March 31-April 3 and The Ultimate Souviner!!!!

The whole purpose of the trip was to take my cousin to Vegas for some de-stressing. She is going through a tough time and really needed to get away. Turns out it worked pretty well!! Not gonna be a ton of details, but I am very open to questions. Will save the gambling summary till the end. Souvenir story at the VERY end. It's worth reading.

We flew Northwest from Omaha, via Memphis!!!! (makes alot of sense, NOT) to Vegas. Kinda had to take the Northwest and that flight as I had some travel vouchers to use up and it made the most sense money-wise. Next time I will just spend the extra cash and get a direct flight I think. Anyway, got into town at 9:07.

I had hired Presidential Limo and was met at the Airport by my driver, Jim. Found out about Jim from another board and I cannot recomend him enough. Presidential provides a bottle of Champaigne and a Rose for the ladies. Was really a good deal. Was able to make it to my Hotel, the Main Street Station, via the strip in my Hour. I think maybe Jim fudged the time a little, which earned him an excellent tip =>

Chose the MSS because I get comped rooms. Just provrs you don't need to gamble a ton of money for comps there. Check in was easy and the room was great. I am not wild about the shutters on the windows rather than the curtains, but not a huge issue.

I had arranged for some flowers in the room for my cousin as well as another bottle of Champaigne. Neither of these were in the room. It's one thing I miss about the Downtown hotels, no conceire service. I was able to get that sorted out easily enough after talking to the bell desk and a realy nice tip. Champaigne was not as good as the stuff in the Limo and the Flowers were terrible. I ordered her 18 roses from an on-line place and they were not great, but about what I should expect for the price.

After we got settled, headed over to the Carson Street Cafe for a late dinner. Nice dinner and we wandered around downtown for a bit before turning in about 3:00AM.

This is the part that was terrible..... I was up at 6AM and not able to go back to sleep. Cousin was in the same shape. So, we got up and headed to the Desert Passage at Alladin. Decided to have the Buffet for Breakfast. It was pretty good. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the Forum Shops, Desert Passage and the 4 corners area. We figured out you could walk from the Fat Tuesdays in the Forum shops to the one in the Desert Passage to the one in the MGM and you would just be finishing your drink as you arrived at the next one => Beautiful timing!!

We headed back Downtown around 5PM to get ready for our Dinner at the Vodoo Cafe. Got cleaned up and headed to the Rio. I have always liked the Rio, but it was just 'different' this time. The beverage-tainer are the dumbest thing I have seen for quite awhile. Anyway, headed up to the Vodoo Cafe. My cousin had never been to an up-scale resteraunt before and she was very impressed, both with the atmosphere and the food. Only complaint we had was it was VERY loud. So loud we could not even hold a conversation. There were 3 wedding parties who had been drinking for a long tie it appeared. I actually complained to the manager and we ended up with almost a free meal. We had planned on the Vodoo lounge after dinner, but my cousin was tired so we headed back down, caught a quick sky show and headed back downtown. Put the cousin to bed and I hit the Plaza Poker room for a bit.

Next day we were up again at 6Am and it was raining. OK, this is the THIRD TRIP IN A ROW IT RAINED on me. This is the desert right?? One dealer I complained to about the rain said her brother owns a landscaping company and if I can make it rain he might pay for my airfaire! We had planned on meeting some people I know at 5PM for a get together at the MGM. I had also scheduled my cousin for a massage at the Orlean's as a surprise. So, we cabbed out to the Orlean's and I turned her loose in the Spa while I played a bit. After she was finished the only thing she could say was "Oh My God" so I would say the Orlen's Spa get a huge thumbs up. Not to mention you cannot beat the price. We left the Orlean's and headed to the NewYork, NewYork. We sat in the "Big Apple Bar" and played $1 video poker and drank for a couple hours till it was time for out meeting. I have to say the bartenders in there are AWESOME. We spent 2 hours bantering with the bartenders and trading slams, in a good natured way. It really was alot of fun. I would recomend that bar in a heartbeat!

Made it to the MGM for our meet at Fat Tuesdays. Everyone made it and after drinking way to much we headed to the Cheesecake factory for Dinner. We were all pretty drunk and were having an absolut blast! Dinner was good, as usual and we headed out to gamble afterward. Only bad side it was a Friday night and a fight night so everything was packed. We eneded up at the Fronteir and played craps for quite awhile before we called it a night.

Once again, up early Saturday. We got ourselves together, checked out and headed back to the strip to shop for our kids. Mostly just spent time walking around. My cousin had never played a table game before so I talked her into setting down at a low-limit blackjack table at the Boardwalk. We played for almost 3 hours and she ended up down $2 and she had a blast. It did stop raining so we got to hit the Rollercoaster at the MGM which was high on her list. It was a blast. Short, but not terribly short. We also hit the ESPN zone on the recomendation of a friend. We really had a great time there. Losts of fun, little games.

