got up at 230 am monday morning the 20th, one last check of the cows, we are in the middle of calving here in montana, and really should not be leaving on this trip, while it is 20 above right now, and the hired help is prepared to do this on his own for the next three days, and has our teenagers here at home, alone, the weather can change fast, and while our kids are great kids, just is really hard to leave. going to las vegas for the collection of clothing trade shows, where we place orders for this falls and winters goods for our clothing store. i will be staying only for two nights, returning by 11 pm on wednesday, in time to get our son off for divisional basketball tournaments, while my wife will stay one more night to get the business finished. off to the airport at 4 am, connection in salt lake just a tiny bit late, still at baggage claim by 9 am las vegas time. get on the shuttle, only 8 stops! but at least the driver announced them, with our hotel for this stay, the sahara, being last. so my wife jumped off at the venetian, for the show at the sands expo center, and i stayed on the shuttle and got the tour of the town until dropped off at the sahara with our bags. checked in, but could not get room keys, so luggage to the bell desk, while walking to the front a poker machine beeped at me, so i just had to sit down and see if our sahara card was still active. put in a twenty, hit a flush or two, and then a full house or two, went up to a hundred dollars, and cashed up eighty for the first short session of the trip! walked out to the front of the sahara, later found out that the rear exit of the sahara is much the better place to catch a cab, and finally took off walking toward the venetian. looked for the ghetto sled in the parking lot of the peppermill on the way by, not seeing it i continued on, and finally arrived at the venetian. had to stop to rest in the race book, made a bet just using the odds board, no luck, but was served a nice cold miller lite by this very friendly cocktail waitress, without being asked if i was betting or not. went to the trade show, placed a couple of orders with some vendors i had worked with in the past, met my wife at our arranged place and time, she showed me a few things she had ordered or was contemplating, and we then worked a couple more vendors, and decided that we had better have lunch. it was 2pm, 3 our time, so we had been going 12 hours, with just an airplane cookie to eat so far. from ken2v's recommendation, went to the pinot brasserie for lunch, had a nice tenderloin tip sandwich with fries, and a nice glass of wine, wife had fish and a glass of wine, neither apparently great enough to remember! tab was 60, with about 18 plus tax being the wine portion of the tab, but since i was up the eighty... turns out that this was a trend for the trip. back to the trade show, up and down the aisles, placing orders, seeing new things, talking with manufacturers reps that we knew, doing business. looked at the watch, it was 430, we had missed the 4 pm meet at the Monte Carlo brewpub with ken2v, NOW i feel guilty about something that happened in las vegas! i was so looking forward to that, but it just wasnt to be. ken, i am glad that this was ameet for another board and that there were other people there for your meet, but i sincerely apologize for missing it. finished up at the show, left the venetian and walked south, up to harrahs where our dinner reservations were for 7 pm at the range steakhouse. looked for our favorite 50 play nickel vp machine, but they had moved it, it had been a tradition to play it a little every time through harrahs. wandered a little, would up back from the cashiers cage, near the buffet entrance, where there was a concentration ov video poker machines. played for a little on one machine, when an upwind smoker made me move i found another, and while playing .25 DDB at that machine, hit the four aces with a 3 of spades kicker...500 dollars! cashed out, then! found the bride, she just rolls her eyes at my good fortune, looks like we will be paying cash of dinner, she can have crablegs if she wants! go on upstairs to the range, calvin brooks is playing in the lounge, so we have a drink in the lounge before dinner. with tip, it was 18 bucks for a bloody mary and a beefeeater and tonic, what the hell, i just won 500. went in to be seated, we were led down front...alright, this could be good,...and then all the way down to the left end, overlooking a palm tree that blocked the view of the roof of carnival court. so the view of the strip is not there, though we had seen it from the lounge, and couldnt see carnival court. what we did get from carnival court while upstairs was the throb and vibration of the windows from the bass in the band playing down there! asked about a different table we had seen empty on the way by, no, that was for their diamond players, shrug. oh well, we arent going to let this ruin anything, because we just won 500 of your dollars, hah! did look at the wine list, and from our previous visit thought it to be one of the more reasonable we had seen in las vegas. did not get that impression this time, and passed on the wine, possibly being just a little pissy about the seating yet. we both hasd the french onion soup, served in the cut out onion, as well as their gratis offering of breads. our steaks were very good, cooked close to where we had ordered them, and our waitress was acceptable, but not as great as on our first visit. passed on dessert, the meal was ok, 17 hours on the move was getting to us i know, so will not blame the experience not being great entirely on the range, though it fell a little on my list because of this night. back to the sahara, not gambling on the way through harrahs to the cab stand, and straight to the room. the room was perfectly adequate, in the tangiers tower thanks to the recommendation of SHOCK, nothing more really to add, it was pretty nondescript, unless someone has a question about it. called home, about 930 our time, kids are surviving just fine, MOM!! we are not children! so after nineteen a half hours, the sacrilegous act of going to bed in las vegas before ten oclock occurred. more to come. again thanks to shock for the tip about the tangiers tower, i dont think i would want to see the other one. and again, my apologies to ken for missing the meet.
