Saturday, July 15th
Thought I was helping
out by suggesting a summer Vegas trip rather than doing it in school season,
but the kids have so many activities, that I actually made it worse. Good thing…after this
year I’ll need a break before wanting to hit Vegas mid-summer. While they had the
longest stretch between 100-degree days earlier this year, the all-time record
high was within reach.
I got to the airport and
scooted through security. For the first time ever, I had the B8 departure gate in the ORD
United terminal…this is the one immediately outside security. Signs of luck to
come? A Tom Petty documentary later, and I was in Vegas, meeting Greg
and Doug at the baggage claim. We got in line for the
car shuttle and had our first taste of the dry heat. We cruised through the
Enterprise line and were on our way in a spiffy new Corolla.
Our first real stop was
a shot down to the M casino, which we hadn’t been to in a while. We refreshed the players
card…sort of cruised around the casino but didn’t make a connection with
anything, and jet lag indicated we should find lunch even though it was only
10:30 local time. Habit Burger has become a tradition somewhere in the week, and
today was the day. I had the teriyaki burger and tempura green beans…my easy choice
for favorite meal there.
Next up, we headed back
to Henderson, which was going to be the focal point of the day. First trip to Jokers
Wild in many a year. We learned very, very quickly on this trip the importance of
parking in a garage, if possible, but that wasn’t an option here. They did have some
shaded parking which I failed to notice initially, but Greg had also brought
along a sun shade which was a huge help. Jokers Wild has their
own players card, which we grabbed and then sat at a video BJ game. Hung there for a short
while to get enough points to earn $5 of free play, which I used to make up my
BJ loss and then a little extra.
Since we were near the
Water Street district, we scanned the beer list of Mojave and found several new
and exciting options, so we went over and each took a flight. I
started with an OK IPA and cider, but finished with a much better cider and an
excellent BA stout.
Mojave comes through
again
We continued to wander
around the vicinity (the car was in a parking garage at The Pass) and plopped
down for a few minutes at Emerald Isle, where I won a few bucks at
Blackjack. Cut through the Rainbow and saw it was time to check in the hotel
for the night. Due to a NBA event, hotels were ridiculous over the weekend, so we
ended up at the Springhill Suites in Henderson.
While no casino, they did have a room we could all fit in. I left Greg and Doug and
went to church. Upon returning to the car, I saw we were close, but not quite at
that record temp. I circled back to pick the brothers up so we could hit the town.
So close, yet so far away
Bad Beat Brewing was
celebrating their 9th anniversary with a party and five new beer
releases. The place was relatively full, but we got a seat and I went up to
grab a flight. She really looked at me confused, then told Doug they didn’t have
any more taster glasses…Greg found out they weren’t supposed to be doing
flights (oops). Sorry, BB. The IPA was solid, the guava wheat was
mediocre at best, the coffee stout was decent, but the BA coffee stout was a
winner!
Vegas has got to have
the record for most cell dead spots for a major city…but after picking up a
signal, we landed on El Luchador for dinner.
I needed a break from the liquor, and found a great protein bowl (I
butchered the Spanish translation, much to everyone’s delight). Still – excellent and just the right
size. Chips and salsa were great here as
well.
After dinner, we figured we had one more spot in us, so we decided to try the new Deadwood Meadery. They also do tasting flights, and while mead is on the sweeter side, it was nice to try several styles and flavors. We sat at the bar and chatted with the owner (helped a little that Doug does his own mead, so there was a connection, lol). Three of the five were great (the others were decent too) with the finale, “Sail Away” being the clear best of the bunch. They gave us a taste of a frozen mead cocktail for good measure. A great experience.
Honey-wine time!
We stopped at a grocery
store for some Gatorade and called it a night. It’s tough to get used
to a hotel, and the hide a bed wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great, so the sleep was
choppy.
Day 1 in the books…no
free drinks (boo), 13 new beers/meads, won $4, 10,925 steps
Sunday, July 16th
It’s a dry heat, so I
figured I would try the run. I took a left out of the hotel and not so quickly
realized that my out and back route was a slow uphill climb almost the whole
way out. At least it was in the shade for the most part. Back was into the sun,
but downhill. I survived. The breakfast at the hotel was your standard fare…I ate a few eggs
and chugged a chocolate milk. New breakfast of
champions.
