Excellent Trip!!! 4/5-4/10

Dates- April 5-10, 2005

People-Me, my husband (V) and my Dad (dad)

Flights-V & I flew out of Pittsburgh on AirTran. We used them b/c they were the cheapest. Only drawback is the layovers in Atlanta. Thank heavens Southwest is coming in May!! All flights were fine and un-exciting which is a good thing! Our flight out left at 5:30 am on April 5 and arrived in Vegas at 11:45 am. We had a red-eye flight home on the 10th leaving Vegas at 11:50 pm and arrived home Monday morning at 9:30. All flights were on-time. On the second leg of our flight out they were overbooked and offered vouchers for people to change their flights but we decided not to b/c we didn’t want to waste any Vegas time! Plus we had already sat in the Atlanta airport for 3 hours and didn’t want to spend any more time there! Our luggage was waiting for us when we got to the baggage claims at McCarron. Wow!! We had to wait about a half hour for our luggage at Pittsburgh on Monday morning. One thing I was surprised at was the number of people at McCarron airport Sunday night. The lines to check in for America West and some of the other airlines were astronomical!! Luckily there wasn’t much of a line for Airtran. Also lucky was the fact that we were leaving out of the D gate. The security line for the other gates was huge!!!

Dad flew in from Indianapolis and had nonstop flights. I think he flew Northwest and he had no complaints. He came in Monday, April 4 and we dropped him off at the airport on Saturday morning.

Rental Car-We used Dollar and only had to wait a few minutes for a shuttle on Tuesday. We are fastlane members so when we got to the lot we talked to a person and they showed us a row of cars, we picked one out and we were on our way. We had an economy and I honestly can’t tell you what kind of car it was except that it was blue. LOL! We had it for the whole time we were there and paid $167. We used the prepaid gas option and returned the car empty!! Their gas price was $2.27/gallon and we had seen prices around $2.45 so I think it worked out well. Returning it was easy except for the fact that we had to wait a while for a shuttle and there was a lot of people! Luckily we got on the first shuttle.

Hotel-We stayed at the (Las) Vegas Club and were able to check right in. I asked for a room facing away from the Fremont street experience but still ended up in the south tower. It was okay. We paid $39/ night for the weekdays and $69 for the weekend nights. We also used an ACG coupon for one night free. We called down for a fridge and it was $5 a day for it but it was worth it. They also charge the $1 for the safe but we used the safe so we had no problem w/ it. At most times there was only one elevator working but the only day it caused a problem was on Friday when it started to get more crowded. We were in room 410 and dad was in room 903.

Food-We ate at the Upper Deck restaurant when we first got there It was good and service was pretty good also. Tuesday night we also ate at the Golden Gate deli and I tried my first shrimp cocktail. I was able to use my first coupon from the POV and V & I had 2 sandwiches and a shrimp cocktail for $7. I can’t remember where we ate on Wednesday, we were going to go to Ellis Island before we went to We Will Rock You but didn’t have time because I ended up parking in the Alladin parking garage rather than the Paris parking garage!. Oh! I remember now, we went to that little sandwich place at the Paris where they have the really good bread. I got this Italian sandwich and could only eat half of it.

Thursday morning dad and I went to the Bay City Diner at the Golden Gate for breakfast and sat at the counter rather than waiting in line. We had a good breakfast. Thursday night we all went to Ellis Island for the steak special. It was only about a 15 minute wait for a table. Long enough for us to get drinks at the bar using the AGC coupon for 4 free drinks. We all had the steak special and I used the POV coupon for the buy one get one meal. Our bill was still around $28 though because we had an appetizer and a carafe of wine. It seemed like it was the manager that was waiting on us and we had good service. Everyone was happy w/ their steaks and dad was pleasantly surprised!

Friday was the big one, dinner at Delmonico’s! All I can say is WOW! It was amazing. We got a special little appetizer b/c we were celebrating my birthday and we got a couple of appetizers off the menu also. We had the Hickory Smoked Mushrooms and something else I can’t remember. They were good though!! For our meals, V & I got one of the specials, a petite rib-eye w/ garlic mashed potatoes. Dad got something off the menu, one of the steaks I can’t remember which one. Our rib-eyes were amazing, they melted in your mouth. We also got a side, it was asparagus and it was really good. Much better than when I cook it, which V pointed out!! We got the chocolate soufflé and the chocolate crème brulee for dessert. Dad and V got this after dinner shot of some kind of bourbon that was $15!! We also had a bottle of wine. Our bill was $277 or so before tip.

Saturday V & I took Dad to the airport at 7:30 am and then went to Green Valley Ranch to check it out. We were going to eat at the buffet and were on our way to get players cards to get the $1 off when we spotted the Original Pancake House and decided to eat there. There was a short wait but not too bad. I got the strawberry pancakes and V got some bacon and eggs and buckwheat pancakes. For dinner we ate at the 777 Brewpub at MSS. I had a mushroom burger and V had chicken I think. And we had a couple of the light beers. Everything was good. I’m not putting prices b/c I don’t remember them!! They weren’t as memorable as the cost of Delmonico’s!!!

