Ryan McFarland

A few pictures from Las Vegas…

The first is from the observation deck on the Stratosphere. This building is the tallest in the U.S. on the west side of the Mississippi. I rode the three most exciting rides up there. The Big Shot really is a thriller.

Here’s the group shot of the Petersburg folks that were there… from the bottom right: Dylan, Brita, Matte, Karna, Jen, Cena, and I.

Our last evening there was Matte’s birthday so we went to Margaritaville for dinner. Admittedly, i would have rather eaten at McDonald’s (again) rather than go to that tourist trap and have to listen to 20 Jimmy Buffett songs on repeat. But the entertainment actually picked up and eventually an employee climbed up the 25 foot tall volcano and jumped in. She popped out later in a bikini and slid down the water slide into a giant blender while balloon artists on stilts blew whistles and got the crowd to clap and sing. Then the volcano lady danced on the banister nearby and i was able to make her blurry in this shot by not usng the flash and just holding my camera on the table.

We had to check out of our room by 11am but our flight wasn’t until 10pm so Matte and Karna let us store our stuff in their room. We left Margaritaville to go grab our stuff and head to the airport and i decided to play a prank on them. We bought a Milkyway candy bar, softened it in my hands, shaped a big turd and left it in their toilet. I also left a note in the toilet paper that they didn’t have to worry - that we hadn’t messed around with anything else. Sadly, Karna didn’t get to see it. Happily, we took pictures of it.

The first night we were there i was up $250 at one point. That felt pretty good. I didn’t leave there ahead at all. But we had a good time or few.