the best trip ever.really. day two

so on wednesday i am up and at the video poker machines early at the hilton, playing with no luck while my bride gets ready, joins me downstairs about 7:45 and cab over to the Mandalay Bay for our other trade show. this cab ride, at that time of morning, cost twenty bucks with tip! made great time between stop lights, but sat at the lights forever. put an end to any thouhgts of mine of renting somewhere off strip for a couple of months in the winter, i can see no end or relief to the traffic problems las vegas has, only more problems coming with more growth?

made our way through mandalay bay to the trade show area, we had been bumped to another floor by the architects convention, never even knew that floor was there, what a huge place. shopped hard until noon, wrote a few orders, good stuff is hard to find at this show, lots of cheap merchandise, but bargains on good quality can be found.

went down to the food court where we usually eat during this show, it was swamped by the architects, so we went on down the hall and hit the mandalay bay buffet. WOW! i was impressed. for 33 dollars for the two of us for lunch, which would not have been hard to spend at the food court when you each also buy a beverage, we had great food. chinese dishes, a shrimp and scallop dish with huge scallops, barbecued brisket. carnivores delight, and my wife was equally impressed with the salads. i was proud of myself for behaving at a buffet for once, with that quality of food, along with the quantity, it would have been easy to do my usual overindulgence! highly recommend the buffet.

back to the tradeshow, write a few more orders, know enough that going back through isnt going to find us any more gems. so we are out the door by about 3:30, grab an iced coffee drink on the way out. tram to the castle, across the street to mgm, and down the strip to the alladin. wanted to sign up for the players card, because of the offers i have heard about on this board. accomplished that, wife went on a whirlwind shoppping trip through desert passage, i sat down at a very friendly LOVE 4 POKER table. players were very helpful with the new game. lady to the left of me kept getting 3 of a kinds. guys to the right colored up for a 1000 and 400 respectively, though the guy with 400 had started with 200 down to 40 then back up. wish i could remember more details of the game, you have at least 15 and probably more like 25 on the table, at the minimums, each hand. there are some big swings, i started with a 100, went down to 40, and then back up over a 100, played one more hand and tipped the dealer, cashed out with97.50. so had a pretty cheap lesson in the game.

on over to the paris, picked up our tickets to we will rock you at the box office. sat in the bar by the race book, split a turkey wrap and had a couple drinks. bet the horses with no luck, and played a few vp machines on the way to the theatre for the show.

we will rock you was fun, even though i paid full price for the tickets, i know you can get them cheaper. not a bad view in the house, seats were nothing to brag about for comfort, but did have great leg room.

the lighting, sound, and band for this show are all of las vegas showroom quality. the show itself is what you let it be, and we let it be fun. without giving away anything, i laughed until i cried over brittney spears. great show, go see it! back to the hilton after 16 hours away, quick check of the finances shows being about 635 dollars down, about a 100 of it on the races, the rest on video poker, except for the meals. this will turn around soon!

 

obviously, did not go to computer operations school.

so, here i go with day 3, and maybe i can get it typed up without the server shut down that is comfusing me when i get back on.

this is where the best trip ever stuff really kicks in.

tried the hilton vp machines some more, same luck, then over to the trade show that we had skimmed the first day, before the wine tasting. placed a number of orders, found some great new things we can sell, just the sortof things we were looking for, and complete business justification for the trip, like i needed it.

back to the hilton, got our bags from baggage claim, the cab driver was relieved to find we were not going to the airport, said the interstate was even backed up. took us through some neighborhood back streets downtown, to the four queens. we got checked in, room on the south side, so no noise from the fremont street experience, but did have plenty of noise from one of the band stages on the side streets. since the air conditioning worked so great, we actually did hear some of the band noise at night, because we actually had to turn the ac off! had two queen beds, not great mattresses, or pillows, definitely not a top room, but clean, and quiet between rooms, just the street noise.

had not had lunch, so went to the chicago brewing company in the four queens. just a little nook, overlooking the casino, probably only seats about 30 people, just a cool place. we were there 3 times during the trip. all 3 bartenders we had worked the place alone on their shift, and all three had attitudes! gave them attitude right back, we got along great. on this trip, had a blueberry wheat beer, in their 22 ounce glass. very unique taste, and one of those things that you could have a few too many of too easily on a hot day... chicken wings and potato skins, not a bad breakfast/lunch at 4 in the afternoon. had reservations at hugos cellar for this night at 7, so this was enough until then.

as we were walking out, i paused at the top of the stairs, and said to my wife, "the next time i see you, i probably will have one of the IRS papers, i feel some luck coming on." probably got the yes dear response, oh well.

an hour later,found my wife at a video poker machine, asked how she had done. she had hit four aces with the deuce kicker on double double job, for 500 dollars! see, i knew it, it was just you, not me! i had played let it ride, and won 50, so i felt pretty good too,

wandered a little more, sat down at a dollar bonus poker machine, progressive. played for about ten minutes, and then...K,A,Q,J,10 of HEARTS, dealt. four thousand, one hundred, and sixteen dollars! turned and waved at the dome in the ceiling, thought maybe the big ed of the four queens would come shake my hand, but no. anyway, this was my second royal ever, and the first one dealt, and the first on a dollar machine. went and got a safe deposit box, and put 4000 safely away!

found my wife, who promptly reneged on her earlier offer to buy the dinner at hugos cellar. guess i should have waited with the news! we did have an ok dinner at hugos cellar, i will make it a separate post in the appropriate section. for the reputation of the place, there were a few things not quite right, it did not bump any place else down the list of my favorite las vegas steakhouses.

 

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing. Congrats on your win! Kristin

 

Nice score. On another note I live in Washington and my wife drinks Shiraz. I don't suppose you would happen to remember what winery the Washington wine was from? Thought maybe I could buy my wife a bottle.

 

Nice score. On another note I live in Washington and my wife drinks Shiraz. I don't suppose you would happen to remember what winery the Washington wine was from? Thought maybe I could buy my wife a bottle.

 

booner, i wish i could remember. our tasting notes are with our market trip orders, so will get it dug out, and personal message you with it.