Off of the Streets and Into the Bars!

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010

Boarded the Deuce bus for a ride down The Strip. Upper deck, top left seats. As we get down to The Stratosphere, Circus Circus and The Sahara, the bus fills up with the obvious tourists. Soon it seemed like every person on the the bus was a whiny bitch.

Yikes! A detour! Strip traffic going southbound is at a virtual standstill as three lanes of traffic try to turn left at the next light about 300 feet ahead.

Traffic jam on the north Strip.

Same high prices without the clueless salespeople.

Finally! Off the Deuce after an eighty minute ride. First order of business at Mandalay Bay: Take a raging pee. Argh!

The lure of cheap drinks enticed me to Dick's Last Resort inside Excalibur. Alas, it was a tease. Not open yet.

Legless old vet in wheelchair had his coin cup knocked out of his hand by careless toss of alms. No respect. The least I could do is help him pick up his change.

Aside from my lunch break at Fatburger [see blog post], I was quickly tiring of The Strip and needed to make a getaway and quick. A bus ride and a three-quarter mile walk later and I was over in the Commercial Center District, a sprawling melange of Mexican, Korean and other ethnic businesses and GLBT bars, performance theater and outreach center, along with a fair share of empty suites.

First stop was the Las Vegas Lounge, a transgender hangout, for a bottle of Newcastle. Sadly the only transgendered present were the ones immortalized in photographs above the bar. The comely Asian in particular got Little Beavis' attention.

Transgender-friendly bars sans the transgendered makes me a sad panda.

Next stop was the Badlands Saloon, a country-themed gay bar, where I quaffed a mug of Bud. Its dark, smokey environs fondly reminded me of the dives I frequented in my youth.

Last stop of my Commercial Center gay bar tour was at the Spotlight Lounge, where the roomy, airy interior and the aged men finally got my relax on. The $3 pints of Sam Adams and popcorn to nosh on didn’t hurt either.

While everyone back in Iowa fussed and fretted about the Iowa-Missouri bowl game, I spent my evening in Vegas enjoying my second night of home-cooked Mexican leftovers. Even had some carrot cake for a late-night snack.

Photos from the Picasa Web Album: Holiday trip 2010