NFC's (Pre/Re)location Vegas Trip: April 26 to ??? - 4Q/Cromwell/NYNY

Oh maybe the lemon ones were not decadent . Still good,tho.

 

Casa Serrano gets a thumbs-up from me. I had the pork fajitas, which are about as standard as it gets… right in line with the “Laughlin standard” of food, which is “not exceptional but never disappointing”. I’m surprised they don’t advertise this place more prominently in the main casino.



I was totally ready to leave with a $0 loss, to the point that I even requested a Lyft, though no drivers could be found. Figured “ahh I’ll just play $20”. Turned it into $25 on JoB… then to 7/5 BP since I was SO sure I was due for a quad. Even ran that up to $50+ with a timely hit on dollars…



Anyway… to make a long story short I ended up blowing through $100 chasing a quad and got nothing. Got another four to a royal dealt and still could not convert! Ffs. Did a total of over $2,500 in coin-in today mostly on quarters and only have one quad to show for it. Crazy, eh?



Just got home. Normal week ahead. Will update if anything of interest materializes

 

Not to get overly technical, but those are the “large” 500g packages I think. Definitely haven’t seen those for $1.99 in recent years, though the “regular” 300g packages I got for $1.99 all the time.

Even a day or two of freshness with those cookies really makes a difference in my opinion (I’m sure the real butter plays a role in that), so as a one-person household I prefer the smaller format since I’ll go through it faster for better freshness on average.

 

Let's be honest, you'd polish them off in no time

Now I'm going to have to bring a box...

 

I think Tops back home use to have President Choice products.

 

Man I'm soooooooo behind on this report! Been super busy, bro!

Looks like you're having one hell of an experience!

 

mr one to a royal strikes again.

 

Too early to buy for my trip. Haha

 

Hard to believe that this time next week I’ll be back in Vegas!

Since I’ll have a “home base” for the week, of course my eager-to-travel ass wants to do at least one staycation or side trip. Top two contenders are as follows…

1. M Resort - I can get this under $100 before resort fee on one of the weeknights. I was considering going for a day trip anyway, but to be honest I want to try the rooms and the pool. Is this worth doing?

2. Peppermill Reno - I can get one or two nights free on MyVegas. Cheap flights to and from Reno aren’t exactly abundant, but I can make it work. Can’t say I’m super keen on Reno, but I’d love to seed some action at both Peppermill and Atlantis. Is Peppermill worth going out of one’s way to experience?

 

Goooood morning from the Aquarius in Laughlin, everyone! Need to keep my updates fast for right now but thought I’d get an initial post or two in to get everyone up to speed.

So, where have I been the past two weeks besides the Riverside that one afternoon? I’ll just rip the band aid right off and say it… I’ve been living in a TRAILER! Shocker, right?!

Basically, let’s just say that when I booked this vacation home online, I didn’t have any clue that it was a trailer. In retrospect, it makes total sense that it was part of an RV park… but somehow from the photos it didn’t “click” for me that these were actually trailers installed into the ground.

I had mixed feelings about it at first, especially as a city boy who would never have considered voluntarily choosing to reside in a trailer for any period of time. However, it ended up not being that bad… and I’m happy that things ended up unfolding this way, because I view trailer living very differently now.

Apologies for my laziness, but I decided to take screenshots of the writeup I did on Instagram for which I’ll share here to provide greater detail about my sentiments. Need to get moving for the day shortly, but I’ll share photos of the actual accommodation in the next post.

 

Here’s a photo dump in no particular order



The ceilings in the upstairs loft weren’t too high, for obvious reasons



Probably my least favourite part about the cramped configuration of this place was the fact that the air conditioning unit was right next to the bed in the main bedroom. It frequently woke me up in the middle of the night when it would automatically go on. I certainly don’t miss this!



Cheers!



I don’t know why, but I just loved the way this view looks through the window.

