We had a friend playing in the World Championship Long Drive Competition out in Mesquite NV so we flew out to watch her play. Since this was along the lines of a last minute trip, I had to work around my schedule at work.

I started off by complete a 5 night run of 12 hr shifts, getting around 5 hours of sleep, then falling for the "be at the airport 2 hours early" routine. Needless to say we had 1 hr and 50 minutes of time to kill. We could have caught the flight before ours with plenty of time to spare.

We arrived in Vegas and took the Alamo bus to get our rental car. They tried to give us a mini van instead of the midsize car I had rented.

There were two problems with this for me.

One: We would be driving to Mesquite at least once, possibly two or three times. I didn't need a gas guzzling mini van for that.

Two: There were only two of us. Who needs that big vehicle to drive around Vegas when there's only two of you?

Three: I had prepaid for gas and this thing had a MONSTER tank. No way was I paying an additional $12 because they didn't have the mid size car I wanted.

I headed back in to state my case and ended up with a full sized Buick Century. This was more what I had in mind.

Checked in at Excalibur, at a quick bite at the Sherwood Forest Cafe, had a Krispy Kreme donut, and went to bed.

Excalibur isn't so bad really. We had a nice, large room with a good-sized table and two chairs. Hallways were a little darkened but hey, this is supposed to be a medieval castle. The room had plenty of light in it. No view really but we had booked through HRN for a price of $59/night (including a Friday night). We don't require a view anyway. We're seldom in the room other than to sleep. This trip was no exception. One thing of note with Excalibur, they have a 75-cent per day phone charge instead of a 50 cent per usage charge. It doesn't matter if you don't use the phone or make 100 local calls/day, they will charge you 75 cents per day.

The one drawback was the bathroom. NO BATHTUB! I don't need one but Shelley likes to take a bath. I offered to go to the desk to get a different room but she declined. In the future, I'll always ask for a room with a tub.

Sherwood Forest Cafe is all right but not a place I'd go out of my way to eat. Shelley had a fruit plate that was just so-so. I had the bacon cheeseburger and thought it was pretty good.

Went to bed around midnight and got up at 4 AM to get cleaned up and be in Mesquite by 7 AM.

Did the golf tournament thing and was on our way back to Vegas by 11 AM. She didn't make the finals so there was no need to stay in Mesquite. Mesquite is really a pretty nice little town if you want to get away from Vegas and play some golf. Two resorts are there, the Oasis and the Casablanca. The Casablanca is more upscale and charges a little more. The Oasis has quite a few amenities but the rooms are more along the lines of a motor lodge. Our friends stayed at the Oasis RV Park and were impressed with the number of amenities on grounds to keep them busy.

Since our friends had rented an RV, they decided to stay at the Silverton RV park in Vegas. This is a pretty nice park with excellent access to the strip. From the strip it's at the south corner of the Beltz Factory Outlet Mall at Blue Diamond and Las Vegas Blvd. Silverton is about 2 miles west of the strip.

We parked the RV and headed up to Quarks at the LV Hilton for a quick lunch and some drinks. Since this was our friend's first competition, she had a few nerves to settle. The food was pretty good but the drinks were better. They split the mini warp core breech, Shelley had some type of pineapple infused vodka martini, and I had this drink called the death ray. This place still ranks high on my list for a quick bite and drinks.

From here we hit some of the casino's the girls hadn't seen before. The Paris and the Aladdin followed a quick tour of the Venetian. While at the Aladdin we stopped in at the Roc Nest Bar for another drink, two gin martini's, and two vodka martini's. Shelley had a vodka martini called applejack. I believe this is just citrus flavored vodka with apple schnapps mixed in. For a frilly fru-fru martini, it was pretty tasty.

We had to head back to the RV to let the dogs out (our friends had brought them along), then over to the Silverton for a quick bite. We had intended to try the buffet but arrived just before it was closing. They said the food would be left out another 30 minutes but nothing new was being added. We were allowed to look it over and decided to pass this time.

Instead we stopped in at their coffee shop, the Fireside lounge I think it was called. It had a Nice atmosphere and decent food. They had a filet mignon special for $10.99. The girls had this while I went with the prime rib. Shelley said her filet was a little on the tough side for a filet. She should know, it's about all she'll eat. The other girls said there's was fine. My prime rib was pretty good but not something I'm going out of my way to get.

