First trip of 2017--On the hunt for Harrah's TR Quest......

PROLOGUE:
I guess the week that I spent in Vegas the first part of December did not cure my Vegas itch completely, so I decided to give it a good "scratching" with a five night trip in late January. This turned out to be a solo trip as MadMan Mike was still in recovery mode and my daughter bailed out at the last minute. Harrah's generously gave me 5 comped nights in a Carnival tower room, Sun Country airlines had a RT fare for $204 from MSP and booked a decent rate with Enterprise for a car rental. I used some of my MyVegas points for admission to the Bellagio gallery of fine art; thought that I would wait until I arrived in Vegas to make any decisions on shows.

SUNDAY Jan 22:
I took a leisurely drive up to the cities on a dreary overcast afternoon; typical Minnesota winter weather, at least it was not snowing. The shuttle bus from the park and ride lot was full; usually there are only a few people...I'm not the only one getting out of "Dodge". Check-in at the airport went quickly, the TSA pre-check line was longer than the regular line...the word must be getting out about this deal; at least I did not have to take off my jacket, belt, shoes and dignity in going through security. I ordered up my usual double Hendrick's gin and tonic and the bartender recognized me from previous trips. He asked me if I had brought my own cucumbers for my drink...am I going too frequently to Vegas?......nah. I watched the Packers get hammered by the Falcons and left the bar at half-time to catch my flight.

I settled into my first class seat in the front row...lots of leg room. Shortly afterwards, a rather large guy and his 'ample' wife came on board and took the seats directly behind me. I can tell that this guy is well on his way to drunkville, which is confirmed when he orders up his first double Jack Daniels and water before we pull out of the gate..his first of several during the flight. We had a decent dinner with the entree being roast beef...the warm chocolate cookie for dessert is always a treat. I put in the earphones and watched a movie on the tablet that they hand out free in first class and turned up the volume to drown out the increasingly noisy gentleman behind me. The guy in my aisle seat tried to read a book, but from the pained look on his face he was not enjoying our flight because of the guy behind us. I finished the movie and then had to listen to Mr sloppy double Jack Daniels argue with his wife for the last 30 minutes of the flight...nothing heated...just stupid shit....kept repeating himself. The other thing about this guy was that he passed gas several times during the flight..ugh. I couldn't wait to get off the plane when we landed.

Welcome to Vegas....land of warm weather and sunshine.....wait a minute....it's pouring rain outside and it is cold...by Vegas standards...and windy to boot. Picked up my bag and caught the shuttle to the car rental center. No line at the Enterprise counter, picked out a Nissan Altima and was soon on my way. Take Warm Springs road out to LV Blvd, get the green arrow to make my right turn and almost get clobbered by some guy making a U-turn...missed me by inches. I received a Carnival tower room on the 28th floor overlooking the High Roller. It was not one of the remodeled rooms, but was still more that satisfactory. This was probably the quietest room that I have ever had in Vegas; no noise issues the entire trip. I quickly unpacked and headed for my first cocktail at the Harrah's diamond lounge.

It was around 7:30 pm and the place was pretty dead. I grabbed a seat at the bar and was greeted by Robert, one of the bartenders and ordered a Heineken. Timberwolf (Dave from San Diego) was in town, staying downtown this trip. We texted back and forth while I finished my beer and then headed over to the Tag bar to play some VP. I originally planned on making this a short night and going to bed early, but after several texts from Dave I decided to meet him at the 4Q's. On my way down Industrial Blvd, some guy decided to test Newton's Law and see if his car could occupy the same space as mine...nice lane change, buddy!

I found Timberwolf plugging away at the bank of full pay JOB machines and joined in the fun for several hours. He hit quad queens and generously gave me his 4 queens commemorative coffee mug to me... a really nice cup....thanks Dave. We ended up having some pizza at the Chicago brew pub before I decided to call it quits for the night. I stopped at the Harrah's bar for one last Heineken, talked to TJ the bartender and then hit a quad about 4 hands in....not a bad way to end my first night. Bedtime at 03:30 zzzzzzzzzzz...

