Rookie Rise Blog

 

I took a short business trip to Las Vegas. For those of you that have not been to Vegas, I'll give you a heads up that it's definitely not a place that you go to relax. I fought the crowds, I fought the nights. From people painted head to toe in silver and gold, and ghostbusters roaming the streets. My head was on a swivel the whole time. I don't want to bore you with a ton to read so I'll keep it short. Here's a recap of my trip.

 

PDX Bound

The sun was going down. I was just in time for a sunset flight. The best time to fly!

The Infamous PDX Carpet. The carpet that inspired the Rookie Rise "Porltand Born PDX T-Shirt."

You must take a pic like this when flying to or away from Portland. Tag Rookie Rise if you do ;)

See Ya Portland!

I was flying solo on this trip. I took my seat next to a stranger. I'm not shy at all, I'll talk to a tree if nobody else is around. I ended up chatting with both of the people in my row and quickly became flight buddies with them. "Bree" (The girl on the left) She asked what I was going to Vegas for and I told her mostly business. She quickly replied that she was going for business too. She asked what kind of business and I told her about Rookie Rise. She says "WAIT! What?!" I know a guy who wears that brand! Come to find out he was a good friend of mine. The flight didn't seem so long having good company. It's pretty awesome to see just how small the world is!

2 hours after being in the air flying from PDX, The Vegas lights illuminated through our window.

Landed and on my way! Yes I'll take a ride on the moving floor. There will be plenty of walking to do once I hit the strip.

I can say that this is one of the longest cab lines that I have ever seen. My first stop... NFL trainer, Travelle Gaines condo.

I apologize for the blurry pic... I had a crazy cab driver. I did chat with him all of the way to Travelle's though.

Random information: he's 63 and happily divorced. He hates the strip but loves life in Vegas.

When I got out of the cab I was greeted by this guy. Travelle Gaines. One of the most respected and successful NFL trainers. He also owns a gym "Athletic Gaines" Athletes from all over the country come to this guy. He takes athletes that are already great, and he makes them better. His life accompllishments are pretty impressive. He's made appearances on The Kendra Show, The NFL Network and has worked with tons of high profile athletes like Reggie bush, Brandon Roy, Ryan Matthews, Drew Brees... the list goes on. 

See... It's Kendra... I'm not making this up. 

 

We hopped in Travelle's Mercedes G Wagon then hit the strip.

After roaming around the strip, Travelle dropped me off at my hotel. Parked and texting... that's how you should do it kids.

The Venetian was my home for the weekend. I can't really explain the elegance of this place. It's simply a place that you need to see to truly realize how much work went into this hotel.

Stop and stare... Ok, time to check-in now and check out my room.

Finally! I can lay down!

Once I got to my room, I laid down for a minute thinking that I could sleep but the hunger pains kicked in. I needed to eat!

My brother and sister in-law happened to be down in Vegas the same weekend, so I met up with them and grabbed some food.

First stop was "Burger and Beer"

Waiting on my food.

Yes, Happiness! Once I finished up eating I figured it'd be a good idea to check out the rest of my hotel.

I didn't take a boat ride but dang... who's idea was this? I need to shake his/her hand! "We'll throw a boat ride in the middle of the hotel!" After strolling through The Venetian, I tagged along with my brother to Treasure Island. I am not a gambler at all but I figured I'd toss in a bill and give it a shot. The outcome...

Cha-Ching! Although I won a few bucks I still wasn't hooked. I was dead tired though so I headed back to my room.

Successful night.

The next morning I took a peak out my window to see this. I didn't get a chance to take advantage of the pool but it was definitely tempting.

I hit the strip first thing when I woke up. My brother invited me to go to Old Town Las Vegas to check out The Mob Museum, so I tagged along.

Let's do this.

Would you wear it?

I made the lineup!

The gangsters game plan.

There's images like this all over the place. Lots of history is written on these walls.

The million dollar room.

 

Who's got juice?

Slot machines have come a long way.

 

Don't worry, I survived.

The Mob Museum was a pretty cool spot. I kind of expected more but the air conditioned building was worth the $20 bucks.

 

Um... No words for this besides I'm sorry.

These guys were insanely good bucket drummers. Well deserved tip went their way.

 

I headed back to the strip after a short visit in old town and headed to Caesars Palace.

Pretty impressive decor here.

Pistacio gellato?! Take my money!

Craps. Enough said.

The King lives on.

A fountain? "Take the pic!"

Everytime that you come to an intersection on Las Vegas Blvd. You have the option of taking the stairs or the escalators.

...or every so often, you could take the tram.

Las Vegas Blvd. Moving along now.

We went to the Koi Lounge for dinner. There's a word for a place like this... Swanky?

Worth it!

After dinner we checked out some more slots. This was one of the cooler slot machines. "You're the one the one that I want, you're the one that I want ooooh oooh oohhh!"

I didn't play this game but I did press my luck with this one...

It brought back some old memories.

After walking for a bazillion miles I was exhausted so I headed back to my room. This hallway reminds of the scene from the Titanic right before the water comes crashing down the halls. 

What's Up!

.

Nothing like a $7 Kit Kat bar and a bathtub made for 6 to end the night. I told myself that I wouldn't eat the chocolate that they leave in the room to bait you into spending 700% more than you should've, but I failed and gave in... obviously.

The next morning I bought a few souveniers. I swiped some of the Best gum ever... for the first 17 seconds at least. Then it's out with the old and in with the new.

Classic.

Cool lighting everywhere.

Chocolate drinks? Interesting.

The childhood memories always draw your dollar in. I'm guessing that they have a pretty solid marketing team working for these Casinos.

On my way to New York New York to ride the rollercoaster, but first I had to have a stare down with this bull.

Now where the h$%# is this rollercoaster?

Found it! Let's do this!

Scratch that off the to do list! This rollercoaster has a pretty good drop that I wasn't expecting. Would I recommend it? Heck yeah. This was the end of the line for me though, I had to catch a cab and get back to the airport.

Just waiting to board my plane. PDX bound.

More portland people on my flight. Makes sense.

 What a weekend. Vegas definintely won. I can't think of a more exhausting place that truly does not sleep!

Back on Portland roads. Vegas, you are mean, loud, bright, classy, trashy. A little bit of everything. One thing is for sure, 3 days in Las Vegas is just enough!