Long Day in Vegas

The morning after driving 55 for nachos, I needed an efficient workout to get over the food hangover. My stomach still felt heavy. And the sense of dehydration was strong. Mixing the treadmill with a whole-body weight circuit, I came out of the gym feeling recharged.

It was time to support my friend. I drove over the New York-New York Hotel and Casino, sight of the planned qualifying contest. They put on quite a few minor events before the professionals get down to business. Employees of different casinos square off, they have cops vs firefighters, just a lot of fun community stuff like that.

There was one last chance to plead my case for a spot in the contest. My bid failed, but I did manage to sneak into an amateur team event and ate 8.5 hdbs in 5 minutes. It was exciting to be onstage in front of the Vegas crowd, if only for a moment.

 

The end of the contest left me pumped up and bewildered. Everyone seemed to have other things to do, which is understandable, given the importance of the contest and the magnetism of Sin City. So, it was time for me to make my own adventure.

I ended up at a small yogurt shop named, appropriately, "I Love Yogurt." It's located about 15 miles off the Strip within Las Vegas city limits. The place boasts an impressive 80s theme. Music, video game characters, Simon game stations... it was like being 8 years old all over again.

Here I am, posing with their 100 oz "Devo Hat Challenge." That's a plastic Devo hat filled with frozen yogurt and four toppings. You pick two yogurt flavors and two toppings, the server picks the rest, and you get 30 minutes to do battle. It's $20 if you fail.

The server "conspired" against me by selecting some difficult toppings: gummy worms and hard candies. Cold foods are no trouble to me, but those chewy candies are something else. I swallowed huge chunks of frozen yogurt to force down the candies. There were some moments of discomfort, but nothing serious.

And it was all over in less than 14 minutes. Apparently, this was a new record, beating out the 20-minute feat established some months back by some guy wearing a tie. My mouth was frozen. My throat felt like ice. But I felt like a winner.

Afterward, I went to hang out with my friend and had a great time walking across the Strip and through several casinos. It was an awesome night.

On my way home that same night, I decided to go off the Strip and visit Longhorn Casino. They're the only 24-hour restaurant I know of that features a round-the-clock burger challenge.

The Chuckwagon Challenge is a 1 lb burger, custom bun with all the fixings, and a side of your choice (I picked cole slaw) for $10. There's no time limit. Winners get a fancy certificate describing their insanity. I'd never done a challenge after 10pm before, and for whatever reason (at 2am) this irrational action completely struck my fancy. Maybe I was sad. Or tired. Whatever.

It tasted great. Maybe I needed wholesome food after all that sugar at the yogurt shop. The toasted bun was especially nice. My last meal of the Vegas trip was over in roughly 30 minutes.

I walked out, got back in my car, and began the 230-mile haul back to San Bernardino.

Home again.