12. With Bernie, Boppa, and Greg Payne - The Las Vegas Hilton

• This was by far the best trip with Bernie and Boppa. Greg won and I lost, but I didn't lose much, and we had a blast.

• One night we met up with Holly House and some of her friends who just happened to be in Vegas the same weekend. Holly was afraid to play craps by herself, so I joined her at the Las Vegas Club to play. Previously, the dealers there had been kind of rude, but I had just thought, "Well, you're going to get rude dealers every once in a while no matter where you go." Well, sure enough, they were rude this time too, so I swore never to set foot in there again. And I didn't… until trip 44.

• Holly's friends weren't too keen on playing any table games, but they were absolutely enthralled by those goofy mechanical horse racing machines where a bunch of people sit around betting quarters on little metal horses that go "galloping" around a track.

• One night we ate at a very fancy seafood place off the Strip. The food was terrific, and I hope to go back there sometime (but when I have money; it wasn't cheap).

• Amazingly, this was the first trip I played roulette.