Hard to see from the map, but it was uphill both ways. And the temp is BS...
For the first venture of
the day, we went to Green Valley Ranch. I gave a shot at a “Free
Spins” slot, didn’t do great, but was able to make up the deficit at a Press
Your Luck machine. We hightailed it out of there and went to Sunset Station
next. I did ok at a multi-strike machine, but really did well at a slot
where I learned yet a new devious Vegas trick. The machine read as a 27
cent machine, but many of the payouts don’t work unless you play at a higher
buy in. So they pretend its an affordable machine, but it really isn't. Once I goosed my buy in up, I hit a few wins and walked away up
$20.
Now I have to read the fine print on slots. Thank God for bifocals.
Still too early for
lunch, we went to North Las Vegas, home of Ojos Locos Sports Cantina...formerly
Lucky Club, formerly Speedway. Th casino may not be in
the greatest area, but they did clean up the interior quite nicely. We played for a little
and I pulled ahead another few dollars. We then stopped off at
Jerry’s Nugget, played one more slot and pulled out another $2.
By then, we knew it was
lunch time. Yet another lunch tradition, we stopped at Able Baker. The tap room again had
many great options. I
landed on a hazy(just OK), Double IPA (better), Belgian dark (OK) and a BA
stout (better!) And the Arts District Kitchen that shares the space opened shortly
thereafter and had pulled pork tacos as the lunch special. Feeling good, we hoofed
the one block down to HUDL and got their flight as well. A cream ale and BA stout that were very good,
a sour that was awful, and for the finish, a wonderful imperial cream ale.
We bit the bullet and paid for parking at Circa’s “Garage Mahal”. After posing with money at Binions, we hit the Silver Strike machines at Four Queens and though I couldn’t pull a strike, I did finish up $10. We wandered the downtown area a while longer, but didn’t play much more until hitting the Plaza, one of my nemeses. $20 buy in disappeared rapidly as my first rougher loss of the trip. We looked at the donuts at Pinkbox, then decided to head to the strip, with a brief layover at the grocery store for water and Coke Zero. We circled the parking garb at Luxor, but it was loaded, leaving us to park in the sun on the top level. Better strategies were considered later in the trip.
Who wants to be a Millionaire? And what does Pinky remind you of?
Home base was once again to be the Luxor. Doug had gotten free nights there and Greg and I got a steeply discounted rate. We were back in the pyramid this year. Similar to last year, the check-in line was a sea of humanity, but the MGM app came to the rescue. Unfortunately, the app also was a bit Byzantine when it came to finding out how to print keys…but we got there, and were off to the rooms. The pyramid definitely has spots where it’s showing its age. The elevator started by trying to lop off my arm when I got in. The room was clean, but there was some damage to the bathroom door and ceiling and the TV had a few issues. Upgrading to the tower is worth it…
This was novel when we first stayed here...over 20 years ago 😲
Lupo is always worth the stop...
Day 2 in the books…one
free drink, 9 new beers, won $76, 13,001 steps
Monday, July 17th
Started the day off a
bit rough at Luxor with a quick poor showing on some Freeplay. We decided to cruise up
the strip to Bellagio and leave the car there for the morning. After checking
in at Bellagio to get our Freeplay loaded, we headed across the street to the
Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s). I know this next part is
gross, but things like this fascinate me. At the base of the
elevator was a sign…with a large pile of what appeared to be human feces flung
at it.
This led to many
questions. Who did this? Why? Was it spontaneous or
did they carry it around just in case? And since this was
baking in 115-degree weather…who would clean it? And when?
Anyway, this visit to
Horseshoe also triggered a short search for a Caesars players card that had a
Raiders logo on it. I tried at Paris, where the guy at the desk said he would look,
then didn’t. Better luck at Planet Ho, where I saw they had a number of branded
players cards. After securing the Raiders card, we crossed the street to Cosmo.
That place is hit or miss for me (2023 = miss). We ventured further
north to Caesars to see if they had the Golden Knights card, but no such luck.
