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Livin' Like Low High Rollers - Sept. 4th - 8th, 2008

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by mrsvjw, Sep 8, 2008.

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  1. mrsvjw

    mrsvjw High-Roller

    Joined:
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    My Trip Report

    Thursday

    Uneventful flight. Was unhappy since I thought upgrades to Economy Plus (on United) got the bag fee waved, but either I misread at the time or they changed that. Why don't you just raise the darned ticket fee by $15? Everyone was checking bags anyway, and I have to imagine the extra fees to process all the credit transactions makes some kind of dent. $20 tip at check in (it's all over the 'net, it's no longer a trick, people) and some friendly conversation with the check in clerk at the Flamingo was a huge success - 27th floor, near the elevators. AND a fridge and coffee maker? We're high rollers?

    Headed out for some lunch…. Looked at Paris to see if there was anything that sounded good, but we ended up back at the Flamingo at the coffee shop. I had a chicken wrap and the hubby had a Reuben. Both good, but not cheap. In fact, looking at the room service menu later, it was all stuff off the room service menu for the discount of exactly one penny. Next time, I might just do the room service, just to avoid the very bored looking and sounding Keno girl walking around trying to get people to play.

    Went back to the room. On the way, spotted a dude on a bike delivering new cards to the porn slappers, and wondered if that was the “promotion†up from being a regular, street, porn slapper. In the room, spent some time Watching clouds. One cloud, turned into two clouds. Turned back to one cloud, then back to two clouds. A nice vacation activity.

    For the afternoon gambling I was running close to even, hubby went to the 3-card table and was looking for me about 20 minutes later. Not good. Dinner at Trader Vics - mai tais, two orders of duck tacos (one for each of us), calamari (not as good as the last time, about 30 seconds overcooked) and crab rangoon that have ruined me for life, I don't think I can go back to the regular take-out ones after those. Blue crab, creamed cheese and it seemed like a touch of siracha chile sauce. Got a 4-OAK draw on a 50 play double bonus machine... never pressed four buttons and "draw" so carefully in my life, or "cash out" so quickly. Score!!! I actually WON at the Flamingo! That never happens! Evening gambling was slightly profitable for the hubby. Headed out for a couple of drinks at the outside "Miller Chill" bar. Marveled at the new aluminum bottles and had a round of "Why didn't I think of that?" which also included the new light-up backboards for the porn slappers. Started a community game of "spot the hooker" with some younger dudes out there. I went to the ladies and returned to see hubby talking to a very attractive brunette. Turns out, it was her 21st birthday and hubby was buying her and her boyfriend a shot. Her boyfriend looked like he'd about had it with 30-something dudes buying his girlfriend drinks (then tell her not to announce she's just turned 21 at every bar she walks up to??) Hubby buying drinks for a 21 year old and her boyfriend. Headed back to the room after that.


    Friday

    Woke up at 7am (what's the deal with all the helicopters? Oh, a stabbing at Bally's. Loverly.) and decided to break in the new Chucks (not a good idea) by heading to Venetian to the Bouchon Bakery for pastries. Other than the usual sights of crews working cleanup on every part of the strip and your early riser exercise nuts and degenerate all-night gamblers, highlights of the walk included seeing all the Meeting of homeless guys (seriously… Vegas has the cleanest, most un-crazy homeless people I’d ever seen in my life) and a pimp & ho argument outside Harrahs.

    At the Bouchon Bakery, picked up 4 pastries and a large coffee for $20. No more expensive than the Java Coast stuff, and a zillion times better. Hey Keller - can't ya market this one to every casino on the strip? Please??? Wonderful danish (same as served at Bouchon) and the flakiest damned croissant ever. I tried to get a picture of the carnage from when I was done with it, but my camera went wonky this entire weekend and I don’t know if it’s even on there, or if my data cable is just messed up. But in any case – damned good.

