The Seemingly Irresponsible Trip (That Turned Out Great): NYNY 1/13-1/15

Prelude:
After 18+ years with the same employer, last week I was faced with the question of what to do with one’s self after being unceremoniously laid off. It may seem irresponsible to schedule a Vegas trip and leave within five days of becoming unemployed, but beyond the surface there was enough justification that made it a no-brainer for me and a friend.

First of all, my friend and I both had some vouchers for free golf that needed to be used by the end of January. Second, we both play myVEGAS and had access to free rooms and food for part of the trip. So as long as the remainder of the trip was conducted on a budget and I stayed disciplined when gambling, the trip was a go. Thankfully my understanding wife was fully supportive of sending me off to Vegas to unwind and enjoy a break after 28 consecutive years of steady employment, spanning two different jobs.

So my friend and I each grabbed a free night at NYNY via myVEGAS and then additionally got rewards for the Bellagio dinner buffet and MGM breakfast buffet. We booked our tee times and were all set. Here we go!

 

Day One: Wednesday, January 13, 2016
[Note: In December I accidentally broke my good Canon camera while playing golf when the camera bag caught on a club and the camera went hurling out onto the cart path. I’ve yet to replace it, so for this trip all of the photos were taken with my phone camera of suspect quality.]

I picked my friend up at his place in Irvine at 6:00 a.m. and traffic was pretty light except for a small stretch near Ontario. We stopped at Barstow Station (McDonald’s for me, Dunkin Donuts for him) and arrived in Vegas by about 9:45. Our first tee time was at 10:41 at Anthem Revere Golf Club. They have two courses, Lexington and Concord. Today we’d be playing Lexington, although we’d be back later in the week to sample Concord as well. I’d never played either of these courses previously.

The friendly starter got us out a little before our tee time and I really enjoyed the course. Desert terrain comes into play on many holes and there are numerous elevation changes to keep things interesting. Conditions weren’t pristine, but solid throughout. It’s by no means among the top tier of Vegas golf courses, but it’s very good and a fun course with great views of the Strip. Here are some pictures:

IMG_20160113_103729 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_104738 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_112742 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_123426 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_135507 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_140532 by Mark, on Flickr

After golf, we headed straight to NYNY and self parked. Check-in went smoothly and was handled very professionally by a desk clerk named Alfonso. For those who’ve used myVEGAS rewards, you know what a headache it can be sometimes. Alfonso coordinated both of our reservations, checked us in for both nights and made sure we wouldn’t have to get new keys or anything on day two. Great job!

I’d never stayed at NYNY before and I was pleasantly surprised by our base level “Park Avenue” room. It was a HUGE improvement from when this same friend and I stayed at Luxor in November. We were on the 28th floor of the Empire State Building and had a nice view of the Tropicana/LV Blvd. intersection:

IMG_20160113_153643 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_162552 by Mark, on Flickr

After getting cleaned up in the room, we headed out for dinner at the Bellagio buffet. We walked to Monte Carlo and took the tram to Bellagio. We swung through the conservatory quickly en route to getting our myVEGAS buffet rewards activated. It’s currently decked out for Chinese New Year:

IMG_20160113_165727~3 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_165758~2 by Mark, on Flickr

There was no wait at the M life desk nor at the buffet, so we were eating in no time. I started with a fantastic salad bar, some sushi rolls, bread and butter including delicious cracker bread, various cheeses and cold cuts and a little piece of parmesan cheese pizza. Most of it was fantastic, although the sushi rolls tasted like every other buffet sushi roll.

A sign that said Kobe Beef caught my eye, so I tried that on my next plate, but the server explained that it was just eye of round cut or something similar, so it wasn’t really anything revelatory. It was good, though. I also sampled some sauteed mushrooms and some ratatouille on this trip.

IMG_20160113_172657 by Mark, on Flickr

The peppercorn crusted prime rib and horseradish cream was irresistible to me, and then I also tried some tortellini in pesto cream sauce, as well as sweet chili ribs and some more bread. All great again, but very filing.

IMG_20160113_173723 by Mark, on Flickr

After three plates each, my friend and I were stuffed. I finished off the meal with two small desserts: creme brulee and tiramisu.

IMG_20160113_175018 by Mark, on Flickr

With our bellies full, we both agreed it would be a good idea to walk all the way back to NYNY to hopefully feel somewhat normal again in the foreseeable future. While heading toward the four corners exit at Bellagio, I stumbled upon a video Let it Ride machine. I’d always wished such a thing existed, and now I found out that it does! I played for five or 10 minutes and for some reason, the video version wasn’t quite as fun as the real deal. It’s nice to know this is there, though, if I ever want to go play some low-cost LIR (credits are $1). I turned a profit and started the trip with a $5 win before leaving Bellagio.

