North America 2009

I awoke in the city of gambling and took a stroll on The Strip. Immersed in tackiness, the casinos were as bombastic as plentiful. Main point of the day: finding a casino with a decent tournament for the evening. And so, while my co-travellers hit the pool for some drinking game, I headed to the MGM Grand for some serious poker.

50 of us seated, $80 buy-in, no-limit hold’em. Top six pays. After two much needed doble-ups (QQ against AA, hitting the trips on the flop and AA against JJ, holding all the way) I found myself at the final table. Two of the finalists were really shortstacked and disappeared quickly. Then one more went down, and another, and I started singing ‘In the money’. I had bled a while, antes and blinds were high, and eventually I had to go all-in, finishing fifth. That’s a $205 win, thank you very much, and after buy-in and tip I ended upp $100 plus. So, not only have I gambled in Vegas, I have actually won in Vegas.

Hot enough for ye? Death Valley was 45 degrees, and I don’t mean the angle. Badwater, Devil’s golfcourse and Zabriske Point was also on the agenda, and then we crossed the border into Nevada. A party bus drove us around town, drinks were had by any and all, and the bus had dancing poles, which some utilised. And what town would that be, then? Vegas, baby!

As the sun rose over Yosemite NP, so did our collective spirits. The view from Glacier Point is nothing short of amazing, and the Yosemite Falls weren’t bad either. As a special treat, we all jumped in the natural 37-ish degrees hot springs. With beer.

It was high time to meet my fellow travellers. Twenty of us (12 girls, 8 blokes), divided into two separate vans, toured the city. Hippie neighbourhood of Haight/Ashbury, tasty crab chowder at Boudins at Fisherman’s Wharf and, of course, Golden Gate bridge was on the agenda. And soon enough we set off to Yosemite.