tuesday woke up about 7, wow, 8 or 9 hours of sleep! at home, the week before when it reached 26 below 0, when i would get in the house from checking cows, i would then set the timer for either an hour or an hour and a half as the next time to go out and check, in case a calving cow needed to be brought to the barn. wonder how they are doing at home? hope it did not get cold, gee i feel guilty! down to the daily grind at the sahara, two coffees and fritters, wife comes on down and we board the shuttle bus to the convention center, for the next trade show. we worked together for a couple hours, then i left for an appointment with a rep at 11, turned out that did not get done until almost 1, missing my noon appointment to meet my wife at a certain spot. stood around at that spot til 1, she had spent a half hour there, then decided to come back on the hour, which is our secondary plan when we fail to keep our plans. took my mild chewing out, she was glad i had not been mugged and had finally realized how long it had took us both last year at that one late running appointment, so she understood. she kept on working, i made arrangements to meet her again at 4, and i headed through the convention center to the hilton. checked at the box office to see if the bryan adams tickets for may 10 were on sale yet. no, but he is confirmed for those dates, i will have to keep calling, because we will be back in las vegas then. lost a couple races at the race book, bought a ten dollar futures bet on the kentucky derby on a horse called great point, at 40 to 1, that a friend had touted. ran a hundred through the vp machines, and walked the casino. was really planning on playing some blackjack, but every table seeming to have smoke fumes circling round it, so i passed. sat down at a vp machine near where you go down to benihana, etc, and played it, hit a four or a kind for a couple hundred, and left the hilton slightly ahead for the day. met the wife at one of our major suppliers booth at 4 pm, looked at their line and ordered a couple groups, and headed outside to the shuttle busses. there was a line of people two busses deep at the alladin bus, so we walked up and were the last two people on the paris bus, and were on our way! we had 7 pm reservations at commanders palace, and the paris was close enough. even after all the walking ,would rather walk than stand in line. made our way through the paris, not gambling, to the alladin. i lost a hundred there, and walked out of a casino behind for the first time of the trip. seated right away at commanders palace, service and everything top notch, as before, cant recommend this place highly enough. i had crabcakes, louisiana style, which are nothing like the hamburger patty maryland style ones i have had elsewhere, while my bride had the daily gumbo. i had an argentian malbec that the chef had paired on the menu with his lamb special, and then did have the lamb special. my wife had a shrimp and seafood mixture, very well presented, and good as my lamb was. we shared the bread pudding souffle. after our email 25 dollar gift certificate from commanders palace, the tab with tip was abput 160. for us to spend this kind of money on a meal for two is not our normal practice, but i think that a stop at commanders palace will be on our agenda every trip. it is that good. this night was our chance to see the wynn. cabbed it over, got our players cards, the 50 points for the buffet deal is still on. pity we would not get a chance to use it, even though we earned the 50 points very easily during our couple hours of wandering, playing, wandering, playing... saw the water show, it really did not impress us much, but we did get to see it. last act there at the wynn was to hit 4 fours and the kicker at ddb on a quarter machine for 200 dollars, so left the wynn ahead. wished then that i had paid cash at commanders palace, it was the only time i used the credit card all trip. back to the sahara, i had played there for that first ten minutes the first morning, the wife not at all, in two days. looked for machines, either they were not tito, or were not the sit down consoles, or would not take our bill in, so would up at the dollar machines i had played the first day. machine next was multidenomination, so wife could play quarters. played for a few minutes, holding my own, in fact had 95 of my 100 left, and then drew to three aces, got the fourth ace, and the KICKER! two thousand, call the attendant. probably took half hour to be paid, but thats ok. did the w2g thing and all that, then you have to play one more hand, at least, on the machine to reset it. i had the 95 dollar balance. played afew hands, not for more than ten minutes, and hit 4 fours. 400 dollars, cashed out 450. so the profit for the session was 2350 dollars, up to the room, in bed before midnight, with about 2500 more dollars than the trip started with.