Back to Bellagio, where
I found one of the remaining 25 cent VP machines and not only got to play for a
while, but found a new waitress friend and scored two drinks. VP did me better, and
feeling fine now, it was time for lunch at the buffet. Another 2:1 reward…the
selection actually felt a bit different this year (in a good way). Lots of seafood and
Chinese, a taco bar, and plenty of desserts that looked a bit better than they
tasted (other than Macaroons, which tasted great). A solid meal, though
priced right at the discounted rate.
Bellagio buffet still has it going on
For yet another new
adventure, we decided to go check out the tiny Stage Door casino right behind
The Cromwell and next to Bautista’s. Wanted to score the player’s
card. First, we confirmed the turd pile was still outside Horseshoe
(incidentally). Upon arriving at the Stage Door, we got carded, scanned via wand,
and given the menu by the security guard. The Stage Door is a
total dive, but the people are friendly, the drinks are cheap (Still $1 Buds or
$5 shots of whiskey). I lost $10 at the ancient and sticky Video Poker table top, but it
was worth the stop for a fun memory.
Truly the king of beers...that you can get for $1 at a dive bar
Before leaving Bellagio,
we tried one more round of gaming. My $20 free play got me a
pathetic $1!!! I swore at that point to stick to the VP, but you know I wouldn’t
be able to stick with it…we headed to the car to head back south. We wisely decided to
skip the Luxor parking lot and head to Mandalay. Lots of covered parking
that’s easy to navigate.
We cruised some more of
the south side of the strip. New players card at
Trop…wandered MGM, then hopped over to the new Brewdog brewery spot on the
strip. The bartender was a tiny bit surly, so we took our drinks (and
excellent Hazy for me) to the rooftop area. Didn’t hang outside much
(way too hot), but took a picture or two and went back in for a second round
(an equally excellent Barleywine). Tried the shuffleboard
tables, which we finally realized was completely warped, played a game of
pinball, and left in a good state of mind.
Forgive the terrible layout - Blogger sucks at handling multiple pictures
We next crossed the street to Park, where I had a very solid run…but also got a waitress who took my order and never came back. After 15 minutes, we threw in the towel and headed over to NYNY and Nine Fine Irishmen for dinner. We’ve been a few times, but not since the pandemic. It was a forty-minute wait or immediate seating at the bar, and nobody ain’t got time for a forty-minute wait. I tried the Bangers and Mash based on the bartender’s recommendation…phenomenal!
Bangers and Mash and local beer
We tried looking for
some ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert, but that was a fool’s
errand. One of my standbys is Blizz in Luxor, but they really had a
limited offering and even had shut down the vanilla machine for the
night. Gave up and sat at a 100 hand VP machine with my $50
freeplay. Got a drink, took 22 hands in before I got a winner on the deal,
and got an exciting moment where I drew four to the Royal. Stats say I should have
gotten two Royals on the draw, but I only pulled one…my luck in a microcosm for
the day.
The exciting before and anti-climactic after
Day 3 in the books…three
free drinks (not including the one that never came), 3 new beers, won $95, 21,312
steps
Tuesday, July 18th
Final day. Which is
always a boo.
Needed to run, so I got
up at 6(had to beat the scorching heat). Turned right outside the
Uber pickup area, then south along the strip. A few sights to pass by,
then I hoofed it to the right and back behind the casinos, which kept me out of
the sun at least. The last stretch was hard to get it to a full 2.5 miles, but I did
it…returned to the room to change out of my sopping, smelly clothes.
It took a few pivots to get it right...
Free parking continues
to go the way of the dodo, and after this trip, we’d lose the Palazzo,
Venetian, and Wynn/Encore lots. But we were still good
for now, so we made it to Palazzo…pretty much cut straight out to head over to
the Wynn, where all the reprint stations were dead, so finally got over to
Encore. Found a bank of VP machines to sit at, and while keeping the
losses modest, got a couple of drinks!
Encore getting ready for Formula 1
The other stops for the
morning drove us to get back in the car. First, we head up to
Sahara. Couple of exciting things there. I got to do a draw since
July was my birthday month and won $3 of free play. Doug wasn’t in the
system, so he got to draw a new member prize and won…a four pack of Vide
Cranberry Vodka soda! We figured we
better not let it go to waste (i.e. explode in the hot car), so we made our way
to Resorts World, parked, and dove in.