IMG_20160113_181231 by Mark, on Flickr

It was only a few minutes before the next fountain show, so we stopped, waited and watched. The song was L’estasi dell’oro by Ennio Morricone. I loved it, just I like love every Bellagio fountain performance.

IMG_20160113_182330 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160113_183246 by Mark, on Flickr

Now it was time to get our gamble on. My friend had taken advantage of Tropicana’s $200 on Us promotion back in November, so he had some free play on his card and we headed there first. He played through his FP quickly in order to hit the tables, but I found a nickel STP machine where I parked myself for some single-line DDB. I put in $20, and things started well and got better from there.

Broke the ice with 3s w/kicker:
IMG_20160113_192013 by Mark, on Flickr

Aces for 800 more:
IMG_20160113_200422 by Mark, on Flickr

Quad 8s:
IMG_20160113_200518 by Mark, on Flickr

Full boat with 5X multiplier:
IMG_20160113_201138 by Mark, on Flickr

Deuces w/kicker:
IMG_20160113_201757 by Mark, on Flickr

Dealt 10s:
IMG_20160113_202230 by Mark, on Flickr

Looking at the time stamp of these photos, all of the above hit within the span of 62 minutes! Drink service was consistent and I enjoyed several Coronas. When the machine seemed to cool down, I cashed out up $85:
IMG_20160113_203001 by Mark, on Flickr

We left Tropicana and took the overpass to Excalibur. While there, I lost $20 on electronic roulette and then $20 more on triple play nickel DDB. $90 winnings nearly cut in half to $50.

Then we went back to NYNY and I lost $5 in a nickel Red, White and Blue slot before turning my attention back to video poker. NYNY doesn’t have much nickel VP, but I did find a triple play Double Super Times Pay machine that I could play one line only. Things went well again:

Four Pointies (© Royal Flusher):
IMG_20160113_230403 by Mark, on Flickr

Jacks:
IMG_20160113_230531 by Mark, on Flickr

Another 5X multiplier Full House:
IMG_20160113_230851 by Mark, on Flickr

I played that down to $50 and cashed out for a $30 win. I finished the night by dumping $10 more into a Red, White & Blue slot, giving me a first-day profit of $65. Not quite as much as I made in a day when gainfully employed, but it sure was a lot more fun!

 

Day Two: Thursday, January 14, 2016

As I believe I’ve mentioned in other trip reports, my friend calls himself a “course collector,” meaning his goal as a golfer is to play as many different courses as possible. His list was at 713 courses worldwide prior to this trip, and that number has risen by more than 100 each of the last few years. I’m telling you this because especially when he’s away from home, he strives to maximize the number of courses played on a golf trip. For this reason it’s a minor miracle that I convinced him that we should not play at the crack of dawn on Thursday, and instead we had a reasonable 10:30 tee time. With winter temperatures nearing freezing, it would be miserable to start super early just so we could play again later in the day. The thought of sleeping in a bit, relaxing and playing one midday round sounded great. So that’s what we planned, but it’s not exactly what happened on Thursday.

I woke up as the sun was peeking over eastern mountains and got this fun picture of the Vegas sunrise:

IMG_20160114_065719~2 by Mark, on Flickr

We made our way over to MGM and ate the breakfast buffet. It was decent, highlighted by the omelette bar, but nothing great otherwise. Acceptable for free from myVEGAS, but definitely a waste of $18 if paying full price. I failed to take any pictures other than this obligatory tribute to the previously mentioned Royal Flusher:

IMG_20160114_083615 by Mark, on Flickr

Despite the chilly temps, it was a gorgeous morning:

IMG_20160114_074355 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_084723 by Mark, on Flickr

Today’s course was Aliante in North Las Vegas. I’d played here twice previously, but my friend had never played it, so he was eager to notch it off his list. In many ways, Aliante is the MGM breakfast buffet of golf courses. It’s decent, but nothing you’ll remember for long. (All three times I’ve played it were with a voucher won in a golf tournament.) Although for me, it turned out to be pretty memorable because I tied my all-time best score of 73. Here are some pictures of Aliante:

IMG_20160114_101311 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_105722 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_110748 by Mark, on Flickr

As we were nearing completion of our rather quick round, my friend’s “course collector” mentality kicked into high gear. You can practically see him computing things in his head, counting the hours of daylight left while scanning his phone for viable golf options nearby. I didn’t have much desire to play again, especially at typical Las Vegas rates, but my friend mentioned there was a small par 3 course not far off the 15 at Cheyenne, called North Las Vegas Municipal Par 3 Golf Course.

