Low Rollin' Solo - Semi Live - 9/22 to 9/30

Ohh so cool! I'm so happy you posted a pic of my favorite place, Signature! And the smell! I love the smell there! Enjoy!

 

You do your conferences waayyy better than I used to! But I always tried to add extra days on front/back end.
Thanks for the report....am totally enjoying!

 

Conference over. It's fun time!

 

And immediately after.

 

Nice hits!

 

For those in the eastern time zone as I am. Check out the time that eliza made the post 4:44pm.

 

OMG I love this report! Informative AND hysterical. You can't beat that combination. I've also learned about some places I've never been. I will now have to check out Stage Door and find out what Signature "smells" like. But I know what it's like to love the smell of a place. (I love whatever scent they pump into The Borgata in AC.) The meal at Michael Mina looks like it would be way to much for me. Plus all that wine Whew! Can't wait for the next installment to see if you took any more lives. That's the funniest thing I've ever read in a trip report. (Still laughing about it). And be careful in the BR!!

 

Everytime I have stayed at Signature, I can use the balcony, so they are not locked off - but as eliza said, they all don't have furniture so you have to drag something out there!

 

Up bright and early this morning --- but glad I'll be able to sleep in tomorrow. This work all day, play all night thing is getting harder and harder the older I get.

Breakfast at Delights - sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich and a coffee. Plus got a couple waters and iced teas to use up my credit. The breakfast sandwich was quite good and HUGE --- enough for two people to share easy.



Wrapped up my work around noon and headed back downtown to El Cortez. I know there are mixed opinions on El Cortez, but I adore it. (This should come as no surprise given my love for dives). For me, it's classic Las Vegas. I love the old-school feel. I love that it's all the same employees as last year, and the year before. I even love how disgusting your fingers get if you play the coin droppers.

This time I'm staying in a cabana suite for three nights comped with a $25 F&B credit (High Roller, baby!). I haven't stayed over in the cabana suites before, but I really like them. The room is a bit small (especially compared to the giant suite at the Signature), but it's got everything I need. My first impression was that it is VERY green, but it's grown on me.

Bed


Small sitting area and desk. Free coffee and water in the room is great. And a fridge --- that you can actually use, instead of the fridge at Bellagio which warned that there would be a $50 per day charge if anything in the fridge was moved (even if nothing was taken out) --- given how clumsy I am, I'm shocked I didn't bump the fridge and end up owing them one billion dollars.




No full closet --- which could bother some folks --- since I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of person, it doesn't phase me a bit.



And in good news --- there is zero chance of hurting myself while getting out of the soaking tub --- because there is no tub.



I settled into the new Ike's bar to play some VP and promptly blew through $75 in FP. Harumph. Put $100 in and got a couple of nice hits, including the ones I posted earlier. Played for quite a while going up and down and up and down. Finally ended up down $100 and decided it was time for a break and a snack, so off to Pizza Rock for a quick happy hour bite - I went with the meatballs which were just as good as everyone says and a true bargain at $4. The couple next to me had personal pizzas which also looked amazing, so I'm going to have to go back at some point.



Came back to El Cortez and played for quite a while, clawing myself back to near even for the day. That's gambler's math where being out $35 of my own money and $85 in FP = even for the day. Winning!

Here are some more hits from today:



I decided to walk down to Walgreens to stretch my legs and get some soda for the room and promptly walked into the middle of a photo shoot starring someone who may have been Kenny Rogers or may have been a dude that just looks a lot like Kenny Rogers. Or almost walked into it --- a nice deputy with a very impressive gun on display stopped me at the last second. It was pretty embarrassing because I obviously had zero situational awareness and had no clue what was going on. I didn't even manage to get pictures, I was so discombobulated. It was almost as embarrassing as the time that I literally ran into Jon Bon Jovi while carrying a giant roll of seran wrap.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying your trip and have a nice, safe shower! Keep us updated!

 

El Cortez Cabana Suite, meatballs and Pizza Rock and Video Poker...that's how I roll! Enjoying your TR.

 

I love beer, but I think EI's best offering is their root beer. I have questioned if their taps need maintenance.

And sucks about no cup holders in upper deck. I doubt I can (or would want to) afford the lower bowl!