    Lolligagged in the room for a bit, and discovered we had no shaving cream, so we went off to Walgreens and Fatburger. "Meh" for Fatburger... orders entered right but apparently the grill people decided hubby really DID want cheese on his burger, and I wanted raw and not the grilled onions I asked for. Hot weather, but enough strolls thru casinos to keep from overheating. Another "meh" on the Bellagio conservatory. The town... seemed a little empty. Much more like Thursday crowds than Friday. Strolled thru Mag mile shops. Where'd the ornament store go? If it's still there, I missed it! Damned street hawkers. We’d left $10 and a note for the maid for more towels and pillows. Came back to a zillion pillows, a zillion towels, and some of our toiletries artfully arranged along with.... mouthwash. Mouthwash, people! We're running with the high rollers now! Spent some time in the room, watching the moutains. Moutains don’t move like clouds, but they’re still fun to watch. Reading for the trip for both of us was Bourdain – Bobby Gold Stories and Gone Bamboo (we switched books when we were done). For dinner we had a hotdog craving so we headed over to the Fashion Show mall to hit the Nathans. Spotted some attractive ladies outside the new Palazzo sports book (need to find a new word for empty to describe how empty that place was). At Nathan’s ordered two sodas, two dogs with grilled onions and bacon cheese fries to split. We're served two dogs with raw onions. We mention it, gal behind the counter first says "oh, we don't have grilled onions" and when I say I just would have like to have been told that upfront, she then starts to say "well, if you want to wait I can grill some up". Confusing. Eat our hotdogs, then walk the mall a little but they didn’t have the book or the Vans that the hubby was looking for. Headed back to the casino. Hubby was doing very well at his three card table, but gave most of it back, I was doing so-so but at least having fun. Good cocktail service since the Strip was DEAD. Seriously, never seen it so empty on a Friday night.


    Saturday

    Woke up, hit the pool. It may have been empty in the casino but I think everyone in the hotel was at the pool. Got some sun, floated around a bit, then headed back to the room to clean up before headed over to Ballys/Paris and the burger joint.

    We each ended up building $25 burgers - beef, caramelized onions and foie gras (and I also tacked on brie) for us both. Very good. Not a huge slice or foie, but just enough to add some melty fatty foie goodness to the burger with the bonus being bites of foie. Yum. So good, in fact, that the hubby, Mr. I Put Ketchup On My Ketchup, did not put ketchup on it. Had a coupon for a free desert from when we checked in, so we split the beneigts. Meh. On the way back, saw actual real live Vegas CSI people outside Ballys (even though they already caught the suspect in the stabbing by then). Rested in the room, not really hungry for dinner, but hungry for gambling! Not as lucky for either of us to start off, but cocktail service was good since the casino was oddly empty. Slightly buzzed, we decide we should eat something.... back to Trader Vics for some yummy fried goodness! Each got out own crab rangoon, split duck tacos and calamari (way better, not overcooked this time).

    Back to the room, grabbed some more cash and hubby took me down to an actual, real, live blackjack table. I know the rules, just never done a table before. Didn't start out well, had a couple of up spurts, but played it all away and had a good time. Sat with some lovely ladies from New Orleans who mentioned they got here right after Gustav, and were headed back on Monday just in time to deal with Ike. But they were happy and good natured and a lot of fun to play with. While I was still at the blackjack table the hubby decided to hit the three card table, so I told him I'd be at the bar which was, very oddly, VERY empty. Even the bartended said it was odd to not have people standing three deep at midnight on a Saturday. Played, drank a couple Blue Moons, then headed out to the outside bar for a couple beers and a photo op of the hubby with some parked cop cars.


    Sunday

    Duh duh duh duh duh duuuuuh... football time! Up early, got some room service and putzed around the room for the first round of games as the hubby kept checking his Fantasy stats. We finally cleaned up and headed down to the casino. The hubby started out in Bugsy's Caberet where they had a bunch of TVs with different game feeds going. Oddly, there was a "no outside food or drink" rule even though there was no food being served, and only one cocktail waitress that seemed to be coming once in a blue moon. I left the hubby with the already drunken frat boys and went to find the poker machine with my name on it and get a bloody mary.

    Sat down, plunked in $20 and waited for the cocktail waitress to come around taking orders. While delivering drinks she asked me - twice - if I'd ordered some girly drink that she had. I said no, but to come by when she was taking orders. Another $40 later I was still bloody mary-less and cranky. The hubby came by, said there was no smoking in the caberet, so we both headed off to find open seats at the Garden Bar. I got my bloody mary, the hubby just sat, and we watched the second round of games from there. After the Browns had lost, dashing the hubby's hopes of a big win off his bet on them, we headed off to find dinner. Hubby wanted to try the kobe burger at Le Burger. I got the "Le Mer" - salmon burger with a lemon aioli. Very tasty. Hubby was not impressed with the kobe burger, likely due to the couple of pieces of gristle in his burger. Service this time was also less than stellar, with both our orders of fries going missing. I think the lack of people just had everyone in one of those lulls - when you're not busy and your brain is just not totally there.

