A bit lengthy 6/30-7/5 pt1

Probably the 10th trip for my wife (D) and I, but the first with our son (S) who
just turned 12 last month. An uneventful Southwest flight from Buffalo to Las Vegas
found us on the ground in Vegas ~4pm with fewer SW drink coupons.
At the airport checkin, we were offered a $65/nt room upgrade to the "Executive" level
for the casino players rate of $20/nt. Picked up our Avis Malibu ($110 for the trip).
Headed out to Albertsons for water, soda and beer to stock the room. Valeted/portered
to the room. Executive room had a view looking directly across at Caesar's front door,
but was otherwise unremarkable. Nice laptop fitting safe, no fridge. Called for
fridge. For $15/day, I could put my son on Ice detail, so I passed. I placed a call
to a friend who had just recently moved to LV to let him know we had made it. Since
we planned to hook up that evening, I asked him to pick up a cheap styro cooler on his
way which he did and it worked just fine. We had dinner at the FlamingO buffet ~$45. for
3 and it was just fine. D & S crashed about 10 (1ET) and I went out with my Buddy for
the evening. Unded up at the IP playing PaiGow until an obnoxious drunk who was the only
other player at the table started annoying the dealer. He accused her of being the closer
sent in to take care of us. I spoke up and pointed out that they don't bring out a
closer to "finish off" people playing nickels! (I had been at the table for 4 hours and
was grandfathered at $5. He said "You may be playing nickels, but I'm not!" I just
gave him a smile and tryed to ignore him. We also were not ahead. He was betting
$10/hand BTW. Then he started yelling at the dealer saying that he wanted to be rated.
(What he deserved was to be berated). Time for bed... ~3:30

Day 2: Desert Penguins? Cirque faux pa?
Breakfast at the FlamingO buffet. Fine ~$30 for us three. What are those penguins doing
there and WHAT IS that SMELL! Nice grounds at the FlamingO! Played for an hour or two
at the Pool. S liked the waterslide and he and I enjoyed the waterfalls. D enjoyed the
cool water. Walked over to Paris to pick up tickets for WWRY. Having reserved and paid
for them thru Goldstarevents, I thought I'd pick them up early in case there was a snag.
The only snag was that I didn't read the fine print on the receipt saying to go the day
of the event. Monorailed to MGM and visited the Lion Habitat and met our friends (C & J)
who are the new locals. Visited M&M store and then went over to the ESPN Zone for the
free stuff that came with club membership. Got $20 of free play in the arcade and a
6-pack cooler + a $20 gift card for a meal. Freinds balked at the ESPN Zone menu and we
decided on the Cheescake Factory. Friends had a car, so we rode to Caesars and
self-parked. Meal was very good. S and I shared a buffalo chicken strip app. and a
crab rangoon app. Very good. D had a portabello sandwich. Friends had a steak and a
burger. S & I shared some brownie monstrocity that went unfinished but provided a (huge)
brownie for a later day. D had plain cheescake and was in heaven. Friends had other
deserts and enjoyed them also. Friends treated ~$130. for 5. Time to cross the street
to change for Ka. Took the car and valeted to MGM. Got to the theater ~6 and was told
that the doors would open in 20 minutes. D & S checked out the Ka shop while turned $20
into $60 and then to $0. 6:20 and still nobody in line? Asked again and was told that
the doors opened at 6:50 for the 7:30pm show. Duh! Once again, I should have looked at
the tickets. I thought it was a 7pm show. D played some VP while S and I revisited the
Lions and then tryed to outshock each other with the static from the carpet. Entered the
show, bought a soda and a $7 bottle of water! Now it is with great regret that I say
this, but I am sorry that I chose this CduS show for my son's first Vegas Cirque
experience. It was our least favorite show of the trip. That said, it was entertaining
and spectacular at times. The talented people and the technology of the stage were
great. I guess it is the story line and the lulls that we found less than
Cirque-like. D & I have seen Mystere 3 times and O once and Quidam (in Orlando) twice.
I really wish we had taken S to Mystere instead. Back to the room, D & S to bed, I down
to donate to the Flamingo "feed the penguins" fund. I played a lot of 50-play $.05 vp
and some PaiGow. The dealer pointed out a $5 WOF slot behind me that was spinning the
wheel often. Shortly after pointing it out, someone hit for $500. walked away and
another guy hit for $500. This machine ended eating 5 of my $20 bills over the week and
repayed me with 1-$600 spin. Off to bed ~3AM

toBeContinued

 

part 2

Day 3: Orleans Red Rock BBQ, hold the meet
We drove to Orleans for breakfast. Food was fine. Notable was the high quality of the
Eggs Benedict. Visited our friends new home and drove out to Red Rock Canyon. To you
"its a dry heat" people, I say that so is a propane torch, but I wouldn't stick in my
mouth and inhale! WOW it is hot out there. We had water, but we wished that we had
more. Our friends recommended Daves Famous BBQ and although it was a long time coming,
the food was great. We got back just before 7 and S was having electronic withdrawal.
He just wanted to play "Battle for Middle Earth" on the laptop. D had had a monster
margarita and a couple of beers while waiting for the BBQ so was mellow. S agreed that
he would play in the room, lock himself in and D & I went down to the Casino. Since I
could spend some time with a tipsy wench and not have any regrets in the morning, I opted
to gamble with D and forego the meet. I did head over to the BC at ~7:10 to say hello
and give my regrets, but I did not see sanonofresurfer (the only one that I had an Idea
of what to look for) On the way back to the FlamingO, I noticed someone who might have
been Mikey in the sports book on a cellphone and didn't want to interrupt so I weny back
to the tipsy wench. We spent several hours gambling with vp, slots and were palying LIR
when the fireworks started going off at Caesars. I went up to check on S and he was
sitting on the couch facing the window. Caesar's was shooting fireworks from their
roof directly outside our window. S was thrilled. I hung for a few and went back to my
(by now) Very tipsy wench. Another hour of LIR and it was time to steer D up to the
room. I went back down after putting D & S to bed and gambled a bit more. To bed ~2:30a

