Nevyn's Eleven - Semi-live free room heist from CETDorado, Sep19 -Oct 1

Here is your golf photo dump complete with stats. Holes are out of order as I drove back around for the opening four after the round.


I did not attach stats from Boulder Creek as the app messed them up and overrode my entries for fairways and greens.

But here we are for round 2

 

Thanks for the golf report, pics and stats.

GG

 

So overall I liked Mountain Falls.

The first few holes will likely feel a bit more cramped once housing is completed around them, but elsewhere they manage to be residential without having every stray shot hit a house. Greens were soft and immaculate. The layout is fun, although a bit less tactical than Boulder was.

 

After the round, I start up the car, which has gone from warning of of tire pressure and showing the psi of each tire to just warning of pressure. Which I guess is an escalation, but listen Hyundai, the lower the pressure the more we need to know the number. I find a gas station 10 minutes away, which charges 1.50 for air. Go inside and get quarters from the unmasked cashier. I fill the offending tire back up (it was still showing no sag but down to about 25 psi), and start heading back. The plan is to try to get into Black Sheep when it opens at 5.

The pressure is back to being displayed but the light wont clear. I resolve to have dinner then see if the pressure is dropping and call Fox.

I am a bit ahead of schedule so I stop for some pics



I also stop at CVS for some much needed lip balm.

At 5 i am second in the door at Black Sheep and they offer to seat me at the bar.

Black Sheep is the restaurant of one of the most popular contestants from last years Top Chef show, for those unaware.


I start off with the grilled spanish octopus with crispy rice . Apparently I managed to finger block the lens on that pic, so you guys miss a very pretty plate. The crispy rice was awesome, and the dish as a whole was excellent but spicy so not for the faint of heart. I like spicy food, just a warning for those who dont as the menu gives little indication what awaits.

The main was Braised Short Rib with kimchi fried rice and egg. The short rib was to die for. The rice and egg were both good, but the rice was fairly mild and the egg got mostly lost in the sauce and texture of the rice.



Dessert was Creme brûlée and another blurry picture fail.

Got a great photo of the cheque for you though




Dessert was good and i was very happy with the meal overall. Not earth shattering but worth a visit. Just bear in mind this is a 15 table place in a strip mall and quite hot right now, so if you have a group and or want a weekend Id get a reservation well ahead.

Apologies for the picture fail.

 

After dinner, the car is back to the mystery pressure so i find a Chevron for a free air top up and call Fox. They advise that if the issue is wear and tear they cover it but if notI will have to eat it. Research to follow on if my cc insurance would cover that.

All their recommended places are closed (the ones who can invoice them) and i dont want to try to argue reimbursement, so i verify there is a spare if needed and head to the hotel, planning to stop by a tire place in the morning.

Tomorrow is a non golf day anyway, but the planned hike is in jeopardy.

I get back to Caesars and decide I just dont have enough steps in, so time to do Oyo coupons and mykonami freeplay. I powerwalk to Oyo, weaving through the human traffic like a man possessed. The two slot match plays fetch me a combined 15 dollar profit, and i win the match play for another 20.



Then it is off to MGM. Having a permanent lp surplus that I cant seem to kill, I redeemed 6 different locations even though my max is 3, just so i could pick the most convenient hotels.

MGM has a long line leaving me plenty of time whether to judge the parents of babies ahead of me for taking them for a nighttime players club stroll (and bringing them at all) or for not wearing masks. I decide on all of the above.

Finally get my freeplay, find a crappy quarter vp machine and net 15 bucks.


Then it is off to Aria where i switch to dollars and .. win 15 bucks.



Finally to Bellagio where i stop for some hasty conservatory pics



10 bucks at dollars on the last freeplay.

So wrapping up the freeroll tour we profit 75 bucks, which cuts into yesterday's loss but aint gonna buy daddy new tires.

Now, bed calls. No alarm for tomorrow and the agenda will depend on continuing adventures in tire land.

25k steps day.

 

Google seems to think Boulder City is permanently closed, but on Greenskeeper.org it looks like they're simply closed for fall maintenance, reopening in early October. Boulder Creek is a way better course, but it would be a real shame if Boulder City muni closed.

Great report so far @Nevyn!

 

Once again I get right to sleep but after 5ish hours am up and the mind has decided it wants to be up. I fight it til about 6:45 then decide to get my tire checkup over with.