    After dinner it was back to the casino. Hubby found his three card table and I returned to the slow bleed, water torture-like activity that is JoB at the Flamingo. Wasn't doing too badly and cocktail service was spot on, at least. Hubby eventually came over, unable to take all the chips outta his pocket and proudly showed off the win from a $50 bet at the three card poker table where he finally got a royal flush. He was happy!

    I cashed out, we had a couple of beers at the outside bar, and then it was back to the room to pack up as much as we could and enjoy the last night of the Vegas lights.


    Monday

    I'd never seen the airport as dead as it was. WOW. We were through security in about ten minutes flat. Slightly bumpy but uneventful plane ride, and then the unwelcome whack when we walked outside and found it was like 60 degrees and raining. It was about 82 degrees when we left the hotel in the morning. Sigh.
     
  2. Thor

    Thor Beer Drinker

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    sounds like a great time!!!! great tr!!! but....dude.....your husband bet on the browns against the boys????? now i'm a cowboy fan, but dude! hahahah....the boys had it all the way!!! all in fun!!! :beer::beer::beer:
     
  3. mrsvjw

    mrsvjw High-Roller

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    We both love the Great State of Texas and many things about it... but growing up in the 70s/80s in Chicago, the dislike of the Cowboys was instilled early in us. But you can at least be sure that if the decision was Cowboys vs. Packers, we'd pick ya over the Packers. ;)
     
  4. Thor

    Thor Beer Drinker

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    HAHAHAH......YOU BETTER!!!!! excellent! :beer::beer::beer:
     
  5. Souette

    Souette Tourist

    Joined:
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    Great stuff!

    I laughed all the way through the report. Not due to content...but the ever-so-gently injected sarcasm that I read between the lines.
    LOVED the thought that the bicycle porn-slapper was an upgrade in the chain of command of the slappers! Too funny.
    Sounds like you had a steady-paced, non-crowded good time in Vegas.
    Thanks for the report.
     
  6. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    I never heard of someone going to Vegas and watching CLOUDS! HA!

    Enjoyed the report!
     
  7. rje

    rje High-Roller

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    Great report.

    I'm from Chicago and was in Vegas last week as well...
    It sure does suck going from warmth and sunshine to cold and rain. My only thought as I was leaving work yesterday and walking to the Red Line in the rain was... I wish I was still in Vegas!
     
  8. sunni

    sunni VIP Whale

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    good times ! thanks for the report.:wave:
     
  9. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

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    Thanks for posting your TR.

    later, GVJ
     
  10. ghetto71

    ghetto71 Tourist

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    Nice TR!:peace:
     
  11. LVLady

    LVLady Tourist

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    Great trip report, truly a fun read.....I am jealous that it was dead when you were there. When we were out there in August it was PACKED. I kept reading about how slow things were and thought people were nuts for saying it, due to how busy it was. But Hubby and I used to go every Labor Day Week and loved that it was slow, I imagine with the economy the way it is that it was even slower.
    Okay so I have to know, how much did Hubby win on that Royal Flush at 3 Card?
     
  12. mrsvjw

    mrsvjw High-Roller

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    rje- I've been wishing every damned day this week I was back in Vegas!

    LVLady - ok... I'll go in to the dirty details.... I suspect the hubby's win on that was about two grand. Overall... the money we take to Vegas we expect to deposit in Vegas and not see again... we took $5k (more than we have EVER taken to Vegas.... for some odd reason this time, the economy generally in the crapper is not impacting us) and we came home with $3300-ish even after meals/crap/gambling losses. All in all, a very damned good trip for us. I just wish I would have read Mikey's fine table tipping suggestions (do a search) BEFORE I sat down at the blackjack table 'cause I would have been doing a dollar a hand at LEAST the entire time.
     
  13. mrbadger12

    mrbadger12 Tourist

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    excellent report! Do you happen to remember the room number and if it had a view of mtns or the strip? We're planning on staying there on the next trip and only been at flamingo once in 11 trips(I'm a bad boy):nono: Anywho, I love the video poker and everyone says to eat at fatburger or in and out..Where are the hookers? I may need one since I'm planning a divorce-hhahahahaha!:cry::drunk:
     
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