Probably no smarter thing to do the day after a beer
festival than get up early for a 7 am flight to Vegas. Um…maybe that’s not true, but I gave it a go. With the COVID dog as part of the family, we needed to
shift dates around so the kids could help more while I was away…thus we were
heading back in the heat of the summer…literally.
Having not taken United to Vegas in a number of years,
I didn’t realize that I’d be landing in the fancier and newer Terminal 3. After a few minutes of wandering, I realized the
miscalculation and texted Greg and Doug to meet up at the car rental
facility. We semi-soon had our Kia
and were off.
The early plan was to run an errand or two…finding
food and water. We decided due to the 100+
temps that leaving too much in the car might not be the best idea, so we
focused on a light snack. We ended up at Albertsons
where a water and donut did the trick. Then it was on to more serious matters.
Our first few stops were the places n the
neighborhood. We grabbed the players card at Silverton, but after a quick route
through the casino, didn’t really find anything that caught our fancy. So, we slid down to South Point. Eventually, we landed at a bank of video blackjack
machines and played for a while. I went up a few bucks, but eventually lost $5…which at
quarters meant I had a horrible run of a net 24 losses towards the end. We did
get one drink, then it was on the way to lunch.
No finer option for starting the trip than a lunch at
Able Baker. We perused the tap list
for the day, picked our flights and then ordered lunch from the inside
counter. I got to try several new
beers and the lovely shrimp tacos. With an hour still left on the meter, we walked the
block north to HUDL, which had enough new items to give another flight a
try. Fully warmed up from the
beer and the temperatures, we decided to head to our home base for the evening.
Main Street Station has been a reliable downtown go to for several past trips, and once again it was tough to beat the price. MSS had been shut down for the previous two COVID years, but was back in full swing. We parked in their garage, then headed in to get the rooms. Once settled, it was time to hit up Fremont.
Among the first stops was the ABC store to get a giant bottle of water, since we needed the hydration by this point. From there, we poked in and out of a few of the casinos, but didn’t really play until hitting the Four Queens. Ever since my strong run at the Silver Strike machines a few years ago, I always feel the need to give that a visit. My $20 buy in didn’t go great, but late in the run, I did hit the Strike. Doug pulled one as well. The next stop for a little action was the D. There, I didn’t fare tremendously better and lost a few bucks before wandering off.
A visit downtown just isn’t the same without a stop at
Banger Brewing, so of course we stopped in. The last few visits, I’ve found Banger to be a bit hit
and miss and this year was not an exception. The third flight of the day coupled with a light
amount of eating the day after a beer fest was definitely taking a toll. We stopped in at Binion’s and I had my first modest
win of the trip…offsetting the loss at the D.
For dinner, we decided to try one of the Prime rib
specials that we could find, and landed on the one at the Market Cafe in the
Cal. Prime rib, mashed
potatoes, veggies, salad and a small cherries jubilee for dessert for
$16. Such a deal! Everything tasted great (I even wolfed down the
squash, which is unusual for me). We hit at the right time to, since on our way out
there was a massive line.
Quick stop at the Plaza. Doug picked up a few more Silver Strikes, but I
refrained. Beer, heat and the lack of
sleep we’re taking a toll, so we headed in for the night. Random thought from downtown…Circa is 21+, so they
make everyone show an ID. As I get to hit Senior
status next year, I am practicing being a grumpy old man by saying that’s a
total pain in the ass. Either use judgement or
let the kids in. Kids don’t bother me
anyway…I’d rather go to a jackass free casino than a kid free one.
Day one stats: one drink, 12 new beers, 18,349 steps,
lost $10.
Monday, July 18th
Yeah, I know it was 90 degrees in the morning, but it
was a dry heat, and I had to get the run in. Strapped on the shoes nice and early (6am?) and headed
out. My route carried me around
most of the downtown casino area, including several stretches up and down the
Experience. Dodged cleaning crews and
construction and got the full 2.5 miles in at a slightly slower pace…which
meant our fitness program at work didn’t consider it an advanced workout…just a
standard one. Oh well…15,000 steps gets
the same points, so I figured I would be able to make it up.
After a shower, I got a text that the brothers were
ready, so we headed out to The Donut Bar. While the selection was a little weaker than in past
visits, I settled on the “Cake Frosting” donut, which tasted just as
advertised. With sugar now running
high, we stopped off in the Golden Nugget. Played for a little while there and won a few
bucks. Having hit all the main
sights downtown, we checked out and started around town.