We gambled at Silverton for a little while. This was the first time I've ever played Keno. I just couldn't resist playing with those crayons. Actually, it was the fact that I could play a game for 70 cents. We all played two games apiece. Shelley won $1.20 on one game and I grabbed $3.30 on one game. After tipping the girl a couple of bucks for picking up the tickets, I was still in the hole. LOL. Didn't really matter to me, I just thought it would be fun to play and gave me an excuse to tip another server who was probably hurting from the economic slowdown. We all pooled our money for two shots at the pick 10 with a top prize of $10,000. Nothing doing with winning anything on this ticket. Would have been nice to spit 10 grand 4 ways though. Gave us some entertainment for a little while.

The Silverton had some 8/5 bonus poker machines that Shelley and I played. Our friends hit the craps table and a few slot machines without any luck. After this it was time to turn in for a few hours sleep.

We got up the next morning with plans to meet out at Sam's Town. One of our friends hadn't ever seen it since the renovation and wanted to go out there before leaving town. To this point Shelley and I were down $40 and very little gambling. We arrived early and found a bank of 8/5 bonus poker machines that appeared to be new. On our last trip, the best we could find was 7/5 machines or 8/6 JOB machines. We just won't play less than FP machines. Since we had a little time to kill and these were FP machines, we both slipped a $10 bill in to try our luck and keep our point balance current. Sam's Town will eliminate your points with 18 months of no activity. We stayed pretty even when Shelley got lucky and pulled quad 3's for a $50 hit. At this point I was up $5 myself so we cashed out. We figured our friends would be her soon so we might as well end on a positive note. We had started with $20 and cashed out for a total of $75.

Soon after cashing out our friend's arrived and we headed for the new buffet at Sam's Town. Really had a great selection and the prices was right as well. The lunch buffet is only $4.99. This is a real bargain if you like buffets.

Afterwards we toured the casino and atrium, then our friends hit the road. They had plans to drive up to Sequoia National Park, then through the Lake Tahoe area before pointing the RV back home. For you Mary's Diner fans, it's not there anymore. They have completely sheet rocked over it and the only sign it ever existed is a sign stating the blue plate specials can now be purchased in their new coffee shop.

Before leaving we hit the bonus poker machines again. I forgot to mention these were the new coinless machines. When you cash out, you're issued a ticket that can either be reinserted into another machines bill reader, just like cash, or taken to the change both to cash in. I REALLY like these much better than having to deal with collecting the coins from the tray and waiting on hopper fills. It was seemed more convenient to me. This one small bank was the only bank I noticed like this.

Shelley and I did a little shopping after they left. We had skipped the Bellagio conservatory last time so we swung by to see it. They had a really nice fall display going. It was very relaxing to stroll through.

While there I think I started a new collection. Last trip I had picked up two martini glasses while at Caesers, which were on sale. While at Bellagio I found a couple of nice martini glasses, again on sale, which I snatched up. I'm going to start looking for these now as they make a nice decoration along the back wall of my bar at home.

By now we were a little tired and had an early morning wake up planned for our 6 AM flight home. We stopped in at San Remo for their prime rib special. They lowered the price to $4.95 but kept the meal the same. Service was very slow this time though. The nickel deuces wild machines we always play had been moved. They used to be up by the front door. Now they have a small bank of multi-play VP machines there with short pay tables. I don't recall if they were just the multiple denomination with only one pay line or if the were both multi-denomination with several play lines. When I saw the short pay tables, it no longer mattered to me. We did locate our favorite nickel machines but they no longer have card readers to accumulate slot points. That's a shame really as they are about the only thing we play here. As it is, I can find short pay deuces wild machines elsewhere and at least accumulate a couple of points for playing. All told we lost a total of $20 but played for close to an hour.

From here it was back to Excalibur for a Krispy Kreme donut and a little sleep. Since there are new airport rules, we got up at 2 AM to get ready for our 6 AM departure. What a waste of sleep this idea was. We dropped off the car at Alamo, and were the only people on the bus. This was hint number one we were a little early. Then we got to the airport and it was all but deserted. That is for the other fools who showed up 3 hours early. There wasn't even anyone behind any of the counters except for the SWA's counter. United personal started arriving around 4 AM and started taking passengers by 4:15.

