Turkey Day in Sin City

Thanksgiving in Vegas 2003

Well, the wife and I decided to make our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Sin City again this year. Some people like to spend all day cooking and cleaning, preparing a big meal, working like to crazy to make Thanksgiving perfect. Us, ... we like to head out to Vegas, sneak in 5 days of drunken fun and watch football in the Bellagio Sports book until it’s time to eat.

So, I made all the plans, found us direct flights out of Boston on Tuesday night Nov 25th, and booked us into the Rio for the first 2 nights of our stay. I then bought, traded and acquired as many match play gaming coupons as I could find. As you may know, I love to throw the dice and count the blackjack cards with the most advantaged play I can get. So, I try to bet with the gaming match plays as often as I can on every trip. More on that later...

So, the big day arrives, we get to the airport and after a quick hour delay, and a few beers we were on our way. We arrived Vegas at about 9:45pm Vegas time, grabbed our rental car (US car rental, $68 for 4 days.. The cheapest place around.. In every sense of the word) and headed to the Rio.

This was my 25th time in Sin City, and the wife’s 15th. So, we know our way around. We get to the Rio, talk nicely to the fine lady and she hooks us up with a lovely corner room with a great view of the strip. All the rooms at the Rio are suites, and yes, this one was very nice. We had floor to ceiling windows for 2 walls of the bedroom. An awesome view of the strip... Yep, did the Chevy Chase “looking at the Grand Canyon†and said... let’s go.. It’s on !!!

We went down to the Rio and were alarmed to see that all the Craps pits were $10 minimum. Well, we like to shoot the dice, often... but $2 craps is more my game with a strong progressive strategy. So we went next door to the Gold Coast, grabbed a quick drink at the bar.. Mmm, I needed that.. Hell, I could go for one right now... and jumped on the $2 table at the Gold Coast. Well, the table was ice cold, and our excitement about being in Vegas could not stop us from gleefully gaming away a quick $60 each. Humm... that didn’t go so well, but I’m sure a few drinks will help smooth it over.. How bout some Blackjack!

I recouped my $60 at BJ and decided to quit even, the wife hit for over $100 while only giving away $20 at the dice table so she was the big winner. We decided to grab some food in the Gold Coast 24 hour place... just like the Barbary Victorian room, good cheap late night eats. I had a great steak and eggs, while the wife had Ham and eggs, the bill for everything was $5.80 .. Man you gotta love Vegas! It was now 4am in Vegas and 7am for us, so we went to bed. ... I know you want the details about that... you perverts, but your not gonna get ‘em... haaa... but you can order the video for $9.95...

Wednesday Morning

We woke up and walked over to the Palms. Joined their club and each got $10 in free slot play. We sat at video poker (yes, they have 9/6 there) and each quickly lost our free $10 .. Easily reminding us of the reason we don’t play these games. We were going to eat at the Palms, but the unusually long lines forced us back to the Gold Coast where we had the buffet, after the 2 for 1 coupon it was like $6.30 for us both to eat. ... That part about Vegas is fantastic...

Next, we jump in the rental car and head towards the strip. We stop and play match plays at the Paris and Bally’s... ugly, ugly ugly .. Lost 7 straight hands of blackjack between the 2 places and a quick $40. Man, that stunk, let’s hit the craps tables at Casino Royal. Well, the dice were choppy, but when it was all done, my $40 had turned into a few vodka cranberries.. Humm... then we decided to hit the Mac King Show at Harrah’s. We have always heard it was a good show, and everyone is right. Mac King is very funny and entertaining. It’s free admission with a $7 drink purchase. One of the best deals in Vegas! I made a joke with the bartender on the way in, and he poured me a STRONG Jack and Coke, it took almost the whole show to drink it. Go See Mac King, it’s an afternoon show at Harrah’s and a nice break in your day.

After Mac King we took a little trip to the new Casino’s Monte largo and the Hyatt at the somewhat new Lake Las Vegas. These places are way off the beaten path, they don’t get much play up there... so they lure you out there with big matchplay coupons. Well, my miserable luck continued and I dropped $100 between the 2 places on Blackjack, the wife lost $80. Who’s stupid idea was it to come up here? Anyway.. We jumped in the car and went back to the Rio, we actually went to the room and watched Survivor from 8 til 9. In Vegas, I know what a couple of losers. Anyway, after that we went downstairs for some food and more drinks. After the big meal and the long day, the wife decided to turn in. I decided to take a walk to the Palms. I had a few drinks along the way, played some Craps, and eventually found myself back in my room (puking in my sink) .. Humm, I think someone had spiked my booze with booze.

