Quick one night family trip to Laughlin

Spent one night in Laughlin to celebrate my baby sis’s 25th birthday. She lives on the AZ/NM border and my family lives in Central CA. Laughlin is just about half way for all of us, so we thought it would be a good place to meet. We decided on the Edgewater based on price and reviews. Here’s the quick trip report:

Driving to on the 40 from Barstow to Laughlin is remarkably similar to driving to Vegas on the 15-pretty desert views that all start to look the same after a while. We marveled at the change of condition of Needles Highway once you cross the border into Nevada.

Our family gets to Laughlin at about 3. It was windy, but the temperature was perfect. Valet was quick and painless and there was only one person ahead of us at registration. I toyed around with the thought of doing the $20 trick and thought what the heck. The younger girl at the desk smiled and asked ‘what’s this for?’ I said, ‘Well, just wondering if you had any upgrades available.’ She replied that she has free river view upgrades, and I countered by asking if they had any rooms with a spa tub available. She said she would see what she could do. She gave us a suite with a living room, a dining area, wet bar, fridge, robes, good size bathroom with said spa tub, and free bottles of water. She also put everybody else in our party in updated adjoining river view rooms. Definitely not like the 1 bedroom suite I stayed in at the Palms Place in October, but was perfect for what we needed. My streak for the $20 trick continues!

We had dinner at Pints Brewery at the next-door Colorado Belle. Pretty meh, but it was fine. Decent microbrews.

So the Edgewater is certainly not the strip, but I really enjoyed my time there. The wife was nice enough to watch our daughter while I went and gambled awhile with my sister. Being microrollers, we played 5 deck, 3:2, $5 blackjack. My sis had never played live blackjack before, but we had fun dealers who were really helpful in showing her the ropes. Perfect place for her to learn. I couldn’t finish my drinks fast enough to keep up with cocktail service. With all of my family there, probably best to not go full degen mode anyway. Played for about an hour and doubled my $40 bucks and my sister won $10. Played some nickel keno and video poker and again the drink service was great.

After checking out the next morning, my wife, two year old, and mom all checked out the river walk. We drove over to the Nugget and walked over to the Laughlin River Lodge. My daughter loved the river (‘Look at the Ocean, daddy!’). We would have taken the water taxi had it not been so windy. I think we might stay at the Nugget if and when we go again. The smell and the atrium faintly reminded me of the Mirage. The casino at the River Lodge felt strange. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

The drive back home was scary. We should have stayed another night and let the storm pass. Had a dust storm, 80 mph wind gusts, rain downpours, sleet, and heavy snow. We took Google Maps advice to bypass a road closure in Tehachapi-big mistake. It took us through a windy mountain road with sheer drop offs, zero visibility, and black ice. I guess they close those roads for a reason. We made it, though! So thankful to be home and to have had a good weekend.

 

Thanks for sharing! I really like Laughlin - it's as quiet as AC but cleaner and with better views. It's a nice side trip while in Vegas for 7-10 days.

 

Glad you made it home safe! You gotta watch out with GPS's sometimes. I would rather take interstates even if the GPS tells me it's a bit longer.

I wouldn't mind checking out Laughlin myself, but that would also cut into Vegas time!

 

I like the Edgewater in Laughlin. I've only stayed there once, but it was nice. Such a more relaxing slow paced, low key environment than Vegas!

I was this close to getting sprayed by a skunk the one time we stayed there though, he was just strolling around outside by the parking, so we saw him and froze and he didnt get spooked. So glad that didn't happen! LOL

 

Thank you... Me too! I vowed I would never try to get around a road closure again.
If I'm already in Vegas, especially if I lived in a place where it wasn't quickly accessible by car, I still don't think I would make a special trip down to Laughlin for anything other than meeting family, but we still had a great time.