Sunday we slept til noon (luckily we decided to pay for an extra day for the room as we were leaving on the red-eye that night) because we were out late the night before. Actually I got up around 9 or so and ate the rest of my steak from Delmonico’s that I had brought back and then went back to sleep! We went over to the pool at the Plaza and I got some pizza from there and V got a Subway hoagie and we ate it by the pool w/ bottled water. Great hangover cure!! For our last Vegas meal we ended up where we started, the Upper Deck. They had all you can eat specials, I had fried chicken and V had ribs. I used a coupon I had for buy one get one entrée (can’t remember from where, ACG maybe?) so it was reasonable. We had Auntie Anne’s pretzels at the airport before we left too.

Shows-We saw We Will Rock You at the Paris on Wednesday night. We all enjoyed it. The storyline is farfetched but they have a lot of funny references and jokes. If you didn’t know or like Queen’s music you might not like it. I was sort of bored when they sang the few songs I didn’t know. We got these tickets through Goldstar and got the $80 seats for $40. Our seats were on the right side of the theater (looking at the stage) and were ¾ of the way up I guess. There really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The theater didn’t seem to full when the lights went down but when the show ended and we were all leaving it seemed more crowded.

We also saw the show Hypnosis gone Wild at the Tuscany. This was a spur of the moment thing. We had eaten and played for a while at Ellis Island and decided to stop somewhere else. It was really windy that night so we drove and decided to stop at Tuscany since it was on the way. We walked in the door and Dad saw the sign for the show and said he wanted to see it b/c he had read about it so we went back to the players club/ticket booth and asked about tickets. There were still some and the girl gave them to us at half price that they usually offer to hotel guests I think. So that was cool!! I wouldn’t have wanted to pay full price for it. Dad wanted to be upfront (I think he thought there were going to be half dressed girls in it-LOL!!) so we got in line early and ended up in the front where of course we got picked on. The hypnotist drank dad’s drink (they brought him another) and then I was picked to onstage to be ‘hypnotized’. It didn’t work on me but it did work on some other people and they were really funny.

Golf and Misc-V & Dad went golfing at the Craig Ranch golf course on Wednesday and Thursday. They enjoyed it and Dad said it was a pretty good place to golf and that he wasn’t expecting much but they had grass and everything! LOL! I hung out at the pool at the Plaza Wednesday and on Thursday dropped them off at golfing and went to the Cannery. One Friday they went hiking at Red Rock Canyon and I once again hung out at the pool! (I had already seen Red Rock and had no interest in hiking).

Gambling- Ok, here’s the fun part!! I had intended on keeping detailed records (in case I won the ‘big’ one and needed losses to offset my winnings, LOL) but I never ended up writing anything down. So this isn’t going to be very detailed.
Tuesday evening we went down to the El Cortez (we ended up spending a lot of time there) and V checked out the table games while dad and I went to the bar. I sat at a 9/6 JOB game and put in a twenty. (Dad watched, he doesn’t gamble really) Dad was pleasantly surprised when his Maker’s Mark and coke only cost $2.75!! I got a couple of drinks and cashed out even or down a couple of bucks after a while. That was a win in my book! I don’t remember what we did the rest of that night.

Wednesday morning V & I were up at like 5 am so we went back to the El and he played roulette and I went back to the VP at the bar. Played there for a while and then walked around playing some penny and nickel games. Then I saw the Jeff Foxworthy penny games and had to sit down and play. I think I had put in about $10 and I ended up cashing out w/ $404!!! I just kept getting all of these bonus rounds and kept racking up the credits! I think one bonus round I got was worth like 30,000 credits! And I was only playing one credit per line!! It was amazing!!

Ok, all of the days are now blurring into one another so I’m just going to hit the highlights.

Thursday after I dropped them off at golf I went to the Cannery. I drove the wrong way at first but at least it was a nice day for driving!! I finally got there and was surprised to see they now have a parking garage! (We checked it out when they first opened) Went and signed up for their card and got a free hat. Then walked around checking things out and decided to play some VP at the bar. I think the pin-ups bar. They had 8/5 bonus poker so I sat down put in a twenty and ordered a bloody mary. I started doing good almost right away. I’ve never seen so many straights before! I had like 3 dealt ones and probably 3 or 4 that filled in. That never happens! I also got 4 of a kind and thought I had a coupon for a bonus for that but couldn’t find it. Of course, I found it later! I had the machine up to $75 and kept playing and at $60 I was dealt 4 to the royal in clubs but also had a pair of jacks. I looked at my strategy card to make sure of what to do, got rid of the other jack and the royal filled in!!! My very first one!! There was no one there for me to cheer with so I just sort of sat there grinning at it. Then I called Dad & V to tell them!! It said ‘call attendant’ so I got the bartenders attention and by then the attendants were on their way. I asked why they hand-paid instead of it just doing the ticket and they said they like to keep track of the royals. They gave me 9 $100’s and 5 $20’s. I gave them $40 as a tip-they seemed surprised. It was probably too much but hey I just won $1,000 and still had $60 left on the machine!! The bartender asked me if I wanted something else to drink and I said yeah something to celebrate, what do you suggest and he said he used to work at a martini bar so I got a chocolate martini. YUM!! I played some more but the machine wasn’t so hot anymore and I think I cashed out w/ my original $20. I then walked around playing a bunch of penny machines until I had to go pick up Dad & V. I didn’t win anymore there but did earn the points needed to get the free shirt they give out on Thursdays. It’s pretty nice.