After avoiding a bit of weird road construction, we navigated ourselves to the deserted parking lot. Suddenly this little course in the middle of a mostly industrial area began to charm me. An old-fashioned clubhouse was manned by one guy who was sitting down when we entered and greeted us warmly. It was only $9 to play, and my friend offered to pay for me, so he paid our $18 and off we went.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. The greens were very furry and looked slow, but putts actually rolled pretty true. Overall the course was in “winter” condition with lots of dormant grass, but it played fine. The tees are all mats like you’d find at a driving range, and most holes were around 120 yards. Virtually having the whole place to ourselves was fun, and we finished in probably 45 minutes or an hour. Here are some pics:

IMG_20160114_135441 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_140109 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_142237 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_143814 by Mark, on Flickr

Oh, by the way, the course is lighted and claims to be Nevada’s oldest night-lit golf course. So the next time the gambling has you on the ropes, maybe stop in for a night nine at the North Las Vegas Muni.

Way back (a week and a half ago) when I had a job, I received an email from the Stratosphere with some type of survey about their “Take Vegas Back” marketing campaign. I completed the online survey and was promised at the end that I’d be rewarded with $25 in free play for doing so, although nowhere in the email nor the survey did they seem to have any of my personal information.

But the prospect of $25 in free play is hard to bypass, so I headed there next to check it out. I’d actually never been there in all my Vegas trips over the years. I might have gone in once during the Vegas World era, but never The STRAT . I quickly found the players club desk and explained about the survey and this $25 deal, and to my relief, the woman behind the counter didn’t offer any BS reasons why I didn’t qualify. Instead she created my card, gave it to a supervisor to add the $25 and delivered on the promise of the emailed survey! Awesome!

Better yet, I found a DDB nickel machine nearby to play it on. I played through my $25 in free play. No good hits during that time, but it turned into $18 in cash:

IMG_20160114_155322 by Mark, on Flickr

Then I played for a while more. I hit one quad playing JOB but those 125 nickels didn’t last long, and I left down a few bucks (of the free play $18, not out of my own pocket).

IMG_20160114_160332 by Mark, on Flickr

My friend dropped some money at the UTH and High Card Flush tables, and soon we were on our way. I liked the Stratosphere casino, though. If only the location wasn’t so isolated I’d be tempted to give them a stay on a future golf/guys trip.

We left Strat because we had a preferred window for our next stop, playing golf at the TaylorMade Experience just south of the airport on Las Vegas Blvd. We wanted to start at twilight so we’d get both daytime and nighttime views on this little, lit par 3 course. And that’s exactly what happened.

IMG_20160114_164620 by Mark, on Flickr

The course has a “deal” after 4:00 where it’s $25 for a bucket of range balls, nine holes of golf, cart included, and a drink in the bar afterward. We paid our money and headed straight out to the first tee. As the sun disappeared behind the mountains, it suddenly got very cold out, but we soldiered on.

It turns out this is a pretty fun little course, and as an added bonus, planes on certain routes into McCarran fly DIRECTLY OVER YOUR HEAD at an altitude that looks like a well-struck sand wedge could hit the bottom of the plane! Check it out:

https://youtu.be/ostjC44hA-s

Here are some photos of the course:

IMG_20160114_170707_2 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_171455 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_173909 by Mark, on Flickr

We had a lot of fun, but I really looked forward to getting back to the room and warming up. We each took showers and then headed out for dinner. Tonight’s destination was Secret Pizza at Cosmo. My favorite pizza of theirs is the white pizza that includes pepperoni and peperoncini, so I got two slices like that. Crust perfection, as far as I’m concerned. Char and crispy on the bottom, but doughy and chewy inside. Hard to beat, although $16 for two slices and a Coke isn’t the greatest deal.

IMG_20160114_194306 by Mark, on Flickr

After dinner my friend headed back to the Trop while I got some small souvenir shopping done for my wife and kids. I dropped that stuff at the room and then grabbed a chocolate shake from Shake Shack before walking to the Trop.

IMG_20160114_205406 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160114_205454 by Mark, on Flickr

When I arrived at Tropicana, it was packed and there was a palpable buzz in the place, as it apparently was the home base for something called the Sin City Shootout, “the largest annual LGBT sporting event in the world.” Basically it’s like a Gay Olympics, as it was described to us. Even all the dealers were wearing special shirts to commemorate the event.

