Winter Vacation: Not Just For College Kids
Yesterday I returned from my annual winter vacation and this one was probably the most ridiculous yet. In order to get to the craziness we have to go back all the way to December 19th, for the work Christmas party.
Every year our Christmas party is at the most beautiful hotel in all of Salt Lake City, the Grand America – the only 5 star hotel in the state. This year, since I had the honor of bringing a female date and not Billy, I decided to get a hotel room across the street from the Grand America at the Little America. My company gets discounts at both of these hotels since we rent out a room every year so I ended up with a suite in the Little America for total $120. And this room was awesome. 600 square feet, Italian marble bathroom, plasma tv on the wall, all that crap that no one needs. Anyway, Rachel and I got ready for the party and then headed across the street to the Grand America for the party. We were greeted instantly with waiters trying to offer us some sort of appetizer that you would probably have seen in “Pretty Woman”, I had no clue what they were, thus, passed. We made our way inside where a photographer greeted us and then took our photo, 3 to be exact. Next stop was the wine cart where cab was flowing like water, Rachel opted for the white wine.
Dinner at the Graned America is never bad, in fact, it’s unbelievable. I’m fairly certain no one has ever left a Christmas party at the Grand feeling hungry afterwards. Our menu included steak, salmon, stuffing, potatoes, a massive desert cart, I mean honestly, my words don’t do it justice. After dinner service our entertainment arrived, this would be Comedy Sports, a group of people that do improv. They were okay, but not fantastic, then again we had a drunk heckler in the audience the entire time they were up there which sort of took away (some people should relax on getting belligerent at work parties).
After the party, Rachel and I walked down the road to our downtown SLC bar of choice, Cheers 2 U. We were obviously the best dressed people in the bar and gathered compliments all evening on how lovely we looked, then again we always look lovely. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and since it was snowing all night and Rachel was wearing open towed heels she wanted to wash her feet. Unfortunately, there was no hot water. I of course was not amused and definitely a little intoxicated therefore I felt it was necessary to go have a word with the people downstairs. I was informed all the hot water was out in the tower side and that they were “working on it”. I went back upstairs knowing in my head that if that water didn’t come back on within 30 minutes I would be going back to visit the man at the desk. 30 minutes later the hot water came on, except it was yellow. Back downstairs I went to complain, hey, it was my first time in this hotel and it’s their job to take care of me right? I told the man the situation and that I wasn’t trying to be an ass and he fully understood and took 50% off the bill! $120 to $60, sounds good to me. I went back upstairs to tell Rachel about what I considered to be a victory but she was passed out already- go figure.
The next day it was back to the Murder Mitten AKA Michigan. The plane ride sucked as I was sitting in the very back next to the engine where it was loud, but at least it was a straight flight with no connections. I landed on time at DTW but of course had to wait a good 45 minutes for my luggage because Detroit is the worst airport in the world. My dad picked me up and he said he barely recognized me due to my long hair (note: this will become the theme of my entire trip). I’m not going to go into detail of what I did every single day because it would make this post super long and frankly, I’m tired. But I’ll give you the play by play:
Day 1 – Saturday – Went to Kathy and Andy’s new house in Troy for a welcome home / Christmas party. Their house is beautiful, they’ve done a great job with the decorating/painting (or maybe I should say Kathy’s done a great job!). This was a good time, I saw many people (see photos for details on who was there). After Kathy’s Dave and I headed up to the GP where we saw the usual cast of characters who frequent the GP late at night, D Ball, Jimbo, Tony, Charlie, Megan, etc.
Day 2 - Sunday - Dave and I went up to the GP again, granted it was Sunday, we did manage to gather a few stragglers up there. Unfortunately, GP closes at midnight on Sunday so Dave and I shot over to Mr. B’s in Troy to end the evening. When I arrived I was greeted with an overly enthusiastic Anna Banana that I haven’t seen since summer and she was quite happy to see me. We drank a beer and then next thing you know, in through the front doors – Billy. He was supposed to be home the previous evening but his plane was cancelled, that guy has the worst luck with planes. Anyway, he sat down next to us and anytime you have BT at the bar you know shots are going to be ordered, this time was no different. This night ends somewhat abruptly and that’s all I’m going to say.
Day 3 – Monday – Somehow Dave convinced me that it would be a good idea to go to Greektown this day and I was a little iffy on the whole thing but I figured why not, I’m in the D I may as well check it out. We headed to Greektown Casino and parked and went inside only to be blasted in the face with lights and sound. We got some beer and wandered around the casino floors for a few minutes. After beer was ingested we decided it was time to go to Bouzouki’s AKA the strip club. Normally I don’t go to the strip club but I had never been here and heard good things, we also had free passes which helped. However, with a mandatory 6 dollar coat check and 7 dollar beers the tab increases very quickly.
Day 4 – Tuesday - The GP pre-Christmas Eve/Christmas party. Since the GP is closed on Christmas Eve and day most people tend to go there on the 23rd and this year was no exception. It was pretty crowded mainly with high school friends, some people would find this boring but I think it’s a blast. I saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen since I had been home and had a stellar time.
Day 5 – Wednesday – Christmas Eve – This year mom made us go to church mass at 11 pm. I’m telling you right now that’s not happening again, next year it’s 7 pm for me.
Day 6 - Thursday – Christmas – Christmas consists of waking up around 10 am, opening gifts, then rushing over to Aunt Katie’s house to eat and open more gifts. This year we grilled steak which was fantastically bloody and delicious. We returned home from the Ferrick Estate around 8, I believe. I talked to Aaron online and told me had some Nike Soccer apparal for me. I headed over to his house around 9:30 or 10 and we kicked it for a few and caught up and of course made fun of people from our past, always a good time.
Day 7 – Friday – Holiday Hammered IV, Kelly’s annual Christmas party was the event for the day this day. Kelly always goes over the top when it comes to baking food but it’s fully worth it. She had little smokies wrapped in bacon and meatballs and more pastries than God even know’s exist. There was a good handful of people over there, a little smaller than last year, but nonetheless a good time.
Day 8 – Saturday - On my final full day in the mitten I had to the opportunity to go to the Michigan State verse Oakland basketball game at the Palace of Auburn Hills with my long lost friend Tom and his boy Guido. The first half of the game was very close but in the 2nd half MSU blew um up, done and done.
After the game I went home for a brief moment to change and then scoop the Grockstar to head out to Royal Oak. I went to see Garrett, Paul, and Ryan. Unfortunately, Paul was already in RO at the bars so I didn’t have the chance to see him but I did hang out with G Unit and Ryan for a while. At about 10 or 11 the crew in RO headed out to the bar and Dave and I exited to Joe Kools for the last stand. JK’s was packed with all the usual faces that I had been happy to see all week long, faces I will miss for 6 months until I’m back in Michigan again.
I could write more about this week but really, most of you were with me for half of these events. It was a fantastic vacation. I am definitely sad to be back at work right now but alas, June is uh, just around the corner right?
In 3 days 2008 will end and 2009 will begin. I have no idea what I’m doing yet for this but I’m sure something will happen. Check back after the new year to find out what!
