Girls trip—Concerts & Shows! 7/21-7/28

This trip included my BFF & DM.

It started with Philip Phillips & the Goo Goo Dolls at Stir Cove at Harrah’s in Council Bluffs. Then we discovered Retro Futura, (80’s one hit wonders)playing in Vegas the next night!

My BFF is a flight attendant & summer can be difficult to get time off, but she thought she could pull a weekend. Dad can’t do Vegas anymore so Mom was in need of some Vegas time so decided she should go as well!

BFF isn’t much of a gambler so I knew the weekend would be a little different than the rest of the week & that was OK (though TOUGH to be in Vegas that long & not play poker!!)

AAANNNNDD...we're off!

(PS I DO NOT know where those dddddddds came from in my title-sorry!)

 

Council Bluffs


Mom & I headed up early & got in a few hours of the machines before BFF showed up. Poor girl had to drive BACK to Lincoln to catch her flight to Vegas the next morning—more seats available.


We booked Harrahs shuttle to take us/pick us up from airport. LUCKILY we booked this—I went to book our return flight…and I pull up the reservation to find our return flights are Thursday & not Friday like I thought—WHAT??!! OH CRAP. Well, probably too high to rebook BUT I’m gonna check. Bless SWA—only $50 more to change to same flight on Friday. I have companion pass, & had points so this was free & easy. PHEW! Imagine if we hadn’t been using Harrahs shuttle—I would not have found out until trying to check in on Thursday…as our booked flight was leaving…would have been a MUCH more expensive venture...


The heat index was 114!! at 6pm—and Stir Cove is an outdoor venue. YIKES! WE opted to stay inside until almost 8PM (show time) and shorts, tanks & flip flops were the outfit of choice. We had NO issue getting a great spot in between the stage & a beer stand! ;-) The sun was behind the Omaha skyline at that point so it was tolerable & the concert was GREAT! Even rode with Philip Phillips on the elevator the next morning.

 

I'm usually okay with just DD!
Great start, KKB!

RICHARD

 

VEGAS BOUND!


Our SWA flight was uneventful. (BFF was on United, who she flies for) & we all hit Vegas within a half an hour. Grabbed our Lyft to Planet Hollywood (may have been long hauled a bit—found it to be an odd route; but rates were 50% off that weekend so I wonder if he was trying to bump the fare a bit…)


We had a Resort Vista room. I booked it for the huge bath with 2 vanities, perfect for 3 ladies. The room was south facing which meant CURTAINS CLOSED at all times—but who is in the room anyway? Otherwise DM & I said we prefer the larger rooms at Ballys, tho the bath is smaller with only 1 vanity.


We had 5 nights at PH but stayed 6—MyVegas night at Mirage for our last night. Nice room, but the bathroom IS small as others have said—would be tough for 2 to be in their at once unless 1 was in shower.


Weather was bizarre—HOT over the weekend, then in 80s on Tuesday—REALLY?? But quite humid for Vegas M-Th—dew points in 60s! But no rain on Strip. Hot & dry on Friday when we left.

 

DINING


Mon Ami Gabi—lunch: We said we wanted an inside table as it was 2PM & we were placed at a table that was on the edge—my back was BAKING soon. Kept pushing the table in a bit, I moved to the side & eventually I moved to the other side, so THREE on one side. Food was amazing as usual—Chicken brie sandwich, Chicken mushroom crepes & Cobb salad. $20 off with Lettuce entertain you coupons!


Mon Ami Gabi—breakfast: Eggs benedict & daily special of chicken sausage hast—OMG, SO good. Mom also had the coupons, so another $20 off. Waitress was a bit inattentive—very French like!


PF Changs—didn’t even realize they have an upstairs—great views! We were starving & it was GREAT. Just shrimp fried rice & Pad Thai, shared 3 ways. I had never had Pad Thai but I am HOOKED now. BFF has traveled the world & said she has never had a bad Pad Thai!


Eiffel Tower resataurant—lunch—LOVELY venue with a LOVELY view. Started with escargots (good but I prefer Havarti topping over puff pastry). Mom had a burger (it was amazing) & I had a great seafood salad. Had the coupon for $30 off 50. Shoulda skipped the escargot—would have only been $20 + tip!


