It's nice to see such a variety of trip reports on here lately!

We left on Fri 13th (lucky number?) out of BWI. We normally take direct flights but decided to try a stopover in Columbus to get to Vegas at 6 pm instead of our usual 10:30 pm. Great flights, both legs, even had the middle seat empty each time. America West rules! BTW, this was one of the very few times that we paid for air fare, we usually charge enough miles for free tix for both of us at least 3X per year. Including all tax, $266 each which is very high! But we got them about a month ago so our prior planning was poor.

Go to Dollar Rental counter at the airport(had previously joined the Fast Lane online) just to be sure they would be no surprises. Nice clerk told me to board the bus and they have our name there. No check in required. Got on bus, great friendly driver, and he took us to the full size row which had over 20 cars in it - take our pick. We looked over three of them and they all had under 5000 miles. We picked the one with the least door dings. Wonderful car, Intrepid, didn't smell funky like National cars used to. $84 for three days full size car including all tax ($21.99 per day). Same as we used to pay for National but those were intermediate size.

Stop at Vons on Trop to get rum, mixers, snacks.

Got to Gold Coast and the parking lot was a zoo. The San Gennaro Festival was across the street next to Palms and the joint was jumping. All those people were parking at Palms or GC and gunking up the process. The Valet Full sign really wasn't when we told them we were checking in. Great room as usual. Don't expect alot when staying here. But very clean. Got a $52 rate from casino host before arriving, and that was on the fight weekend - sold out!

Went straight to Rio to get Showgirls tickets with a 2-1 coupon printed off www.destinationcoupon.com and got two 5th row middle seats for Sat night. Great seats!

Washed up, roamed the casino at GC looking for familiar faces at the bars. Played some VP at the bar, no big hits. Had dinner at GC coffee shop - just like Denny's - great meals.
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We hike when we come to Vegas, so Sat morning we went to check out a new park, Wetlands Park, at the end of Tropicana on the east side. It was really a hot day and we could only walk about 1.5 miles before the heat melted us. But the park is nice with extensive trails so we'll be back!

Off to Boulder Station to play VP, no big hits. Had buffet. Good as usual.

Took tour of the National Vitamin Factory. Laid out much like the Ethel M Factory with viewing windows, free samples, really neat to watch. Actually quite educational. Free. Tours are 6 am to 6 pm daily. Sundays there is limited production. So Sat was the better day for us. It's at 7440 S Industrial, south of Tropicana. I would recommend it if you have a rental car.

Went to Barbary Coast to see Big Elvis. Big Elvis is not playing in the lounge during football season on weekends anymore. Boo. That's the only reason we went there. Played VP at bar, lost $100 each. Away we go!

Back to GC, played more VP at bar, still haven't seen our friends we've made at the bars. Had those great hot dogs at the sports book for dinner. Perfect. Placed bet on Redskins. Of course they lost Mon night.

Get cleaned up - walked to Palms. All the "pretty" people were there since it was Sat night. Endless lines for the night clubs. These people are great to watch. The women only seem to come out in groups all dressed the same. Don't they know that men usually won't hit on women in a group? Maybe that's why they do it? But if they are looking to meet someone, leave the friends behind! I just remember this from my dating days. Maybe it's changed!

There is a Megabucks machine at the Palms that we have played last three trips. Lots of fun, our $100 lasts a long time on this machine. It is the kind that has three paylines, Double Diamond. We keep hitting for 15 or 30. Great machine! As you know, it eventually gets your money, but I like it to last for a long play. Of course, with the crowds there, finding a drink lady was not easy. So we left.

Over to Rio for Showgirls. I have never seen a topless revue in Vegas - only topless I've seen was in a seedy bar in Toledo during college days when a date took me there (great guy, right?). It was a good show, the men seemed to like it. The hostess was named Sandy and kept us entertained between dance numbers. Beautiful women there. I would recommend if you have the 2-1 coupon I mentioned above. Even with the coupon, it was $44 for both of us. BTW, if you are a Rio guest, showing your room key will give you the same discount.

Stayed up gambling, playing craps, until 2 am. We are starting to lose money now on the trip. Not normal for us. Ordered room service and had sandwiches sent up.
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Up on Sunday for a day hike at Mt Charleston. Now we're talking! It was actually cool up there. 90's/100 in town but 70 on the mountain. We had a wonderful hike to the top of one of the ridges, got great pictures hopefully one can be framed, using the timer on the camera. The ride to and from the mountain is so pretty. They are really selling/buying up the land on Rt 157 on the way to the park entrance. We are looking into that next time we come in December.

