Trip Diary 8-9-06 (6 of 20)
It's with great joy that I write today's diary from my OWN
computer in my room here at Sunset Station. After getting the AC
adapter from Stan and Patti (thank you again), I was hoping that it
was, indeed, the problemand it was. All is good and life is back
in sync with the world.
I've been coming to Las Vegas for the past 30 years, and
I've seen almost everything there is to see and people ask why I
keep coming back. I still find it as fun and as interesting as the
first day I came here when my big brother and his wife brought me
here for a belated birthday present soon after I returned from a
year's duty in Vietnam. I clearly remember sitting in the Hilton
Hotel's main showroom watching Bill Cosby perform at the midnight
showit was free except for the cost of two drinks (that was the
going rate for shows back then). I was smitten then by the town and
I find it as intriguing and as interesting as ever todaythough
prices have gone up a tad or so.
One thing I do for my annual August trip is keep a "to do"
list months before I arrive. I get these items from the monthly Las
Vegas Advisor and from others' trip reports that I read. So,
really, I'm able to see and experience new things thanks to the
recommendations of you. My list this year is about three pages long
of things cut and pasted from your trip reports. Sometimes, I don't
get to all of them, but I make an effort to try. Today, I begin
working on that list.
I got up at 7:30 AM and enjoyed my cups of coffee
(Starbucks, of courseMari) and read a couple of chapters from my
book. I then headed down to the Sunset Station breakfast buffet.
Using my points (you get the buffet for half price if you use your
slot club points), I enjoyed a nice breakfast. They recently
remodeled the buffet here, and quite honestly, I don't see that much
of a difference, but as breakfast buffets go, this one is quite good
(3 ½ forks).
I headed out to Kinko's and wrote and sent out yesterday's
diary and then headed to the Orleans to pick up Martin. He had
struck out on his slot club tournament, but he made a few bucks on
video poker, so he was in good spirits. On my check list was to
check out this pinball museum a couple of members have mentioned.
It took a couple of wrong turns but we finally found it. It's on
the corner of Tropicana and Pecos in one of the strip malls on the
corner that also has a second run cinema house.
Just as I read, it was filled with fantastic old, and some
new, pinball machines. All of them in great working order and there
to be PLAYED. It was great seeing some of the machines I played as
a kid. Many of these were built in the late 50s and early 60s and
brought back so many memories. I took a few pictures and will send
them along soon. Along with the pinball machines were some of the
original, first computer games: Pong, Asteroids, Pac-man, and too
many others to mention. Inside playing these games were almost all
men my age reliving their childhoods. Martin and I played an
assortment of the games for a couple of hours and had a really
terrific time.
We then headed over to Sam's Town to see a movie. It was
another hot day in Vegas at 106 degrees and I wanted to get my car
out of the sun's heat. We decided on THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, a
certified chick-flick, but had heard good things about it. Besides,
Ann Hathaway is very easy on the eyes. We both liked the movie. (3
claps). We then played some penny machines. I wanted to give
Coyote Moon one more shot, having already been disappointed playing
it before, but other members have had good things to say about it.
At forty cents a spin, the twenty dollar bill can be eaten up VERY
quickly without any hits. I was all the way down to about $3.00
when I hit a multiple five liner for a $24.50 win. I quickly cashed
out. Martin is on a roll. He's yet to lose on any machine while
I'm here. He, too, cashed out ahead. We got a call from Stan, who
wanted to move up our dinner from 5:30 to 4:30.
Of course, it's rush hour and it took us a little while
longer than usual to get to the GVR where we were going to have a
dinner buffet with Stan, Patti, and Tullio. They had already begun
and had ordered our drinks. We had a very pleasant meal with some
great friends and, once again, Stan picked up the tab with his
pointsthanks again!
We then went into the casino to watch Tullio play. As I
mentioned in a previous report, Tullio is in a complete different
league as to the amount of play compared to us, so we just stand
behind him at watch him play and cheer him on. He decided to play
the multi-strike five play DDB for quarters. That's 100 quarters
per deal or $25.00 every time you hit the button. As we arrived to
the bank of machines, I jokingly said, "Here Tullio, if you need a
slot card, here's mine." To my shock, he told me to go ahead and
put my card in. I told him I was just kidding, but he insisted.
Tullio, for the last couple of days staying here, has had a couple
of skirmishes with the slot people after hitting a couple of major
hits, and he's decided he's not going to stay at the GVR anymore.
So, he doesn't care about building points anymore, and I end up
being the recipient of all this.
Tullio played for awhile, but didn't get any major wins, but
still he made almost $300 profit on this session. I'm also a
winner, because in about 30 minutes, he put over 4000 points on my
card. We're all curious to see if I'll now get any offers from the
GVR, which I rarely ever do. Thanks again Tullio! After cashing
in, Tullio began playing some two dollar DDB, but this time used
Stan's card. I decided to give Stan and Patti a break (they know
what I'm referring to) and Martin and I said goodnight.
We drove down to the Fiesta, Henderson as I had $10 free
play to use, and they do have some full pay deuces. We played there
for a couple of hours. I won a little money on the new Hot Spins
penny games (they are a lot of fun), but once again, the video poker
gods were not smiling down on me this day. Martin, on the other
hand, could do no wrong playing DDB and hitting quad after quad.
So, for the fourth straight day, I've had a losing day but
staying within my budget. I'm sure things will turn aroundI just
hope it's soon. I remember thinking after hitting the deuces and
the royal on my first day that I hope this isn't one of those trips
were it's the only good hits I havewe will only have to wait and
see.
More tomorrow.