We stopped off at Resorts World first. While we stopped in last year, we spent a little more
time this go around. I had $5 in free play on
my card (mysteriously) and then when playing got another $5 since it was my
birthday month. First, we played the
Monopoly Cheaters edition slot, which was a lot of fun and generally did well
for us this trip. We also tried some of the
large screen video blackjack and I held my own there as well. We wandered around the property a little more, then
headed back to the car up a few more bucks. Had a shot at a drink, but she was calling out
“beverages”, which didn’t register until after she was gone.
Lunch was the newest brewery in town…Las Vegas
Brewing. It’s out to the western
side of the area, in the Medical District (so we now know). Had the flight (surprise). Most of the beers were decent. Solid food choices, I went with a turkey bacon
wrap…which had a bit of an odd sauce on it, but the fries were excellent, so a
satisfying stop overall.
After the lunch, we stopped in at Suncoast and played just for a little bit (lost $6, but got that elusive beverage). By now it was midafternoon, so we went to check in at home base for the rest of the trip…the Luxor. We had a comped night there as well as solid rates for the other two nights, but you had to go through the main desk to get the rooms near each other. We started to get in line, but they kicked Doug out since his name wasn’t on either room. We looked around and saw a ton of people in the same situation, so I get in, but I don’t get it. They kept the line a little shorter but clogged the rest of the lobby with the other family members. It also was a painfully slow check in at over 40 minutes. It’s amazing to name to see people at the front desk for literally the entire time we were in line. We took maybe five minutes. When walking back to grab the bags, we saw all the pools emptied and thought that was weird…then saw pools of water and realized a thunderstorm rolled through and passed all while we were in line. Missed a rarity due to the clowns in line.
Good to go at that point, we wandered a little north
through Park up to Aria where we saw a bank of Plinko slots and thought that
could be fun. I suppose it could be fun,
but it wasn’t. My $40 buy in produced
just two tiny wins that added up to $1. The brothers didn’t fare any better. You’re welcome, Aria (tbh, I never do well at Aria, so
I don’t know why I keep trying)
Dinner choices boiled down to three standbys and we
landed at Wolfgang Pucks Bar and Grill in the MGM. We ended up trying a few of the pizzas…the sausage
with red onion, spinach and Fresno peppers caught my eye. I didn’t realize how spicy a Fresno was before, but I
do now. I may have picked a few
off, but overall that was a fine pizza and a good dinner. And they had a beer
offering that I hadn’t had before…wins all around.
As a nightcap, we wandered down to Mandalay Bay and
settled in at some penny slots. A good deal of fun…plenty of bonus games that kept it
going and after using $20 of free play, I kept $18. Two of us were a little wiped, so we headed back to
the room where rather than falling asleep I stumbled across the latest episode
of Better Call Saul and stayed up too late…
Day two stats: two drinks, 5 new beers, 25,534 steps,
won $39
Tuesday, July 19th
As was the case last year, one of my favorite
breweries was offering something new and exciting and you had to be online at
7am local time to buy it…so I got myself out of bed and ready to go…and of
course they had a number of website issues…so as we got started for the day, I
kept trying but eventually they threw in the towel and told us to try again at
3pm.
Tuesday was to be Strip day. We had lunch plans and didn’t want an enormous
breakfast, but Doug was likely disappointed that meant ending up at Walgreens
for snacks. My standby was still
present…the delicious dark chocolate KitKat and a Coke Zero. Breakfast of Champions.
Our first gambling stop was Cosmo. I’ve had mixed luck here in the past. Initially, we sat at a bank of Press Your Luck
machines that did us well last year, and after an early mini bonus, I got
rocked and lost my $40 buy in at an incredibly rapid pace. Licking wounds, we sat down at the Monopoly Cheaters
game, and after a slow start, things really cooked and I won back the $40 plus
a few more to boot. No drinks though…boo!
After Cosmo, we walked around the Bellagio for a
little and got in some Video Poker. I bought in $45 of free play and kept $39 when it was
all said and done…and got the first drink of the day! It was still a little too early for lunch, so we went
north one stop to Caesars and reprinted their card. After a few laps around the room, we decided it was
close enough for lunch and headed back to Bellagio.
Greg had scored the 2 for 1 deal at the buffet, which kept the price for the three of us reasonable. The buffet was on top of its game this year. Great food at all the stations with the prime rib and sea bass as two standouts for me. There were even multiple more desserts I wanted to try, but didn’t want to stuff myself sick, so I didn’t. Well worth the ridiculous price these days.
We continued our way north to Casino Royale. They have a promotion where they will give you $20 in
free play for every $100 you lose. Here, Monopoly did me wrong…I did stretch my $20 buy
in to make $100 of losses (it ran out just as the free play announcement came
up), but the $20 free play was a burner. I think I recaptured about a buck and I threw it
back. At least I got a drink out
of the deal, but it went so fast, she didn’t even make it back around.