last day for me, wednesday, so pack up my luggage, my stuffed billfold, and head downstairs. i feed six twenties into my machine from the night before, play it to a hundred, and ticket out. did that twice more, with the same results, so i lost sixty and did not repeat my luck of the night before, but i now have three bills in my billfold that replaced eighteen! what a terrible problem to have, but did not want to put any cash in my luggage. we cab it over to the rio, do the trade show there until about noon, and have a light lunch provided by the show. my wife goes back to work, i head for the rio casino, with her encouragement. played a lot, not much happening, went and had some wings a beer at their sports grill, next to the race book, which replaced toscanos, their other fast food type place. it was good, and a nice addition to the place, in my opinion. tried to play the progressive vp0 machines, over at the edge of masquerade village, before i left, but could not get them to take my machine ticket i was packing, so by the time i cashed that ticket at the cashiers cage, it was almost time to go. found a dollar machine nearby, and thought i would play just one more time. last hand i played i hit four 9's, for 250 dollars, putting me with a profit for the day. great way to end. cabbed to the airport, flight was delayed so got some reading done, what a letdown to be sitting in that airport, after every bit of fun. dont mind going home, in fact have to get there, but sitting is just so unfun. out about an hour late, made connections in salt lake with 12 minutes to spare. home about midnight, change and get the coveralls on, spent until about 130 am out fixing a couple things and knowing the situation with what cows are in the barn, etc., then back in the house, set the timer for the 4am check, back to business as usual! picked wife up at the airport the next night at the same time, just a day later. blizzard had hit just as they landed, so dicey drive home, but all is ok, and now the sun is shining and it might get to 40 above today. kids and cows handled the absence just fine, thanks to the help of our hired man and the efforts of the kids. still, if the weather had turned horrible, just dont know how bad it could have been to be gone. even with all the good gambling luck, i think i will have to stay home and let the wife go alone next year. now, on our may trip, we get to stay for four nights, with only two partail days allocated to trade shows, so thats a different story. bryan adams concert, ka, commanders palace are all on the list, and only 72 days away!
Nice wins! I'm still waiting for my first trip where I come back with more than I took Glad to be of help on the Sahara as well. I definately know you all wouldn't have liked the standard rooms there, and it sounds like you all were wise enough to stay away from their buffet. Good job!
I hear ya, SHOCK! kitson, it's always great to hear a winning story in Vegas. Congrats. I look forward to my Commander's Palace 25 cent martini lunch next month. Isn't it a great place? I also agree with your assessment of Range Steakhouse. My second visit wasn't as good as my first, and now it's no longer on my to-do list. Hmmm... Anyway, great TR, kitson. Thanks.
Sounds like a nice trip with a good mix of work and play. Seems you had a run of good luck, too. Looks like the next trip is off to a good start, as well.
vegasbound, looking back on it, it was a nice blend of work and play, because i think i got all the winning done i could have possibly hoped for even if i had played more hours. the next trip is falling together nicely, bryan adams tickets came available saturday, march 4, and i called on the 5th to the box office. the website had second row, way on the side, but through the box office, got 8 th row, center section, aisle seats! one of the shows is the national gourmet food show, but it actually has more kitchen gadgets, the national appliance companies like viking and subzero, and then some great foods for the tasting and buying. this show is just fun, we buy a little at it, and those items just brighten up the store and help keep our merchandise mix unique. it is at the convention center, so will do that show the same day as the concert.