MONDAY Jan 23:
I woke up around 08:30 and was a little fuzzy around the edges, but after my first cup of coffee I headed out the door for breakfast at the Grand Lux cafe...delicious as always. I then started south to do my TR quest to earn my badges for bonus tier points which will be added to my account at the end of March. I played VP using the website, VPfree2.com to guide me to the "best" machines available at each casino. The Cromwell is a VP wasteland unless you want to play the full pay machines in the front of the casino, but it takes a ton of play to earn any tier points on those machines. I played a slot machine and did nothing but lose my money while earning my 25 tier points. I searched out a 100 play 9/5 JOB machine in the high limit room at Pho, but some lady was playing it and looked like she was going to be camped out for quite a while. I sat down at a dollar triple play machine, stuck in a hundy....does not take long to go through your money playing at $15 per spin. Fortunately, I hit some good hands and actually cashed out with a $20 profit. I finished out my quest by crossing over to Caesars and again playing a quarter slot to earn my points....broke even. So I hit 8 Strip casinos during the course of the afternoon, and only lost about $150.

I recharged by batteries by helping myself to the buffet in Harrahs diamond lounge, washing down my food with a couple of tasty side car cocktails, made by Orhan. Timberwolf arrived shortly afterwards and we plotted out our gambling strategy for the evening with a couple of Mudslides....they had to kick us out at 9 PM. We walked over to the Cromwell and Dave drove us downtown to the Golden Gate where we spent several hours talking to Valeria, the female bartender. Unfortunately, she was not feeling very well, so she was not very talkative. I stuck to Heinekens and Valeria kept making up all these weird concoctions for Dave. Things got a little hazy after this...might have played VP at Binions...not sure. I purchased a bus pass because neither one of us were in any shape to drive...we parted ways and I headed for the Deuce.

There was just a few passengers on the bus, but lucky me had a drunk couple sit near me. They were making out at first, but then the guy spies my Stetson fedora and staggers over to make an offer to buy my hat. "Give a hundred bucks for it". He looked like he didn't have 50 cents in his pocket. "No thanks, it's not for sale...at any price". He looks at me bleary eyed and goes back to his girlfriend. They are getting pretty frisky on the bus, so the bus driver gets up at one of the stops and informs them to knock it off or he will kick the two of them off the bus. Reluctantly, they complied for the rest of the ride.

I returned to the room around 03:30 only to find that housekeeping had not cleaned the room. I made a drunk call to the front desk to complain...I must have been fairly civil, because the guy gave me a $40 dining credit...sweet. My room was spotless for the rest of my stay. I did tip the maid $5 each day.

TUESDAY: Jan 24:

I awoke in a bit of a fog this morning...coffee, pedialyte, and Alleve put me back together. I availed myself to the Harrah's buffet for breakfast, since it was going to be on their dime. Basic breakfast fare...I do like that they serve grits. After breakfast, I grabbed the shuttle over to the Rio to complete my TR quest and cash in my Viking football bet from last month. I returned via shuttle to Bally's and then walked across the street to take in the Chinese New Year display at the Bellagio conservatory...nice job...year of the rooster. I picked up my voucher for the art gallery at the TR desk and spent a couple of hours getting some culture.

They have an informal tour at 2 pm every day, with one of the gallery's employees giving some background about the displayed artwork and about the various artists. The theme for this presentation was "Town and Country: From Degas to Picasso". I enjoyed some interesting paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir as well as photographs by Alfred Stieglitz and others. I have used MyVegas reward points several times to gain free admission to the art gallery, saving the admission price of $15. Time well spent enriching my knowledge of the world of art. The current display ends February 20th, so I can't wait to see what's in store on my next trip.

I was thirsty, so I walked back to Harrahs and had to stand in line for about 10 minutes before I could get into the diamond lounge....food must be pretty good today. I received a text from Timberwolf; he walked from downtown with a stop at the Strat and would be arriving soon. We spent a couple of hours in the lounge talking to some of the people who we know and then decided to head back to the Gate downtown.