Anyway, I headed back to my STP machine from the previous night and slipped in $20 hoping to replicate my results from 24 hours earlier. Things started promising, hitting quad 5s rather quickly:

IMG_20160114_211157 by Mark, on Flickr

But then the cold spell came. I lost that first $20. Then I lost another. Then another. I contemplated moving or taking a break, but put one more $20 in the machine. With $80 in, my winnings from the previous night had disappeared. But it’s a good thing I persevered, because oh boy did it get hot.

Fours for 400:
IMG_20160114_222635 by Mark, on Flickr

Fives:
IMG_20160114_223457 by Mark, on Flickr

And then Aces to put me 70 cents short of even on the night:
IMG_20160114_224457 by Mark, on Flickr

Things cooled off for almost 20 minutes, and I was down to about $60 in credits when I finally got my first quad with a multiplier. And it was a good one. No, actually it was the BEST one:

BOOM!
IMG_20160114_230334 by Mark, on Flickr

Suddenly I not only had clawed my way back to even, but I was up $105 on the night, and $170 on the trip!

I hit one more quad just two minutes later:
IMG_20160114_230531 by Mark, on Flickr

Eventually I cashed out with $100 profit on the night:
IMG_20160114_231659 by Mark, on Flickr

My friend was ready for bed, so we headed back to NYNY, but I decided to go play that Double STP machine I’d played the night before. I put in $20 and the multiplier wins continued, with a 9X Flush:
IMG_20160114_235702 by Mark, on Flickr

Now here’s where this trip report becomes lacking, and believe me, no one is more disappointed about it than me. A couple minutes after the Flush above, I got dealt a Royal! The machine locked up and began paying me, and my credits racked up to $214.25. In my head, however, I kept thinking, “This is Double STP, so I wonder if I need to press hold on everything and see if I can get a multiplier on the draw.” Well, as soon as I hit one of the hold buttons, the Royal Flush screen disappeared and it somehow initiated the next deal. Whatever I pushed changed it from playing one line to two lines, all before I took a picture! So my beautiful, dealt Royal Flush will be only a memory with no digital proof.

I really wanted to find the Command-Z function on that video poker machine that would allow me to take a picture. When I pressed Return to Game, it did show the cards again, but didn’t show the payout info and it displayed as if I was playing two lines instead of one, which I wasn’t:

IMG_20160115_000440 by Mark, on Flickr

So that’s the story of how to turn a dealt Royal Flush into a frustrating experience. (Hey, I take these trip reports seriously!) But in reality, I was amazed. Suddenly this was the best gambling trip I’ve probably ever had, being up almost $400 with nearly all of those winnings coming from nickel VP!

I played the credits down to $200 and cashed out for a $180 profit.

IMG_20160115_001224 by Mark, on Flickr

Feeling energized from the win, I didn’t feel like going to bed, but I quickly dropped $20 on electronic roulette followed by $10 on a quarter slot. I then decided to trek over to Excalibur to take advantage of their $5 Let it Ride table. However, it wasn’t until I sat down and bought in that I noticed it was $10 minimum, just like at NYNY. I felt like I’d look like an idiot if I balked, so I splurged and played anyway. Fortunately I won $30 on the first hand, lost $10 on the second hand and won $40 on the third hand. Having doubled my $60 buy-in, I decided to cash out.

Upon returning to NYNY, I quickly lost $25 on a combination of penny Wonka and DDB quarters. It was time for bed, but not before taking stock of what a great day it had been – I tied my all-time best golf score, hit a 10X multiplier quad and was DEALT A ROYAL FLUSH. Needless to say, I slept well.

 

Day Three: Friday, January 15, 2016

As I alluded to previously, today’s golf had us scheduled to return to Revere Golf Club, but for the Concord course instead of Lexington. Neither myself nor my friend had ever played it, but we had heard from many sources that it was the lesser of the two courses at Revere. I didn’t find this to be the case at all.

First things first, though. We had an 8:35 tee time but were informed upon arrival that there was a minor frost delay. This actually worked out well because a friend who lives in NW Las Vegas was joining us, and traffic was terrible for his drive. He arrived just in time and we teed off a little before 9:00. I loved the course and felt it was more consistent throughout than Lexington, which had a few boring holes that were out of character with the rest of the course. Also, two very interesting things happened during our round:

On about the third or fourth hole, I spotted a coyote up by the green, and suddenly it took off on a full sprint toward us. We then saw the jackrabbit it was chasing out in front of it by about 20 yards, and soon enough the coyote realized it was outmatched and gave up the pursuit. The jackrabbit was amazingly fast, and the whole thing felt like it was right out of a NatGeo special or something. It pretty much made my day.