I get to the car and the tires look fine. I turn on the car and …. No TPMS light! It wont show me the pressures unless i drive around a bit, so I head out past Gold Cost and back around, and my rear tires are now showing more pressure than the front. So the sensor must be slow to adapt/ reset but i am not losing air



I guess hiking is on for this morning. I contemplate giving sleep another go instead but decide to get out. May attempt a siesta depending on when i get back

 

I head out to the Historic Railroad Hiking Trail at Lake Mead , getting there around 9am.

i do a roll call

Cheap amazon bucket hat? Check


Cheap amazon hiking bag? Check



Throw in some cheap Walmart bottled water, cheap Costco protein bars, and. cheap Canadian who likes to walk, and we are all set.

This hike is all easy terrain, but it is a long one. I manage it in about 3 hours, taking in the views of lake mead, the railroad tunnels, and getting so far as the roof of the hoover dam garage.

On the way out it feels like a tourist stroll and I am feeling like I brought too much water. On the way back it feels like a hike, and I am refilling bottles at a couple stations. Good times, but i am done by the time i get back to the car.

 

Here is the hike photo dump.

 

And a couple more. Apparently there are some dangerously fast hikers in Nevada…



These shoes were black this morning

 

Great pics, thanks. I'll have to look up those hikes.

GG

 

When I get back from the hike it is around 1pm and after 4 straight short sleep nights and a long hike I opt for a nap. I get in a couple hours and then head down to the pool for a bit.

Then it is back up to the room for some drinks and snacks, and then time to head over for the Sammy Hagar free show. I go to Paris first with a tentative plan to see if I can get a MAG comp and sit there for the show. The rewards desk confirms they can still issue comps but at 2 to 1 so I pass. I have her print me vouchers for the High Roller and Real Bodies. Don’t know if I will bother with either, or fetch the tickets to give away, but I was there and its a diamond benefit so why not?

After that I decide the best place for slightly less cramped neck craning view of the show will be over in front of the fountains where a small crowd has gathered.

The show kicks off and the crowd gets somewhat larger, along with a brave crowd who have chosen the less obstructed view of the median. A couple songs in some police arrive to take care of that, and they close the northbound lane closest to Paris and move the median people there.

The concert is brief (8-9) songs but well done and fun. Our crowd are getting noise interference from the Bellagio speakers as well as the occasional bus or girls to your room truck blocking our view. At one point the fountains come on and we get an excellent mash up of I Can’t Drive 55 and Luck Be A Lady Tonight.

Sammy and the circle play a fair mix of songs. They open with There's Only One Way to Rock, play a couple tunes I know less well, and then play some VH in Why Can’t This Be Love and Right Now. The encore song was Fonish What Ya Started.

Good times for an out of nowhere free show. I got indoctrinated into VH pretty young and the Van Hagar years were pretty much the ones I was most actively buying music so a real treat.

 

After the show, I make my way to Ellis Island for dinner and gambling. I play a few minutes of VP on the Spin Poker machines to set up my discount Steak Special. When I hit this I cash out:


I print my steak special offer and am pleasantly surprised to fond that it is back down to 9.99/ or 7.99 with 5 coin in.

The cafe advises me of a 20 to 30 minute wait so I have time for some blackjack and hopefully a free drink for dinner.

I sit at an empty 10 dollar table and promptly lose a double then two more hands, and I get a sinking feeling that my short 100 dollar buy in could be gone before I even get a drink. But after that, things more or less stabilize and some others join the table. I get my drink and we switch dealers to Elvis. He puts me on a winning streak, and when my phone buzzes with a cafe notification I walk up 10 not counting dealer tips.

The steak special delivers more or less as expected. The soup is minestrone



It was excellent.

Then the steak





Cook on the steak is perfect as per usual, but I swear the beef they source gets a little more toothsome every time i go there.

And yep, I screw up the photos at the trendy off strip eatery with a celebrity chef, but stick the landing on the costco hot dog and EI shoe leather picks.

After dinner the spin poker machines are occupied so i find a random machine, pick triple double and play my tito down to a no change amount 110, and then make my way to the BJ pit, where the cutest dealer in the place looks all lonely at an empty 10 dollar table.

I sit and again promptly lose a double and another hand. But my dealer (Jane?) is a lot of fun and living and dying with my hands more than I am and flags down the cocktail waitress for me around hand 3. I try to tip her 5 on a play along after a blackjack, but we lose on a suck out and she bends the offending 5 in disgust to the point that the pit boss has to inspect it.

