Trip to Vegas for 10 days.
Used frequent flier miles on American that were due to expire in 30 days.
Monday Oct 25
Flight on time. Was about 10pm when we got to the car rental facility. Very efficient bus system. We had booked with
Enterprise for a special with Costco for $125 (plus tax) mid-size SUV for 9 days. They were quite short of mid-size and gave us an Expedition. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Difficult to get into as I use a cane sometimes but great on the
highways. Difficult to manuever on the strip. Checked into Orleans for 3 nights. I remember going to my first Skip meeting at Orleans at the Piano Bar years ago.....
Tues Oct 26th
To Red Rock Canyon. A beautiful sunny day complimenting all the rock formations. In fact everyday that we
were in LV was beautiful and sunny in the 70's.
Back to the Orleans. Played D/B 9/7 TP for a while. Dinner at the Prime Rib Loft with a dynamite sea bass.
Played for 10 minutes at Gator Bucks (9/7 DB $1 progressive) and got the RF in clubs holding 3.
After that most days went downhill.
Wed Oct 27th
To Hoover Dam, took the tour, saw the new highway. Impressive as always. Stopped at the M Resort. Cocktail
service was non-existent. Went to their buffet. 2 forks. I was
disappointed because it had gotten great reviews. The casino was busy as was the buffet.
Went to the Palace Station in the evening and saw the best entertainment of the trip. Louie Anderson. I laughed
so hard I cried for 90 minutes. Palace Station has seen better days.
Thurs Oct 28th
Moved to Sam's Town. The old coffee shop has been replaced by a TGIF. We had breakfast there every morning and it was
pretty good. Evidently they are leasing the restaurant area for the extra $. Sam's has not changed. (I don't like change). They did have quite a few .25 DB 10/7 on the second floor.
Went down to Main Street Station for a few hours. Ate at the Triple Brew Restaurant. 2 forks.
Fri Oct 29th
Bob went to Lake Mead for a lake cruise and I stayed and played at Sam's. I could not have been more unlucky.
Dinner at Billy Bob's with an Octoberfest special of lamb. 3 1/2 forks
Saturday Oct 30th
Another beautiful day in LV. Took a drive to Valley of Fire. What a sight. Instead of coming back I-15 we went thru
the park and went out the east entrance. Northshore Rd to Las Vegas. One of the most stunning roads we have ever had the pleasure to drive. It was later in the day and the sun was starting to set. And no other traffic.
Went downtown and got tickets for Gordie Brown at the Golden Nugget and went over to 4 Queens to see their afternoon show
but sold out. Playing a lower paying a .25 joker poker and got 5 9's. What a surprise.
It was fun downtown. Lots of people dressed for Halloween and having a good time.
Gordie Brown 2 1/2 claps. (LVA coupon 2/1)
Sunday Oct 31st
Checked out of Sam's Town and went over to the East Cannery to look around. We opted for Sunday brunch (LVA coupon 2/1) and it was a great buffet. Complimentary champagne (with no headache afterwards) and everything tasted good. Great lamb.
On to our final 3 nights at Encore.
A little background. Was there a number of times when they had $1 J/B and put in quite a bit of play. Wynn had been sending me 3 comp nights and $400 slot play for about 4 years now. Since we had not been to LV for 4 years this was the time to
experience luxury. From Sam's Town to Encore. When I originally made reservations I did not realize that $1 9/6 no longer
existed. I almost cancelled but thought about it and did not mind burning my bridges with Wynn. 7/5 J/B sucks. Our room was beautiful with a control by the bedside to open and close the drapes. Huge tv. One of the channels had the airport arrivals and departures. $400 in slot play is entered on your red card. I thought the best play for the free play was $5 J/B 9/6 single play. I had 16 plays and received $520.
On to the Tropicana for the comedy show. 2 claps.
Monday Nov 1st
Spent the day at Death Valley. Very nice day.
Went back to the Orlean Prime Rib Loft for that dynamite sea bass.
Tuesday Nov 2nd
Spent the morning at Gold Coast Casino. Ate at their TGIF for lunch and later that evening had food poisoning from their
shrimp.
On to Harrah's for the afternoon/ eve. Went to the Mac King show but he was on vacation with a below average substitute.
Walked down the Strip. Convention in town with the strip packed. Played a while at Casino Royal. I guess most strip casinos deal 6/5 blackjack. Over to Ceasar's Palace for a romp thru their forum shops to get to the Cheesecake Factory.
I would not stop at Bill's Casino. My all time favorite the former Barbary Coast even though I had read that Fat Elvis was still playing there in the afternoon. I have too many fond memories that I will keep.
Back to the Improv at Harrahs for 8:30pm Improv comedy show. 2 claps.
I do have a diamond card and got some tickets thru Harrahs. It did not affect my adt as far as I know.
Back to the Encore for the last night and woke up at 1am with nausea/vomitting,
etc. Up all night.
Wednesday Nov 3
Left at 6am for the journey home.
Home to Chicago by 3pm with no delays.
This trip we did quite a bit of sightseeing out of the city visiting the wonderful mountains.
Caught about every sunset.
We found no new or different video poker other than what was posted in vpfree2 in our travels.
All our rooms were comped, most meals and shows either 2/1, LVA coupons or used points,
miles for airfare and a total of $252.00 with all taxes for our Enterprise Expedition.
That SUV was huge but great for traveling out of the city. It was a bit large for
driving on the strip. BTW driving on the strip is worse that driving here in Chicago.
Cut-throat driving is how I would describe the experience.
Favorite show by far was Louie Anderson. Sam's Town my favorite casino.
Carol