Bellagio April 4 - April 7

I’m going to give this a try. I’ve been a reader here for a while now, but have never really posted. I really enjoy the work everyone puts into their trip reports, so I thought I should reciprocate with one of my own. This turned out to be a whole lot longer than I expected. But bear with me, I’m a rookie. I hope I don’t bore you too much!!

First a little background. I’m in my early 30’s and I used to get to Vegas once or twice a year. However, just after our last trip out in March 2004, my wife and I found out she was pregnant. Three years later we’re able to scrape enough money together and pull her away from our daughter long enough to get back to the desert.

Wednesday, April 4:

We flew Southwest out of Houston, uneventfully and on-time, on Wednesday afternoon. The cab line was short and we were on the road in no time. The fare to the Bellagio was about $13. We were checked in to our room by 2:00. We had reserved a standard room for $199 a night for three nights. Using the specials found on the T2V board I got the first two nights reduced to $179. We’ve never stayed at the Bellagio before, so were very excited about making it affordable. Our check-in clerk asked us if we preferred a higher or lower floor. I indicated we would like the highest floor we could get, with a view of the fountains. Before I could even offer her $20, she said that wouldn’t be a problem. I gave her the $20 anyways, attempting to get karma on my side to begin the trip. We were given room 23022 and the view was all we could’ve hoped for. Previous trips we were never concerned with the view, but since it was our first in a while, and the first with only the two of us, we really wanted a good view of the fountains and we were not disappointed.

Sure enough, as has been posted elsewhere, the Aladdin is completing it’s transformation to the Planet Hollywood with the addition of the red lettered “Planet Hollywood†being placed on the top of the building. And it did read “Planet Hoâ€. I made sure to get a picture of it right away so they wouldn’t sneak an ‘l’ up there before I had a chance. Glad I did, by Friday the sign had evolved to “Planet Holâ€.

After unpacking, we headed down to the sportsbook so I could place some baseball bets. I put a decent size bet (for me, at least) on the Astros to beat the Pirates, figuring the ‘Stros couldn’t/wouldn’t start the season getting swept by Pittsburgh at home, and a three team parlay on some games that looked good to me.

We headed over to Mon Ami Gabi to grab some lunch on the patio. We started with the baked cheese and tomato w/ garlic bread, and it was excellent. Probably my favorite dish of the trip. I ordered a hamburger and my wife a muffalata. The food was good, but eating our meal along the rail of the patio on the strip, in the sunshine, was just what these parents of a two year old needed!!! The bill, with tip was $50.
After lunch we headed over to Planet Hollywood to do some gambling. Sat down at $10 6-deck blackjack table, and doubled my buy-in. We decided to check out the Miracle Mile, but didn’t see anything that caught our eye. This walk was the beginning of a trend that would continue the entire trip. Anytime we passed a store with shoes, my wife had to go in to look. Shoes were never bought….but it wasn’t for a lack of searching.

We decided our plan of action for the night would be to stroll the strip, popping in and out of the casinos on the south side of the Bellagio. So, after leaving Planet Hollywood, we headed for the MGM. After stopping in some of the shops on the way, we made it into the casino. I stopped by the new sportsbook to check the score of the games I had bet on. I liked the look of the poker room, but I don’t think the sportsbook is that much better than the old one. The location is better now, but I think the old one felt a little more comfortable. I found my way to $10 6-deck blackjack table, while my wife went to play some 3-card poker. After playing for a while, she had decided she had given them enough money and wanted to move on, so I cashed out even for the session.

Next stop was the Hooter’s casino. This was one of the places on our must see list for this trip, just to check it out to see what it was like. Turns out, this was one of my wife’s favorite casinos. She said it just felt comfortable there, and when she decides she likes going to Hooters, who am I to argue? We sat down together at $5 3-card poker table. We lasted a while, but eventually the odds got to my wife and she ran through her buy-in. Once she was out of money, on the next hand, the gentleman next to her got dealt her cards, and wouldn’t you know it A-2-3 all spades. Straight flush 40-1 on pairs plus. She was a good sport about it, but I could tell it was killing her inside. She later told me that she could keep her cool because the guy that got it was a fun guy and she liked him, otherwise she may have acted differently!!!! I eventually got up, cashing out on the positive side. While playing at Hooters, I found out that the Astros had indeed been swept by the Pirates to start the season. I should have known better, and I’m not even an Astros fan.