Mesa Grill--$100 diamond dinner. Walked in at 5:30 & they said first available seating was at 8:30 even though 12 tables were empty (and few walked in the hour we were there---huh?) We ate at bar & SO glad we did. GREAT bartender & ladies sitting on either side of us gave us great recommendations. DH & I had their prix fixe last year & LOVED it but it wasn’t available. So we ordered 3 appetizers—Sophie’s salad, queso fundido, ahi nachos (OMG), & shrimp tamale. Everything was FANTASTIC. I had a regular marg & a cactus pear marg—a good foil, one a bit tart, one a bit sweet. I think the bill was $114 before tip. (then $100 off)


La Salsa—2x--breakfast twice. You never go wrong here—2 eggs, potatoes, breakfast meat & tortillas for $4.59 plus .99 bloody Marys


PH buffet—Mom didn’t want La Salsa again & I wanted to see if they would take the LVA coupon (they wouldn’t) but she was hungry so she said we are eating here. It was $9.99 each (half price) & honestly much better than in the past (go figure)—it is half the size due to the water main break. Maybe they do fewer foods BETTER than more. But honestly, it was solid.


Diamond lounges—PH, Paris & Harrahs.

Stopped in PH for a drink & service was SLOW—waiter was chatting, and could see us. Luckily drinks were strong.

Paris—2x. Service always amazing. Slot host stopped to chat (NEVER happened before). It was clear in the conversation that I was the diamond member as I mentioned BFF barely gambles, yet he gave HER his card first—he was definitely hitting on her! She wasn’t convinced. I said, hey, he’s cute! DM & I came another day & of course food was CHICKEN WINGS & arancini which were AMAZING.

Harrahs—probably the most “meh” meal I have had there. They did have a great spinach salad & the nachos were yummy but the potatoes were tasteless, the jambalaya was OK as were the cabbage rolls. They shoulda stuck with just salad & nachos!


Diamond lounge—Harrahs Council Bluffs

BFF & I had dinner & drinks there. Chili waffle fries—actually pretty good! (Mom earned 50 tier points to get a free buffet at Horseshoe …). BUT we got kicked out early…guess people who gamble WAY more than me could reserve spots in diamond lounge to watch concert.

 

SHOWS


Retro Futura—80s 1 hit wonders (Katrina, Modern English, English Beat, Men Without Hats, Howard Jones, Paul Young). We primed at 4 Queens—think we managed to get about 3 drinks each for about $10 coin in! We headed to LVDT Events center (outside) behind Golden Nugget. Got there about 7:55 for 8PM show & Katrina was already playing! She did Walking on Sunshine at 8:04 & was DONE by 8:08! NEVER had a concert start early! The bands were fun, the drinks flowed, definitely enjoyed ourselves. These tickets were $20 each—GREAT value.


Unfortunately after the show we tried to maneuver through Fremont Street to hear Roxy Gunn at Hennesseys but it was wall to wall people—TRULY impassable. We tried to go through casinos—NOPE, still impassable outside doors. (and we tried—people were horrid, it was truly frightenting). Had we known, we would have walked behind the casinos, but we gave up & called it a night.


About 2 hours later BFF realizes she left her phone on the bar at the concert…I emailed the event center but no response. We headed to Sprint the next day. She was sad to lose pics (BACK UP!) & learned she better use a passcode from now on, but otherwise it was time for a new phone anyway!


Raiding the Rock Vault—Hard Rock. My 3rd time. BFF’s 1st & she LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Gambling at HR sucked. But I like the venue better than Trop—more intimate overall. But that stage is much smaller for the musicians. They have eliminated the cheesy storyline they had before, but still have Vegas dancing girls. We were on the side in 4th row but there were very few on our side so usher encouraged us to move to the front row—OK! Z Maddox came down the stairs to dance with me! $39 on Groupon.


Bronx Wanderers—Ballys. $35/ticket. Fun show, though I am not familiar with Doo-wop music (my parents were into Beatles, 5th Dimension, more Motown), but they do a wide variety of tunes from 50s to Bruno Mars. They are a dad, 2 sons & the sons’ high school band—and they are passionate musicians who are clearly having a great time & appreciate being there. I saw 1 son at VP bar after the show & complemented them—he was very gracious.


Tenors of Rock—Harrahs. Diamond tickets. Saw them in March & LOVED them—they did not disappoint. I do appreciate how they changed the show up a little, just enough to keep it interesting for repeat customers. I love this show almost as much as RTRV.


LV Live Comedy—V Theater PH MM Shoppes. I had Living Social credit so got these for $30/2. It was OK. The first 2 guys were OK & the headliner was funny but pretty much EVERYTHING had to do with sex (quite graphically—a bit weird with Mom!) & he brought his adorable little daughter on the stage then said “Get the fXXX out of here”—REALLY? I have a potty mouth, but I would NEVER say that to a young child! Be careful when they check you in—I realzed after the fact I had paid $20 more for a “VIP” experience that meant NOTHING. I was feeling pretty good at this point, and not paying close attention…sheesh.

