Ok, here goes. I'll start this report and see how far I can get through, with the first installment.

This trip was a real mix of feelings for me. At the beginning, I really wasn't all tuned up to go. I drug my feet on making the flight reservations and everything. Well, I finally made a move and bought plane tickets and we where off, sort of. About 2 weeks before the trip, I still wasn't 100% behind the trip. I even posted a note here stating such feelings. Then about a week before our flight to Vegas I asked Sharon if she still wanted to marry me, she said yes, and I said, lets get it done this next week in vegas when my daughter will be in town. One weeks notice would have been hard on most brides to be, but not Sharon. She needed a dress, we needed rings, a church w/date & time, and to let anyone who might care know what our plans are. BTW, this gave my Vegas Trip a shot in the arm, and I was now looking forward to the trip more. Talk about doing different stuff! It all came together by Thursday night before of flight Friday morning.

Friday morning comes early when you have a 6am flight. Up at 2:30am heck, the bars just closed! LOL. Continental, airlines was wonderful. I rate them #1 on my airline favorites list. Being on an early flight OUT of Philly has it's perks, no delay when your the second plane scheduled for take off that morning! LOL We flew through Houston. and on to LV. While a night landing is beautiful, a daytime morning landing is much better for time management.

The rest of the trip will be done in compartments.....

Note, Sandy was our traveling companion for the who;e trip, and my daughter and son in law joined us on Sunday till Wednesday.

Food, We ate well, and the tightness of our clothes proved that fact by the end of the trip.

Breakfasts
Crepes at Caesars Palace french crepe place (don't recall the name)
Egg & I
Agustus Cafe (Caesars Palace) our one miss-step. Should be renamed the discussed-us cafe
Omelet House
California Market street cafe
California Market street cafe
Omelet House
Burger king at McCarren airport.

Lunch, no lunches

Dinners
Mesa Grill (caesars Palace)
Noodle 9 (caesars Plaace)
Envy Steak House
Texas De Brazil (Town Square mall)
Casa Don Juan (in the bad lands between the strip & downtown)
The Broiler (Palace Station)
Pasta Pirate (California Hotel)
Hennesey's (end of fremont street exp)

Notes on dinner, Not a bad apple in the bunch here. a Vegas first for us. You will also note the lack of the MSS Brew Pub on this list (a good thing). We also found an interesting menu of breakfast at Henneseys pub, a favorite of ours, Captain Crunch French Toast! One door closes (Omelet House) another door opens (Henneseys). Casa Don Juan deserves special attention here, it was surprising good food and service, along with a very reasonable price tag!
Place I want to spend more time at ... Town Square for dinner. Tommy Bahama's looks interesting, as does the Blue Martini, we stopped in for drinks after the wedding but before dinner. Sharon left her camera behind. They kept it for her. Nice.

Hotels
3 nights Caesars Palace, 5 nights Main Street Station (for the honeymoon)
Caesars rooms are always comfortable and clean. This one no exception to the rule. Room located right off the elevators, and no noise problems.
MSS, normal Holiday inn type room, nothing too fancy, but everything functions (this trip) I was a bit disappointed in our host, she knew we where getting married. Nothing special was done.

Shows
One show Vinny's show at the Flamingo. JMT took us to this show in September and I knew the kids Daughter & Nick would enjoy it, as well as my sister Sandy. I was correct. The show was basicly the same, but it's the audience participation that makes every show different. It was perfect, we all had a good time. Got the tickets at the half price ticket booth at the 4 queens.
Plans fell through for a Friday (David Spade) show. Oh well maybe next time.