We cruised through Venetian, Palazzo, and Wynn and finally
found something to play at Encore. The waitress stopped by, and the three o’clock hour
was approaching, so I got online and tried to make my buy…only to lose part of
it in the thirty seconds to return from PayPal. The brewery got a bit roasted on social media for such
a fiasco…but I’ll take the two I could get. Meanwhile, I hit several nice hands on the VP machine
and while we tried to stretch it to a second drink, the waitress went past our
area so we pulled out of there, ready to swing it back south.
We cut through TI, Mirage (soon to be former) and
Caesars on our way over to Bally’s and ultimately the Ellis Island. We haven’t been to EI in a number of years despite it
being a former go to. They are one of the
long-standing breweries in town, and in recent years have tried branching from
their flagships into some newer beers. Our waitress left us a menu and told us she’d be back
in “one minute”, but that turned into nearly 10. Ultimately, we got the flights, although she spilled
more than a bit of Doug’s with no real commentary. We didn’t see her again…the bartender ended up coming
to collect on the bill. Geez. The beers were mostly solid. We got a refresh on the player cards and returned to
the strip.
We continued south, stopping in the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Ho to look at breakfast options for the next day as well as grab some water at ABC and to check out what was new. As we headed south, we decided dinner would be at the Mandalay Bay…so we caught the tram at Excalibur and made our way down there.
A few of the last trips had us catch a deal at Lupo in
MB…Puck’s Italian restaurant there. We ordered a drink and all got the Bolognese, which
continues to be phenomenal. Mildly stuffed, it was then time to cash in on some
free play. I had $25 specific to MB, and
we headed back to our machines from the night before. I didn’t fare quite as well, so added in some of my
own free play to end up $33 on $50 in…and we did catch the waitress once. At that point, it was time to head over to the Luxor
and cash in my big free play reward of $50. I played a flashy Crystals slot that put the
thumbscrews on me until very late in the buy in, then I hit sizable bonus and
ended up getting $55 back from the machine. Got my drink, then threw in the towel for the night.
Day three stats: five drinks, 4 new beers, 29,160
steps, won $126
Wednesday, July 20th
Time was flying. Boo.
I felt another run was needed, but the morning sun and temperature
were a bit more brutal than on Monday (probably because I slept in an hour
later). I cut behind Mandalay Bay to see
if I could spot the route to Allegiant Stadium and realized that Dean Martin
Drive was covered in shadows in the early morning and that helped a bit. Kept the pace this time and got my advanced
workout. I returned to the room gross,
but cleaned up best I could – Doug was out getting coffee while we waited for
Greg to rise from his beauty sleep.
Not wanting to deprive Doug of breakfast a second day, we drove
down to Bellagio…or meant to…but an ambulance coming behind us pushed us to a
left turn only lane into Aria. We parked
there and headed across the street to the Miracle Mile shops. Considered PBR – but they weren’t open yet. Were heading to La Salsa Cantina…but stopped
to peruse the menu at the Ocean One Grille and decided to give that a go. For a few dollars more than La Salsa (in some
cases) we got giant helpings of food.
The timing was solid once again – seated right away and huge lines as we
waltzed out. Grabbed a Coke Zero at the
ABC store, and we were on the road again.
We sauntered off to the Palms, knowing that they were recently
purchased and had a new players card.
For the first time on the trip, we were pushed to the top level of the
parking garage (and what’s the point of that in 110+ degree heat), but at least
found a spot under some sort of structure so we could hit the casino. After procuring the cards, we hit some low
limit video poker, got a drink, and played for a while - I was down about half my buy in but got four deuces on a deuces wild game to bring me all the way back.
Didn’t really have a great plan after that, but after some debate, we landed on going out to Sunset Station. Parked IN the garage, the headed to the casino (by the way, many places now are offering machines to reprint players cards, which is sweet.) We found a few penny slots with free games bonuses, and after a little while I hit a few big bonus rounds which left me up 5,000 pennies. We got one round while there too!
They meant it this time...
For lunch, after the big breakfast, we decided to take a trip over
to Habit Burger, which has been a go to fast food stop the last few years. I got fancy this year with the Teriyaki
Burger, tempura green beans, and tried to make something close to an Arnold
Palmer with their Mango lemonade and iced tea (it worked better with the green
tea I later learned). Probably more than
I needed, but so good. Despite the clown
lady in front of us who was having problems with something and took long enough
to build a line four deep behind us…
We realized we hadn’t had a beer in almost 24 hours, so we looked
at what was available in Henderson. The
previous year, Greg and I went to Lovelady and Mojave…and as luck would have
it, Lovelady was the only one open at the time with Mojave an hour later. Lovelady won me back a little bit this year –
3 of the four I had in the flight were very good and the fourth was my bad from
mis-reading the description on the board.