 

GAMBLING


Sunday at Cromwell was AMAZING. BFF couldn’t lose playing .40/spin on some dumb slot (turned $20 into $90 a couple times!) I hit a Royal on nickels ($400), then 4OAK with multipliers on .05 Ultimate X for about $200 & then another 4OAK. Got out about $600 up by the time we left! Poor Mom—she never wins sitting next to me, but I always win sitting next to her! Luckily she began to at least break even by the end of the week. She & Dad head to Wendover in a month & she said she had enough left to cover that.


POKER (for those who don’t like poker, this part may make your eyes glaze over…)


Tourney Texas Hold Em is my game of choice. I finally got to play Monday (3)—1 final table, no cashes. Tuesday (2) during the day—no final tables, no cashes. UGH. I was ready to GO HOME. Plus I was feeling off all day Tuesday (not sure why), so took a nap & felt much better & had a better attitude. Well, it worked. I played Ballys 8PM $100 & chopped 2nd-3rd-4th for $650 each.

Weds I played 3, final table at all 3, 4 ways chop for 1 for $500 each.

Thurs I played 3, got 3rd for $250 in one & 1st for $500 in another.


Mirage is my fav place to play & I did decent—played 5, final table 3x, cashed 1st & 3rd

Ballys has restructured & I really like their $100 tourney. Played 3, cashed 2 (chops)

PH --I used to love, the play is a bit different BUT I did make final table 2/3 so I may need to consider this tourney more.

Harrahs --I usually like pretty well—had a bad beat early in 1 & a WEIRD 9AM Fri tourney.

TI—we were at PH 5 nights & Mirage 1 so only played 1 here though I like it. It was 10PM, I like their daytime tourneys better.


Some weird poker experiences:

--Tried to chop at 3 & 2 during 2PM Thurs. bounty at Mirage. Guy from Fort Worth said, nope, don’t get here much, just wanna play. I ended up first—this decision cost him $100.

--Guy at TI would NOT make change for dealer or a player. He won a few hands early & dealer would toss him a chip to make change. Guy would shove stacks forward to make the dealer make the change. I tossed him a chip once & he said, nope, the dealer can make change. I said, hey, just trying to speed the game up & help the dealer….WEIRD.

--Friday 9AM Harrahs. Only 7 players. Young guy to my right is playing loose & fast—no worries, doesn’t bother me. He tries to intimidate me with comments when we are in a hand but I think he determines early he is not easily getting my $. UNFORTUNATELY he was on FIRE & others were betting into him…he took out 5 players, I took out 1. It got down to he & I but he had about 40K chips & I have about 10K…blinds are $400/800. I needed a hot streak to beat this guy…I was doing OK, but with only 2 of us & blinds at that level, he sucked out on me. This is a $70 tourney with a $500 guarantee. Pit boss invited me to rebuy—HUH? First I don’t even have 10 BB ($7500 chips) & this guy on fire? No, thanks. House trying to cover their loss—no way.


So I came home UP—AGAIN! Both trips this year tourneys brought me home up. Longer trips seem to be better for riding the win/loss wave in tourneys. A few VP wins never hurt either.

 

Fixed the d's for you.

Sounds like a fun trip! Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

So in summary--GREAT trip, great fun as always.

Longer trips seem to be better--you can ride through some losing days that way. (or you get REALLY frustrated if you just keep losing!!)

Once again--brought suit, never hit the pool.

DID NOT get to update DT HH list--by the time we checked in, got lunch, got ready, there wasn't much time DT.

I have established that TI to PH is my preferred gambling area--and honestly, Mirage to Ballys. I love VP at Ballys, Cromwell, Linq & OSheas (yeah, yeah, tell me about pay tables--my money goes far there & I have the best luck). Mirage is fav for poker, plus Ballys, PH, Harrahs & TI. Luckily Mom & DH don't really care. Honestly Harrahs has best location for me, but Ballys rooms are much nicer. Currently booked at Harrahs for March Madness--but I will check frequently, as prices change OFTEN. (obviously CET is my fav rewards program--we are comped most Sun-Thurs nights at most CET properties (not Cromwell) & some Sat/Sun--more if Mom goes!)

As much as I would like to be as entertaining & thorough as Royal Flusher's TRs, I have accepted that is probably not my calling...but thanks for reading anyway!

 

THANKS breanna

 

I'm the same way with the swimsuit. I seem to always bring it, but never get to the pool.
Great report!
Thanks so much for sharing your TR!

RICHARD

 

Great report. I'm taking food recommendations because I have the coupons, too. Lol.

 

Wow, impressive jobs on the tourneys! I've learned that cash games for me mean a long grind with an eventual all-in loss so maybe I should give some more tourneys a try. I've only done a couple of cheap ones in the past. Thanks for the report, lots of great info in there. I'm VERY glad to hear the La Salsa breakfast special is still in effect. I'm going to make it a point to get there next month.