The Hooters café was practically empty, but the actual Hooters restaurant inside the casino was packed and had a line waiting to get in. We decided to move on and try to find some dinner somewhere else. We wanted something fairly casual so we headed over to NYNY to see what the food court had to offer. Nothing caught our eye, so we walked over to Monte Carlo and got on the list for a table at the Brew Pub. After a ten-minute wait we were seated. I’ve never eaten here before, as I’ve only been in to drink beer. We ordered the pretzel bite appetizer and I had the steak quesadillas and my wife had the fried chicken salad. The food was good. About what would be expected for a place like this. We didn’t drink any beer, but I’ve heard that they don’t brew their own anymore, so I can’t comment on what they serve now. We were very impressed however with the giant tubes of beer that several tables had. We estimated that each ‘tube’ held about 10-12 beers at least, so when we saw a table of 2 sharing one, we were mildly impressed. The highlight of the meal had nothing to do with the restaurant. While eating, we watched the Padres finish off the Giants to complete my winning three team parlay!! Unfortunately, the amount won only covered the amount lost from my Astros bet.

At this point, we were pretty tired and wanted to see the fountain show from our room at night. We headed back to our room by about 11:00 and caught a couple of fountain shows before hitting the sack.

Thursday, April 5

I had trouble sleeping, and my body clock was telling me it was time to go to work, so I was up at 4 am. Left my wife sleeping and headed over to Paris to play some BJ. I sat down at a $10 6-deck table with the only other player being an extremely drunk girl. She wasn’t doing very well, and really had very little idea how to play. She was down to her last chips and had to pull out some cash in order to double down, and won that bet. From that point on, she was on fire. Every decision she made, good or bad, worked out for her. She even split tens four times in one hand against the dealer’s nine, and won all four bets. By the time I lost my buy-in, she had over $300 in chips in front of her, without increasing her bets at all. It just goes to show that sometimes luck will beat basic strategy. It doesn’t bother me one or the other when people play blackjack without following basic strategy, it was just amazing that she was doing so well with the decisions she was making.

Since I did well there on Wednesday, I decided to head back over to Planet Hollywood to make up for the beating I took at Paris. I sat at a $10 6-deck table and won my first 7 or 8 hands, and immediately had my money back. Tried to triple my buy in, but didn’t quite make it. I eventually cashed out, making back half of what I lost at Paris.

Headed back to the Bellagio to wake up the wife and get some breakfast. We went over to Bill’s to try out the Victorian Room. After being seated we waited for 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging us. No water, no “I’ll be with you in a secondâ€, not even any eye contact. It wasn’t like we were in the corner or an out of the way table. We had a booth right in the middle, where wait staff continuously walked past us. Rather than try to remedy the situation, we decided to jump ship before things got worse. Better to leave then, than to get bad food and/or more bad service and have to pay for it.

Although we were hungry, we couldn’t resist the $5 tables that Bill’s was offering. We sat down at a $5 3-card poker table. I proceeded to lose about half of my buy-in. My wife however got her rewards for remaining calm after her 3-card poker straight flush near miss when she was dealt three kings for a 30-1 payoff. At that point we decided it was time to hit the craps table, and Bill’s had a $5 table running. The table treated us well, and there was one High Roller there who was really working the dealers. He was betting over $200 on each number every roll, and he kept pressing his bets to amounts that weren’t “easy†bets for the dealers to calculate payouts on. When the dice got to me, I rolled for a good amount of time hitting quite a few numbers. Unfortunately for me, the high roller “Mr. G†was away from the table during my roll. I say unfortunately because the next time I got the dice, he offered me $100 if I could hit six numbers. Any six numbers. I only hit 3. Oh well. I cashed out after having recouped my 3-card poker losses plus a little extra. Before we left, I wanted to make a couple baseball bets. I didn’t have any parlays in mind, so I bet on the Red Sox with Dice-K making his big league debut. I also bet on Tampa Bay to beat the Yankees, for two reasons. 1. I’ll take any reason I can to rout against the Yankees and 2. The devil rays were paying +250, which in my opinion is too much for any baseball game involving professionals.