 

Also, just to contribute to any “Ricky and Bubbles” jokes about this whole situation… here I am with them in 2016

 

I’ll do a recap on last night (dinner/video poker with Eliza) later today… though the VERY last thing I’ll share for now is that as I’m sure you can anticipate, Aquarius isn’t the kind of place to offer bathrobes (insert dramatic sad face here). However, it is a good thing indeed that I brought my own

I’m 99% sure I’ll be sporting this at a bartop here this afternoon.

 

When you said trailer, I was picturing something completely different. I would consider that more a Modular home. Looks pretty nice on the inside!

 

Definitely cramped but nice waterfront location.

 

So it's interesting you say that... I was trying to get a better idea of the terminology. While "modular home" seems to be accurate, I'll clarify that the lady who runs the park said to me all of these "Park Models" as they call them actually do have wheels underneath. It's very possible that this was originally a smaller wheeled unit with "modular" additions made to it for size in this use case. Whatever it was, it was definitely a unique living format and setting. As I sit in my hotel room that's nice and spacious by comparison though... I think I know what I'd prefer going forward

 

Certainly different from living in Toronto that's for sure!

 

Well I mean... those 200 square foot condos sure don't feel all that different on the inside

 

I can see where the loft would feel cramped, but the rest of the space looks quite nice and doesn’t appear cramped from your photos. Living room, kitchen, bedroom(s), sounds pretty live-able for your staycation! The water view is a bonus!

Enjoying your adventures!

 

Alright… good time to get everything up to speed here.

So just for some “situation context”, I had another banking difficulty that prevented me from having access to cash while I was still in Bullhead. As a result, my gambling budget for these two nights in Laughlin was a WHOPPING $120. I did end up losing it all, but got a remarkable amount of play out of it, I think! Just going to recap today and yesterday in the approximate order of my photos.

Upon arriving at Aquarius yesterday I was hungry as hell. Didn’t want to ruin my appetite for Range later that night… so got some chicken nuggets from McDonalds as a snack. Somehow this feels like “such a mood”



Met with @eliza who was playing video poker on one of the good machines at Aquarius where there doesn’t seem to be any drink service. We haven’t seen each other in about a year now… so we sat for a bit to just catch up. She had never taken the water taxi before, so we headed down to the dock to hop on, and went down to Harrah’s. Since we’re both “high tier” players at CET we each had two drink vouchers… and opted to use those for some pre dinner drinks at the Range bar. She had the usual pink drink with Grey Goose, and I had Crown Royal reserve which I was surprised they could comp! I’ll take it though



Started out with my usual French Onion soup at Range, and Eliza had the same. Wonderful as always!



I had the prime rib, and it was actually quite good! This was the 14 oz, I’d have gone for the 10 oz next time as it was slightly much for me. Doesn’t beat Lawry’s, but this is probably one of the better meals I’ve had at Range. Can’t say I’ve ever been truly impressed by their steaks, funny enough.



Returned to Aquarius and played some bartop video poker. BP at 7/5 seems to be widely available here. However at the bar next to the showroom, they have the “Power Quads” feature I’ve only ever seen at Aliante. I understand it a bit better now, and here’s my fast breakdown of how it works…

- You need to be “logged in” to play. Fast, easy, and free to create a login. Just a username, a four digit PIN, and the number from any ID of yours as a backup in case you forget either of those credentials.

- You play any video poker game like you normally do. No extra bet or anything, no adjustment to the pay tables. But the idea is that you’re playing a “bingo card” with quads… and your goal is to hit quads of all 13 cards. Once you do, you win 1,000 credits.

- To be clear, your “collection” of quads is specific to each denomination. I like to hop denominations… so if you hit queens at $0.50 for example, you have 1/13 quads on $0.50 denom, but that doesn’t affect your collection at $0.25 or $1 denom if that makes any sense.

Pink drink and draft bud light



Hit three quads, as below… and of course got two four to a royals it will happen eventually!!!



