Trip Diary 8-16-06 (13 of 20)
With the help of Nyquil, I was able to enjoy almost 10 hours
of sleep. It didn't seem to really help the cold, but it did
wonders for me. This morning is moving day. I check out of Sam's
and into Main Street Station (MSS). I first had a small breakfast
at McDonalds (2 ½ forks) and picked up Martin from the Flamingo.
Today he leaves and I'll be driving him to the airport later this
afternoon. We drove downtown and met Erin and Jeran in the lobby of
the Vegas Club so Martin could checked out of there too (they had
decided to stay there both days rather than move to Sam's Town).
We checked into MSS but we'd have to pick up the keys later
as the rooms weren't ready. Martin gave them some LVA coupons for
the roller coasters in town, and they were off. Martin and I drove
to the new LVA building as he wanted to buy some poker strategy
cards, a disc, and order the new Jean Scott book. I was very
impressed with their new building, which is right next door to their
old digs. Being one of their first members many, many years ago,
I'm very happy that they've gone big time and are doing so well.
After leaving there, we headed over to the Palms for one
last day of live poker. We spent the next couple of hours there,
and once again, my trips were beat by a flush, and I was sucked out
of a few more hands. In short, I only took one pot the entire
session. Martin blew a bit of a fuse as he gets very frustrated
playing with players that play every hand and then catch lucky cards
on the board. This happened time and time again. Holding quality
hands doesn't have the same effect at these tables. I explained
that this is the nature of the tables and if you don't like it,
simply leave. He later calmed down, especially after he played some
full pay Joker's Wild and hit a Wild Royal Flush, which brought him
back from all his live poker loses.
We then drove over to NYNY to park and then walked over to
the Tropicana. Martin had won a free ticket to Dirk Author's
Extreme Magic show on one of those big free pull machines outside
the casino. He wanted to see the 4:00 PM show and the plan was for
both of us to take a free pull on both the machines (there's one
upstairs and one downstairs) to see if we could score another free
admission. I was ready to pay for my ticket anyway, but on the pull
of the first machine, Martin won another ticket. So, we both get to
see the show for free.
We went inside to turn the vouchers in and also received a
couple of decks of cards and a coupon sheet. We used the coupon for
the hot dog and lemonade, which was $1.99 with the coupon or $4.50
without it. It should have been priced at 39 cents. Oh well (2
forks). We walked downstairs to the deli and I ordered some
matsaball (sp?) soup as did Martin. It was hot and it was pretty
good. (3 forks) When I get sick like this, I try to stick to soup,
in the far reaching hope that the old wives tale is true and soup is
good for colds. I'm still waiting.
We went into the theater and, needless to add, our seats
were towards the back. That's okay though because you can still see
and hear just fine and who can complain with free? I will say that
I was VERY impressed with this show. This guy is good. His show
was fast-paced with one illusion after another going really fast.
He's personable and his four scantily clad assistants were a nice
treat for eyes as well. He manages to make a full size helicopter
appear on stage, and I had heard this was his signature illusion.
However, I wasn't prepared for him saying, "I'm going to now do the
biggest illusion on any Las Vegas stage." He then proceeded make
full sized Amtrak Train Engine appear. This was not cardboard or
other tricky material. This was a complete, steel, diesel engine.
It took up the entire stage. And get thisthis wasn't his best
trick. That was saved for the end when he did an amazing
transference of one of his white tigers.
This was a terrific afternoon show. There are 2 for 1s in
all the freebie magazines, but you can also get in free if you get
lucky on the outside free pull slot machines. I think it's even a
value if you pay full price (blasphemy!). I like Rick Thomas too,
but I think this is a better, faster-paced show (5 claps).
After the show, I took Martin to the airport and drove back
to MSS. My room key was given to me, and I started to unpack. My
cell-phone rang and it Martin. He had played a dollar Wheel of
Fortune (it's currently over 5 million), and won a spin that netted
him $40. He then went to another machine and hit a double, seven,
double for a $320.00 win. What a nice way to leave Las Vegas.
I wanted to take Erin and Jeran to one last dinner before
they left tomorrow. I called them to meet me here at MSS for a meal
at the 777 Pub. They, however, found themselves on Strip during
rush hour. I suppose I should have warned them. Anyway, an hour
later we sat down for our meal. I had the halibut; Erin, the Steak
and Scampi; and Jeran chose the Philly steak sandwich. It's not
often that I can claim to not have a good meal at this pub. But
today's was mediocre at best. The service was spotty, my halibut
was seasoned too much, it almost tasted like hot wings, the
vegetables were tasteless, and even the baked potato was bland (2
forks). Erin gave her steak and shrimp a mild thumbs up (3 forks),
and Jeran didn't care too much for the sandwich (2 forks). This is
the first sub-par meal I've had here and won't let it deter me from
trying it again. Anyone can have a down day.
I said my goodbyes to the kids as they were off to the Stratosphere
for the thrill rides and would be back late and would leave early.
It's been a nice visit and a fun time for them, and it was for me
too. I should have mentioned in yesterday's report that their meal
at the Top of World was reported to be "a meal of the lifetime."
They chose the complete meal for two, which included appetizer,
entrée, and desert. They stayed for almost two hours as the
restaurant made its way around the entire valley. They said the
service was wonderful and food to die for (5 forks and a silver
spoon!). The costwell, we'll just say it was quite a bit higher
than they could have imagined (but I had taken care of that as a
small surprise). They're great kids, and it was fun for me. I told
them that my big brother had done the same for me when I was first
introduced to Vegas, and now it was their job one day to do the same
for someone in the years to come. A sort of "Pay it forward" theme.
I played a couple of twenties through the two 10-coin nickel
progressives with no luck, but doubled my money through the Super
Party Time penny machine. It appears the low-return penny video
machines are paying me, and the high-return video poker is putting
the screws to me this trip. That's okay; I'm still having a great
time and staying within my budget. Unless lightning strikes (as it
did Martin), this figures to be a losing trip for me. Despite the
royal and deuces the first day (that should have been a clue), it's
been a bad trip gaming. Of course, when this seems to be the
pattern, I really slow down the playing and concentrate on enjoying
other things here. This keeps me in the right frame of mind and
reminds me I'm here for the fun and relaxation. It's all good.
More tomorrow.