This was Vegas trip #51, February 5-8, 2014, 16 years to the month from my first trip in 1998. Normally I cut it close getting to the Minneapolis airport for my flight. For some reason, I arrived nearly two hours early. It turned out that Terminal 1 was full at 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday so I had to drive to Terminal 2, the Hump, and take light rail back to Terminal 1. As I printed my boarding pass at a kiosk, I overheard a family talking to a Delta attendant. Their flight to Orlando was leaving in 15 minutes and they had no chance of making it through security and to their gate. Dear Wife (DW) is a stickler for arriving at airports early; maybe she has a point though not accompanying me on this trip.
On the flight from my aisle seat, I chatted with the guy in the middle seat and another man on the window. The first guy was a bowler, going to bowl at the Orleans for money. Later he was to bowl at Sam's Town and Sunset Station. I told him about taking the bus from the airport in Vegas as I always do and indicated that one could go from the airport to downtown in one half hour. The older man on the window argued that it couldn't be done. Of course his frame of reference is the Deuce and SDX on the strip. I said that there are three buses that serve the airport: The Westcliff Express, the 108 and the 109. I said that the Westcliff goes down Swenson Street to Tropicana Avenue to the Interstate to Charleston Avenue and on to downtown in 30 to 35 minutes. I also said that the 108 goes down Paradise Road and the 109 down Maryland Parkway and both end up downtown in 50 to 60 minutes. He realized that I knew what I was talking about and argued no more.
After checking into a room at the Golden Nugget, I headed to one of my favorite restaurants, 777 at Main Street Station, for dining and a brew. The Brewmaster's special had no name yet but was a hoppy wheat. I had a pint. It was fine. I'm beginning to appreciate hops. There was a fairly elderly woman sitting two seats down from me at the bar talking to herself, though she occasionally looked at me while talking. I pretended to do something with my phone to avoid a potential conversation. When she left and was out the door, a bartender came flying around chasing her. I asked the other bartender, Vandy, what was going on. He said that she hadn't paid though she had been there several hours. Later a casino security guard came in to chat with Vandy to get more facts as she had been apprehended.
There is a 4 p.m. show at the Golden Nugget called Pawn Stars Live based on the very good TV show Pawn Stars. A guy was handing out flyers for $5 off so I obtained a ticket for $25 including taxes and fees. Pretty cheap for a Vegas show. I bought the cheapest seats and was way in the back but, shortly after the show started, the attendant motioned for me to move up to the front section. There were probably 200 people attending, not a lot but okay for an afternoon show during the week. The best part was Rick Harrison appearing at the end. Rick is the star of the show on TV. He spoke for a couple minutes, thanking the audience for attending.
An interesting thing happened later. As I was walking outside the Golden Nugget in the rear behind the pool, I saw a number of men with name badges, obviously being conference attendees. I saw a familiar face and walked over and said, "Hello John" and shook hands. John is the General Manager of the McCormick and Schmicks where I was a lunch regular for several years and I know him very well. The conference was for Regional Managers and General Managers of Landry's companies including Landry's, Chart House and McCormick and Schmicks.
Day 2, Thursday:
This morning I was going to the oyster bar at Palace Station for some delicious Manhattan clam chowder (the red chowder) for breakfast. This oyster bar is open 24 hours a day and was instrumental in my becoming an aficionado of seafood many years ago. This oyster bar is horseshoe shaped with about 18 seats. There were only 3 other diners there when I arrived at 8:30 a.m. Margie was the server who has served me many times through the years. Though I had intended in only having the Manhattan clam chowder, I saw on the menu that oysters were only $10 for a half dozen from midnight to 9 a.m. So early in the morning., I indulged in six large juicy delicious oysters smothered in hot sauce. It's pleasant to burn one's innards early in the day (lol).
To get to Palace Station, I had to take the Deuce from downtown to Sahara Avenue, then get on the Sahara Express (SX) for one mile from Las Vegas Blvd. to Palace Station. Palace Station is the location where O.J. Simpson broke into a hotel room, resulting in his imprisonment. I had to catch the buses going back to downtown and fortunately I didn't have to wait long.
