Father/Son Road Trip to Vegas

Last year my dad and I rented a car and drove to Las Vegas from Texas. This year my brother decided he wanted to join the party as well as his son. Instead of renting my brother wanted to take his new truck. I was concerned but with cheap gas prices our total gas bill $400 split four ways.

We left on Saturday the 15th hoping to make it to Silver City. We made such good time we ended up spending the night in Springerville, Arizona. We woke up the next morning to snow all the way to St. Johns. It was pretty cool because I don't think my nephew had every seen snow in person. We made it to Las Vegas around noon and my dad wanted to stop at Sam's Town so he could get his favorite flavor of ice cream they only have there. Played some DDBP breaking even before having lunch at TGIF. After lunch we headed to Planet Hollywood to get checked in. The traffic was terrible because of the closures due to the marathon. Got adjoining rooms on a high floor which worked out great. It was cool seeing all the people running up the street.

That night we stayed at PHO me playing 100 play Bonus Poker and Build a Wheel Poker. My nephew I found out was really not into gambling but came to spend some quality time with his dad and grandfather. Woke the next morning and I treated everyone to breakfast at Spice Market. At breakfast we planned our day which include stopping by the Shelby Museum and checking out the new Harley dealership on the strip. My brother wanted to show his son the moving statues at Caesars's so we headed that way. They headed to the mall while my dad and I sat at what had to be the brightest slot machine every made. I played over an hour and cashed out at $100 bucks on a twenty dollar buy-in. Drink service was exceptional many a Blue Moon consumed. We went and checked out the new sportsbook but it being Monday all the seats were taken. It looked nice and can't wait to play on the next trip. We walked across the street so I could play my wife's favorite machine at Margaritaville. It is a penny machine and the max bet is 30 cents. I think the top payout is 90 bucks but my wife has to play it every trip. We headed back to PHO so my brother could join us in drinking since he was the driver.

My brother found a Buffalo machine by the Total Rewards desk that he was having some good hits on. Everytime he would hit a bonus over $100 bucks he would cash out and and put in another $20. He ended up with five tito's and that would become his go to machine the rest of the trip. I sat at a Monopoly machine in the same area and after hitting a couple of Epic Bonus's I cashed out over $600 bucks on a $40 buy in. We ended up staying up until after 4 having a late night meal at Earl's. I think we had the best drink service I have ever had at PHO. The next morning at breakfast my nephew informed us that my brother was tipping 5 dollars a beer since didn't have any ones which explains the great service.

Last full day and they wanted to do the buffet again but I passed and went to Earl's. The plan for today was to head back to Sam's Town since my dad did not get his cone the first time since the ice cream parlor didn't open until 3 and the go downtown. Also my brother wanted to swing by the Wynn and buy a couple of their pillows with his Buffalo winnings. Dropped a quick hundred at Sam's but pop's was happy that he got his ice cream. Unfortunately my brother and nephew didn't get to try my dad's favorite flavor since we got the last two scoops.

We got downtown and they wanted to try the buffet at Golden Nugget but I had other plans and headed to Four Queens to take a shot at winning that Shelby GT-350. I ran a couple hundred through and then had some decent hits that got me almost even. I spied the new Rolling Stones machine and gave it a try but it was pretty boring and the big bonus's weren't that big. By then the sun had dropped and it cooled off and me in shorts and a t-shirt decided it was too cool to walk to Main Street Station.
I jumped from Fremont to the D finishing at Golden Gate with no big wins. I received a call that they were ready to head back to PHO. My brothers luck on the Buffalo machine was still working and I got a slice of pizza from Pin-up that was really good. Called it an early night around midnight since we were leaving early in the AM.

We ended up departing the next morning around 6:00 am and made it back to San Antonio around 3:00 am the next morning. It was a great trip with my dad having a really good time but next year I might have to talked him into flying like we did on the first trip in 2010. I ended up coming back with $26 dollars more than I took with only my share of the gas on my credit card. Everything else was cash or comps. In the three days I earned a little over 3000 tier credits not including bonus's which hopefully will keep the free rooms at PHO coming my way. It seemed like the time flew with several things I wanted to do not getting done. I was on the lookout for the green wristbands but did not see any. Thanks for taking the time to read this and let me know if you have any questions. Sorry no pictures. I told myself I was going to take a lot but I think drinking got in the way.

Mark

 

Great report - good to spend time with family!!

 

Good report!

What's your dad's favorite flavor that Sam's only has?

And sounds like a decent drive. You were on the road almost as long as the trip.

 

Awesome family trip, great memories for lifetime I am sure. Nice write up.

 

It is Black Cherry Vanilla from Dreyer. The first trip after hearing my dad talk about it I tried to order some from my local store but no deal. He says Sams Town is the only place he was seen it.

Mark

 

Wish I had some people in my family who love Vegas like I do. Great TR. A little tip getting to MSS: go to the back of Binion's (poker tourney/thrift shop area) go out the double doors and cross the street to the Cal. Use the sky bridge to MSS. It's a nice way to avoid the cold and late-night vagrants.

 

A fun get-away for the men in the family! Congrats on coming home ahead.

 

It sounds like you all had a great time! Thanks for posting your trip report

 

Great TR I hope to one day get my grandfather out to Vegas. He use to always tell me stories about how he and his brothers would go to Vegas 2 times a year. But he hasn't been in almost 20 years.