TR Downtown April 9-12 part 2 (long)

Mon, April 10 – Woke up much earlier than expected, around 5:30 AM. Since it was about 11:00 when I went to bed, I certainly didn’t expect to be awake yet. This headache that I had (from the previous night’s booze) and the nasal congestion was making difficult to sleep. Throw in the pillow that I had was about as flat as possible, and the noise from outside (Had to sleep with the window open because it was too hot in the room and the AC didn’t work well), and I may as well wake up and get the day started. It was about daybreak by this point, so I jumped in the shower and took advantage of the high water pressure and the heat from the water to try to relieve the nasal congestion. The shower also had a window, which makes for a very pleasant shower. Open the window, turn up the heat on the water, and it is very refreshing having the hot water hit you at the same time that cold air is circulating around.

Went across the hall to make sure they were up, and they were. Went up to get mom while my wife got cleaned up. I was surprised to find that she had just gotten up, but she got a shower and was ready to roll in just a few minutes. After my wife finished up, we headed to Main Street Station for breakfast, taking the shortcut through the California. At the top of the escalator, my wife spotted a bar called “Dave’s†and insisted that she take my picture there (Dave is my first name).

Got to the buffet at MSS, and I for one, got more than my $6 worth. I had about 4 diet Cokes to replace the liquids I had lost, and went back 3 times to the buffet line, having everything from biscuits and gravy to bacon and eggs, fruit, and French toast with strawberry topping. I must say that the MSS buffet has some of the best biscuits and gravy I have had in a restaurant, and by far the best I have had at a buffet. My wife wanted an omelet, so I went up and stood in line and ordered it deluxe, even though I knew she would give me hell for getting it with jalepenos. I took it back to her, and I was right, she gave me hell, but she ended up being very pleased with the omelet and me. I think for her, it was worth the $6 by itself.

At breakfast, I was surprised to hear that both my buddy and my brother in law had as much money as they came with, including the money they had spent for booze and food. Overall at this point, they were winning money, and my wife was right around even. Mom and I were not so lucky at that point, but we were determined not to give up.

After breakfast, I took mom to find some nickel slots while the remainder of the crowd went to the let it ride table. None of them had any luck, and it was just a few minutes before they stepped away, down about $125 between the 3 of them. Mom and I had a little better luck at the slots. I came out even and she won about $5.

We headed back to the Club, and we dropped off mom, wife and brother in law. My buddy wanted to just walk through Fremont for a few minutes, so we went exploring, walked down through Neonopolis, checking out assorted shops along the way, looking for Longboard Lager (which we never found). Got to LV Blvd, and went into Hennesey’s Tavern. It was still pretty early, but my buddy wanted to have a beer there, so we did ($5.50 plus tip). Had very good service, and made a little fun of the southern accent our waitress had. Finished the beers, took a couple of pics, and spotted the double decker bus pick up point. This would come in handy for our planned trip to Margaritaville on Tuesday.

Started walking back toward the Club, checking most liquor stores for Longboard, then my wife called and asked us to hurry back. Once we got back to meet the others, we went into the Golden Gate to play for a while. Most of us played penny machines, but I went to play some blackjack, lost my butt and ended up at the penny machine myself. I found one I though had an interesting bonus round, but despite playing 12 dollars a nickel at a time, never got to the bonus round. All except my mom went back to the blackjack tables, with all but me playing at the $3 table. Of course, my mom took the machine I was playing as soon as I got up and got to play the bonus round about 6 times in the first 15 minutes she was there. Played a few minutes at a $5 BJ table, then my buddy and and just went out and walked around outside for a few. While playing at the $3 table, my wife made some new friends, David and Sherry, from Dallas. David was a talker, but they were a lot of fun, and my wife really enjoyed her time at the blackjack table with them.

Around 2:00, we went to the snack bar at GG and had shrimp cocktail, etc. My wife had a French dip (recommended by her new friends). It was way too big for her to eat by herself, so we broke it apart and most of us tried it. Let me tell you, this sandwich is well worth the $4.50 price tag. In fact, I would recommend the little snack place at the back of the GG to anyone. It is one of the remaining jewels of downtown, IMO.

Finished there and went to Mermaids. We hadn’t been in there for a while, so we went to check it out. While my wife and I went to get deep fried oreos, my brother in law hit about $20 on a nickel machine. The deep fried oreos are much better than they sound, and for $0.99, it is worth just saying you have had them. Finished in Mermaids and went over to the Plaza for a while, where we all played penny and 2 cent machines. We didn’t break the bank in there, but none of us lost a nickel, and overall came out about $35 to the good, which is hard to do at penny machines.

Left the Plaza about 5:00, dropped mom off at a penny machine at GG, and the rest of us went to check out the Pasta Pirate at Cal. Decided we needed reservations, so we finally found a house phone and made the reservations for 7:30. Back to GG to pick up mom, and we were all going to freshen up a bit before dinner. Remembered I was supposed to meet up with Bosco at 6:00, so I called to tell him it would be later before I could meet him. Got his machine and left a message, then off to the room for a little rest and freshening up before dinner. Got to the room and Bosco called back saying he wasn’t feeling well, and may not be out to play that evening. After reading his follow up post this morning, it sounds like he was hurting quite badly.

Got to the Pasta pirate and we were seated almost immediately. Sitting in there you almost forget you are in a casino. We all ordered and had a wonderful meal, with no one being the least bit disappointed. They had wonderful bread, and I had a dish called Penne Diana, which included chicken, broccoli, penne, garlic, almonds, and a cream sauce. Very good dinner, and more than I could eat.

After dinner, we played a little, watched a light show and just kind of hung around the Golden Gate. Most were ready for bed, so I took everyone up, then my brother in law and I went back to the casino. There was a nickel slot I wanted to play (Party something). I put $5 in, pulled a few times and got the bonus round. I had no idea what I was doing, and by the time I figured out that I was supposed to hit a button to determine what was behind the squares, the moving cursor was about 1/3 of the way through. Well I just started hitting squares and piling up coins, getting to 540 before I “poopedâ€. There was a lady a couple of machines down that told me she had been playing the machine all night, had been to the bonus game several time, and generally only got 5 to 20 coins. She was amazed that I was able to get 540. With what I had remaining in the machine, I was at 597 nickles, 3 short of $30, so I played my machine down to 550 nickles and cashed out $20 up.

Time to go to bed for another night. It will probably be tomorrow before I can post my report from Tuesday and a summary. Tuesday was by far the best day though.