Thursday

Well, with all the bad luck I had been having, I assumed the only way to get back on track was to win some of the football games. Now, I’m a patriots season ticket holder, and smiling from ear to ear these days... but I had to chose between Green Bay and Detroit. Who the hell is gonna bet on Detroit... not me, so I threw $50 on Green Bay and parlayed another $25 on G.B. with Miami. We got those leather seats in the Bellagio Sports book and started to watch the games. They make the best Bloodies in the Bellagio sports book, and of course they are free. So, the wife and I started knocking them back like there was no tomorrow. Damm, those things are good. Anyway, the Green Bay morons, lost and made me lose both bets!!

Now, I am starting to get a little pissed at my miserable luck. The wife says let’s bet Dallas in the 2nd game, as she is a fan of Bill Parcells... so I drop another $50 here. Damm bloody mary’s clouding my thinking!! We go to get in line for the buffet and the wait is crazy like 2 and half hours long so we end up eating in a sportsbar... haa... the drunken Thanksgiving dinner was actually pretty good !

Next, we have to check into the Riviera, as we left the Rio that morning and were moving to the Riv for the next 2 nights. Yeah, the Riv is kinda older and certainly not as nice as the Rio, but it’s dirt cheap to stay there ($25/night) and it’s right across the street from Slots a Hell, the most fun craps pit in Vegas.

We check in and grab a quick nap, the combination of all those bloodies and that big meal took it’s toll. After a quick nap.. We headed out for some north strip gambling. First stop slots a hell, a quick beer and a quick $50 on the craps table and things have finally started to turn around. We head south on the strip and grab a quick $20 at the Frontier and $165 at Casino Royal, along with a few more drinks. Finally a decent winning session at the craps table!! And it was the little sit down table, which can be a lot of fun when everyone is throwing good dice !! We turn around at the Barbary after a $35 craps loss and give back a few of the gains on the return walk north. Went to bed about 4am. Yeah, no more details than that..

Friday, we did the Riviera Breakfast buffet. Any Buffet is fine for breakfast in my opinion, I just want an omelet and plenty of liquids anyway. We then did the North Strip drunken gambling walking tour. We hit the Hilton, the Sahara, the Stratosphere , Circus Circus and Slots a Hell before returning. We gambled the advantage play at each property and I was a little ahead on the day. We ate at the Ellis Island that night, had the steak special “with the 2 for 1' and our bill was $5.40... for both of us. That Steak deal is great.. No kidding ! We attempted to see the new Sirens show at TI, but the sound cut out about 10 minutes into it, and they cancelled it for the night. It didn’t look that great, but I only saw about 10 minutes of it.

That night we went to the night club “ICE†... it’s where the old “Drink†used to be on Harmon Ave. It is a huge place with 6 different “roomsâ€. It wasn’t too busy on Friday night, and I did manage to get us into the VIP room... but after drinking for free everywhere in Vegas, I hate paying those $8/ drink club prices, but whatcha gonna do. One Unique thing about “ICE†is that while you are in the middle of dancing on the main floor.... these huge liquid cool blasting guns shoot you from time to time. And it’s like a blast of frozen hydrogen or something. It is crazy, you can’t stay in it.. It’s so damm cold, you have to jump out of the way... anyway.. We left there and somehow ended up back at Ellis Island where my wife found a few of the Chippendale guys who had finished their show at the Rio. These guys ended up buying me shots ... Hey, Ok.. Why not !
Cabbed home and to bed after that, wanna know what happened .. Haaa, read the trip report from the people staying next door to us.

Saturday

Damm, our last day in Sin City.. Sadness prevails. We grabbed some food and headed towards downtown Vegas. We stopped at the Gamblers General store along the way. This store rocks. I could spend hours in there... but with our precious Vegas time ticking away, I decided to spend a quick $75 and be on my way. We parked the car and hit the La Bayou for the long frozen drink and to climb aboard the Grain train. Yes, I got the Brain freeze with the extra shot of Grain alcohol... what, yeah I know it’s only 11am... I’m in Vegas Baby !! With grain train in hand, we wandered around the downtown for a bit. Eventually we entered the Lady Luck. As we were standing in line waiting for our free funbooks, holding our yard glasses of frozen drinks (see Randy Newman in Vegas Vacation here), I noticed they were giving away these glass Christmas tree ornaments filled with dice and cards and such. Well, we definitely need one of those, my grain alcohol impaired brain thought to itself. “Honey, let’s win one of these ornamentsâ€... my brain thought and my mouth may have said. We sat down at the Blackjack table and informed the pit boss of our intentions of winning an ornament. He told us we needed to get a blackjack with at least $15 wagered to win the fine looking Christmas decoration. Well, I pulled a $100 from my wallet and proclaimed to the entire table, that I didn’t care how much I lost, I was getting me one of those ornaments. Well, the war began... we varied our wagers between 5 and 15 depending on our luck, and after 45 minutes of battle we still had no ornament, but had lost over half our troops (cash) during the battle. The Yard glass was long since emptied, and the grain was taking me for a ride. I figured I could at least talk my way into the ornament from the pit boss as I lost my $100 trying to get one. He was a wise one this pit boss, and he continued to taunt me about my inability to get one.. Thus making the elusive prize even more desirable in my alcohol induced state. Would this onslaught ever subside? Just when I had gotten down to my last chips, I got the mighty ace... then to my hearts delight a king... Yes, Blackjack... “Hey Andrew†(the pit boss and I were on a first name basis by now) “get over here and get me that ornamentâ€.

