Ugg, My Birthday Party...

I had my birthday party in Central City this year.  And it was, well...it was something.  After lengthy debate with Allison K Peterson, I have decided that instead of blogging a you'll-be-so-mad-you-missed-it version of the night, I will tell how things actually turned out.  Which I believe might potentially be more entertaining for you.  And me.  

Central City is an old historic town in the Colorado mountains, originally founded as a gold mining town.  Growing up, my family would visit Central City to go to the opera there.  In the 90's the city added casinos - turning Central City and neighboring Black Hawk into weekend hot spots for Denverites.

What better place to party than a casino town, right?  So, on Saturday night my friends and I headed to the casinos.

  

Well, we soon realized that none of us are big gamblers.  However, given that Central City and Black Hawk attract sold out crowds this time of year, I assumed that the towns would also have great bars and fun dance floors.  

Nope.  Turns out the average age of those sold out crowds is about 75.  So, we roamed from casino to casino.  Not gambling.  Lying about gambling to get free drinks.  A mildly entertaining activity. 

Finally we landed upon the Easy Street Casino.  Which did not have a dance floor, but it did have a jukebox.  And a phone booth.  And no customers.  Things started to pick up for us!

  

The end of any night is traditionally when things fall apart, and this night was no different.  Some fights might have broken out on the walk home.  Maybe. 

And I know it was stupid, but I booked all of us to sleep in one hotel room to save money.  8 adults.  2 beds.  1 bathroom.  That happened. 

And yes, one member of our party wanted to smoke weed in the hotel room.  And when I told him to stop, he held it up to the smoke detector until all the smoke detectors on the entire floor went off.  That happened. 

And when I looked out the key hole, I saw the entire hotel management staff standing outside our door trying to decide what to do with us.  That happened. 

And once all our lights were out, yes, the fire department did bang on our door.  And firemen did walk around the 4 people sleeping on air mattresses to check the smoke detector with flashlights.  That happened. 

And of course none of us slept at all due to several incredibly talented snorers.  That happened. 

Eye roll. 

I would really like to thank my phenomenal friends who drove all the way up to an old folks home for my birthday party and had a great time with me.  And for forgiving me for yelling at them to just go to sleep.  It didn't quite turn out how I had envisioned it, but this birthday party will not soon be forgotten.  I loved it. 

(I mean, it even says No Smoking on the door...)

P.S. If you can find something in common from these pictures, I'll give you a [gluten free] cookie: