Surprise Trip - July 4-9, 2019

I spent most of the spring trying to make some dates work to meet up with some friends for a "girls pool party" trip in late June. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to make the dates line up for me and it looked like I was going to miss it. I was kind of annoyed by not having a trip on the calendar for 2019 and mentioned it to my favorite half of @ardee. She convinced me to consider going and meeting up with them and a few other VMBers in July instead. I looked at dates and saw that my trip could align with me showing up for the 4th of July slot pull @Chuck2009x was doing and I was in! And thus, a trip was born.

Initially I wasn't going to say anything about my trip on the board and just surprise people by showing up at the slot pull. But I couldn't keep my big mouth shut and the pre-trip excitement got the best of me, so the surprise part got a little ruined.

I know that most of you saw a lot of this in the live reports done by other people I was there with, but I wanted to write my own report and share a few things that happened when I was left unsupervised.

July 4 -

I caught the ferry to Seattle at 8:30am under cloudy skies and cool temperatures. I was dressed for Vegas though, so brrr!!! My trip to SeaTac was uneventful and I made it into the Alaska Air sardine can and we were off. I said goodbye to my volcano friends and headed for desert skies.





I knew my schedule was going to be a little tight and there were a few places my plans could go awry, but the travel gods seemed to be on my side. We arrived a little early, my bag with the 7th one onto the carousel, a small snafu where I was on the wrong floor for my Lyft, but my driver waited for me to take the elevator down one floor and meet up and poof.. I was at Paris.

I had some concerns about the speed of the line, but I was in line shortly after 3pm. I didn't see the Platinum line, just Diamond, so I got into the general call line. I decided I would wait in the line for 30 minutes and if I wasn't at the front, I'd go to the kiosk and take whatever room I got. The line was lighting fast. 12 minutes and I was at the desk and they were trying to give me a room on the 7th floor.

I asked for a higher floor, preferably something on 26 or higher, because I didn't want a view of an HVAC or parking garage. The clerk gave me the 30th floor, but somehow seemed to think it also would have a view of a parking garage. It didn't.

3039 was a nice distance from the elevator. Not too close, but not too far either. The room was clean and updated. I don't really use the bathtub, but that shower was huge. I also immediately noticed the absence of a coffee machine.







I unpacked a few things, freshened up, put on my sparkly 4th of July shirt and sent a text to @MikeOPensacola to see if he and @luck.ofthe.draw were still eating food. They had already moved over to Clique to help set up for the meet up, so I headed over to meet them there.

Initially we were set up on the right side of the bar in some reserved tables there. I was told about some drunk guy who were hitting on luck and @Texaschameleon, but I never saw him. A few minutes later, luck said that we were moving to the other side of the bar because the guy had puked and they were calling in haz-mat.

The other side actually had a better layout. @Chuck2009x, Mike and Texaschameleon arrived with patriotic swag and we started spreading them around the area for people to choose from. I of course snagged the awesome medusa headwear for myself. And that was about the time the drinking commenced and my liver was welcomed back to Vegas.

Luck.ofthe.draw and I in our Fourth Finery:



The next several hours are a total blur. I got to meet lots and lots of VMBers. At one point I went around to make sure everyone who wanted a wristband had gotten one, and I saw that half of Clique was made up of VMBers engaged in all kinds of conversations. It was great to meet up with the people I got to talk to, and sorry I didn't get to talk to everyone.






Just about the time I started trying to get everyone together for a group photo, Chuck pulled us all out of Clique to get the slot pull going. I never did get that photo, darn it. But we did the pull at a few different slot machines. Nothing really remarkable happened.

At one point, @MCann , luck.ofthe.draw and I were bouncing around the High Limit room listening to luck explain the names of all the animals in some slot machine. And then MCann was gone and luck and I headed off to find some Sex and the City machine she wanted to play. Later I found out we kind of ditched MCann and he was just on the other side of the machines and we left without him. I am sorry, but also blame it on the alcohol.

I have never watched SATC, and know almost nothing about the show. I kept asking luck, "Is this the slutty one?" whenever a new character came up. I got a couple of bonuses and one of them was super annoying. I had a bunch of free spins and it was telling me I needed wilds on reel 3. I already had reels 2 and 4 and just needed three. But the machine kept giving me the wilds I already have. That was annoying. But I won a little bonus anyway.



It was time to head back to the elevators to meet up with Texaschameleon and go up to her room to watch the fireworks. Luck was looking in her phone for where she wrote down the room number, but I saw Texaschameleon waiting with a bunch of other VMBers and thought maybe she would know. We all crammed into one elevator and began the loud and rowdy ride up to the 53rd floor. We were trying to take photos of the full elevator in the reflection in the ceiling of the elevator when the elevator stopped on 47 and two people got off. I feel bad for those poor people who were subjected to drunken VMBers, but also want to tell them they are welcome to join us again anytime.

We got into the room and after a quick look around and a covet session of that Japanese soaking tub in the bathroom, we headed out to the balcony to enjoy a Bellagio fountain show and see the fireworks going off all around the valley. It wasn't long until the Caesars fireworks show started and we had a wonderful view. At the end of the fireworks, you could hear the roar of the people down on the street. Awesome and thanks so much to @Texaschameleon for opening up her room to all of us internet strangers so we could enjoy the view.




We took a couple of photos on the couch and headed back down to the casino. Sonya was fading fast as I hadn't had anything to eat since a bagel on the ferry at 8:45am and I'd had a LOT of drinks at the pull. Texaschameleon, luck.ofthe.draw and I headed off to find food. Initially I wanted to go to Holstein's, but they were already closed not too long after 10pm. Hrm.... We ended up at Jaleo.

My choice to share was the Chistorra envuelta - Slightly spicy chorizo wrapped in crispy potato with membrillo alioli. It was quite good. Luck.ofthe.draw chose Croquetas de pollo, chicken fritters in a shoe. We agreed on a calamari and a salad and Texaschameleon also ordered a squid ink pasta with octopus. We shared and passed things around. The squid ink pasta was too salty for our tastes, but the octopus was absolutely perfectly cooked. Although we told her that it wasn't necessary, the server took off the squid ink pasta dish from the bill and Texaschameleon covered most of the bill with a food comp and luck and I covered the balance and the tip. Thanks @Texaschameleon!







Luck and I said goodbye to Texaschameleon and headed down to the casino to cash in our TITOs from SATC and said our goodbyes. We had plans to meet up for brunch in the morning. Luck headed for the rideshare and I wandered back over to Paris.

 

July 5 -

Luck.ofthe.draw came over to meet me at Paris to drop off something I needed to give to @ardee later in the weekend. Then we shared a Lyft over to Venetian to meet up with MikeOPensacola for brunch at Bouchon. This was my first visit there and I was not disappointed. Mike had already put in his name for a table and our wait was very short.

We immediately ordered some coffee, a platter of their pastries, a special Baguette Flambe which was a baguette with cheese, caramelized onion and bacon and was delicious! Luck.ofthe.draw was kind enough to agree to split an order of Croque Madame. We enjoyed sharing bites of all the pastries, each had one of the baguette pieces and I stole a few fries off of Mike's plate when he wasn't looking. It was a wonderful breakfast with fantastic company.








We wandered around the casino a bit. I had a pretty good run on Paradise Fishing. Thanks for the free $40.65, Shelly!



We split up with Mike and somehow Luck managed to get me to low roll it on some old timey slots at Casino Royale. I had a pretty good hit on the giant Wheel of Fortune and we had a good time playing James Bond. Chips! Chips! Chips and salsa!! .... one chip, no salsa *sad trombone noise* We tried to play an Elvis for @ardee, but he did not love us tender.





It was a good time, but I had a long night ahead of me, was already pretty day drunk and wanted to take a break before going out to dinner. Said goodbye to Luck and went back into Paris. I ran $100 through some VP just to put some play in there so they keep giving me free rooms.



I went up to the room, thinking I was going to take a nap, but somehow that never happens. I mostly just laid there dreaming of the food and fun the night had in store for us.

The plan was to meet up with Luck.ofthe.draw and MikeOPensacola at Bizaare Meat at SLS for happy hour. Mike sent me a text message that he wasn't feeling great and was going to skip it and stay at Wynn for the evening. Luck was out shopping and didn't get back to ParkMGM until well after 5pm, so we agreed to meet at SLS. Both of us ended up creeping north in traffic and didn't get to SLS until Happy Hour was almost over.

We got seated and ordered as much as we thought we could eat before the cut off time. We got the Foie Gras Cotton Candy, the giant chicharrons, a gaspacho shot, we wanted the croquettas de Jamon, but they were out so we got the chicken :cry, and we got some beef on a stick, and a pork sandwich. All of it was fantastic, but the foie gras cotton candy was a magic trick. I was expecting something the texture of cotton candy that tasted like foie gras (ew!), but I was totally blown away by the experience. Our server was helpful in telling us to take it all in one bite and let it melt in our mouths. It completely changed taste and texture and became creamy and chewy and delicous. I almost wish I could have had another to pay closer attention to how it all changed in your mouth. I'm so glad we went. Thanks again, @luck.ofthe.draw!!!!!








We wandered around the SLS for a bit, playing some slots, feeling an earthquake, winning some booze. Luck felt the earthquake before I did because I was walking and was pretty sure it was all the drinks, but once I sat down and the chair felt like it went out from under me, I knew it was a quake. Wheee!!!! We went up to the player's club to swipe Luck's card to see if she got any birthday treats. She didn't, but she did win a bottle of tequila that we carried around with us for the rest of the night.

I hit a couple nice bonuses on Walking Dead to keep me even at SLS.




I blame the alcohol on the next mistake we made. Luck confessed that she had never been to Peppermill, so I had to take her. We decided to walk there. Lordy, did I forget it was 95 degrees outside?!?! Yikes! But at least Luck made it fun while I sweated out all the booze we had consumed. We got briefly distracted by the giant clown beckoning us across the street and made a pass through Circus Circus. Then we were back on our way to Peppermill.



As we were walking into the Fireside Lounge, the security guy stopped me, pointed at the bottle of tequila I was carrying and told me I had to finish it before I could go in. I pointed out it was sealed and he let me in. Thank goodness! I was drunk enough already.

We found a seat, not by the fire, because I was already toasty enough. I ordered a drink and 10 glasses of water and we chilled out listening to the old school music and watching the people in the lounge. I asked Luck how she knew all the words to all these 80s and 90s songs. She said, "Oh, my mom did Jazzercize." I have never felt so old in my entire life. After a few Peppermill drinks and several waters to rehydrate, we were back into a Lyft and headed to Harrah's because I wasn't sure how to get dropped off at Casino Royale.



We played a little Brittney. And then this hilarious Monopoly game where I had no idea what was happening, but we were having a great time. Luck got dubbed by the Monopoly Man, the Mayor of Bonus City. What a pair we made, the drunken Queen of Ellis Island and the Mayor of Bonus City. Vegas had no idea what was happening, but they sure knew who we were. We were loud, we were rowdy, we had many more drinks. And suddenly it was 3am, we were walking to Paris and I hit my daily FitBit step goal just as I was avoiding a giant puddle of vomit. These are all signs of a great night. I said goodbye to Luck and put her in a Lyft at Paris and wobbled my way into the casino to put in a little play. This happened and I went to bed.



Thanks, Paris!

 

July 6 -

This was my "alone day". I exchanged some text messages with Luck as she waited for her flight home, ate a leftover muffin from Bouchon for breakfast, and decided to just hang around Paris for the day. I thought maybe in the evening I'd go over to Bellagio to give Mlife some play and over to Cosmo to see what was happening, but it ended up being too hot and crowded on the Strip and I stayed at Paris. Good thing I did.......

I ping ponged around the casino a bit. Played some Walking Dead and hit a couple of little bonuses. Played some VP, but didn't have any notable hits. A few quads, had a couple of near misses, but didn't get that Royal.. AGAIN!!




That muffin wore off by midafternooon, so I headed over to Sekushi for some snacks. I had the Pork Belly Steamed Bun, a Kimono Roll and a Spider Roll. They hit the spot and gave me a little break from the casino.







I went back to my Triple Play machines by GR Steak, apparently just missing MikeOPensacola and Retrobabble having dinner and drinks. I dinked around there for a bit, but wasn't having much luck. I wasn't losing, but I wasn't having fun, so it was time to shake it up.



I went to the $0.01 hundred play and hit a Royal Flush. I was mad that I 'wasted' one for only $40, so I switched to Ultimate X and a couple of other novelty VP games. I did okay, turning $100 into $253 and change.




But I wasn't having fun playing VP. It felt like a chore, so I decided to give some love to my favorite Walking Dead machine. I hit a couple of little bonuses to keep me even. I think this was the biggest one I got in that session.



I was getting annoyed that people kept coming and sitting next to me at the other machine and hitting the Jackpot Bonus. Of course, they all got the mini or a mini with a multiplier, but I wanted a Jackpot Bonus too. A fourth person sat next to me and got the Minor Jackpot and I decided my mood was too sour. I was going to hit the Jackpot Bonus in the next 10 spins or I was going to go up to my room and watch TV and pout.

That's when I saw a wild horde bonus, some Michonne, some more Michonne and a x10 multiplier. Um... that seems good. Right? I watched it tell me that it was an Apocalyptic WIN!!! and start counting. I wondered when it was going to stop. It got up around $800 and I wondered if it was going to be a hand pay. It soared past $1200, so um.. yes. It finally stopped at $2207.60 and the little song started playing and I instantly regretted having the machine at maximum volume.



The attendant came by quickly and started the process. A couple people stopped to take a photo of my win. And the next thing I know they were counting a giant stack of hundreds into my hand. I put the $2208 they gave me into my purse, spun off the win and then cashed out. That's when I realized how much cash I had on me and started to get nervous. I cashed out my TITO and headed for the elevator.

I rode up with a smile on my face as all the other people in the elevator complained about the casino and how they don't call them "one armed bandits for nothing". I didn't say a word, but I did gloat a little bit. I texted Dan with a photo of my win and he asked, "Is that yours?" I considered telling him no, but I was too excited and needed to gloat! We talked on the phone and I told him I couldn't decide if I should go back down to the casino and press my luck or leave Las Vegas forever. I left that cash in my room safe and headed back down to the casino to play a little VP and calm down a bit.



I kept hitting quads and 4 aces, for more winning! I was checking out and moving hotels in the morning, so I eventually decided to cash in and go to bed.

 

July 7 -

I woke up with a bad case of Vegas throat. It was dry and scratchy and no amount of water was going to help me. I decided to take my time packing up my stuff and making the move to Wynn for the duration of my trip. I was just hoping I wasn't getting Vegas plague because we had big plans for the rest of my trip. I didn't want to miss any of it.

Around 10am, I called the Caesars Rewards desk to have them apply my RCs to my bill and check me out. I gathered up my stuff and made my way through the casino to get a Lyft over to Wynn.

Check in was quick and easy. Just one person in line in front of me, but the room was not ready. They took my cellphone and told me they would send a text when my room was ready. I sent a text message to MikeOPensacola to see if I could leave my bags in his room, but he didn't answer. After a little while, I dropped my bag at the bell desk and walked over to the CVS at Treasure Island for some cold meds and drinks. Mike texted me back when I was in the CVS and told me not to buy waters because he had a bunch of them. Oopsie. Missed that message.

I walked back to the Wynn and found some VP by BBar and parked my butt. I took some cold medicine and downed a Coke Zero and sucked on a throat losenge hoping to clear up that scratchy throat. I texted with Mike and he came down to the casino to meet me, bringing Retrobabble with him. We went up to Mike's room to drop Retrobabble's bag and my CVS bag as ardees were arriving and agreed to meet at Charlies Bar & Grill for some lunch.






We shared some bites and there were a couple of burgers ordered. I mostly snacked on the sharables, a giant pretzel, nachos, spinach dip, and mozzarella sticks. We had some drinks. We couldn't get a Sinatra Smash at Charlies, so we ordered a round of Blackberry something somethings. Mike didn't like his, so I got to have a bonus one.

By the time we were done, our rooms were ready and we headed to the registration desk to get our keys. Retrobabble, Mike and I went to his room to pick up our stuff and then headed to our rooms to get unpacked and rest up for the evening's events.

My room was 3143.






I laid down and took a bit of a nap and woke up feeling even worse than before. Around 5pm I sent ardee a text message saying I felt awful and maybe I shouldn't come and give them all my disease. Ardeee said I have to come for at least a little bit and I can come in my pajamas. I told her I didn't want to be Typhoid Sonya, but she reminded me it was too late because we had already shared food and drink at Charlie's. I agreed to come for a bit. Not too much longer and Mrs Ardee called to tell me directions to their end of the property and where to send a text message. I thought I was lost, but I wasn't and soon Mr Ardee was on his way to meet me with a key.

I stood there by the Country Club and watched all the people walking around, listening to some event where the second place winner was announced as winning $360,000. I got a pretty bad case of the Imposter Syndrome. I was pretty sure those Wynn suit guys guarding the door were going to figure out I didn't belong on the property and escort me away. That's when I saw Retrobabble and Mr Ardee waving at me from a set of double doors nearby. I made my escape before security could kick me back to my low roller properties.

We went down this long hallway and to a set of doors into a suite bigger than my house! The rooms were beautiful. I mostly just walked from room to room, getting the tour saying "Are you kidding me with this room?" every time we went into a new room. There was a huge room with just a massage table in it. Yup, I definitely was nowhere near classy enough for this place.









We made it back out into the main room where a couple of Wynn people were setting up a spread of food that would have fed 15 people. Giant bowls of chips and dips and pretzels, giant platters of fruit, meats, cheeses, and a pretty little bunch of cake pops. And all with Ardee's tacky tiki bar in the corner. What a dichotomy we are!

Had a wonderful time listening to to old school Vegas playlist that MikeOPensacola put together for us on the bluetooth speakers. A little Elvis, some Rat Pack, some Rosemary Clooney, some Keely Smith, it was all perfect. We chatted, we joked, we did some spit takes. We ate yummy food, and eventually made our way out to the patio area onto the sanitarium chairs they had set up just for my Tuberculosis recovery in the dry warm air.

MikeO and I had been riffing on Game of Thrones since before the last season. He and I were guessing how things were going to end and making wild predicions for weeks. When the finale aired, Mike was pretty impressed with himself that he got the ending almost exactly corrrect. He sent me a PM saying that he deserved a trophy that said "Nostrafrickindamus" and I immediately contacted Mrs Ardee who seemed like the type of person who would know where to purchase such a thing. I was thrilled to be able to present his medal to him. Ardee and I snuck out of the room and into the bedroom to get ready I put on my tiara, figured out how to work Mr Ardee's light saber, put on a Wynn robe and made our procession out to the living room where Mike and Retrobabble were drinking. I told Mike to come bend the knee and then I knighted him to the Seven Kingdoms and dubbed him Nostrafukindamus (oops, got the name wrong. I blame Captain Morgan!) He was so blown away by his medal. I'm glad it seemed to have gone over well.



We hung out in the room until about 11pm and then gathered up our tiki-swag and some snacks for the morning and headed back to our rooms. I had a giant zip lock back of fruit. Too bad I didn't have a fridge to keep it nice and cold. I set it on top of the ice in the ice bucket and hoped for the best, had a giant glass of water and some Nyquil and went to sleep.

 

July 8 -

This day is a blur of cold medicine, nose blowing and coughing my brains out. I woke up to the sun outside and closed the blinds with the controls by the bed. I didn't know where I was or what was happening. but there was an empty box of kleenex on the bed with me and tissues everywhere.

I vaguely remember eating a ziplock bag of fruit that was the greatest fruit I have ever eaten in my life. The rest of the day is cold-medicine induced crazy dreams and trips to the bathroom to blow my nose.

Somewhere around 4pm I sent a text message to ardee that I wouldn't be joining them for dinner at Sinatra. They said they were out too. I hope I didn't give them my plague.

I called room service to bring me up some chicken soup and then the pot stickers caught my eye on the menu so I got some of that sent up too. I had just enough time to jump in the shower, power wash off some of my sicknesss and make myself presentable.




I ate, had them come up to pick up the dishes and then I passed out in the bed again.


July 9 -

I needed that day of sleep and over the counter medication. This morning I felt a little bit better and like I could possibly get to the airport and get myself home. I knew it was going to take all the energy I could muster. I ordered up a fruit plate and a small pot of coffee and packed up the things I had strewn around the room.

I checked out, grabbed a car and made my way to the airport with plenty of time to check my suitcase and get to my gate. A steady diet of cough drops got me through my flight and picking up my luggage at SeaTac. I found where to catch a Lyft and made it back to Seattle, only to just miss the ferry. GRRR!! But another boat was coming and I was easily able to get on that one. I was very happy to see my car pulling up and my husband and my dog there to take me home and take care of me for a few days while I recovered from Vegas Plague.

 

It was definitely ALL CHIPS! I wish you could have been there. We had so much fun. You would have loved walking through the suite with me saying "AYFKM?!?" at every room. Especially the massage room. IN THE SUITE!!!

I'm still trying to kick the last of the cough, but the plague part seems to have left me. Sorry we didn't get more time to hang out. Next time for sure!!

Did we decide on Flora? I was hoping that the Official Namer of Animal Things (TM) @luck.ofthe.draw was going to weigh in with a name for our Flamingo friend. Whatever her name is, she is fine. I need to make some space on my Vegas Shenanigans shelf and properly adorn her with flower leis, tiki things and bangles from the trip.

Mrs. Ardee does have a knack for going all out on the decorations. I loved all the little details. And our discussion about the knighting of MikeO was too funny. "Okay, I'll bring my tiara, but I don't have a sword for knighting. I may have a fairy princess wand." "It's fine, I'll bring Mr. Ardee's light saber." What a bunch of weirdos we are. With a little more time and effort we might have even been able to do better than the Wynn bathrobe for my ensemble.

I believe so. I usually fluctuate between 75c and $1.50, but I'd been dinking along for quite some time without any major wins before this. It was definitely a highlight of my trip. And it padded my bankroll for the next trip.

I wrote that just for you, my second favorite ardee.

Oh, and @Retrobabble I wish we had taken your advice on the Suite Party Night and kept a list of all those one liners and spit takes. I was trying to remember some of them when I was writing the TR. All I could come up with was "Santa's not the boss of me!"