17^th Annual Veggy Open, July 24-28, 2013

Roar, Shoe, Wall and Gilly took a 45 minute “short cut” to the Arturo Fuentes cigar bar at Ceaser’s Palace. We could have bought a case of Swishers for 1 of these cigars, but they were worth every penny.

We strolled back in 15 minutes to the Flamingo to meet 8 time, K, Freck and Narke. Bethlehem from Ethiopia was our blackjack dealer for most of the night. We held our own at individual play, no community was the consensus…..good call.

Thursday morning, we took 2 cars @ 7:00 am to Calleville Bay. It was an epic day, 117 degrees, tubing, cruising the lake/coves, football toss, water badminton/Frisbee, beaching the boat, hanging with the Earl of Mead, and enjoying a few cold ones. Tommy unleashed his sling and enjoyed the beautiful water. Scooter crashed on the boat soon after we left the dock, we have a few interesting pictures on www.veggyopen.com of this Veggy stud! It was a very relaxing day, no stress, no cell phones, no outside communication. Just 8 of the finest in pristine water, tunes, water toys, enjoying life.

The annual shirt/shot ceremony took place before dinner. When Scooter walked into the room with a 10” gold linked chain “8” around his neck, it was just way too funny to describe. He looked like a white Flavor Flav! For those of you that don’t keep up with our website, Scooter has won the Veggy Open 8 times, thus the “8” gold necklace.

Scooter is in charge of the shirts, taking over from Wally and Gilly. He never disappoints. This year’s Veggy shirts were one of the best! If you come to our October 11^th 35 year WHS multiclass reunion, I’m sure you will see it.

We had dinner at Pampas Brazilian Steakhouse, had our own private room and enjoyed a great meal. Freck bought a nice bottle of red wine that was enjoyed by all.

We met Gilly’s buddy at a beer pong bar and enjoyed a few cold ones.

We gamed for a while after and gaming was good.

Tommy and Gilly had the dice at craps for over 20 minutes each, chi-chang!  Narke rolled the dice for ……1 minute. Tommy and Gilly walked away with a funny color chip that most of us never experience! Can you say Community???

Friday morning came early as we had a 6:30 am tee off time @ Wildhorse. The new format made the Veggy Open very interesting. The VO members teed off from the front, middle and back tees. After 9 holes, Freck and T Wally were tied with 45, Gilly close behind with 49.  8 time had a sore neck from supporting his Flavor-Flav  gold medallion, shooting a 63. Narke had 3 pars, 1 birdie and lots of drinks to score the most playing cards. After 18 holes, we crowned a 1^st time deserving champ, Gilly with a 93. Freck finished with a 96, Wally with a 99 to round out the top 3.

We headed to Gramma Glo’s for lasagna, italian sausage and meatball lunch, no better meal on earth. We enjoyed the company of many Reif family member’s and Lynn.  It was awesome to have all the Reif’s join us! After lunch, it was time for the annual Veggy Open/Henrick’s Cup presentation. The humble Gilly was all smiles, finally capturing the coveted Henrick’s Cup. Gilly was grateful, accepted the trophy, spoke a few words and we all toasted the new champ.

We left Gramma Glo’s and headed back to the Flamingo. Some guys napped, others hit the pool, others hit the tables.

There was a poker tourney that Gilly, Tommy and Wally entered. None cashed, but Gilly made the final table.

Dinner was at our favorite watering hole, Stage Door. Beer and a hot dog for $2.50!

Saturday morning, Freck, Roar and Griggy departed early, leaving just 6 of the finest. We rented a cabana poolside and were pretty much the focus of the entire pool area. Da Big Guy decided to enter a belly flop competition. He made it to the finals, raised his arms like Rocky Balboa and got the crowd chanting Jeff, Jeff, Jeff! The final flop was awesome and he won! Over 500 pool people were chanting his name. He was like a rock star, dozens of hotties wanting to meet him. It was quite the experience. He won a free round of drinks and he was the most sought after human in the pool! Lots of pictures, both guys and girls wanted to meet this OTBFC.

Us 5 felt a little left out, but a few 50+ ladies did come over to converse with us. We think they just wanted to speak at Da Big Guy. It was a long, great day at the pool, a lot of fun.

We stopped at Stage Door for 1 cold one before we got cleaned up for dinner. Stage Door rocks!

We enjoyed a nice steak dinner at Ellis Island, watched the band at Bally’s and enjoyed the piano bar at Paris. Lots of gaming, the last member crashing around 4:30 am.

Sunday morning, K, Tommy and Narke departed, leaving just 3 of the finest. We watched a little golf and the Brickyard 400, just hanging out. We met the Reif family for an awesome meatloaf lunch at the Palms, compliments of the Reif’s.

We played community Paigow for nearly 4 hours before we busted and said our goodbyes to the Reif’s. Gillly hung with his family.

8 time and Wall headed back to Flamingo…..Stage Door was calling our name. We enjoyed a couple $1 beers and then hit the micro-brewery for a night cap. It was a very long/awesome week, but we were spent and were toes up by 10:00 pm.

Monday morning, it was time to get back to reality, the 17^th annual Veggy open was over. A few days of good clean fun for 9 of the finest. As every year, it is a great time with good guys, friends for 30+ years hanging out. Tommy was a new member, always a good guy, even back in the Robert Frost days. We hope he becomes a regular.

We missed others who have joined us throughout the years. We’ve had over 20 guys hang with us for good times had by all.

Although I actually wrote this 4 months ago, I never put it in print until now. I’ve never waited this long to send the recap, not sure why.

As all of you know, we lost a good friend 11-3-13, our buddy Joe Smithers. Although Joe wasn’t a fan of Vegas, he was a fan to his friends. 17 years ago, Joe was a founding member of the Veggy Open because he wanted to hang with his WIU friends and play golf. I loved Joe, as we all did. He was a part of all of us. We will have a tribute to our buddy Joe, a 2 time Veggy Open champ, next year and all remaining years of the Veggy Open. Joe will be missed, but never forgotten.

Although every Veggy Open member acknowledges that family comes first, our motto really hits home this year, “Life is precious, spend time with friends while you can.”

Mark your calendars for the 18^th annual Veggy Open, July 23-27, 2014.

Yours in Veggy,

T Wally Wilson

See Pictures Here