wedding plan: thursday.

i really needed sleep. so i got up at 9 am and watched more conference basketball games. echo and i talked about basketball from our beds, and about her duke blue devils, and about what punks those unc tar heels are. our hotel had an obscured view of the strip and a good view of the mountains. we had time to get room service breakfast before the wedding rehearsal. i realized i didn't have to be there; went upstairs and passed out.

we had brunch in a restaurant in the bellagio called olive. it's dark and well designed and from my seat, i had a few of the fountain show at the hotel. no, soldati, i didn't pee in the fountain. i sat next to the groom's aunt and uncle who paid for the whole high class shebang; i need a benefactor.

the bridesmaids and groomsmen were also with us, and we talked about ultimate fighting through a lunch that laid us all out with gourmet goodness. i think the flatbread pizzas made us all question whether we could eat the entreés; and the dessert had a grapefruit flavored shaved ice cone stuck in a shortcake.

where's the picture of that, echo?


we walked out of the bellagio, which we found was a difficult thing to do. the hotels are self-contained cities, hundreds of staff, dance clubs and restaurants. the bellagio alone has a wing i never saw, the butterfly cage, the ceiling of blown glass, the awnings to make you feel like you're in open sky, a whole upscale mall.

outside, vegas was hot, busy, filled with slow-walking tourists. slot machines everywhere, men and a woman trying to hand out flyers to strip clubs, people asking if we are a couple. the mgm grand has live lions and a chiller mall. and jello shots.

and then there is new york new york. which is my + echo's favorite-- relaxed atmosphere. people who look like i might want to talk to them- versus the bellagio, where everyone looks like the not-quite-classy suburban parent who is letting their cocknoxious side out. everything was at normal human prices and we threw money into the slot machines.

the streets were hot and we bought an excessively large bottle of water. i checked out the sportsbook, multiple tv's and betting options. i sat with a man who asked me to watch his drink; he had to lay a bet on the west virginia game so he "would have something to watch."

echo and the bridesmaids took emily out for coffee. i slept. we ate an okay dinner-- not great, not awful, at vialé at caesar's palace.