It seemed like everything I played I cashed out either even or ahead a little bit. I played a Money Storm penny machine the one day at the Plaza and kept getting these bonus spins and cashed out up $15 or $20 bucks on that one. I ended up w/ 30 bonus spins, I just sat and watched the machine for like 20 minutes!

I learned to play 3 card poker b/c V liked to play that and I got really lucky on that game also. I think I cashed out ahead every time I played. Unfortunately I know it will not always be that way. The funny thing is that every time I played a table game, blackjack or 3-card poker and tried to tip the dealer by riding on my bet I would lose that bet!! So I always just ended up throwing them a chip every once in a while. We played blackjack at Ellis Island after we ate there and it was a $5 table but there were these two guys there playing like stacks and stacks of $5 chips at a time. I used a matchplay coupon there but ended up losing it. But I ended up cashing out up about $70 there.

I got to try the Big Split poker game (at El Cortez I think) and that was fun. Sort of. It sucks when you get so many losing hands in a row. I think I was playing it for penny’s or nickel’s. I also played Spin-Poker and tried some triple play in nickels. Most of these were not full pay but when I played quarter VP I tried to play full pay.

Before dinner at Delmonico’s we went to a lounge in the Venetian and sat at the bar and had some drinks. Of course V & I ended up putting money in the machines, they’re right there after all! I put a twenty in and ended up cashing out $100! That’s just how my luck was, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a full pay machine. There was a band playing in the lounge and they were fun and there were lots of people dancing and carrying on already (7:00 pm Friday night), in fact one girl kept flashing everyone!! Vegas has the best people watching!!

Saturday night we decided to get one of those yard drinks from La Bayou (w/ the extra shot of course!) and sat down to play some nickel machines for a while. I started on a jackpot party one but couldn’t get the bonus so moved over to this other machine on the other side of V. I don’t remember what it was called but I ended up getting 5 of a kind of some symbol that was worth 1,200 credits! So I cashed out there w/ $60!! Of course it was a hand pay b/c they don’t have TITO machines and I tipped the guy a $5. I’m sure they don’t get many tips there.

We always tried to find the cheapest blackjack and in our quest ended up at the Gold Spike. $2 blackjack! It was the slowest game ever! The guy at third base took forever to make a decision on every hand. It was like pulling teeth. We played for a half hour or so, never saw a cocktail waitress and then left. Probably won’t go back there again. On the way back from there we stopped at the Lady Luck and played some 3 card poker and then V went to play roulette and I tried some machines. Did you know that they don’t have any TITO machines? I didn’t notice right away and played a nickel machines and when I cashed out there came the nickels! And on the penny machines when you cash out they come give you a hand pay!! What a pain!! I guess it’s job security for the slot workers though.

I had taken $650 in travelers checks w/ me and about $130 in cash. I ended up not even touching my travelers checks until I used one to pay for parking when we were leaving the Pittsburgh Airport. I deposited $1,600.00 into my checking account when I got home. I’m not sure how V did but I know he did have some winning sessions on roulette (he had a system!) I think overall he lost some money but not more than he brought to spend. This was by far my most profitable trip ever! Plus we had a great meal at Delmonico’s and got to spend some good times w/ my dad. I told him he needs to come w/ us every time-he was my good luck charm!!!

Hopefully you made it this far and it wasn’t too boring. Thanks for reading!!

 

Wow!Great trip! I hope I do near as good as you when I get there Sat. night! That's about the same bankroll I'll have and I'm a little worried about it lasting me.

 

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing! It made me really super excited to go!! Wish it was sooner...Also heading wtih the same bank, don't want to put too much on the cards.

Kristin

 

Very nice TR and well written. Thanks for sharing. I sure wish I could write that well.

 

Thanks for the fun trip report. Glad you had such a good time with your dad. And you made some money to boot!

later, GVJ

 

Glad to see you got a royal. Sometimes I will throw away a high pair even if I only have 3 to the royal. As I was told once, that's what we're here for.

The Cannery is a pretty cool place and has some good bands performing if you are there at the right time.

Here's to many more royals.

 

Nice trip. I still have yet to get to the Gold Spike, for some reason. Congrats on the royal - heck, if I hit quad deuces i sit and stare at it for a while. LOL.

 

Congrats on the Royal Flush!!!

I'm hoping you will hit many more.