The Wedding,
It went off without any problems. The little church of the west has them going through the place like clock work! Cha-ching! In attendance, besides Sharon and I, Daisy, Senator, Kestral and friend Cindy, My daughter Ariel, and her husband Nick, and sister Sandy. Thanks everyone, Cindy would later show all of us her special talents! Wink Wink!
The worst part of the whole wedding was finding the darn marriage license place. I guess I was expecting some sort of sign you could actually read from your car!
After the wedding, we all went to Texas de Brazil for dinner. Down side here, waiting for a table in an empty restaurant. Upside, we had a clown at our table (Cindy). Somehow with my twisted sense of humor, I found it quite fitting! Texas de Brazil, is a great place for dinner, if you want to overdose on meat! But the salad bar is also a stand out here.
The senator flew out for the wedding or to view Daisy"s dress, or maybe he was just looking for a reason to go to Vegas??? My money in on the later! LOL
Thank You All for sharing our little moment. There is a webcam of the wedding
instrustions Go to www.littlechurchlv.com
click on "chapel webcam" download real player (if needed) Select ceremony date "november 23, 2009" type in the grooms last name (stoudt) and the brides last name (gehr)

Gambling,

Casinos visited
M resort, Silverton, South Point, Orleans, Rio, Harrahs, Flamingo, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Ballys, Caesars Palace, Wynn resort, Sahara, Sams Town, East side canary, Palace Station, Fremont, Golden Nugget, Binions, California, Main street Station.

Caesars was by far my lucky casino. I had a lot of wins early here. Including my first royal of the trip, I had 2. My favorite win was being delt 3's with the kicker on a 5 play machine (quarters). With all the wins I still managed to come home a looser in the money end of the deal. I played a lot of 5 & 10 play machines this trip. They chew up the money on a loosing streak.
Sharon did so much better with money management then I did, or will ever do. So by the time she hit dueces with the kicker on a dollar machine on the last evening, it put her into the plus column.

There wasn't many new machines. I did see a few with better monitors and graffics .

Notes, The Sahara is filthy. I don't care to go back.
Binions was a surprise this trip, they really have come a long way. We played in there for a couple hrs. Oh and i liked the cowgirl blackjack dealers so much, I forgot to look if it was paying 6/5! LOL Does Binions have class? Maybe! Stop in and check out the place your next trip.
M resort we won 3 bottles of wine (points for that day) we left all of them for the maid at MSS. Silverton 2 sweatshirts (points)

Shopping,
We shopped this trip. Shoes, sharon needed shoes. Miracle Mile, Forum shops, Ballys. paris, town square mall, Sheplers store & tent, and bass pro shop. I'm tired just from thinking about holding her purse!

Car rental,
Thrifty, a Dodge Charger for $302 with all charges for 9 days. No complaints at all. Windows where even clean!

Thoughts
I'm ready to go back! Doing different things and trying new places made this trip even more special. I'm talking about the trip, not our wedding night here! However this trip will remain special, because this was the trip Sharon said "I do".
Thanks for reading!

GREAT best trip report/trip ever!!

Lee - Congrats again to you and Sharon on the wedding - sounds like you had a great time.

And congrats on the 2 royals and the dealt 3's w/ kicker - THAT must have been a thrill!

BTW - No Super Times Pay on this trip?

OH Mike, I played them, they just didn't play back. Had some minor hits, but the edge on that machine does chew you up on the long haul. I had to limit my exposure to them at the end. I did find another BAD machine to fall in love with this trip. It was a 10 play machine, that also pays out on the deal. Yes, that's 100 credits a game, or $25 a button push. I played that thing for hours. 60,000 credits for a royal on the deal. Alas, it never happened, but, it could have! On the deal, all 10 hands are delt, then you play only the main one hand and save those cards for the redeal. I never got the name of the machine though!

Yes, I got me a new Ball & chain! LOL I'm happy! If this doesn't work out, I'm getting a dog! Then the only poop I have to deal with is in the yard! LOL
Thanks for the congrats, on the wins, shame it was only quarters! Not enough to make it a winning trip!

Thanks for reading!

DAG, I am so sorry you were not there. The dinner afterward was right up your alley! Meat, meat and more meat! LOL
SEE YA next year! Remember, I'm holding your feet to the fire on this one!
I'll be celebrating my wedding anniversary you know? I now have a built in event to push, at check in, on our November thanksgiving trips! LOL

Great Trip and trip report, Lee.