As, he approached the table, he smiled and said “all most,... your getting thereâ€. What the... ohh, man.. I only had $10 wagered.. “C’mon I pleaded with him.. Don’t you want my kids to have a nice Christmas†I tried appealing to his human side, although the lie about me having any kids seemed readily apparent by my wife’s laughter. This man was unbreakable, I would need to earn this holiday ornament.

Well, the luck went back and forth, when finally my wife got the mighty Blackjack with a hefty $20 wager on the spot. “Andrew, get your ass over here†I blurted across the Casino. The game stopped, we waited for Andrew. As he approached he saw the Blackjack and said to my wife ‘I’m sorry, you didn’t turn your players card inâ€... haaaa, you bastard ... I told Andrew in a joking sort of way that he should call for security now, cause there may be a problem. He was just having fun with us, and gave us the certificate for the ornament. We decided to color up at that point. When it was all said and done, it’s the nicest $40 ornament on our tree... well, I mean, I guess we better get a tree this year, now that we have an ornament and all.

Next we hit the El Cortez for some low rolling, low living, low life craps. We threw the bones for awhile, but decided to cash out exactly even, as the smoky vibe was not working for us today. We played a little at the Fremont, where they have counters on the tables that count exactly how many throws the shooter makes.. Kinda a neat gimmick.. I bet it catches on. I then insisted we try the deep fried twinkie. The Wife refused wanting anything to do with it, but she was happy to eat the chocolate banana I got her. He he he he ... Chocolate banana ...

Anyway we hit the Horseshoe , the Vegas Club and the shrimp cocktail at the Gate before making one last stop at Slots a hell, before the final half hour at the Hard Rock. We lost at both places. We were late to the airport like always, they wouldn’t give us boarding cards or check our luggage, but we made the flight and got home at 5am Sunday morning in Boston. My body has not liked me since.

Final thoughts and observations:

I kept track of every gambling dollar and lost exactly $251, the wife lost $216
we each spent about $400 including gambling losses... you gotta love that !!
Mac King is a good show for the price of a drink.
Drunken boobery in Vegas is just way more fun than should be allowed.
The Grain Train is a fun ride.. And yes, I went back for refills
I love everything about Vegas, I enjoy the planning, reading about other peoples trips, Being there of course, and now.. Trying to figure out when to plan the next one.
The trip with the wife is very different than the trip with the rugby team, the sex is much better for one !!

Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave your comments or ask questions, I love to talk about Vegas.
Peace, [email protected]

 

I'm sending a check for $9.95. Thank you in advance.

 

Damn RugbySteve you went during the same time as me, but you had a lot better time. Thanks for the great trip report, makes me want to give you a call next time I go, so you can show me how it is done.

 

If you're sober by now, I have a question. At Ballys/Paris and the Hyatt, were there problems using multiple MPs on the same day. I'm guessing at the first 2, you can just move to different pits. Correct. What about Hyatt?

Thanks

[ December 04, 2003, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: coops ]

 

Too funny,

and then

I'm still chucking on this one as I envision the Vegas Vacation dealer - "CHANGING $100"!!!

Speaking of him, one of my staff at work actually was an extra in this movie and sat at the table with that dealer and Wayne Newton! He only got his shoulder and elbow in the movie - I guess thats his 15 minutes...

Anyway, back to the report - Too funny Steve, you are giving Mikey some serious competition here!
Put the two of you together on a trip and you guys might need to write a book about it!

Great report!

 

Sorry I meant Chuckling - not chucking (sp)

 

Great report..
I have a question
what's the alcohol they put into the drinks at the la bayou? you say grain alcohol.. but what exactly is it? Im asking only cuz i was a lil drunk.. ok a bit more than a lil after having one of those things... the Bayou definitely packs a punch in those drinks..

 

Hey People of T2V ...
Let's try and answer a few of your questions..

First off ... I'm a little nervous about getting a check in the mail from a guy named BigBoner..

