BTW, get comfortable....I took notes!
We were about 45 minutes late leaving Columbus. They said our pilot had a death in the family and had left. The replacement had come in on a late flight and couldn't as early as we were scheduled to leave.
The flight was very comfortable. I noticed Lloyd (my father-in-law) timing the plane from power on to lift off. There seemed to be more than normal leg room. I slept most of the flight. We actually arrived in Vegas a few minutes early. Bags came out quickly and we were on the Thrifty shuttle. We went inside so I could add Lloyd as a driver. Nobody was stationed at the Blue Chip counter so we waited 15+ minutes for someone. Folded down the third row of seats, loaded the luggage and I announced we were on our way to Fat Burger for lunch. My Big Fat Deal was great as usual.
Made a stop at Von's for coolers, pop, and water. Arrived at the Orleans about 1:30. I explained to the girl that it was the inlaw's first trip and I'd really like a good strip view. She said the only think she had right then was 5th floor but if we'd wait till 3, she could take care of us. I handed her $20 and said we'd be back. We decided to go sit by the pool, the front desk gave me a key to get past the guard and into the pool. Patti hit the VP machines while I entertained.
3 PM got us 2 rooms in the new tower on the 16th floor looking North towards the Palms and Rio. We unpacked and hit the casino. My second hand at 3-card poker was a straight flush for $400. I proceeded to give this all back before dinner at the Prime Rib Loft. My good friends from Columbus met us. I really like this restaurant. Excellent service, nice room, and 6 great dinners for $109!
Back to the casino for a cigar, some Glenlevit and a good run at 3-card poker. Went to bed $375+.
SATURDAY: Left at 8 AM for the North Rim. Had to stop at the pharmacy then on to Mesquite for a breakfast buffet at Casablanca - very good. Arrived at the North Rim about 2 PM. Walked around, shot some pictures then back towards Mesquite for dinner. Planned on the coffee shop at Casablanca but the line was quite long so went back to the buffet. I made a big shrimp salad followed by some great stir fry. Ran into my old host and asked if they'd remodeled the rooms yet. She said yes, total renovations. We'll have to stay there again. The pool's still gorgeous. Made it back to Vegas in 4 hours driving time from the North Rim.
My evening at the Orleans included Pai Gow, -$150; 3-card, +$330; and VP, -$80.
SUNDAY: Stopped at Walgreens to fill a prescription I forgot then headed to the Silverton for breakfast. My hubcap (chicken fried steak) was great as usual. I played Pai Gow for almost 2 hours (-$60) while the others played VP. Toured Bass PS then saw part of the mermaid show, wasn't all that interesting.
Barb (Lloyd's wife) needed a swim suit so we went to the outlet mall. No luck for her but I found a new gold Kokopeli pendant. Patti wanted to make her usual trip to the World's Largest Gift Shop for silver jewelry. Back to the Orleans for a little pool time then had Mexican for dinner, very good.
I headed for 3-card opker with my cigar and ordered my scotch. Bought in for $300. Played $10-10-10. Never cashed a ticket! Money was gone in 15-20 minutes. Decided to try and walk off my pain. Found a $.25 game maker across from the buffet. Decided to start with Deuces Wild. Was playing in the zone for a good while when I drew to X, Jh, Qh, X, X. Drew 10, K, A in sequence. (WRONG DAMN MACHINE) This is the first Royal I've hit on a coinless machine. No fanfare or anything. It rolls up the money and you're ready to go. I kept playing and wasn't hitting anything. Switched to DDB and soon hit 4 fives. This took me back up over $1,000. I got to worrying that if I hit aces with a kicker it would take me over $1,200 and maybe I'd get stuck with a W2 so I cashed out. Does anyone know how that works on a coinless machine if your credits go over $1,200? Can you play it down under $1,200 then cash out with no W2? I had bought in for $100. Would that have been factored in?
Played a little more VP and went to bed $623+ for the day.
MONDAY: Breakfast buffet at the Orleans then pool time. They had a photo shoot at the hot tub for a South Coast ad. Nice talent
. Hit the road early afternoon for Red Rock (got to see burrows), MGM, NYNY, Excalibur, and Luxor.
I stopped by the pit and asked for comps for dinner. The gal in the pit said she'd be happy to give me comps for dinner but I had already gotten 4 comps for breakfast that day and they're policy is to only comp for one meal a day.
Had dinner at Sazios, nothing spectacular but we enjoyed it.
After dinner I played 3-card for a couple hours then went to Pai Gow. The gal I had talked to about dinner comps asked me if I wanted her to write me comps for dinner the next night. Lloyd had said earlier that he wanted to try the dinner buffet so I told her I needed four. She came back saying that I had only played for 1 hour and all she should give me was two but she would stretch it to three. I mentioned my play in the other pit but I guess it wasn't entered yet. She said I could wait until the next day and get my four comps. Finished the night -$239.
TUESDAY: Left early for Hoover Dam. Lloyd said he didn't want to take the tour but I knew he'd enjoy it so I pushed. We ran into a problem at security. My wife recently had a spinal nerve stimulator implanted. She can't go thru metal detectors. They didn't have a female available to pat her down so we couldn't go in. The work they're doing on the new bypass is unbelievable. It's worth seeing all by itself.
Had breakfast at Fiesta. It was very good and they have some great specials. Showed the inlaws how to play Keno. Stopped at Bellagio to see the water show but it didn't start for almost 2 hours so we went back to the pool.