I'm glad you found a breakfast replacement for the Omelet House. It sounds like it has potential. I'd been thinking about a place in the Las Vegas Club that starts with a T for breakfast. I haven't made it there yet.

I think most of the dining options in Town Square are pretty good. Did you see the Yard House? They have hundreds of kegs of beer in a big clear cooler hooked up to the bars. If you can't find a perfect beer there, you could have fun trying.

I'm glad you did okay in the Broiler. I've given up on them. When I have to eat at Palace Station, I just go to the coffee shop.

Your webbing video looks nice. I'm very happy for you and Sharon. You two make a great team. And Texas de Brazil is an excellent choice for afterwards.

I hear a lot of flack about Sahara and Riviera being dirty. No doubt they are both dumps and they aren't clean. I'm kinda torn on this subject though. I think they are extremely outdated and outclassed by their neighbors on the strip, which suggests they should be torn down and rebuilt to modern standards. It's a sad day when your casino gets outclassed by Circus Circus. I don't see them any filthier than the average downtown casino. Maybe I'm blinded by nostalgia and history, and can't see the dirt. Does the Sahara really have physical dirt and filth that can't be matched by the Fremont or Plaza?

I really did enjoy the trip report and sorry that we couldn't get together. I'm really happy for your marriage. I'm glad you did some different things. And I'm glad that you got a shot of Vegas enthusiasm.

As you would say, So when's your next trip?

JMT,
I have no clue what in the Vegas club anymore. They have Foxy night club which is sad, and I might add is sort of scary at night. They have the sadest looking BJ pit in all of downtown. The lobster tank crane machine (BTW my daughter found another one of those in town). Ever since they ruined the great moments room, I sort of wrote them off. Oh they also have some sort of magic show where the old cafe used to be on the first floor. YUCK!
As for the Riv and Sahara, my heart kinda bleeds for them. They had so much potential, The Sahara was looking good until the owner died suddenly. Ever since then the Sahara has been heading south. The Riv, still has an old world charm about her in some ways. But it's been run into the dirt, and I don't see it coming back.
The Sahara, was in very poor shape. What I see when a casino starts having trouble is, the first thing they do is lower table min. and ease up on the street people. I was approched by one inside the casino. Those that know me, know I don't like being touched much. Well, when a bumm touches me, and wants to give me "free" playing advice, and I am carrying money on me. I just about freak! The machines where all sticky, and yes, just like the plaza. But I wouldn't say the plaza was any worse then the Sahara! But I'm splitting hairs here. If given the choice, I'd take the plaza (to sit & play) over the Sahara, but that just might be because I see how far the Sahara has slipped.

The Broiler, well everything went OK, except for my melted butter for the crab legs. I had some sort of foregin substance in my butter. Waiter was not happy, took it away, returned with butter, with more debris in it, and sad "it's just something in the butter" Huh? I didn't go any futher with it, I ate them plain, w/out butter and debris. Probably better for me anyway! Sometimes I just ain't up to a fight!

My only problem with town square is the drive. To truely partake of the place, you need to cab it to and from.

The wedding went just fine as did the meal afterward. I truly wish you could have been there, but I understand. This trip thing just didn't work out for time together. I kinda had a full plate too with friends and family in town all at the same time. We will catch up next trip!

Ah, next trip? Well, I already have run the idea of a short January trip up the flag pole, and no one saluted ... yet! LOL I have some FF miles I'd like to burn, and a 5 night vegas trip on a slow jan weekend sounds like a fun trip. We already have plans for a woodlands trip in February. Some middle of nowhere cabin in the deep woods of PA. BTW, I'm not a hunter or the great outdoors type. The closest I want to get to wildlife is at the LV bass pro shop, and it's stuffed and hanging on the walls! I have miles on USair and continental and a bunch banked on my dinner club card. We never seem to be able to use them to vegas, so I was thinking with a flexiable schedule in January, it might work! Sharon has made a comment about a coupon trip like we did when we first got together and took our first trip. It's kinda fun seeing just how cheap you can travel, when you put your mind to it! BTW, I was ready to go back to vegas the day after we returned! LOL But what I think really turned the vegas thing around for me was trying different places. We got out of the rut we where in.

