked to the bartenders, learned about the neighborhoods and drank whatever booze they were selling. 



Katz's Deli



The gorgeous flowers along the way



The 3 mile walk took us all day...Literally all day.  I gotta tell you the signs got funnier and the drinks got better.  We saw beer pong, bloody mary specials, and one bar even advertised the Soup Du Jour as Whiskey!  All of this we saw simply by walking down the streets and reading the chalkboards.  Who knew??

So you get the point right? We bar hopped our way through Manhattan and we had a great time doing it!  Maybe next time you are feeling frisky...You will do the same thing!

Three things I learned about NYC:

1. The better the chalkboard.... the better the bar!!  True Fact.

2. I dont remember

3. I dont remember

Next stop:  Las Vegas!!!!!

Jill Hepokoski

   

           

           

           

Things get Spicy in New Mexico

My suitcase and I had our first real fight this past weekend while visiting New Mexico.  The fight was centered around a cactus… yes a cactus!  Now, let me explain myself before you judge. 

So I have never really been a big shopper.  I don’t see the need to accumulate useless crap.  In my mind, it’s all just junk that is going to end up in the neighborhood yard sale in a few years.  With that in mind, I found myself in Santa Fe, New Mexico over the weekend.  Now for those of you who have never been, “downtown” Santa Fe, it is a plaza.  Literally a Plaza.  While charming and unique, there is not much to do there.  I happen to have three hours to tackle this town by myself, which is what brings me to the shopping. 

The downtown area has some real cute shops that sell some interesting products.  Let me tell you, if you are in the market for boots, hats, or Native American jewelry…you have come to the right place!  Perhaps the most interesting thing I saw there was the assortment of hot sauces!  The names on the sauces made me laugh out loud!  They had alien sauce, hemorrhoid sauce, and diaper sauce. 

It was just passed the hot sauce when I found it: the holy grail of dumb gifts.  It was a cactus back scratcher!  I had to have it…a long stick with a prickly little cactus that had eyeballs on it- priced at only $8.99!  Umm…who could resist?  Not me!  It seemed harmless at the time, so I walked out, holding my head high and proud of my new purchase.

So the stupid cactus ended up in the trunk of the rental car for the next few days while we drove to Albuquerque.  Now Santa Fe may be a plaza, but Albuquerque is a street.  Yes, the downtown area is ONE main street.  Needless to say, we saw all of downtown in about a half hour.  As you may know, I get bored easily and so one street for 24 hours is not gonna do the job for me.  Thanks to some lovely recommendations, we dined at the infamous “El Pinto” restaurant which has been visited by several famous politicians.  Ahhh... southwestern food with chile sauce....Yummy! 

Another recommendation brought us to the tram ride up the top of the Sandia Mountains.  $20 will get you a round trip ride up the world’s longest tram ride (I think that is what the sign said) up the “watermelon” granite mountains.  We even saw wild buffalo and hot air balloons on the way, which for some reason seemed exciting at the time.  

Okay so now the trip to NM was over (what do you expect in a long weekend?) and it was time to head home.  I packed my suitcase as I have done hundreds of times before.  Only this time, I was shoving trinkets in it from Santa Fe, one of which was the cactus back scratcher!  Uh oh- my suitcase was suddenly full, the zipper wasn’t gonna budge.  So here I was, at the airport fighting with a stubborn (and cranky) suitcase with a dumb ass cactus staring at me (it has eyeballs).  This was a full-fledged fight, a battle, a war!   The battle raged on for several minutes and after a few creative packing moves (and ryans suitcase) I got that piece of junk packed for the plane!  I am not proud of my behavior that day, but after much perseverance, I won!!  Ha Ha- I showed him… that suitcase won’t mess with me again.

Final score:  Suitcase- 0, Jill -1  (he he)

P.S.

Three things I learned about New Mexico:

1.     They take their hot sauce seriously

2.    They take their margaritas seriously

3.     Seriously?  That’s it!!  What do you expect to learn in 3 days? 

Next stop … NYC!!

The Story of the Silly Suitcase

I want to introduce you to my suitcase.  He (yes it’s a “he”) was purchased in Ft Myers Florida about 6 years ago at a TJ Maxx.  He went from sitting on a dusty shelf, minding his own business to this crazy life where he never gets to rest!  I mean seriously.  I am constantly cramming it full and shoving it into over-head bins.  I’ve lugged it to Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.  Not to mention jet-setting nearly every other weekend across America.  The poor thing even has a squeaky wheel because he’s old and tired.  With all this activity, he’s developed quite the sense of humor.  Sometimes when I am packing, I can imagine the suitcase is sarcastically saying things like “not that dress again” or “we’ve seen that outfit before.” 

The smartass suitcase is right; I tend to pack the same key pieces on every trip. But you know what?  I have some breaking news for you: the people in the new city I visit haven’t seen that outfit!  Even if they have, I am not traveling for a fashion show, I am traveling to experience new places and meet new interesting people.  The crazier, the better!  Let me tell you: there are some wackadoos on the loose out there!

So who am I?  I am not so sure- but I can tell you who I am not.  I’m not a travel writer … heck, I am not even a writer!  I’m not one of those granola girls who has quit her job and chosen to live 3 years in youth hostels in Europe (although I do have travel envy when I read their blogs).  I’m not searching for anything such as the “best food truck” or “undiscovered beach houses”.    I am an average 30 something chick (not a very cool one) who happens to have the fortunate opportunity to be able to see new cities thanks to my boyfriend, Ryan.

You see, he travels for work and I am a travel sponge.  I sponge off his free trips and take advantage of his work opportunities.  Unfortunately, I have a real job and I have to work there as much as possible in between trips so I have to pick and choose the good ones.  After doing this together for 4 plus years, I have fallen in love with seeing as much as possible!  Experiencing the cultures, cuisines, and landscapes has given me “ants in my pants” – wanting to get out and see more. 

Blah Blah Blah ….. Enough about me!  The sole purpose of this blog is to share some of my pictures and adventures with friends, family, co-workers, and anyone else who is creepin’ on this site!  To show people that you don’t need a 7 day trip to have a great time.  You just need yourself and a suitcase- one with a sense of humor doesn’t hurt either. If you still have a pulse and you got nuttin’ to do, then stay tuned for some upcoming stories from me about Charleston, New Mexico, Montreal, New York, and Vegas!! 

Okay- I did it... I wrote my first blog!  As you can see, I am still getting my page up and running, so any comments, suggestions, and criticism is appreciated!  Seriously!

Jill Hepokoski