Day 2 Recap: Las Vegas

No running diary style this time. We'll leave that to the experts.

So, yesterday was a lot of fun. I didn't walk nearly as much (just went about halfway down the strip to Caesar's Palace and The Bellagio. The plan was to watch some baseball at the sports book at Caesar's, but the place was too full for me to get a good seat. Therefore, I wandered around a little on the floor to take in what I consider to be Vegas' most popular casino and headed back out on the strip.

I was able to catch the fountains again at the Bellagio, this time in daylight. For lunch, I stopped at a little restaurant inside the Bellagio and had a nice philly cheese with onion rings. The order of onion rings was the largest I've ever had. Think large order of fries at Five Guys (that one was for you, Frank)...only bigger. After eating, I went to the sports book there and watched the last four innings of the Phillies-Rockies game and the first couple of innings of the Yankees-Twins matchup.

While watching, I received betting tips from Snake the Mexican, who had $40K riding on the Yankees to win straight up. Don't feel too scared, the dude made $10,000 easy and had already gotten another $20,000 earlier in the day for the Phillies' triumph. I'm glad I didn't take his advice on the Cards-Dodgers contest, otherwise I would have been out my $20 and felt awful about it. Then again, I would have stood to win something like 35 cents so it wasn't worth the time/effort to gamble. Next time, maybe, when I have more money to wager.

I also walked through the MGM Grand yesterday and New York, New York casino. The MGM was where one of my co-workers stayed last summer during his week-long visit, and I can see why people would enjoy being there. The place is massive. Also, the lion observatory was really cool. New York, New York rivaled the Bellagio and the Luxor as my favorites here in Sin City. There is a lot to do in there, and it seems to be the most family-friendly of the resort hotels in the city.

I was really up in the air as to what show I wanted to take in on my last night in Vegas. Jersey Boys was one that I have been wanting to see, but I decided that I'll wait until I can see that one on Broadway. Same goes for the Lion King. Either would have been great, but I wanted something that was Vegas-specific, which I had thought to be comedy or magic. I have already seen Wayne Brady during my year at UF, and I am not that big of a fan of Howie Mandel. If Frank Calliendo's show had started this week instead of next, it would have been a no-brainer (I probably would have gone to his both nights).

While in line at the first Tix-4-Less stand, I was behind a family that was waiting to go see Criss Angel's Believe. I had asked about O - the Cirque du Soleil show playing at the Bellagio - and got intrigued when the family asked about Angel's show. When I learned that it was also Cirque du Soleil, the decision was made.

When I got back from the Bellagio, I checked on a couple of things here in the room and changed before heading next door to the Luxor (the pyramid). That place was awesome, and I won $11 on a penny slot to bring my gambling losses on the week to only $4. Sure, I'm a wimp but I didn't find a single $5 blackjack table at my casino or any of the floors that I stopped on with an open seat, and I'm just not brave enough to drop $25/hand.

The Criss Angel show was a lot of fun, and it was very entertaining. The people around me left skeptical, but I wasn't going in expecting to be wow'd, just entertained. To me, he accomplished that goal, and I feel like I took in one of the Strip's best magic shows. Goal met.

Now, I wasn't that hungry after the show last night, but with my travel schedule today screwing with me, I didn't know how much I'd get to eat, so I went ahead and sat down at the Camelot Steakhouse here at the Excalibur. The steak was pretty good, but it's not like the ones momma makes. Really, it was just about being able to not have to pay $3 per Mountain Dew more than anything else. I just paid the $3 once, haha.

Before coming back up here to the room, I played one more penny slot and won back another couple of dollars, bringing my total losses to a measly $3. Not bad, not bad. Can I make it up next visit? I guess time will have to tell.

I have an 11:40 a.m. flight out of Vegas and the shuttle is coming by at 8:50 a.m. to pick me up. I've already gotten up to post articles on CollegeSportsMatchups, so there's no use in going back to bed for a couple of hours. This has been a lot of fun, and I'll catch ya on the flipside. During the flight, I plan to write the Tailgate Plan to Win: Arkansas Edition, but I can't make any promises at this time. I've done a whole lot of writing this week already.

Watch for texts and tweets with anything unusual or exciting from the last couple of hours out here in the desert.