Thanks for reading, and thanks again for the ticket offer to the rat pack. I don't want to become known as the ticket mooch! <vbg>

MikeD, Looking at my pictures, I discovered that both my royals where on Supertimes pay machines. One of them with just holding the ace.

You got a Royal by just holding an ace??!!?? Wait a minute, I did the SAME THING in August at Bellagio - but not on a Super Times Pay machine. That was quite a surprise - I'm sure yours was too!

Yes it was a suprise, however the super times pay thingy was not in activation when I hit that royal. Yup, no skill at all on that one, but I'll take it anyway!

Wow! That's an impressive list of casinos you visited! I was only in 8 casinos on this trip, and I only played in 5 of those - I think I walked by more than that on my evening exercise jaunts on the strip! LOL, I'll have you know I couldn't hit the gym at Flamingo because I had to make a really hard choice between the exercise duds and the dress - space was tight in my one tote bag<g>.

Aren't you going to describe your wedding attire?

Congrats to Sharon and you on your marriage. Hopefully you remember Dora and I from a previous meet many moons ago.
We kind of gave up on vegas for a couple of years just to try something different. Thinking of gong back next year. Perhaps we can join in a meet and finally get to see everyone.

I'm retired now so I have time on my hands as they say but the little woman is still amoung the gainfully employed.

I'll try and keep track of the posts as to when your next meet is. Were already committed to Mexico in February but after than everything is open.

Just realized I hadn't responded to your Trip Report. It was wonderful. For some reason I am not able to bring up the video of your wedding, but I loved reading about it, and all the excitement of winning that you had. You sure got around while here! I agree about the Augustus Cafe at Caesar's........I haven't heard anyone say anything good about it. The food is okay, but the service is really not very good. A few weeks ago we stayed there when invited to see Bette Middler, and the best restaurants we went to were all not in Caesars. We don't do really fancy, so stick with the mid level stuff. We did go to the Caesar's buffet for breakfast one morning.....that wasn't too bad, but we had a table where we couldn't see anything. It was fun reading about the Omelet House. I'm sorry they are closing the one downtown. The owner of those restaurants used to be our neighbor, and they were nice people. There is one not far from the Strip, kind of behind UMC and Valley Hospital not far off of Charleston and Rancho. It's not so jazzy from the outside, but the food is the same.
It's too bad that the meet was so small this time.......hopefully next year will be better attended.
I'm glad you had a good time even after you weren't sure that you would.
Best wishes to both of you, and I hope your next visit is just as fun and profitable.

Daisy, No, the wedding attire speaks for itself! don't you think?
You could have worn your work out clothes to the wedding for all we would have cared. The important thing was you were there! Thanks!

Oneboater, Thanks, Hopefully #2 marrige works out better then the first ones for both of us! BTW, nothing wrong with being home while the little woman brings home the bacon! Maybe someday (if I live that long) I will have a year or 2 of that as well!
Oh and Mexico sounds so perfect, with all this nasty weather coming!
Thanks for reading !

Tater,
Would have loved to see you and toby atthe wedding. But we understand! We may seek out another location of the omelet house on the next trip, but with so many good places to eat in town, it's really hard to say where we will end up for breakfast.
As for the meet size, I like the smaller meets. 8 people is about the limit if you really want to say you spent some time with your friends at a meet. Sharon & I both agree, next time when we renew the vows, it's going to be an ELVIS wedding! LOL
Thanks for reading all the way down! Hope to see you on a future trip to VEGAS!
Lee-PA