Stopped at the Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary on the way from Mt Charleston. This has been on my To Do List since we started to come to Vegas years ago. Finally, we check it out. What a great place! These people have huge hearts to dedicate their lives to rescuing and saving those birds and other animals. Highly recommended. Get off at Durango out on Rt 95 and go to Racel Rd, make a right and the Sanctuary is on the right. It was a couple of dollars for admission but we gave them more. We will go back there on a later trip. The best part was the talking parrots. Lots said "hello" or "hi", but one kept saying "What's the matter?". Another one actually had conversations it would repeat that it had learned in the past.

We had checked out of GC today for a night FREE at the Rio! Woo Hoo! I love the Rio Suites, even though we never gamble there, they send us a free room. No complaint here.

At check in, tried the $20 trick. The clerk looked at the $20 and looked disappointed as he said he couldn't do anything but could offer an upgrade for the usual price. Boo. So the $20 went back into my pocket. I think he was more disappointed than we were! We really wanted one of those jacuzzi suites.

Got washed up and went Downtown. We missed the Bike Fest, all the Harley people had been in town. We just didn't get down there in time. Played some at the Golden Nugget bar. We have each gotten a royal here in the past. Not this time even though the progressive was $1600.

More gambling at 4 Queens- craps. Then dinner at Fremont casino with our LVA 2-1 coupon. Seafood dinner so that was a $16 coupon value!

Back to GC and for the rest of the night played VP. Returned to Rio for bed. Love these rooms. Had a strip view. The room was on the 13th floor and that was weird. We put it out of our minds so it wouldn't give us jinks.
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Check out on Mon morning and headed to Orleans. We always spend our last day here. Had buffet, good as always. Played VP - not much luck. Played Megabucks and got our original $100 back at the end. Here was a machine that couldn't lose! But we wanted to look for our bar contacts at the GC one last time before leaving.

Go to GC and here are the guys we know! We spend our last two hours catching up and talking about our next visit during the rodeo in Dec. During this time, husband gets royal (clubs) at bar VP. I hit 4-Kinds a few times. So yea we are now even for the trip. Maybe that 13th floor room at Rio did something after all!

Off to airport, great service returning the car. Love those people at Dollar. Can't wait until next rental. All cars are NEW and low mileage. No shimmy or shake in wheel like at National.

Flight home just as great as flight out since middle seat is empty. However, we did leave 2.5 hours late and got back to BWI at 2:15 am on Tues morning. Got to our home around 4 am. That is one late night!

Whole trip total - come home down $101. Our idea of a success when going to Vegas. 11 weeks and we'll be at MSS next time.
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Side note: we love the new coinless ticket in-ticket out machines. At first, we felt there was no fun without the coins clanking and scooping them up.

Then after using the ticket machines, we realized the benefits:

1) No more black hands!! Yea!!
2) Ticket has your money right on it, can be cashed out in seconds, and put right into the next machine for another go around. Try doing this with coins. With coins, you would have to hand feed each coin on the next machine, or go to the cage and waste time getting bills just to put them back into another machine.
3) Ticket is the same size as real money, so can be placed right into your "bill fold" in your pocket and used at a later time. The tickets don't expire for 60 days!
4) We won a royal yesterday at the Gold Coast and we were able to print out the ticket and cash it in at the cage. Know what that really means?? NO more tipping to those greedy hand-pay attendants who did absolutely nothing but show up to pay. I hated the way there would be two or three of those greedy employees standing there expecting a tip. We'll still gave $20 to our bar tender who treats us well.
5) No more lugging buckets of coins around. How many times have you been stuck lugging one of those buckets up the elevator to your room, to the buffet, or even to a show? I have, but no more!
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What we didn't do that we keep putting on the To Do List and it still hasn't happened:

-Visit to Hard Rock to see the "pretty" people there and get the Gambler's Special using LVA coupon
-Another visit to Garduno's Margarita Brunch at the Palms, we had really liked this before
-Walking the Railroad Trail at Lake Mead to go through the four 300 ft tunnels
-Giving Let It Ride a chance, always put it off
-Visit to Casino Royale for their new member specials
-Visit to Westward Ho for huge hot dogs and cheap margaritas
-Elvis A Rama museum
-Liberace museum (we pass this many times on Trop)
-Flamingo Wildlife Habitat, would love to see those flamingos and penguins there
-Big gift shop on LV Blvd, never seem to make it there
-Hope to see Big Elvis at Barbary Coast after football season ends