Coops.. playing multible matchplays is a bit of a game. I played about 6 everyday at the Frontier, Paris and Bally's are easy because of all the different tables. I could not play extra's at the Hyaitt or Monte lago. It all depends on whether they just let you play them, or call the pit boss over to take a look at em. .. but playing a bunch of them is part of the fun !!!!

Absolut ... Grain Alcohol is exactly that.. it is like Moonshine ... 180 proof ... one shot of grain is like 3 shots of vodka ... and 4 shots of Grain... well, that's riding the Grain Train !!
It is actually illegal to sell in my state of Massachusetts... but it's not that social of a drink anyway... you go from sober to drunk off your ass in 60 seconds... although it tastes like paint thinner straight up.. you can't even taste it when mixed in those frozen drinks. Next time your at La Bayou.. make sure to ask for the extra shot of Grain.... then be careful about gambling away all your cash trying to win a stupid christmas ornament!!

Is it too soon to start booking another trip?

 

hmmm interesting...
I've done a shot of 94% (188proof) alcohol and it burned my throat for a bit...
ahh those first year in university days.. two years later, its not as fun anymore

how many shots of grain do they give you in a yarder at le bayou? 1 i assume? i remember an extra shot was a dollar more... that proposition is sounding good...

the best part is that u cant taste it in the daiquiris they serve.. it tasted like vodka if i could remember

 

hmmm interesting...
I've done a shot of 94% (188proof) alcohol and it burned my throat for a bit...
ahh those first year in university days.. two years later, its not as fun anymore

how many shots of grain do they give you in a yarder at le bayou? 1 i assume? i remember an extra shot was a dollar more... that proposition is sounding good...

the best part is that u cant taste it in the daiquiris they serve.. it tasted like vodka if i could remember

 

Great report, Steve!

Don't you love those "gifts" like your ornament? I have a soft-sided cooler from 4Queens which must've cost me at least $60.

 

Kick ass report Steve. Glad to see drunken buffoonery is alive and well.
Ah, yes I remember as if it were yesterday, the dice, the cards, the goofy 1/2 yards with ridiculous amounts of alcohol in them!

 

Awesome read...I can not imagine your name being mentioned without the words drink, drank, and drunk. Like you say....Gotta Love Vegas!

If you and Mikey ever did show up together in vegas, forget the book and get straight to the movie.

I have stayed at The Riv. the past 3 years and love it. Those are my peoples....

[ December 05, 2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Billy from TX. ]

 

great trip report. Worth the wait.

It was too funny...

 

For various and sundry reasons, I got off the sauce in '94. In fact, I've never had a drop of booze any time I have been to Vegas.
Reading your report brings back many pleasant memories of when alcohol used to work for me. Quite the vicarious experience.

 

Hey Steve, I want to read the trip report from the people in the next room

Great report !

sunni

T -5 for Boston....SNOW, now that's a 4 letter word.

 

great report steve sounds like you had a great trip. pure grain alcohol ... hmmm...i haven't had any of the stuff in about 20 years. can't buy it in ohio any more. but i can remember the hairy buffalo parties i used to go to and it was the favorite thing to pour in the punch. maybe i'll try some again my upcoming trip. thanks for sharing your trip with us.

t-7

[ December 06, 2003, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Scott R ]

 

Rugbysteve,

Great Trip report. I always wonder how everyone can remember every detail of their Vegas trips, I seem to do so much different stuff in the 4 days I am there that I cant remember it all, and that’s NOT from being to loaded either.


I usually just sip on some Heineken’s over the day and play slots, Let it Ride poker and people watch. The only thing I seem to know for sure is how much loot I have lost after I get home!!

One more thing, chef mentioned he hasn't had a drink since 94. Good for you, if it works don't fix it.

It just reminded me of something Frank Sinatra once said, I don't know why it stirred this memory, but it did, anyway, here is the quote:

" I feel sorry for people who don't drink, cause when they get up in the morning, that's the best their gonna feel for the whole day"

Good Report Steve, Thanks again for the coupons, used some of them on my trip.

PS - I have never puked in Vegas

RossW

[ December 08, 2003, 10:06 AM: Message edited by: RossW ]

 

I don't know if you are talking about this drink but a few years ago in front of the Mirage a guy was stumbling around the sidewalk with a drink that was in a very very tall glass. You could smell him a Vegas block away. In fact, I saw quite a few people with those glasses and wondered where they got the drinks. Anyway when we passed him he was stumbling out in the street. My husband made a comment about how he was going to get run over. As we came out of the Mirage sure enough a cab got him. I have never seen anyone that drunk and still on 2 legs.

 

get ur husband to say im gonna ace my exam tomorrow!!