On the way to dinner I stopped to get our comps. The guy took my card and went to the computer. A few minuted later he came back and asked me what happened to my other 3 comps that hadn't been used. I explained my conversation from the previous night and could only guess that she had entered the 3 comps into the computer then didn's take them out when I didn't take them. After 2 more conversations he finally gave me my comps. I understand his position. He felt like I was getting dinner for 7 but he gave me the benefit of the doubt.
Dinner was very good. Lost a litle at 3-card but hit 4 aces at DDB. I did the same stupid thing twice on this trip. Either Patti or her father was watching me twice when I was dealt quads. Once was A's, once was 4's. Both were at DDB so I drew for the kicker. Both times I held my quads then pointed to the spot I needed the kicker in. Both times, the card held by my touching the screen and I didn't notice it until after hitting the draw button.
Patti was teaching her father to play VP. He would never play by himself. He had to have Patti or me watching him. I found them playing Bonus Poker when I was done for the night. I took over watching so Patti could go to the bathroom and he hit 4-aces. He could hardly stand it, he was so excited. I told him to leave them for Patti to see but he was afraid something would happen so he printed out a ticket.
I went to bed +$81.
Woops, can't find my notes from here.
Wednesday was breakfast at Orleans' coffee shop. Patti didn't come down. I knew we had dinner plans outside the casino so I went to the pit for a comp for 3. The guy told me they'll usually just do 2. He came back with a comp for $30. I told him I didn't need this much adn asked if what I didn't use would go back in my account. He said they don't work that way and to just try and use it. I went back to the restaurant and told everyone to order more. I got some OJ and Lloyd ordered milk. I decided to order pancakes to take to Patti. The bill was $29.95!
After breakfast we headed to Valley of Fire. Inlaws said this was the best stop of the trip. Came home along the lake. Hit the pool for a nap.
Met my friends for dinner at a place they recommended. Giuseppe's on Durango just N of 215. This is a free standing sports bar/restaurant. Put this on your must try list. A couple had burgers which they said were very good and the huge piles of fries looked great. Lloyd tried to eat their special burger which is 2-half pound burgers on about a half loaf of italian bread. I had Parmesan chicken. Two breasts pounded very thin with parmesan cheese then sauted and served with a side of pasta. Salads and bread were excelent. We all split a home made tirrimasu <sp> that was awesome!
Here's where the gambling starts to get ugly and the accounting starts to get spotty.
I can't remember what all I played but I know I went to bed in the red a couple hundred.
THURSDAY: Lloyd wanted to hang around the casino our last day. I slept in while the rest had breakfast. Patti called and woke me up about 8:30. So much for sleeping in. I know she was getting tired of baby-sitting and not being able to play on her own. I found her sitting with her dad and mother-in-law playing VP. I asked if they wanted to go anywhere and Lloyd confirmed he wanted to just stay in. Patti had told me that he wanted to buy us dinner at Canal Steet that night. I told him I was stealing Patti for the afternoon and we took off for GVR. I turned Patti loose while I got another Fat Burger. I joined her for VP and found another machine that was in the zone. Played for over an hour and broke about even. Decided to try some Pai Gow. They have the Fortune Pai Gow with a bonus. If you're not familiar with this, you can make a side bet from $1 to $100 (I think) and get paid odds starting at even money for a flush going up to something like 10,000 to 1 for a seven card straight flush with no wild card. If you play at least $5.00, you're in for envy playoffs. This is when any player hits 4 of a kind or better, you get paid.
There was a young guy siting next to me who looked at his wathc a few times. The dealer asked him about this and he said he'd left work early and couldn't go home yet cause his wife would know. Shortly after that he hit 4 of a kind for $100. The rest of us got $10 envy. About 30 minutes later he hit a royal flush for $750 and the rest of us got $50. I said he could take his wife to dinner now. He was worrying about how to tell her he got all this money. LOL
I left GVR about $150 down.
I was unimpresed with the food at Canal Street. Service was great. Our bill for 4 was the same as our bill for 6 at the Prime Rib loft and I certainly didn't enjoy my meal any more.
I left the gang and went off to seek my fortune. Patti said she was going to play a little VP and turn in early, maybe start to pack. I lost at 3-card, Pai Gow and VP. I got 4 buffet comps for the morning. Ugly night. I turned in about 11. Woke up a little past 3 in bed alone! Got dressed and went searching for Patti. She was sitting at her VP machine. She seemed suprised I hadn't gotten the voice mail she left on my cell phone that was turned of so it didn't wake me. :rolleyes:
FRIDAY:
Met for breakfast then back to the room to pack. Checked out a few minutes before Noon. The gang wanted to head straight to the airport for our 4:15 flight. Lloyd had seen a long line at security when we flew in. The only good news was we saved $15 on the car...only charged for 1 hour instead of an extra day.
Checked in curbside in about 5 minutes. Thru security in about 5 minutes.
Had aisle/window, aisle/window again and were lucky to keep empty middle again. However, although we were once again on an Airbus 320, this one had probably 1/3 less knee room. Uneventful flight home arriving at 11:15 PM to rain and 55
.
Additional thoughts:
* Valet at Orleans was always quick
* Lloyd was quite impressed with all the nice breasts. Especially the ones with glitter. LOL (as a good tour guide, I felt I had to point these things out to him)
* Lloyd saw his first thong bikini. He was impressed with that too and his wife pointed it out to him.
* Cashed out $65 at Orleans slot club.
* Still haven't been into Wynn.
* Moving walkways in A and B terminals shut down, they seem to be enclosing them.
* Our Grand Caravan had a DVD player in the roof. An engine upgrade would have been much more useful but I think we got good mileage..920 miles and $120 of gas at $2.79.???
* Can't come up with a final gambling total cause I can't remember how much I gave Patti. I do know we both finished in the red and I think she did worse than me.
THE END
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