I go on a nice string to up 50 or so when my pied piper effect kicks in and others start sitting down. I am up 70 or so when she rotates out and in comes … the dealer who finished off my Monday bankroll, along with some very green players.

We get a new shuffle, i make some suckouts and win a double and color up the instant I hit 200.

By now two of the spin poker machines are free, so I sit one and play for a bit, mostly around even until I hit this


I cash out a few hands later for 150.

in total a successful night, up 120 in blackjack not counting dealer tips, and up 60 in VP. Counting my coupons and freeplay I am bow back up for the trip.

Add that to unneeded tire repair and it feels like a winfall.

 

Odds and ends from the last 2 nights:

• Forgot to mention the striking difference last night between the strip crowds for my whole walk towards Oyo and then the ghost town that was the pedestrian bridge over to Tropicana. Place seemed so dead it got me thinking of throwing the Trop a pity f*** sometime next week.
• That bridge also showed me broken escalator # 2 for the trip, the down on the Trop side
• 
• 
  
• Tonight I found broken escalator #3, up on the Cromwell side going over to Caesars. I hope everyone is keeping their escalator bingo cards up to date.
• 
• 
  
• If anyone had a bonus prop bet on first broken elevator we have the Caesars side of the same bridge
• 
  
• Step count topped 25k for the second straight day.

 

Tomorrow will feature golf at Las Vegas Paiute -Snow Mountain and a fancy birthday dinner a night early at Picasso … so if form holds I will mangle the pics for it.

 

Loving this report!

Is the trailhead for the Railroad Trail hike inside the Lake Mead paid entry area or outside? Thanks.

 

Awesome golf trip info! Thanks a lot.

 

I know it is par for the course but don't ya just hate it when you finally get on a good table with a good run and then here comes the crowd that always seem to ruin everything. My wife and I say flies to poop. I will have to start using "pied piper effect".

 

Another typical night, up far too early but feeling it less after yesterday's nap.

When down to Pronto for breakfast and now instead of a tour group line we have a convention workers line. This one is not quite as bad and tee time not til ten so I stick it out and order a smoked salmon bagel to take back to the room.

Just reward credits for me but this



.. cost more than the one at Primrose. It was fine. It came with a packet of philly as well as their own fairly meh creme fraiche. The pickled red onions were odd and would be better off raw. Basically for the cost of an old Paris breakfast buffet you can an inferior version of one of the many things you could have a bunch of there. Strike 2 for Pronto. I mean it was fine, but if I were paying I would not be pleased.

Then it is time to get an early start to the course with ample time to warm up.

And this morning, the mystery tire is back down to 30 psi apparently, not quite enough to trigger TPMS but enough to suggest this will in fact be an ongoing annoyance.

I drive out to Paiute and am quickly reminded the extend to which everything there is top notch. A fast and well staffed bag drop area, a great practice facility, a team of starters wrangling players for 3 courses. Bottled water on ice in the carts. And for our foursome booked by 3 parties the two singles get their own cart. And the greens are immaculate and far faster than Mountain Falls or Boulder Creek

The front 9 gets off to a weird start. We are playing golds as I attempt to repeat yesterday’s feat, but just like yesterday we start with the short holes and it is the lay up clubs letting me down. I start off bogey double, but then make a nice par on the first par 5. Then it is 5 straight bogeys as my driver is putting me in nice position, but my approaches and chips are not going well. Still, I am clinging to bogey golf until 9. And on 9, a par 4 , I dare not hit a hybrid lay up as i have been pushing the club and there is water right. So I try to protect the angle and hit driver. Splash. Drop 135 out and fat my approach. Splash. I end up ‘saving’ a triple with a 9 foot putt.

in fact, I putt pretty well all day. So at least there is that. I muddle about on the back with some doubles and a couple pars, and fond myself well positioned in the 18th fairway seeking a par or better to at least salvage bogey golf on the back. But the approach into the wind is pulled to the longest carry distance and … splash. Double bogey for 94.

it was an odd day. Windy for any other course but as mild as you can ask from Paiute. Fun day. And the driver was still ok, but not much else was off the tee. By mid round I had fixed the errant aim on approaches, but the still had issues with distance judgment in the wind. Thus several of my best irons of the day ended up over greens.

And while chipping is normally a saving grace i struggled with it today. These courses can give you awkward lies and the rough is not deep but is dense.

Good day but the sub bogey golf streak is busted.

 

Golf photo dump.