Security checkpoint at this hour was a breeze and we were at the gate WELL ahead of our departure time. Good thing we packed a book. It would have been nice if some of the shops and restaurants had been open.

Before making adjusting your travel plans make note that we left on a Saturday at 6 AM. I'm sure things could be different latter on in the day. The flight home was uneventful. Planes going too and leaving Vegas were fairly full. Travel between Denver and Wichita KS was pretty slim. Our flight home only had 45 people on board.

Doug,

Seems to me you and Shelley have been regular visitors to LV lately.<g> Sounds like you had a rather relaxing trip this time round.

Maybe I should not complain about our departing flight from Philly being moved up an hour. May not have any sleep, but there probably won't be any crowds, either.

Only time we ever had a complaint about staying at Excalibur was in June many years ago..........kids everywhere. Other than that, we've received good treatment. However, I did not think "any" of the rooms had tubs, except maybe some suites.

Say "hi" to Shelley.

Thanks for the trip report.

Beth

We have been there quite a lot this year. It's been four trips so far. Normally we get two trips in and maybe a third.

It was nice being out there and not having the trip interupted by the latest terrorist attack or feel as if we had to watch the TV every minute to see what was happening. In fact, it was nice to get away from all the media hype all together and just live life a little again.

As it stands now, our next trip won't be until March of next year. We do have a trip in through an outfit called mini vacations that was a gift for doing the time share tour thing. I sent in the request along with a required, refundable, $100 deposit but haven't heard anything back from them. My request was pretty far in advance, the last part of January, so I'm assuming that's why I don't have an itenerary yet. I plan on govomg them a reminder by November if I haven't heard anything from them.

Thanks for a really nice TR. It sounded as though you had a wonderful time by not frantically rushing around. I enjoyed reading about Silverton. We had an RV and looked over their park, and it did look nice. It' hard now to know what time to get to the airport - suppose it depends on the hour and the day. Also I'm glad you mentioned about Sam's Town cancelling points if you don't go there in 18 months - never knew that.

Did you sleep on the flight to Las Vegas? That sounded like a killer work schedule before you left!

It doesn't sound like Silverton is worth the drive if you're looking for a special dining experience<g>, but I agree that Sam's has really improved their buffet. Sam's does have a lot of the coinless VP machines in the new section by the buffet and theatre, but I'm very afraid they have removed most of the full-pay variety. It's good to know about that 18-month limit on the credit out there; it gives me an excuse to drive out and use some of my credit on the buffet<g>.

You didn't mention any gambling when you visited Quarks, only quality drinking<g>. Has the Hilton improved their VP offerings?

Thanks for the "fix" ....it's T-26, and I'm definitely counting the days!

I did catch a nap on the plane. It was pretty brief as we had to change planes in Denver. Neither flight was over 1hr and 30 minutes long.

For bonus poker, 8/5 is full pay. Perfect play only nets 99.17% but for us, that's close enough.

I didn't even look at the VP at the Hilton this time. We were there just one month ago and I didn't locate one full pay machine. Not even at the dollar level. I wouldn't mind playing out there but they need to at least give me a chance with a good pay table. There are still to many other choices of off strip, and even on strip properties that offer better odds. I do like quarks for their "variety" of drinks laced heavily with liquor. <vbg> It be nice to stay there some time just for that. Sort of like Krispy Kreme at Excalibur.<g>

Doug,
Sounds like you 2 did a few things differnt this trip. That's what I like about Vegas, it can be so many differnt things to differnt people. I liked Mesquite NV alot when we visited with the Senator & Patti. However my sister hated it. I think if you can do without the shows & glitz of LV, this is a very nice place to play & stay. I would much rather be in Mesquite, then say Laughlin.
I was under the understanding that all the standard rooms in the Excaliber where shower only rooms.
Thanks for my Vegas fix today! I am getting excited about a coming trip, which is needed badly by me. Then add the lack of people traveling to LV and even the trip reports have dwindled lately. Great report!