Then a couple holes later, a light rain began falling, but by the time we reached the green, it had turned into frozen rain, which was pretty interesting. Tiny white balls of frozen rain were bouncing on the green as I lined up my putt.

I wish I’d gotten video of the coyote/jackrabbit chase, but wasn’t quick enough on the draw. Here are some photos of the Concord course, which has dormant fairways that create that stark contrast with the overseeded fairways:

IMG_20160115_085636 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_091931 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_093156 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_095305 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_115005~2 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_124758 by Mark, on Flickr

We finished around 1:00 and that was all the golf we had planned, but I was game to extend our trip if we could find an affordable course to play. We found that in the form of Boulder City Golf Course, a municipal course out toward Hoover Dam. We checked in around 2:00, paid the $21 twilight fee and were given no guarantees we would finish all 18 holes. The front nine was packed with people and moving pretty slow, so things looked bleak. This is a very basic course, but it’s a new course to add to our lists, and a 6,600-yard regulation one at that. Fortunately, lots of people seemed to quit after nine, leaving most of the back nine open for us to fly around. We finished the 18th hole right after the sun had dipped behind the mountains in the distance, bringing to a close another great golf trip.

IMG_20160115_142859 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_154702 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_155637~2 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_162342 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_162952 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_165634 by Mark, on Flickr

Instead of taking the standard route home, we took the 95 down to Searchlight and then Joshua Tree Highway/Nipton Road back to the 15. That stretch on Joshua Tree Highway was crazy in its isolation – we passed exactly one car headed the other direction in the span of 32 miles.

Dinner was Mexican food at Domingo’s in Barstow, a solid choice where we’ve eaten a couple times previously. Albondigas soup and the "Tremendous Trio":

IMG_20160115_195626 by Mark, on Flickr

IMG_20160115_201901 by Mark, on Flickr

As I mentioned to my friend on the way home, if this is what every week of unemployment is like, I can get used to this real fast. Thanks for reading!

 

Sounds like a great trip! Hope your upcoming job search ends up with you getting a better job than you lost. Played nickel STP last trip to the casino and am hooked on it now although I didn't have your luck.

 

Enjoyed your details! Nice wins on the nickel VP.

 

Great report! NYNY room looks good for the price! I got that Strat $25 freeplay offer too, can't wait to finally check that place out. Thanks for writing a report.

 

Sorry for the job loss, but I really enjoyed the TR. We never played Anthem, but we have played at the other 3 you mentioned.

 

Great report and sounds like a very well deserved trip. Thanks for the great details and pictures.

 

Great report Thank you

 

An Outstanding trip report!!!! And the pics were great, with or without your 'real' camera. Thanks for posting it, and best of luck in your job search...I hope it's a short one.

 

Awesome report, love the lowroller wins!

 

Really enjoyed your TR. The Coyote and the Rabbit was the best visual.

 

Even though I don't golf, I enjoyed every bit of your trip report! Thanks for posting. I hope your job search is a short one and you land a better one than the last.

Thanks again.

 

Tough luck about the job loss, but you'll bounce back.........just like the nickel VPs!........thanks for the report!

 

Great report! Sucks to hear about the job, best of luck finding even a better one!

And wow at those hits! Awesome 10X quad! And welcome to the dealt Royal club!!! It's also a "wrap around" sequential! Sorry you didn't get the exact type of pic you were looking for. The best way to fix that is to do it again! [emoji481]

It's standard for the machine to auto play hands on dealt "maximum wins". And sucks you didn't get that 1 in 15 deal multiplier for the 20X royal! That would have been epic and I would have been insanely jealous! Or even a draw multiplier would have been nice.

And back when I using a dumb phone and not taking pics very regularly, I forgot to take a pic of my biggest ever win at the time ($400). So went back to the game and took the pic like you did. Took about 3 years to break it. Hope even bigger wins don't take you that long! [emoji6]

 

Sorry to hear about the lay off - best of luck finding a newer and better one!

Great report and awesome pics!

 

I'm not a golfer but those pics were awesome!

Congrats on the VP wins, and a fun trip...hope Mr Flusher appreciates your photo of the famous CTUG

Good luck on the job search, hopefully a short one!

Thank you for a great TR.

 

Nice report and pictures. Congrats on all the hits. Getting laid off sucks, but hopefully it will lead you to a better job.

 

Nice Pics

Nice TR M ILIS

Your Camera Phone did just fine! & took some great shots,
(i'm still using my I-phone 4S), while my Cannon camera gathers dust.

On the job front, one door closes & many other doors open up.

Thanks for the VP Porn & the Jet Buzz