One of my favorite casinos is Sunset Station, though I haven't been there too frequently in the last few years due to its location in the far southeast part of town. As they have a great oyster bar also, I caught the Henderson and Downtown Express (HDX) downtown and made it in 20 minutes on the I-515 expressway. The HDX picks up on 4th Street, near the downtown Walgreens. This was the first time I'd used this route.
At Sunset Station, I played some video blackjack and video craps. Then I obtained a seat at the oyster bar. For lunch, I decided to have the cioppino, one of my favorites. Per the menu, Cioppino is "San Francisco seafood stew in slightly spicy tomato sauce with a medley of fish and shellfish". The shellfish included clams and mussels; I didn't notice any oysters. It was a huge bowl, much more than I could eat.
Feeling lousy from a cold virus that I'd had for 3 weeks, I called it a night early.
Day 3, Friday:
I had wanted to visit Nellis Air Force Base in the north part of Vegas, about 10 miles north of downtown. I saw from my bus schedule that the MAX bus goes near there from downtown, again stopping on 4th street near Walgreens. Being a military retiree, my ID card got me onto the base where I walked for about a half hour to the base exchange. I didn't buy anything, my reason for visiting the base was to become familiar with the lay of the land if I'm ever able to catch a military hop there from Twin Cities. The Air Force Reserve or Air Guard usually fly to Nellis or McCarren once or twice a year. If seats are available, active military, reservists and retirees can travel for free. It was a lot of walking but I became familiar with the bus route and bus stops. I saw many jets while there, some flying in formation in groups of four. I subsequently learned that Nellis is the home of the famous Air Force Thunderbirds air demonstration squadron. All of the planes that I saw appeared to be fighter jets from my experience of having been in a fighter squadron in the Navy many years ago.
Back downtown, I decided to poke my head in at Binion's snack bar to see if my buddy, Clancy, was working. He is from Minnesota and works the counter. I've known him for several years and always try and stop by and chat with him. Clancy was working the cash register and had some time so we talked. I told him that a customer in the barber shop I go to in Minnesota had said that Clancy's sister had been part of the lottery winners a few years ago. Clancy confirmed. There were 15 cooks and 1 janitor in a school in Minnesota that had purchased 4 Powerball tickets each drawing since 1990 with each person spending a quarter. They each won 2.1 million. When they won, they waited to drive to the Twin Cities to claim their jackpot until the students were fed that day. I told Clancy that Minnesota had a 20 below wind chill today. His response was "no thank you". I once told him that he was lucky to be in Vegas and he said that all I had to do was to load up a truck and come on out. Hmm.
While walking around downtown, I observe the beverages that people are imbibing. When I see a person drinking a Bud or Bud Light I look contemptuously, being an admitted beer snob. In my opinion, Coors Light is about as bad with Miller Light being just slightly better. Heineken is fine but people must not realize the tasty microbrews available at Main Street Station, Four Queens and Binions.
There was a distillers festival tonight at the Golden Nugget. I didn't attend the $49 event as I still didn't feel well. The festival included sample tastings of artisan whiskies and barrel aged barley beers, mixology classes, educational seminars, culinary delights and live entertainment. I would have enjoyed the seminars on mixology, being an aspiring professional mixologist.
Day 4, Saturday:
As I left the hotel room this morning, a young lady at the elevator bank wished me a good morning. As she was dressed in workout gear, I said that she must be going to the fitness center. She didn't know where it was so I pointed it out as I was going to walk by there. I usually use the very nice gym at the GN but stayed away this time in hopes of getting over my cold.
Many casinos now have video craps. I stopped by one at the D and put $5 on the field. After winning even money, I cashed out. I then decided to let it ride and put my winning ticket back in. I was too late for this roll but it would have been a loser anyway. I bet the $10 ticket again on the field and won with a 9. So I cashed a $20 ticket on my original $5 bet. I'm no longer a Cliffy (Clavan).
Looking at the NFL odds to win the 2015 Super Bowl, I noted that the home town Vikings are 100/1, the longest odds of any team, along with Jacksonville.
Going home today, I printed my boarding pass at an airport kiosk. To my surprise, the ticket said "TSA PRECHK". I'm not sure why I qualified for precheck but that line had about 20 people while the regular line had about 200. I'm not complaining.
Well it's back to below zero in Minnesota from the nicer Vegas weather.
