DAY 7-Monday-July 30th
Up around 9. Walked over to the Gold Coast for breakfast. Seems that their “breakfast” special is only served like 11pm to 7am, so we missed out on that. Strange timing. No breakfast special after 7am?? Smacks of switch and bait! Heh. Heh. Had the Deuces wild breakfast, around 5 bucks. Good. Took their shuttle to the strip. Over to Caesar's and withdrew 50 bucks from the 9/6 JB machines by Cleo's Barge. Played at 50 cents rate. Like those machines. Walked thru the forum shops. Stopped for vanilla bean cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. VERY good. With milk. Yum. Belle found some type of endangered species wildlife store and went bonkers in there for awhile! I bought an Elvis magnet next door at the Magnet store for Mom, and somewhere along the way picked up a couple of cheap Vegas T-Shirts. I am a T-shirt freak. Or is that just plain freak? Whatever. Back to the Rio by way of the Harrah shuttle. Afternoon had dinner on 2 for 1 at the Rio Mexican place. Bombleo's or something like that. Very good. I had a combo meal and she had fajitas. I had a strawberry daq-like drink called a Mexican Racer. Very big and very good. We had tickets to ride in the Masquerade float show.
They dressed us up in ugly costumes and we had a ball riding around! Great fun. They would not let passengers toss beads though! Man, people kill for those cheap beads! A Rio employee told us that a 75 year old woman had been knocked out by a big guy going for the beads one time. Wow. Unreal. They did give us about 9 bead necklaces apiece at the end, plus a “Rio” Logo necklace. Cheap,but gaudy! Hey, it IS Vegas!!!!
Next up, the Scintas. Assigned seats, so no tip, but about a third of the way back. GREAT show. Frank Scinta is funny as heck! This is a wonderful show to check out. We both liked it a great deal. Afterwards I bought Belle their CD and they signed it. This show is a must see!!!
Now, on and upward to the VooDoo lounge. Free admission and 2 free well drinks with the Hotel Package, otherwise 10 bucks to get up there. Band playing. Nice. Not interested in the well drink, so ordered the famous “ what the WitchDoctor ordered” drink. Big enough for 2 and a price to match at 21 bucks! The drink actually did not taste all that good, it was only maybe okay, BUT it was awesome to just sit and LOOK at it!!
Heh. Heh. Big, bright and steaming from the dry ice in it! The drink just keeps smoking! Hey, it does not take that much to amuse me! Checked out the view outside the VooDoo lounge and it was absolutely the best view of the Strip that I have yet seen! It is worth a trip up JUST for the view! Very nice. Back to the room. I was just gonna lay down for a short hour or so nap, but crashed out! Darn Witchdoctor drink!!!

DAY 8-Tuesday-July 31st
Up around 3:30 A.M. Time for a last gambling session. Over to the Gold Coast. Quickly down 91 bucks at Craps. The dice have been mean to me this trip. 7 out! Line away! Yeah buddy! Over to the BJ table. Starting out at 5 bucks a hand, and increasing if I won, if not back down to 5. Steady winning. At one point was betting 20 a hand, split it, doubled down on one hand and WON. Yesssss! Nice hit! A couple of young guys were playing badly at one end of my table. Hitting and standing wrong. An older lady sat in between us and played for awhile. I could she that she was letting their bad moves upset her. When she walked away she mumbled something to them about learning how to play. One of the young guys told her “Listen lady, it's my money and I will play it how I please!” Very funny. I cashed out plus 170 bucks. I like it. I hit a dollar 10/7 double bonus machine, and while I do have my strategy card from Bob Dancer, after a few minutes I realize that I just do not know this game well enough to be playing at the dollar level. I luckily cash out plus 20.
Jaywalk over back to the Rio. Earn 25 bucks playing craps, maybe my only winning dice session for the trip! Yee-Haw! Drop 25 bucks on their 8/5 JB game, and in a last ditch effort lose 60 bucks at a slot machine. I am done. Time to go. Pack up and head out of the Rio. On the way out place 3 baseball bets. One 2 team parlay and 2 straight bets. As it turns out the parlay splits so I lose it, but the other two win so I make a slight profit.
We store our bags and eat breakfast at the Rio coffeee shop. 2 for 1. Very good. Back out front and collect our luggage and take a cab to the airport. As we ride I am thinking we are taking a VERY long time to get to the airport. Then we go thru the TUNNEL! DARN! This son of a bugger named Oona or something like that was ripping us off! 17 bucks to the airport from the Rio! That bugger! I was not totally sure about the con job cab ride, but after checking with people in the airport it was confirmed. I knew it! Never again! Oh well. Fart-free airplane ride home.
Final Thoughts:
Strat has great VP.
Binion's Ranch Steakhouse is great.
Mystere, Scinta's, La Cage and Rick Thomas are all well worth seeing.
The locals casino's are fun to check out.
It is too hard to try and do everything on one trip. No way.
Too much walking and standing in line.
The Rio has great rooms
Final Gambling Total-Minus approximately 400 dollars. Figuring 8 days of gambling
That breaks down to losing about 50 bucks a day. I think I put in 2 to 4 hours each day
Of actual gambling. Still a loss. But not too bad. Viva Las Vegas!!!

[ 05 August 2001: Message edited by: Fred ]

Bob:

Loved your trip reports. Fun reading them. You did make me exhausted though....you two did so many different things. Thanks for sharing!!

Susan

Forgot to add that we also hit the Star Trek ride at the Las Vegas Hilton! The ride itself was awesome! But I suggest if you are not a real trekkie, the 25 bucks to look at Star Trek costumes and stuff is pretty high!

Bob,
Thanks for the GREAT report!
I personaly couldn't do that many shows in one day. I've tried it and I've fallen asleep during the second one in the same day. It was toppless too...I was so ashamed! LOL
What was your girlfriends total feeling on the LV trip? Will she go back with you? When is your next trip? And don't be a stranger to a talkvegas meet either!

Bob - Wow! Great reading about your trip! I'm a big fan of Mystere too - I've seen it 4 times. I'm heading out to Vegas in a few days and have been going back and forth about seeing either Lance Burton or the Scintas. But I chose Lance - I hope that wasn't a mistake! One question - is the Reserve nice enough to warrant a trip out there? I've never been out to Henderson but have been thinking about it. --Mike D.

Bob, whew you exhaust me. While I love motivating on my trips. This on had ALOT of motivating. We did the Star Trek thing shortly after it started. We were traving with friends that are trekkies. (I think that is what they are called.) I Hate Star Trek, but kind of enjoyed the experience. One of those things to do once. Only saw the Rio parade once a long time ago. Thanks for the trip. Kathy

Bob,

Thanks for the very detailed, long and very interesting trip report. You sure know how to take advantage of the coupons and decent room rates. I know a few people that turn in at 4:00 A.M. when they are in LV but you are the first to report that you got up at that time. The casinos must have been empty.

Hey Bob,

Outstanding report! I throughly enjoyed the report and your humor. Thanks, Tom

Thanks Bob. Great job on the report. I live in Massillon, about an hour south of you and I fly out of Cleveland on Continental all the time.
Glad you had a good trip.

Thank for the comments! Yeah, I think Belle MAY go back with me again, IF I promise to ease up on the pace and relax a little more!
I like cruising the Casino's early in the A.M......less people...
Mike-enjoyed your report! I will check out Lance Burton sometime!
Lee-thanks for the welcome and comments!
Everyone-hope you enjoyed the report! Thanks!