I finished that session with a $20 profit. Took it to a $0.25 five credit slot and lost it along with another $20 for a total loss of $20 on the night. Ah well

Thursday

Slept terribly unfortunately. Had to be up at eight to review a presentation deck. This was just one of those soul-sucking experiences that made me want to rage quit and get a kitchen job that I’d actually enjoy. Needless to say it was a rough morning.

Didn’t bother to change out of my PJs… and after all that I went down to play at the same bar between about noon and my 1:30 pm call, in said PJs. On $40 in I ended up cashing out for $100 with quad sixes and a very timely set of quad threes at half dollars. No pictures, as my phone was upstairs charging. Got lunch at Subway, enjoyed that with one of my beers from the bartop. Finished up work without losing my temper, which I consider a win.

Headed over to Riverside to meet Eliza and @NittyOne … we caught the 4:30 pm USS Riverside cruise, which would precede our dinner at Gourmet Room. That was fun. Personally I can’t get enough of it just for the ride around the river. Amazingly I took no pics as I’ve taken so many on previous sailings

We went into Riverside and got into the pool area in hopes we could have some pre-dinner drinks at the bar by the pool on the veranda overlooking the river. Turns out that’s not open right now. Got a good look at the pool though. Now I’m VERY tempted to get a room here just to enjoy the pool at least once! Especially with these cabanas.




When’s the last time you saw a working water fountain?? I guess that’s a thing at the Riverside



I forget the name of it, but there’s a small lounge with a jukebox on the second floor of Riverside between Prime Rib Room and Gourmet Room. We decided to go there for drinks before dinner instead. Eliza got a pink martini, NittyOne got a vodka martini, and I got a Casamigos anejo… which came to the grand total of $24… and that wasn’t even happy hour pricing! Getting to feel classy with pre dinner cocktails in the lounge and at these prices? Sign me up!



Then we headed into the Gourmet Room. It’s truly rare that I give a restaurant an “all pros, no cons” review… but this is one of those times. Although I’m less and less into fussy/fancy dining nowadays, this is probably my favourite restaurant in Laughlin now. Excellent food, spectacular service, and all of the “frills” but without breaking the bank. I wouldn’t want to dine like this every night. But at least once a trip? Absolutely.





We started out sharing the calamari. This is the only thing I wasn’t crazy about. Very good, though I’ve had better. I would order it again though.



Our entrees came with soup or salad, and we all opted for the soup (tomato bisque). Absolutely excellent… was definitely made from scratch. Thoroughly flavourful.



Intermezzo sorbet in the fanciest presentation I’ve ever seen. Very nice touch!



For the main course, Eliza ordered duck l’orange… and NittyOne and I split the rack of lamb for two, served tableside. To be fully honest, the “tableside” presentation was just for show I think. I appreciated it nonetheless. The food itself was excellent. I’d definitely order this again.



Grand total came to about $90 each with tip… and that INCLUDES two bottles of wine. Just can’t beat that value!

Eliza went to play Deuces Wild at the bar… and NittyOne and I went to play blackjack at a $10 single deck table. Got about 20 minutes of play… he lost $5 and I lost $100 out of my remaining $140 following my win this morning. We both got Makers bourbon comped though. None of my big bets were hitting unfortunately. Didn’t even get one blackjack

Then took my other $40 to a bartop at Aquarius and got in a couple of hundred hands before busting out. No quads, so no pics to show unfortunately.

So that’s that for this stretch. Heading back up to Vegas tomorrow to check into the Grandview. For those curious, I did end up scoring Sunday night at the M Resort for $98 on Hotwire. So I’ll be doing a little staycation there… can’t wait to report on what that’s like!

Then Four Queens on Thursday 30 to straddle June/July for monthly offers. Then Rio to “ride out” the July 1/2/3 weekend for all of $140 all-in (a bargain compared to what other hotels are charging). Then the cabana suite with Ffejry. Then Bellagio for two nights. And then I’m off to Florida to visit my grandpa… and after that I’m hopefully moving into my new place back home. Fingers crossed that will actually happen!

See y’all tomorrow. And yes, I will be able to get my hands on more cash once I’m back in Vegas… so the gaming will resume!