Itch,,...I'm sorry, I'm a little slow on the up-take. When you where talking about a date taking you to a topless joint....I was thinking "way cool"...then I rememberd....your a woman! LOL Not so cool! LOL I'm sitting here laughing at my own stupidity!
That smell in those National cars was them going gonzo on the Fabreeze, and then the cars sitting in the hot sun and baking the smell into everything! I will admit car return is a snap at Dollar, and they seem to have a handle on it. Not a thousand cars waiting in line like National always did.
Which bar do you like best at the GoldCoast? My favorite is the one with the low chairs all the way in the back of the property. Playing at the other bars is diffacult with another person, machines are spread too far apart IMHO. But hey, if that's where the hot machines are....I could handle it! <S>
Your gonna like the Hard Rock, heard they went all coinless very recently. I personally haven't been back to confirm this however.
Congrats on the Royal and the great low amount out for the trip. Sort of gives me hope, after the trip from heck I just had!
Thanks for taking the time to type it all out for us. Great report!!!

Itch nice report.

I love the fact that you are so positif about everything.

You sound like you really enjoy your vacations.

Nice trip report........guess you like the Coast Properties......we do too! Thanks, too, for the info on the Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary (Sanctuary much!) We have been going to go there for years, but it never looks like it is open, and I've never met anyone that's been......now, we really will go!
And we really enjoy Big Elvis after seeing him, totally by surprise, one day at the Barbary Coast. We thought the music we were hearing was recorded, and were AMAZED when we went around the machines and saw him working! I don't like impersonators, as a general rule, but I think he has a wonderful voice and is terrific. It was really fun to see everyone dancing to his music, from very young people, to a woman from England, probably late 80s, that never sat down... everyone had a great time! I do hope you have a chance to see him on your next trip.
Congrats on your success in gambling.....sounds like a good time!

Lee, we like the bar in front of the blackjack tables and the bar by the sports book. I know the bar you are talking about, and isn't there another small one back on the other side of that area? It's funny, I don't gamble past the escalators to the bowling alley. That back area seems so quiet and I don't see many drink ladies when I walk through there. #1 when I sit at a machine is access to a drink lady and keep her steady coming around w/ good tips. If we don't see one in the first few minutes, we move along. I guess we like the bars 'cause you can get drinks ASAP!

Tater, when we got to Barbary Coast, the bartender was sort of snitty with us for wanting to see Big Elvis. He says "what's the big deal? You can get the real thing on over a 1000 CD's." I said "excuse me???" He had an attitude the whole time we were losing our money. Not good for return business!

Itch: Great report - I noticed that you took "all of Vegas" in rather just 1 part of it. makes want to pack my suitcase. Wendell

Itch,

Thanks for a real nice report. Enjoyed it!

We have stopped at the Sanctuary on the way back from Mt. Charleston and did enjoy our visit also. Those side trips have always been pleasurable for us as they are a good break from gambling. Sounds like you know how to make your trip varied and enjoyable and turned out fairly inexpensive. This is the first time I heard about the vitamin factory. Do get to see the penguins at the Flamingo on a future trip. I think you'll enjoy.

Hope to meet you someday.

Thanks again for sharing your fun in LV with all of us here at TalkVegas.

Beth

Itch:
Enjoyed your trip report. Sounds like you had a good time. Your side trips sound fun. We fly America West out of Columbus sometimes, and have had good flights so far. Love the non-stops.

Susan

Itch,

Thanks for the report and congrats on a successful ($) trip.

You enjoy Vegas like I do, you get out and do things. I always enjoy Mt. Charleston. My favorite time is in the spring when it's hot in Vegas but still snow covered in the mountains.

I experiences the same $20 problem as you once at the Mirage. The lady was ready to upgrade me then noticed I was on a $49 promotion. Said I'd have to pay casino rate ($99) to get an upgrade.

The next time you connect thru Columbus, let me know. I'll try to come out and meet you for a cup of coffee.

Itch,
I only recall the one back in the corner with the low seats. I agree, playing at the bar, the drink service is much better! <G>
I also like the back corner bar, because it's quieter back there. A decent tip gets the tenders attention easier too! If you play the machines back that way out on the floor, cocktail service is slow!