Since this was a north side day, we headed north, basically just wandering along. Stopped in at O’Shea’s and played a little bit of video poker. We are vp novices and play just for kicks every now and then. I put $10 into a deuces wild machine and cashed out $25 about 15 minutes later. If it were always that easy!!!

Still hungry, we headed over to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill to get lunch, just as they opened. The food was standard. Nothing special, but I wouldn’t hesitate to eat there again. My wife ordered the lunch special: Salad/Sandwich/Desert/Drink for $15. I ordered a club sandwich and for desert got the fried twinkies, which were excellent. Since I live in good ole Texas, fried twinkies are nothing new to me, but they still aren’t something I can pass up when offered!!! Bill came to $44 with tip.

After lunch we hoofed it over to the Wynn. This was the other casino on our must-see list. We signed up for the players club and asked about the free buffet offer. 100 points gets you two free buffets. You also get $10 of free credit upon sign up. I sat down at a video poker machine and burned through the free $10 plus $10 of my own. Accumulated 14 points in the meantime. Decided that the 100 points was reachable If we wanted to sit around playing VP for a couple of hours, but didn’t know if we would come back solely to earn a free buffet.

From the Wynn, we decided to start heading back towards the Bellagio. So, across the street and over to TI, but not before stopping at the Skechers store at the front of the Fashion Show mall. TI had lots of affordable table games on a Thursday afternoon. Two $5 craps tables that were packed and plenty of $5 single deck 6:5 blackjack tables. They also had $10 6-deck blackjack tables with continuous shufflers. I try to avoid continuous shufflers and 6:5 blackjack tables, so we headed up to the tram to the Mirage. On the way I noticed the TI poker room, and thought it looked cozy and friendly, and tucked that away in my head for later in the trip.

At the Mirage, we checked the box office to see if it was possible to score any tickets to se Love either that night, or Friday night, but we had no luck. The blackjack conditions at the Mirage were no better than TI, but I was getting an itch to gamble, so we sat down at a $10 single deck 6:5 blackjack table. We played for a while and I got up after doubling up my buy-in. Headed back to the Bellagio for a much needed nap before dinner.

We had dinner reservations for Blackstone’s at the Monte Carlo, so after our nap we got all gussied up and hopped a cab for that long drive next door. Dinner at Blackstone’s was excellent. We ordered the mozzarella and tomato salad as an appetizer. I’m not a big fan of that salad, so my wife had it to herself and she liked it. The tomato slices were humongous, so if you like you some tomato, this is the way to go. I ordered the 22 oz. Bone-In Ribeye with garlic mashed potatoes and my wife had an 8 oz Filet with four cheese potatoes. We finished with a chocolate soufflé. We don’t typically eat at the nicer restaurants, but we felt entirely comfortable at Blackstone’s. The staff did everything we could’ve expected and were attentive to everything we needed. The food was excellent as well. We would definitely recommend this to anyone. We aren’t big drinkers anymore, so I had a soda, and my wife a seabreeze. With tip, the bill came to $160.

After dinner we went to the sportsbook to catch the end of the Yankees-Devil Rays game. The Devil Rays hung on to win, so combined with the Red Sox win earlier in the day, I was 2 for 2 on baseball for the day. Hoping to extend my winning streak, I sat down at $10 6-deck blackjack table, and proceeded to lose my buy-in. I found my wife playing at a Crazy 4 Poker table. This game is very similar to 3-card poker (in my opinion) except you are dealt five cards and use your best four cards. My wife was doing well, so I sat down and played. We didn’t play long, and I cashed out even for the session.

We walked back over to Hooters since we liked it there the night before. We found a $5 craps table and played together there for a while. The table was choppy and we eventually left after having lost about half of our buy-in. We took the chips we had left and moved to a $5 3-card poker table. That’s where I lost the rest of my original craps buy-in. My wife was doing well, so I left here there and moved to a $10 6-deck blackjack table. I was doing well, having won back my earlier losses and was going for a net profit, when they switched dealers on my and I proceeded to lose all the money I had just won back. I decided to stop the bleeding when I was back down to my initial blackjack buy-in amount and cashed out even for the session. Since my wife was still wearing her heels, we cabbed it back to Bellagio. Traffic on the strip was horrible and what should have been a quick trip took way too long, and cost us about $15 after tip. We managed to catch the last fountain show of the night, and then hit the hay. We had planned on going back out to gamble some more, but the psychology of losing after dinner was getting to me, even though I was slightly up for the trip. We are starting to realize we can’t stay out til sunrise like we used to on previous trips.

