My First Trip to Las Vegas: Donuts, Chucky, Vintage Suitcases and My First Bet
Some trips change your life. Others become stories to chuckle about years later.
This was one of those.
Arriving in Las Vegas
I drove into Las Vegas from Phoenix, watching the Mojave Desert stretch toward the mountains. After a while, the Las Vegas skyline appeared on the horizon.
Before I ever checked into the hotel or wandered the Strip, I just sat in the parking lot for a while.
The mountains surrounded the valley, the hotels stretched into the sky, and everything felt so much bigger just as I had imagined. It was one of those moments when reality sets in and you realize you made it to a place you've wanted to visit for years.
I snapped a photo with my old trusty dusty Eclipse with all my luggage piled around it.
Then it was time to haul everything inside.
My first moments in Las Vegas after driving in from Phoenix
Those Vintage Suitcases Were a Horrible Idea
I am a total snob with vintage things, my suitcases included.
What I didn't realize is how incredibly pampered we've become with rolling luggage.
My vintage suitcases didn't have wheels.
The walk from the parking garage and then into the long hallway of the Wynn felt endless. Every few yards I'd stop, set both suitcases down, shake my burning arms out, then pick them back up again.
By the time I reached the hotel hallway my arms had officially turned into noodles.
I have absolutely no idea how people traveled like this for decades.
The Only Hotel Room Photo I Took
Apparently I was too excited to remember to photograph the room.
The only evidence I have of being there is a photo of a chair and table with my Ronald's Donuts and miscellaneous things.
The Donuts I'd Been Thinking About All Night
One of the biggest reasons I wanted to stop in Las Vegas wasn't a casino.
It was Ronald's Donuts.
I was so excited that I barely slept the night before. Convenient vegan donuts are a rarity, so this was no small matter. Besides one quick break to doze in the car, I spent the entire drive thinking about those donuts.
Upon walking in I noticed the interior and atmosphere of the place was like any other local donut shop with old men sipping coffee and reading newspapers while rows and rows of fresh donuts lined the display cases.
Then I saw it.
Contained in a glass enclosure were long shelves full of donuts with the top two shelves displaying a wide selection of ALL vegan donuts.
So you see this wasn't a pansy excuse with one or two vegan options... there were many to choose from.
I told the lady behind the counter that I wanted an assortment so I chose the big empty pink box and began pointing at donuts.
But oh no the box began to fill!
I became overwhelmed, I just couldn't decide. How could I leave any flavors out... I wanted one of everything!
Then the panic really set in.
The box was filling up way too fast.
Again how was I supposed to leave any behind?
The woman behind the counter must have sensed the crisis unfolding because she started holding donuts up one by one.
Perhaps I was being too slow but how could she possibly expect me to make these decisions so quickly?
I gave into her though from pure mental exhaustion (smile) and nodded my head yes to each of her suggestions.
This one?
Yes.
This one?
Yes.
I ended up with a nice selection of sweets and they were delicious. I took one bite from each donut first to taste each and then carelessly gorged myself.
Walking Around With a Beer Felt Wrong
One thing that completely threw me off was realizing you could simply walk around outside holding a beer.
Perfectly legal.
Nobody cared.
It felt like I was doing something I absolutely wasn't supposed to be doing and I loved it.
Don't F*ck With Chuck
I grew up watching the Chucky movies.
So naturally...
When I spotted a giant Chucky doll on the Strip, I stopped.
Then I yapped his head off.
Poor Chucky probably couldn't escape me if he tried… but he indulged my energy.
We spent close to an hour goofing off and quoting lines from the movies, and eventually acting out ridiculous scenes where he "stabbed" me in the middle of the sidewalk while tourists walked past laughing and taking pictures.
It was completely ridiculous.
And one of my favorite memories from the trip.
Don't f*ck with Chuck.
Margaritaville
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville played over and over inside Margaritaville at the casino.
As a person who will play the same song over and over, I loved it.
While there, I decided Margaritaville would be the Vegas spot where I’d try my gamble.
So I fed a tiny bit of money into a slot machine.
Just enough to say I'd done it.
Mission accomplished.
I wasn't about to donate all my chump change to the casino.
Because obviously I had to answer the vintage phone
One of my favorite parts of Wynn wasn't the casino.
It was all the little details and random things.
I found an old vintage telephone sitting in one of the hallways and spent way too much time pretending to make mysterious phone calls.
After that the Wynn became my playground. The hallways were so elegant that I couldn't resist turning them into my own little photo shoot. I frolicked around in my vintage curtain pants, stopping whenever I found a spot that caught my eye. I posed in the fancy corridors and cat walked the colorful carpets. I felt like the design and decor of the Wynn really matched my pants.
Somewhere Underground...
At some point I wandered into a whiskey cellar somewhere beneath the Strip.
I honestly can't remember exactly where.
I just remember walls lined floor-to-ceiling with bottles and an old suit of armor standing guard nearby.
It's interesting how travel memories work.
Quite often I remember the feeling more than the location.
Looking Back
When I think about my first trip to Las Vegas, I don't immediately remember casinos.
I remember carrying impossible suitcases.
I remember vegan donuts.
I remember laughing with Chucky on the sidewalk.
I remember drinking a beer walking through the streets.
I remember Jimmy Buffett singing on repeat while I made my tiny gamble.
Most of all, I remember appreciating all the little random things.
Travel isn’t always about spending lots of money and having the best of the best. Sometimes it's the small, unexpected moments collected along the way that end up meaning the most.
Cheers.