By the time we finished, we were able to saunter over to Mojave, where I
got the nice mix of beer and ciders.
At this point, it was getting towards late afternoon, so we felt
it best to make it back to Luxor and park the car for the day (after filling it
to take back to the airport of course.)
When we read this in a few years, I’m not sure if the $5 per gallon will
make us laugh or long for the good old days.
We decided to take a quick walk around the Trop, and then over to OYO,
where we should have just kept walking, but instead I burned a fast $20.
Greg and I both had free play left at NYNY, so that’s where we went headed next. After taking a look around, we found a bank of our favorite – Monopoly Cheaters, completely free and inviting. In retrospect, the fact that a fairly busy casino had a fairly popular game completely empty should have set off red flags. In my first $25 of free play, I hit a small bonus right away and then the machine went cold. So rather than walking away, I used another $25 in free play and almost literally went through it without a win. $50 in, $14 out…it stung, and sadly Greg and Doug had similar experiences.
To lick our wounds a bit, we stopped off at the Excalibur. Towards the back, we found some of our free
play slots, and as luck would have it…even got a drink while playing. Recovered about $15 of the losses, and
remembered a lot of very fond memories of the place – we shouldn’t give it as
short a shrift in the future. Doug got a
souvenir and while he was dropping it off in the room, I sat down at a 50 play
VP machine and did OK for a little while – enough to get one drink (and I don’t
know if it was all the booze talking, but that was the best drink I had all
trip!)
For dinner, we landed on RiRa, the Irish place in Mandalay
Place. Greg and I visited during the
dark period in COVID where little was open and we had enjoyed it. Traditional Irish fare – between the three of
us we had the Shepherd’s Pie, Fish and Chips, and Corned Beef and Cabbage. To top it off, they had one of the very first
Able Baker beers I ever tried (and one of my favorites) on tap. Bigger portions than I remember and Soda
Bread on the side…you could just roll me out of there (and I would have been
happy if you did once the live band started…too loud…did I mention Senior
status next year?)
There wasn’t much left in the tank at that point. Greg had a show booked for the evening and Doug and I had an early flight. But we had enough for one more go at the Mandalay Bay. I was losing on a slot when someone came up asking for two bucks for the bus – while there is never a good time for that when I’m sitting alone trying to be happy, this was particularly bad, and the guy must have read that from my reaction since he hurried off. To get one final kick in the gonads – on the last machine I accidentally hit the max bet button a few times and blew through my buy in that I was hoping to milk. So, we ended on a bit of a dud, but it happens…
Day four stats: four drinks, 8 new beers, 20,313
steps, won $128
Thursday, July 21st
Technically.
Doug and I had relatively early flights, so we paired up and hit
the road sometime around 4:30. Drop-off
of the car was a breeze, there we parted ways as I was back in glorious
Terminal 3 and he was in Terminal 1.
Dropped my bag and waltzed through security, then wandered aimlessly for
a little bit before I realized that I was just moseying around the E gates and
needed to get to D. That involved a tram
ride – and then I was wandering the former McCarran D gates (now Terminal 3 D
gates) reminiscing of early trips final meals at Rubys Diner.
I decided I didn’t want to eat anything but did want an Iced Tea,
and they had my favorite at Jamba Juice…which sadly meant I had to get in line
at Jamba Juice. I was cut off by a girl
who decided to get in line just in case her family decided to get something
(spoiler alert – they did), but also decided not to decide until they got up to
the counter. $62 later for them, it was
such a lot, that the counter girl had to go help make the smoothies. All I wanted was the doggone $5 iced
tea. Eons later, she came and checked me
out – I got the “oops” look, which didn’t play well with me since they were now
starting to board.
No worries – got on the plane and as the last three people entered
the doors – the power went out. No
lights, no air, and the sheer terror of realizing if they cancelled this
flight, who knows how long I could be stuck in town with the crazy flying situations. The pilot got on and explained everything,
and the gist I took away was they needed to bring over a cart and jump start
it. Good times. But, we got on our way, made up almost all
lost time, and I didn’t even lose my lunch (since I didn’t eat anything) when
the dude next to me took off his shoes and had his bare feet pressed up against
the seat in front of him. I was wishing
I was back in the COVID times of wiping everything down before I had started
the flight…
Almost made it home with no more adventures, but I did stop for
Wendys in Park Ridge and got to get behind someone who was furious about a cold
sandwich they got the day before.
“Inedible” was used quite a bit, and he never really did explain what he
wanted – I got my food and hightailed it out of there before it got too nutty, thankfully.
Great trip – too short as always!
Day five stats: 5,613 steps
Trip stats: 12 drinks, 29 new beers, 98,969 (so close)
steps (44 miles), won $283
