Whirlwind TR - 14 hrs. Tahoe, Reno and back

OK, so here's what prompted me to make this very insane trip. I had offers for:

$280 in FP/Promo chips in Reno
$250 in FP/Promo chips in Tahoe Saturday
$375 in FP/Promo chips in Tahoe Sunday
$100 food voucher for Tahoe

$1000+ in food and FP that I could take advantage of in a 4 hour period. Since I had lost last weekend, I wasn't thirsty for "revenge", just a little payback.

So, here's what I decided:

I could rent a car for about $30. Gas would be about $50. I could go up at 4PM, eat dinner at the Steakhouse in Tahoe, collect the Saturday $250 at Tahoe, drive up to Reno and collect the $280, then drive back to Reno, collect the $375, then drive home. I should be home by 4AM.

So, I left my house at 2PM to pick up the car, then, a simple trip to pick up xiaolongbao (Shanghaiese Soup Dumplings or XLB for short) for my host in Tahoe. If you're gonna short play or no play, I figure at least a gift would be appropriate.

Well, as it turns out, both of my primary and secondary restaurants were closed for "afternoon break". So, no XLB when I left San Jose. The best restaurant in the Bay Area for XLB has opened (Din Tai Fung) at Westgate Mall (correction: Valley Fair) in SJ, but I didn't want to risk the long lines. Maybe next time.

OK, the next outpost would be Sacramento. Quickly, I consulted Yelp to see who had XLB in Sactown. Found a restaurant in South Sac that had 'em, and they could have two orders ready by the time I would be cruising through there.

It was a tough drive to Sac. Two car crashes and one median fire later, I pulled in and picked up the XLB. Of course I forgot to take pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it, they sure smelled good. OK, add another $20 to my "expenses".

The drive from Sac to Tahoe was smooth, spent most of the 90 minutes thinking Of where I was going to eat, how much I was going to play (I decided against a "no play day"), and where I was going to eat.

What it boiled down to was the fact that I had a $100 voucher for food, which made it:

1)The Tahoe Steakhouse, or
2)The buffet and 3 or 4 bottles of wine to take home.

I decided on the steakhouse.

Got to Harrahs at 8:30PM. Met my Tahoe host and gave her the goodies, she asked me if I needed a room for the night, and I politely declined, since I was heading home after the 12:01AM chip collection.

Went to dinner and had:

1/2 dozen oysters



shrimp bisque



16oz. Prime Rib (medium rare)



The picture doesn't show it, but the Prime Rib cut was 2" thick. Took most of the Prime Rib home for my Dad and my son. Should last us 2-3 days of dinner.

Went downstairs to pick up the first $250 in promo chips, Went over to a Quad Wolf Run and put in $180 and made 96TC, decided it was time to leave for Reno.

Got to Reno in an hour, the road was pretty clear, though road work at a couple of places cut the road down to a single lane. At this point, no recognizable fatigue. Went to the Cashier's cage and saw Hannah, my "regular" cashier, chit-chatted for 5-10 minutes, picked up $280 in promo chips for Reno, then picked up my car and drove back to Tahoe.

Got back to Tahoe In an hour, at about 12:20AM. Got the $375 in additional Patho promo chips, and went into the High limit slot lounge and put $100 into Triple Double Strike, the machine that treated me well last trip. Well, "the machine giveth, and the machine taketh away", and this time the machine taketh away. nothing in 10 pulls.

OK, down $300, almost time to leave.

I sat down at a Hot 8 machine to "round out" my TC. Luck was on my side. I cashed out $360 on $100 in thanks to hitting and "award all" and a $100 Hot 5 bonus, which brought my cash losses to $140.

At 1AM, I decided it was time to get going home. I had stopped in Carson City for 24 oz. of coffee and added two Stok to it. Stok is a caffeine additive. Stok Black Coffee Shots contains 90.91 mgs of caffeine per fluid ounce (307.40mg/100 ml) and T\the "limit" for Stok is two per day. I also picked up a 5 hour energy for the ride home.

The road was pretty clear on the way home. I mad VERY good time, making it in my door at 4AM 214 Miles in 3 hours.

So, all in all, my out of pocket costs were about $300, and I brought home meals for me and my family for 3 days, and upped my promo chip count.



A reasonable trip, but tiring. 30 or 40 years ago I could've done this "standing on my head", but this trip was brutal.

Summary:

Spent - $300 out of pocket expenses
Received - $930 in Promo chips plus two days meals in Prime Rib leftovers

I have two weeks to recuperate for my solo trip to LV.

Now I have a nice starter bankroll for my next trip to Reno/Tahoe.

 

Hi Sonya and Dai Lun:

I believe that Din Tai Fung is actually located at the Valley Fair mall which would be a looooong bike ride from where Sonya grew up. Dai Lun is correct that there is often long lines for dumplings at that restaurant. Valley Fair mall is actually owned by the Westfield company so perhaps that is a source of confusion between Westgate and Westfield. Sadly Westgate mall no longer has a Orange Julius but there is a dim sum restaurant in the new food court and a pearl tea place -- no doubt developments Sonya did not anticipate as a girl.

Great story of the whirlwind trip. Sounds like the equivalent of jet lag, though. Dai Lun, at what point do you expect to actually play those promo chips?

FAB

 

Thanks for the correction. That's what happens when you are in a hurry and only glance at a webpage. Din Tai Fung is located at Valley Fair (owned by Westfield).

I will probably use my Tahoe promo chips on my next trip to Tahoe, which may not be until after first snow when they hand out lift tickets. I just hope I didn't "kill" my ADT too much with a 170+ TC day.

 

Any insider knowledge on the ADT calc? I have read random blurbs of the last 6 trips usually holding the most weight. I would assume a 170 TC day it dents it a bit, but I'd think you'll be able to rebound it as long as you play more in the future. Nice food pics!

 

Lol, only three more solid trips to go...

Getting old there DaiLun, haha...and you must be a lil' guy..16oz Prime Rib sounds right about perfect to me, hahaha.