Go get a royal!

 

It's not a bad day, eh?

Which reminds me, I've met two Canadians this trip. One, who sat next to me at the game last night, was from Toronto but was going to her first ever hockey game and was very unclear on the rules. The other was an older gentleman who was dining next to me at Seigel's tonight and asked me if I had ever had poutine --- because he had never heard of it before and had just had his first dish of it for lunch and loved it. I'm confused because I thought 90% of being Canadian was watching hockey while eating poutine.

I wish it were that easy. I've had a number of close encounters so far, including one that I thought WAS a royal until I realized the jack was a spade and not a club. Heart-breaking. Sort of like watching that last Steelers game.

 

Played more video poker bouncing from Ike's bar to Lobby bar and back. It's so nice being downtown where there are good paytables on the bartops. Lots of small wins, but only one quad.



Finally decided it was time for dinner, so I headed over to Siegel's for the Prime Rib special. It was, once again, surprisingly good. I always expect it to be mediocre for some reason --- and always end up impressed. Tender and fatty --- just the way a good prime rib should be and served with veggies and potato. For the price, this remains my second favorite downtown prime rib special (cherries jubilee puts Market Street Cafe's over the top).



Was feeling full and lazy after dinner, so I made myself wander around the Fremont Street Experience all the way down to the Plaza. I'm afraid that their feuding with the FSE was cutting off their nose to spite their face. Instead of being the beautiful backdrop to the FSE, they are now entirely hidden behind the end stage. There still seemed to be a lot of people in there, so maybe it isn't affecting them, but I don't think they will see nearly as much coincidental foot traffic with the way they are set apart from the main drag of Downtown.

Eventually wandered back to ElCo for one last session of VP. I was down, down, down until I hit this beauty.



And then several full houses in a row --- it was crazy ---- like six full houses in ten hands. That's variance for you.

I ended up the night down $220 (plus the $85 in FP that I'm totally not counting, because reasons) and put in $5,500 in coin in.

 

Ah yes, the dreaded "colored Ace high straight". I know that hand all too well! Still plenty of time to get all the same suit though!

 

My buddies and I will be stopping at the El Co for an hour or so on Friday (9/29) sometime in the morning. We will be playing VP at the bar near the old Flame steakhouse and the Parlour bar. Think it is considered their lobby bar???

If you see an Asian guy and 2 bigger guys (all mid 40s) in either Tribe or Buckeye hat/gear being loud, laughing, and busting balls, stop by and say hi. We will also be casino hopping DT doing our coupon run before we check in at the D that morning. Our flight gets in at 7:25AM. So we have lots of time and brain cells to kill before check in.

Most of our time or at least mine will be spent at the D Vue bar upstairs playing the progressive Bonus VP machines the rest of the trip. We will also be doing a DT VP pub crawl Saturday morning/afternoon with a couple of guys that are staying on the strip.

 

I'm truly an outstanding citizen this morning.

Last night, I know I'm going to sleep in so I put the DND sign out.

8:45AM - I wake up to someone opening the door --- luckily I put the latch over so they can't get in and they go away. I go back to sleep thinking maybe I hallucinated it.

9:30 AM - I'm up and in the shower when it happens again. I grab a towel and rush to the door and tell the guy to please go away. Now I'm unhappy. And a bit concerned that there is some random guy who is really intent on getting in my room. So I call down to the front desk to complain. She says she'll report it to housekeeping and security.

9:40 AM - I finally put my contacts in and throw on some clothes because I am indignant and going down to the front desk to find out what the problem is and make sure it doesn't continue.

9:41 AM - I'm in the hallway and, uh oh, that sinking feeling where you realize you've been a moron. The DND sign has two sides - "Privacy Please" and "Service Please". Guess which side I had out?

9:42 AM - I'm sheepishly explaining to the Front Desk what happened and trying to make sure that nobody actually gets in trouble.

Guess who's getting a bigger than normal tip today?

 

I'll keep an eye out. Even though I'm firmly on the Penn State side of the deep and contentious PSU v OSU family divide. It's intense --- we actually have this whole "We are ..... I - O" / "O H ... Penn State" schtick going on.

 

Good morning Las Vegas!

 

Lol...gotta be careful with those signs!