Probably should have just let it explode in the car…
Worst. Prize. Ever.
At Resorts World, we
meandered around for a little bit.
Couldn’t find the fun BJ area we played in last year and settled on a
slot. I won a few bucks, and held out
long enough for one drink. There were
still things to do on the north end, so we moved back to the Palazzo parking
lot. We cut through the Grand Canal
shops, and didn’t find a lot for lunch that wasn’t fast food-ish or too
expensive, so after a little back and forth, we gave the Grand Lux Café a
try. We had discussed a little earlier
in the trip the good old days of trying out many a caf̩ Рand this was a good
throwback. Lots of options, reasonably
priced, Coke Zero on tap. I went with a
southwestern chicken salad, which was tasty and at the lunch special size, hit
just right.
"Go to the good casinos, like the Circus Circus"
It was mostly downhill
from there. First, a stop at Casino
Royal where I lost a $20 buy-in pretty quickly.
Then, over to the Mirage (or soon to be Hard Rock). And…promptly lost $20 there too. Tried to see if Blizz Mirage was better than
Blizz Luxor, but it wasn’t. Licking the
wounds a bit, we grabbed the car and went back to our favorite Arco station to
fill it up and put it away for the trip back to the airport the next morning.
Back at the Luxor, I
broke down and went to Blizz to just get vanilla…and they also had a dulce de
leche working, so all is well that ends well.
I then sat down at a slot (see the recurring problem here?) and dropped
$35 of free play to win $15. I did get a
drink out of it – but the waitress wasn’t directly near me. I asked for a “Seven and seven” and she shook
her head and said “we have…” and I couldn’t make out the rest but said OK! Somehow that turned into a White Russian. Well, I branched out a bit there and found
something new I like.
With no real plans left,
we started trekking north. The first
real stop was Excalibur, and a quiet run there.
Next was Aria, where I easily converted $25 of free play into $2. Gahhh!
We went through Cosmo (I couldn’t take another round there), and made it
into a very busy Bellagio, where I played a VP machine and turned $25 in free
play to $22 (see the other pattern yet?)
Doug got a drink and I asked for whatever he was having (rum and coke,
yes!). We hopped the tram back to Park
and started debating dinner. We narrowed
it to a sport bar (Tom’s Urban in NYNY or Public House at Luxor). Public House won out – Greg could get $20 off
and the beer list was better.
Of course, cashing in
the reward coupon at 8:00 was a nightmare – while we crawled through that line,
the Public House line got longer.
Eventually, Doug and I went to the Public House line, and it timed out
fairly well that Greg came over before we got seated. Rather than in the crowded restaurant, we got
seated on the “green” area. I tried a
new beer and had a solid chicken BLT with a lot of fries.
Public House Chicken BLT, Fries, and Dark Beer
A few more slots and $50
of free play became $8 and I gave up for the day. Thank God for the free play or the day would
have REALLY stung. Time to say good
night and see you soon…
Day 4 in the books…five
free drinks (six if you could count the gross soda), 1 new beer, won $23, 30,374
steps
Wednesday, July 19th
Despite
my best efforts, I couldn’t be quiet getting the heck out of dodge at 4:00 in
the morning. I hit most red lights on
the way to drop off the car, which always is anxiety inducing…but with United’s
fun new app feature, I was able to check my bag online, walk up to a terminal
to print my tag, and per usual…there was nobody in the TSA line so I waltzed
through security.
I
followed up on the app at the gate to find a row with nobody in the middle seat
and switched there. Earlier in the week,
there was a plane that got on the tarmac with no A/C working and people were
passing out and soiling themselves.
Fortunately, not a problem on our flight, so we took off and I began
writing this sucker up.
Remember
kids, slots are not your friend. Video
Poker is. I hope it doesn’t die off…its
getting harder and harder to find.
Day
5: 6,251 steps
Trip
stats: 9 free drinks (geez...I think Carl and I got seven in one night at the Gold
Coast the first trip), 26 new beers (including meads), won $198 and 81,863
steps (36.5 miles!)
Too bad its not official...