Friday April 6

Once again, I woke up early and decided I needed to try my hand at a poker room. I’ve played poker before, but never in a casino, only at home with friends and friends of friends. Playing in a casino was something I’ve been wanting to try. This could partially be due to the fact that if you try, you could probably find some sort of televised Texas Hold ‘Em event on television at any given time. Similar to the theory first discussed in the movie PCU, that no matter what time it is, 24 hours a day, you can find a Michael Caine or Gene Hackman movie playing on TV.

Anyways, I sat down at $1-$2 NL table at the flamingo. I bought in for $160 and I was playing very tight, as I was fairly nervous. The table seemed to be playing a little more expensive than I expected. Most pre-flop bets were either limp ins or bets of around $20. I hadn’t played a hand until I was dealt pocket aces. The cards came out all under, no pairs, straight draws or flush draws on the board. I had position, so I light the aggressive player at the table take the lead and I called his bets. He finished with a $45 bet on the river which I called and he mucked, giving me a pot of around $200. I won another smaller pot and was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I lost when I had a full house and the other guy had four kings. He slow played it and then didn’t capitalize on the fact that I thought I had him beat at the end. I guess he was expecting me to raise him at the end, but I only called his $25 bet (I was still hesitant to do much raising). The table eventually filled up, and I felt like the mark at the table, and was getting pushed around quite a bit. I tried to get into some pots, but then I would get a good raise on my bet, and my cards were never good enough to keep going. When I felt like everyone was eyeing me as the easy money at the table, I got up. Cashing in with a loss of $60, I didn’t regret playing and thought of that money as a lesson in casino poker.

Went back to the Bellagio still buzzing from the thrill of actually playing in a poker room, I woke up my wife and we went to breakfast at the Bellagio Café off the conservatory. I had pancakes and sausage while the wife had a waffle. The food was good, but I don’t think it was worth the price. The bill came to $54 with tip, partly due to the $7.50 glass of orange juice I had. After breakfast we went upstairs to change and then headed out for some time by the pool. The pool area there is really nice and we stayed for a little more than an hour. The main pool is heated, but the others are not. The non-heated pools were a little too cool to get into that early in the day, and the main pool was a little cool, but bearable.

After the pool, we changed then headed by the Bellagio sportsbook so I could get my baseball bets in for the day. I tried a four team parlay just on a whim with mostly favorites that of course did not come in. I’ve decided betting the dogs is the way to go for baseball. The trick is betting on the correct dogs!!! Also, I put a bet on the Tigers against the Royals giving up a run and a half, and I bet on the Cubs to beat the Brewers. My wife decided she wanted to play and came up with a three team parlay of the Mets/Cubs/Astros.

By the time we hit the strip, we were hungry for lunch already. We had heard great things about Pink’s hot dogs at Planet Hollywood, so we decided to check it out. We eventually found it, but it wasn’t what we expected. There was just a little snack both on the second level that had a bin full of hot dogs. Presentation didn’t matter to us, so we go two dogs. They were pretty good, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way for them again.

We decided to walk the strip again just going where the wind blew us. We made our way all the way down to Treasure Island, stopping in at the Flamingo, Imperial Palace, and the Mirage, before we did any gambling. After whetting my appetite in the cash game that morning, I decided I wanted to try my hand at a poker tourney, so I signed up for the 2 pm tourney at TI. While waiting for the tourney to start I sat down at a $10 let it ride table and promptly lost $80. Still with some to kill, I took my remaining $20 and sat at a $5 6:5 blackjack table. When it came time to go play poker, I cashed out for $25. Score!!