We headed back downtown, had dinner at the Carson Street Cafe, grabbed our luggage and headed for the airport. Back home now.

All in all a great trip. I did alot more drinking and walking around that I usually do and a bit less gambling, but it was still fun. I still hate Vegas on the weekends.

As for gambling, I ended up down a bit, but thanks to a great Blackjack run it was not as bloody as it could of been. I played some Poker at the Plaza Poker Room. I was surprised how bad alot of the players were. They would stay on anything. I am not a shark, but I am a tight player. I ended up make over $100 on a 3-6 table. A pretty good win against the rake on low limit. Craps was a wash for me. Played at Binion's for a bit on the 1st. Not a great game there anymore and the dealers are not happy about it. I had Zero luck at the Orlean's. I basically just got my A$$ handed to me. I dropped $400 in an hour, which for me is a ton. Switched to Pai-gow just to last longer. Made out about even on that. One final BJ run at the MSS saved my gambling trip. Basically, I just got really angry at my luck and started playing green chip. I am not usually more than a $10 bettor but I was pretty frustrated. This game went well and I shoulda walked away up over $600 but I was stubborn on left with only about $325 after losing a $100 double-down. The dealers 6 card 21 vs my 20 made me decide it was time to go. The pit boss at the MSS commented about how grim I looked => I explained about the rain and my luck. After I had played $50 a hand for an hour or so he hit me with "Anything you need let me know". First time that has ever happened. Ended up getting about $75 in charges for food and such off my bill.

All in all a prety good trip.... Now, the Souvenir Story...

Walking down the strip I noticed how many more Porn Slappers there seems to be. I saw one guy with a bright yellow shirt with the typical "Nude Females to your room" message and such. I decided I had to have that shirt. I stopped in front of the guy. OK, realize, I am 6'4" and 270 pounds of ex-college football lineman. This guys was about 5' tall. I think I scared him when I yell "I want your shirt!!"

The look on his face was priceless.

He took a step back and I yelled "I'll take your Porn but you have to sell me your shirt".

Guy was looking at me like I had 2 heads. By now there was a group of about 30 people stopped watching me => I finally said "Look, I'll give you $20 for your shirt".

I am telling you, you had to see the look on this guys face. He says, pointing at his shirt, "20$". Yeah I say and whip out a $20.

Heh, sure enough, guy whips off his shirt and I buy it for $20. All the people standing around start cheering => Everyone telling me "That was Awesome!!!" Heh....

So, what do I do?? I had the poor slapper autograph it !!!

I now have one offical, autographed Porn Slapper T-shirt. Hows that for a souvenir!!!!

 

Ok, that's one for the books; buying a porn slappers shirt right off his back? I love this board.

 

Beautiful, Fizler. The best I can do with porn slappers is send my 3 and 12 year old sons up to them. They start crying hysterically saying "thats my mommy" pointing to their cards. Talk about clearing a sidewalk.

MSS is a fantastic joint. Beautiful stained glass windows, Berlin wall in the john, and the brunch buffet is almost a legend in my mind.

Sad to hear Binion's is a downer. Maybe they are trying to force MTR's hand?

 

Fizler--

That's beautiful man, buying the shirt!!! Made my whole day.

Mikey

 

Mikey.....

Heh, I read your trip report last week. Sounds like you and I ought to get together in Vegas. Might make for interesting times for all.

I have to admit, that may be my all-time Vegas highlight! The legend grows with every telling of the story!

Gonna see if I can get a picture of me and my shirt and post it somewhere. Just need to fiond someplace that can host a picture.

 

Cool, I had the same idea on buying the shirt when I was there in March. The drawback was-when else would I wear it? That's what cooled me to the idea. Parties I guess.

I wonder....
How long do they work on the "official slap the flyer against the palm before thrusting it at pedestrians move" before they are let loose on the street? I think that is hilarious.

Before they started wearing the neon shirts I remember once there was about a 45 year old lady wearing a shirt from "St. Cecelia's Catholic Church" or some such thing. I'm sure her fellow parishoners are REAL proud of her!!!!

 

Cool, I had the same idea on buying the shirt when I was there in March. The drawback was-when else would I wear it? That's what cooled me to the idea. Parties I guess.

I wonder....
How long do they work on the "official slap the flyer against the palm before thrusting it at pedestrians move" before they are let loose on the street? I think that is hilarious.

Before they started wearing the neon shirts I remember once there was about a 45 year old lady wearing a shirt from "St. Cecelia's Catholic Church" or some such thing. I'm sure her fellow parishoners are REAL proud of her!!!!

 

No judgement involved here, but there were Many english speaking white folks slapping in March.

Labor pool maybe?

 

We have a winner!!! Back in October my buddy Jerry tried to buy a porn slapper's shirt, but it almost turned into a violent scene. Jerry's words were something like, "I never heard angry Spanish that scared the living sh*t out of me!"

Glad to hear you pulled it off.