Day 4: Cars, subway, and waterslides. Then some Kickass Rock & Roll!
S & I up at 8:30. D is down for the count. S & I walk over to the IP car collection and
we each take a lot of pictures. He picked out a Jag for his first car. I told him to
start saving. We stop at O'sheas for breakfast at Subway. What's with $11+ for 2-6"
subs? Its a Subway for Heavens sake! It was good and hit the spot. Back to the hotel
and off to the pool. S & I head up after an hour on the slide and in the pool to wake
up D for the WWRY show at 2. We walk over to the Paris and D found an Icecream for
Breakfast while S & I picked up the tickets. The seats $102 total via goldstarevents
thanks to T2V) were 3-4 rows back from the stage, off to the right.
The view was fine and once we got used to the volume level, we all thoroughly enjoyed the
show. I would recommend this show to anyone who has the chance. If you already like
Queen's music, you can't lose. I can't help but wonder if the story was fit into the
music or if Freddie Mercury had a vision when writing the music and the story has always
been there. Great show! We went across the street and watched a fountain show at the
bellagio. Nice show, but it was far too hot to wait for a second show and I believe that
Bellagio doesn't allow youth that are not registered guests in their hotel. We were all
ready to eat at this time and decided to try the Cafe at Ballys. Prime Rib and King Crab
for $13.99 for S and I, and a NY Strip for D. ~$78 for 3. Gamble a bit at the FlamingO
while D & S relax in the room. Head downtown and meet up with friends for some light
shows. Listened to a Piano man on a flatbed who was very good. S & I had the GG shrimp
coctail. Mmmmm. Drove up Main & then up the strip to allow S to see the lights.
Traffic sucked, but it gave us a lot of time to view the lights. D and S to bed, I met
up with mby buddy and we gambled our way up to the Venetian. We were palying some VP near
a boisterous craps table. Everyone yelling and high-fiving. Then we overheard someone
say "last bet before we close the Hot table!" What's the story with that? Mikey? Do
they close a table becuase people are winning? I would think they would want to keep
those winners gambling. Maybe we misunderstood, becuase the table did stay open until
we left a half hour later. We walked back thru some rifraf out at that time of night.
I don't remember seeing that rough of a crowd on the Vegas strip in the past. Anyway
the walk back was uneventful. to bed 3:30a

Day 5: Games and Kings on the southern strip. Fireworks everywhere!
We took the monorail from the FlamingO down to the MGM. Went to the ESPN Zone for lunch.
I had a shrimp Caesar with 15-20 decent sized shrimp. S had a cheeseburger with fries.
D had chicken fingers. Using the $20 voucher, the cost was ~35. with drinks. Dropped D
at the NYNY vp and S & I went to the Coney Island Arcade. We spent several hours
gathering tickets to redeem. S was in his glory. He "bought" D a nice candle, got a
cool hat and a bunch of silly trinkets that every 12yo must have. We left to find D and
found her with a pile of chips at a BJ table. She had noticed that the dealer had looked
lonely at the empty table and had decided to keep her company. Several others joined her
but she was disappointed that they carded everyone but her. We headed over to get tickets
for the Tournament of Kings for us and our friends then headed off to the ExCal midway
and proceded to gather a menagerie to overstuff our luggage on the way back. ToK show
was fun and the food was fine. HazAhh! Friends gave us a lift back to the FlamingO and
upon entering our room ~8:30 we noticed that there were fire-works all over the horizon.
These were still going off at 10. At 9, we went over to the elevators and looked out the
windows to watch the Hilton fireworks and some others. I have never seen fireworks go on
so long. I did some late-night/last-night gaming. To bed after many coctails ~5:30.

Day 6: Money left from the gambling budget -- That's a win in my book
Up and packing ~9:30. ( I wish I hadn't picked the last night to overindulge). Placed
a cell call to a friend on the East Coast and had him do our check-in at SW. Picked up
the A passes at the curbside baggage check. FlamingO buffet for breakfast ~$30 for 3.
Checked out with the Connection club for cashback and comps toward the room. Then
checked out of the room. Loaded up the car and drove to the Gamblers General Store on
Main st. S bought some neat chips and D bought several decks of cards. I got a pair of
skunkdice once I found out that D was paying. Off to the Avis at the airport. Ethel M
chocolates and Subway to supplement the generous meal on the Southwest flight home.
Got to Buffalo 20 min early @11:30 and were home in bed by 1AM.

Comments : Vegas with a 12yo... We and he had a great time. At no time was he running
the halls or annoying others. There were certainly comments I overheard where people
were using inappropriate language, but no more than anywhere else ( mall, school, etc).
He won't be with us every time we go there, but I would certainly bring him again.

Gambling : Although I still had money from my gambling "budget" when I got home, I have
less than I went with.

WWRY was great, KA was OK but I would recommend Mystere or O first.

Cant wait to go back in September.

 

Crap!

I missed you by 5 minutes. I walked in at 7:15. Stupid slow waiters at Outback.......

 

Sounds like I might have had a good gambling night if I had followed Jer and Mikey at a craps table. Sorry that it didn't work out. Maybe next time Larry.

 

Nice trip. You need to work Jer's trick of having another room available, for the tipsy-wench action...