The poker tournament was a $60 buy-in with rebuys available for the first hour and an optional $5 add on for 1,000 chips at the first break. Starting stack was 2,000. The initial button started at seat 3, and I was at seat 2. This suited my fine, so I could relax and get a feel of the table and the cards before I had to put any money in. I played tight, only playing strong starting hands and was doing quite well, I think I won every pot I participated in for quite a while. When the first break hit, I hadn’t taken any big hits, and had over 10,000 chips in front of me. I think I had the most chips at my table, but there were three other tables running (52 entries) so I don’t know how well I was doing overall. I just knew I was doing better than I expected. As the tourney progressed, and my chip stack stayed large, I started playing a little more aggressively and started knocking people out. I think I ended up sending about 7 or 8 people to the rail after all was said and done. Some hands of note: I was dealt pocket jacks and raised before the flop to one caller. The flop came X-X-A, rainbow. I made a small bet and was called. The turn came A, and I figured If I want to win this hand I need to make a move. So I made a substantial bet and the other guy folded giving me the pot. My first serious bluff worked. I wanted to get up and start calling all my buddies to tell them about it, but I figured that would be bad etiquette. I also took one bad hand. I was dealt pocket aces, and raised preflop, I had one caller who actually raised all-in. I had him covered easily (he was short stacked) and called. He flipped over K-7. The flop came X-K-K. The turn was a 7. Oh well. I figured I had been pretty lucky up to that point, I was due to lose one when I had the better cards. I’m just glad it didn’t cost me much.

When we were down to 13 people, the other table had four people go all-in. I’m not sure how the hand went, but one guy took out the other three. Bringing us down to 9 people for the final table. I couldn’t believe it. My first tourney and I’m at the final table. Now let’s see if I can get in the money. The chip leader had everyone severely beat, seeing as how he just took out three guys. The top 6 paid, so I figured if I played super tight I could make it. When we got to the bubble, the short stack went all-in when he could barely raise the big blind. There were three callers, including myself. The flop came out something like 2-6-7 rainbow. The first two checked, but the third guy made a large bet. We both folded figuring he hit something. The turn was K, the river 2. The short stack had a K, and the bettor had rags. So the short stack doubled up. The killer is that the other guy that folded had a 2, so if that guy would’ve checked instead of bet, we all would’ve been in the money. Karma got him though, as he ended up busting out in 7th, just out of the money. Once everyone was in the money, play picked up. I knocked someone out into fifth, and when there were four left, the chip leader had about 120,000 and the other three of us had about 25,000 combined. So we gave him first and chopped for 2/3/4. I couldn’t complain!! My first tourney, and I tied for second and took home $455! This made my trip.

Unfortunately, while I was playing poker, my wife was losing money left and right in the casino. I wish she would’ve gone shopping for shoes, it would’ve been cheaper!!

Operating on a high from my tournament showing, we walked back to the Bellagio and had the concierge check us in to flights for Saturday afternoon. We then walked down to NYNY to get some dinner at NYNY and watch our baseball bets. We split an order of cheese fries, and I had the chicken penne pasta while my wife had a salad and chicken tortilla soup. We topped off the dinner with a celebratory cookie sundae which was the highlight of the meal. The meal was decent, but nothing to write home about. The bill came to $60 with tip. As we had dinner, my wife had the pleasure of watching her 3 team parlay come through. A $10 bet paid out $75 (I think). Unfortunately, I had the Yankees in my parlay, and the Tigers not only didn’t cover, they lost outright. At least I had the cubs come through to save me some embarrassment with my wife!!

We then walked the strip doing some shopping in the stores between the MGM and Planet Hollywood before stopping in to play some Blackjack. We sat down at a very fun $10 single deck 6:5 table. I got up once I profited $60 to cover for our dinner.

The strip was starting to get very crowded, so we just walked around and people watched rather than to try to cram into an overcrowded casino. We did go into the Imperial Palace and watched the dealertainers for a while. My wife had never heard of them and thought they were a blast. We particularly liked Elvis, Toby Keith, and Neil Diamond. There was one girl that we couldn’t figure out who she was supposed to be. Maybe Madonna, Britney Spears, or Christina Aguilera? Didn’t look like anyone, so we were just guessing.

Headed back to the Bellagio and did a little bit of shopping. Got some chocolate covered strawberries at the Jean-Philippe Patisserie. We then bought a nice Bellagio snow globe to take home to our daughter. Went upstairs in time to catch the last fountain show again, and then went to sleep. We had hoped to stay out later since it was our last night, but the strip was so crowded, we decided to go to bed and head out again in the morning when it wouldn’t be so packed.

