First Trip Report-March 20-23

Thursday, March 20

Left the Phoenix area by car around 11:30 am. We had to drop our pups off at the dog sitter and away we went. We decided to use a time lapse program and record our drive out to Vegas. Still working on some editing on that. We love this drive and it was uneventful up the 101 Loop, onto I-17, then Carefree Hwy to Wickenburg. In Wickenburg, we hit Route 93 through Wikieup (don't blink or you'll miss it) to I-40. Then off of I-40 in Kingman and back onto 93. Then to I-515 to Flamingo Road exit. We stopped for food once and gas once, but made it to the Flamingo Valet area by 4:30. There was some light traffic (especially around the Cromwell construction area).

Check in was a breeze in the diamond/platinum check in area. We had a GO Deluxe comped but I talked nicely to the reservation lady and were given a great Strip/Bellagio Fountain view room. I slipped her a $20 and up to the room we went.

The room was nice and clean and ready for us. It was smaller than I thought, but we spend so little time in there that it wasn't that important. I decide to take a quick shower while Hubby heads down to Bally's to meet up with some of his Ohio friends that were going back home that evening. After showering, I head down to slip some money in some slot machines. I start out playing that money-sucking Willy Wonka machine and it performed exactly how I expected. Bam!!! Down $60 in the 15 minutes! I get up and head to the 3 card poker table.

I start out with $100 and it is gone within 20 minutes or so. Dang, things aren't going so good so far. I buy another $100 in chips and manage to barely keep my head above water and get back a little of the previous $100 I lost, but still nothing to write home about. I cash out and decide to wander around a bit. During my wandering, hubby calls and wants to eat. We head to Margaritaville and there is no wait as we just plop down at the bar and receive some great service. We had the NY strip and while it was good, still nothing really to brag about. However, there was a lot of food and we realized that we could have ordered one plate and shared. The margaritas sure were tasty though.

After dinner, hubby heads to the poker room (he is STRICTLY a poker room only guy) and I head back to the machines. Nothing exciting happens so I head back up to the room around 12:30 and crash. More on the next day to come...It involves hookers, bums, and some money!!!

 

I enjoyed your report and am looking forward to the next part! That Margarita thing sounds like a great idea.

 

You had me on the drive through Wickenburg, etc.

I have driven from the Houston area to Las Vegas a number of times, & I really enjoyed that last stretch from Phoenix to Las Vegas!

Eager to read the rest of the report.

Thank you!

 

Day 2-Friday

Day 2-Friday, March 21

I just want to say that those blackout drapes at the Flamingo are awesome. Hubby and I slept until around 10:00 and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go. We shower, etc and head down to the Tropical Cafe for some breakfast. I had $50 in comp food and it pretty much covered our breakfast. We should have remembered the huge dinner portions from last night and shared, but we ordered our own breakfasts. Again, so much food was left on our plates that we could have shared. The food was pretty good, but the service was pretty bad. We were seated immediately, however it took about 10 minutes for the server to acknowledge us and another 5 just to get our coffee. Once we got our food ordered, it came pretty quickly though. The server was not very friendly but I imagine they deal with a lot of hungover, grouchy people, so I didn't complain.

After breakfast, hubby heads straight to the poker room while I hit the ladies. I walk in and sitting on the counter with her hooha flashing to the world, is what I can only imagine is a bonafide hooker. She is counting out some bills and I notice a few $20's so I figure maybe she had a good night. But, all I can think about is her "stuff'" all over the bathroom counter and hope that the cleaning lady does a thorough job of cleaning it!

So, I sit down at the Goldfish game and throw in a $20. I didn't do too bad...I was up maybe another $20. Now, I am not a regular smoker, but something about Vegas brings it out of me. I am lighting up when a very rough, dirty bum walks up to me with a handful of change wanting to buy a ciggy from me. I just look at his sad face and give him one for free. Heck, it might have been the highlight of his day. I really wanted to give him a $5 for some breakfast but hubby always tells me that it most likely isn't breakfast that he will buy with it.

After a few hours of slots and poker, Hubby and I head over to the Rio so I can sign up for the BIG slot tourney. While I am signing up, I find out that there are 2 sessions: One on Saturday and one on Sunday. THEN, if I win any of the prizes, I have to hang around until 7:00 Sunday night to pick them up. DOH! That's impossible since we are only booked until Sunday morning and Hubby has a 7:00am meeting back in Phoenix on Monday. Well, I sign up anyway so I can get my whopping $40 in free play. I play some slots at the Rio while Hubby CLEANS UP to the tune of about $400 at the 1-3 NL poker table. We finish up and head back over to the Flamingo.

We head to our room for awhile and decide to order room service for dinner. Again, the portions are huge...when will we learn to only order one meal?? We debate on seeing a show but opt instead to play some poker. I sit at 2-4 limit poker game (donkey poker) and Hubby continues his dominance at the NL table. We cash out (me up a about $80 and hubby up about $200) and head up to the room around 1:00 am and and crash HARD! Tomorrow is our last full day so we want to be refreshed to make the most of it...

 

Final (Saturday) Day-Day 3

Well, hubby and I sleep in again on Saturday. It feels nice to sleep until 10:00 am when we both get up daily at 6:00 for work. We shower, get dressed and head out for the day. Neither of us was hungry, so we skipped breakfast. Today is Opening day for the Flamingo Pool. We didn't bring our swimsuits, but thought it would be cool just to check out the area. However, the line was so long to get in that we opted to skip that. We checked out the flamingos, the koi pond, and the various parrots, birds, etc. We bored of that quickly and hubby heads to (you guessed it) the poker room and I find a fairly juicy "Lord of the Rings" machine. I hit for a couple hundred and decide to head over to the 3-card poker table. The table was completely dry for me. However, the dealer hands out 2 straight flushes and a 3 of a kind to some of the other players. I was shocked when I saw that these winners tipped the dealer NOTHING! I told her OUT LOUD that she was dealing the good hands to the wrong players as I would most certainly tip her if I won. Well, since CET has that $1million dollar bonus, I hit a full house for $100. That covered about half of what I had in, so I cash out and go and find hubby.

Now I am hungry. We head over to the LINQ and peruse the area. We didn't really go into any of the shops, but decided on the Brooklyn Bowl for lunch. Let me tell you...this place is HUGE! We are seated immediately and hubby orders pulled pork and I get the lettuce wedge salad. I am not sure if it was because I was super hungry or what, but that lettuce wedge salad was delicious!!

After lunch we walk up the strip and do some people watching! Then it was back to the gaming. I end up losing the money that I had won earlier and a little bit more. Around 6:00, hubby suggests that we both play in the 7:00 pm $100 buy-in bounty poker tourney at Harrah's. Since I am doing so horribly at slots and table games, I agree!

The tourney has about 50 players and was a fairly good tourney. After about 3 hours, I get moved to hubby's table just in time to see him get knocked out. Boo...Well, back to the 1-2 NL for him. I manage to start to build a nice stack and finish up with 2 bounties and a 4 way chop for $400. Woo hoo! I am back, baby. By the time the tourney is over, it is midnight and I am starting to get tired. I head back to the Flamingo, tell hubby about my good fortune then go to play one last slot machine. My $20 is gone quickly and I head to bed. Hubby joins me soon after and off to Lala land for us.

All in all, it was a good trip. We came home fairly even with what we went with, so that was good. Of course, this is all thanks to hubby's superior 1-2 NL poker skills...

Now, already thinking about our next trip...Bye until next time!

 

A few $20s is a "good night"? :evillaugh

Thanks for the report!

 

Nice job. Thanks for posting.

later, GVJ