Semi-Live Vegas Part 3: The Tale of Two Valleys

I’ve been pumped for the last month since we decided to take an impromptu trip to Vegas. The wife and I both had PTO to use before the year was over, so it was “let’s go somewhere”, and this is it. To keep with confessional theme that @FullPay commented on in a recent TR, I must oblige:

This is our first trip to Vegas in about 30 months, but will be the third trip of the year that will include some gaming. We visited Biloxi in May, and made a late night side trek to Cherokee while in Gatlinburg in August.

Our flight leaves late tonight from BNA and we arrive around midnight. Guess I’m getting an early start on the TR. We will be there for a week. Splitting time evenly between Red Rock Resort and Suncoast on comp stays. I’ve been sent some e-upgrade offers so going to see if I can score anything when I arrive rather than just paying for it upfront. We prefer staying off strip to have a more low key stay.

We have a rental and it’s more than I recall paying in the past, but was able to save about $65 from the initial booking when I rebooked about four days before we left. With how late we arrive, there weren’t many options for open rental companies, so paying about $475 for the week for a mid-level vehicle.

Plans include visiting Death Valley, Valley of Fire, dinner at Din Tai Fung, seeing both Circa and Resorts World since they are newly built since we were last there, a potential VMB craps meetup, continuation of my craps run across the valley (if time allows), and maybe even seeing some model homes. Then we still have time to kill the 6 days after that! And if things work out, there may be a special guest appearance!

It’s going to be a long day until takeoff, but there’s still packing to do and sleep to get as well.

 

Sounds like a great way to use up the PTO. I'll be doing the same in a couple of weeks. . Safe travels and good luck!!!

 

Can’t wait to follow your adventures! Death Valley is one of my favorite places! Wishing you a great time.

 

Safe travels and have a great time!

 

@VaDreamer hope your travel plans are a great downtime and use of PTO as well!

Thanks @julia! I had a fun time following along your adventure on the strip. Seems like you all had a good crowd at the craps meet last week. Hope your time with your daughter has been going well in DC!

 

Thanks for tagging along, @AlwaysUpForFun. Definitely looking forward to the Death Valley portion. We normally are in town towards the early part of summer so there is no way we even consider DV then. Since the weather is much more tolerable at this time of year, it was a MUST do! Hopefully we can get some good sunset and night sky pictures (and they come out good enough to share).

 

I’m wishing good night skies for you in DV. I don’t know when your heading there , but there is a minor meteor shower that peaks predawn on November 17th. I totally understand not wanting to be there in the heat of summer. We’ve been in early April twice when it was flirting with 100 and once for Halloween. Halloween was way more comfortable.

 

That’s good to know. We planned to go on Wednesday and the meteor shower is very tempting, but might make for an extremely long day waiting for sunset as well.

 

It’s already been a long day and then got a notice a short time ago that the flight is delayed 30 minutes. Ugh! Not what I wanted to hear as this means we won’t be to the hotel until after 2am….

Maybe it’s time to consider just staying up the first full day? Sleep on the plane and be ready to roll!

 

Ugh, sorry to hear there’s been a delay, but am very excited to follow along on your trip. Sounds like a great way to use up some PTO and have a great time!

 

Good luck on your trip! Win big.

 

Thanks for the well wishes, @HHW. Delays are a part of travel and this is the first time I’ve ever encountered this so I guess I was “due.” In better news, will still be in Vegas in the morning!

 

Thanks, and certainly hope to win big! Have to play big to win big, but I don’t play big so I will take small wins all week long. I might give @Richard Alpert a run for his money by winning a nickel at a time.

 

Might be a little hard to read, but we are roughly 10 minutes from boarding. Then we are a 4ish hour flight to LAS. So ready to get this part of the party started!

 

So we finally landed. Made up a few minutes in the air. Plane was completely full and relatively quiet the entire way. Nothing to speak of so that’s good for flying.

Made it to baggage claim and for this hour it’s eerily quiet other than our passengers.

 

Took a bit to get our car with Enterprise. The counter was closed so had to do everything in the garage. There were two people ahead of us so the wait was maybe 10-15 minutes max. They didn’t have much of a selection so our level was upgraded and got this…


Rather than going the 215 to Summerlin, we took more residential roads to find some local restaurants for the next few days. Got to Red Rock around 2am and the room was ready. Didn’t ask for upgrade as I just wanted to get to the room. It’s pretty much at the end of the hall so it’s a hike. Here are some pictures:

 

So I’ve been out for a few hours which in Vegas terms is too long! I made it here and why waste it snoozing, it’s time to go check out the game floor (even if it’s only 5:30am).

Just some notes on the room:
The tv is probably a 65” screen - it’s massive. The bed, although rather low to the floor, is very plush and comfortable. The pillows are too soft for my liking but they certainly work when you are tired. The bathroom has a frosted glass door between the room and itself; and, the toilet closet has a barn door style door that slides rather than shuts.

 

Only one craps table open this morning (prior to 7am) and it was reserved. There were three guys at the table when I walked up and watched a bit. I asked them if they would allow me to join and they said for a minimum of $15. These guys were playing $25/$50+. I felt for this early in the morning, and so early in the trip, it wasn’t worth it.

I went over to a stadium craps machine and bought in for $100, cashed out for…


This should cover breakfast!

 

After getting an early winning session in, I headed back to the room to find the wife still asleep. She woke up shortly after I returned and asked our plan.

Breakfast stop was this nice spot in Summerlin (less than a mile from Red Rock Resort).


I had the Sage Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict


Wife had the ham and spinach scrambled eggs with mashed potatoes.


The service was great and the food was absolutely fantastic! Now being super stuffed, we are making our next stop downtown.

 

@Vegasismy2ndhome and @drfishalot - sorry you guys missed this one!

Just finished up a whirlwind craps session at Downtown Grand. Bought in for $400, out for…


Left money on the table, but man it was an hot roll! Didn’t want to pull anything down.