Saturday April 7

Got up at 5 and went downstairs to take some pictures before the masses awoke, while the wife got ready for the day. Requested and got a late check-out for 2 pm. Went across the street to get a bite to eat at Paris, but none of the pastry shops in the casino were open yet. Ughh…I thought they would be open, but it was only 6:30 and they don’t open til 7. Walked over to Bally’s and found a little café off the casino floor, Nosh’s that was open and serving bagel sandwiches. We each got on and were pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive it was. Two sandwiches and a drink for $12. Highly recommended.

Went to Bill’s and played some $5 3-card poker. Lost my buy-in immediately. Went to the Mirage and played some $5 3:2 blackjack, and lost my buy-in. although it took a while to lose it. This is our last day and we’re thinking Vegas knows this and is trying to take back all of my winnings at once!! We decide to walk down to Planet Hollywood and try to win that money back. Since I’ve won every time at PH this trip, I figure it’s a given!! Sat down at a $10 3:2 blackjack game and go up and down. Almost lose my buy-in, but fight back to even. When I get to even I decide to quit and call it a trip. We had back to Bellagio and pack up and check out. Ate lunch at the snack bar near the poker room. Club sandwich, Pepperoni Pizza, and a coke for $24. Good food for a snack bar.

Cab ride to the airport was uneventful. Cabbie told us that the Monday after the NBA all-star game, the line to check baggage for southwest went all the way to the international terminal and was 5-6 hours long. WOW!! No significant lines at security, but as I was going through with my carry-on (we didn’t check any bags this trip) there was problem. Turns out snow-globes aren’t acceptable carry-on material due to the liquid contained within. Makes sense, but it hadn’t occurred to us. We had to trash the snow globe, and it was upsetting since that was the gift we bought for our little girl. She’s only 2 and won’t notice either way, but it mattered to mom and dad!! Once at the gate, we called the Bellagio gift shop and ordered another to be shipped to Houston for us. It should arrive later this week. All concerns of being horrible parents were put aside!! Flight home was uneventful and arrived early to rainy 37 degree weather in Houston.

Final Thoughts:

• I was really worried about finding affordable tables on the strip. But I was comfortable playing $10 and didn’t have any trouble finding $10 tables for any game, anywhere on the strip. $5 tables could be found at all places on the strip (including Bellagio) if you looked at the right times.
  
• The kids were ridiculous. I don’t really have a major problem with people bringing their kids to Vegas, but we saw way too many toddlers out at midnight trying to stay awake while there parents were walking from casino to casino. I just didn’t expect the number of strollers out past 10 pm. Personally, I don’t see how I could enjoy Vegas with my little one in tow. Maybe that’s just me.
  
• When going out clubbing and drinking is no longer a priority, it really is worth it to go to sleep at a fairly normal hour and get up earlier. The strip early in the morning is very empty, the casinos are not crowded and the table limits are low. So I try to a lot of my gambling early in the day, and people watch and eat out and what-not in the evening. It is hard to get past the concept of not staying out late in Vegas though.
  
• I wish I would’ve entered a poker tournament sooner. Even if I hadn’t won money, I would’ve loved it. Much more enjoyable than a cash game, in my opinion. If I'd done it earlier in the trip, I could've played more than one.
  
• We didn’t gamble at all in Bellagio. Not one dime. No particular reason why, we could’ve afforded it, it just didn’t happen. I found that very odd.
  
• In the end, it was a great trip for us. We got some time away from the little one, and it was just the two of us, so we didn’t have to cater to other people’s whims. We came back on the winning side with our gambling money, but not quite enough to cover all our expenses. Even so, we brought home almost all of our bankroll.
  
• I have some pictures, of the room, the view, and the Planet Ho sign. But they are still on the camera. I can post them here if there is interest. Maybe I'll post them even if there isn't interest. who knows.

 

great report. sounds like you had a good time.

we like pictures! would love to see them... especially "Planet Ho"

 

Good trip report - we were there same time as you (leaving 3yo dd behind). We tried the 2/4 Limit HE for our first poker try and found it very nice. Not as agressive and was easy to play with our initial $100 buy in for 2-3 hours and still have money left. I actually left Sat up $60 which was fun. Next time we will try a tournament - just never found one at the right time.

Kellye

 

Thanks for a very entertaining report.

 

Very nice TR; and definetly post the pictures. We'll be staying at the B in August and it would be nice to see what we might be getting.

 

Great trip report, it sounds like you had fun!!!