Valeria had called in sick, so we hoofed it over to MSS and played and extended VP session at the Boars head bar. I love those tasty black chip porters. Around 0100 Dave was talking to me while playing and then looked over at his machine only to see that he had hit a Royal for two grand...how about that! I ended up by cashing out ahead, so it was a good session for the both of us. We dined on oxtail soup at the Market St cafe over at the Cal afterwards...good stuff. We then walked over to Binions and played some VP at the bar by the cafe...the place was crawling with hookers. I drove back down to the Strip and hit the sheets around 0400.

Wednesday: Jan 25th:
I woke up around 0830 and actually felt pretty good...surprise. Today I planned on making a downtown coupon run using my American Casino guide and LVA booklet. I drove over and used the valet at the Gate. The valet guy knew my name....am I becoming a regular? I walked up to Dave's room on the second floor....wow, he had the smallest hotel room that I have ever seen, even by the Gate's standards. It was so small that he had to go out into the hallway to change his mind. Seriously, it was tiny....but it was comped, so what the hell.

We got vouchers for a free lunch buffet at MSS...decent fare, good fried chicken and carrot cake. On our way over to MSS we noticed them putting something up at the Plaza. Turns out it is some mural done by Shepard Fairey, a street artist of note...interesting. After lunch, we walked over so that I could have a shot and a beer and say hello to the female bartenders at Hogs and Heifers. There was quite a large crowd in there for an afternoon; a couple of the female patrons got up on the bar to dance with the bartenders...one female was pretty loaded...would not want to have her head in the morning.

We walked across the street to the Downtown Grand to start my coupon run...won $10 on my free play and lost my MP. Onward to the El Cortez where I hit a quad to cash out $20 ahead and enjoy a Guinness. My free play at the 4 Queens and Binions each netted me a small profit. I also won handily with my free play at the Plaza and even won my $25 match play on roulette. That's the first time that I can recall winning with my coupons at the Plaza...a red letter day for sure.

We spent the rest of the evening playing VP at the bar at the Golden Gate, each of us holding our own. We played blackjack and got our asses handed to us...dealer had 3 BJ's in a row. She teased us with allowing us to make a brief rally only to clobber us again. Down $100. I decided to call it quits early today (0100) because I wanted to take a road trip down to Laughlin in the morning. I said my goodbyes to Timberwolf and headed back to Harrahs. Will continue this saga tomorrow.....stayed tuned for more video poker magic?

THURSDAY Jan 26th:
I arose early and prepared to leave for Laughlin. Timberwolf texted me that he had changed his plans and was going to stay in Vegas a while longer. I texted back that I needed a wing man for my road trip, so I drove down to the Gate to pick him up. Breakfast consisted of various doughnuts and pastries purchased at Dupars and consumed on the road. Traffic was light, and except for creeping through Searchlight, I had the cruise control set at 80. We parked at Harrah's and then finally found the 9/6 JOB machines located in a bank of machines overlooking the pool and river. The interesting thing was that the pay table was 9/6 at the quarter level, but dropped down to 8/5 if you bumped it up to 50 cents. The cocktail waitress came by and we each ordered a Bally's and coffee. I hit a quad within the first five hands, so I played the rest of the session on the casino's money, putting over 50 tier credits on my card and cashing out with a $20 profit...gas money. Dave struggled, but I think he ended with just a small loss. He texted his friend Terry from Denver, who was renting a place across the river in Bullhead City....he has a trophy/medal from city league Pickleball championship, by the way....he arrived shortly and we had a long conversation about the housing situation in the area and about the various casinos. I picked up quite a few tidbits about renting in the Laughlin area as I am possibly going to rent a place in Vegas or Lauglin next winter after I retire sometime this fall. Terry had some good pointers and was very helpful. He acted as tour guide over at the Aquarius casino, showing us where the good VP machines are located, gave us a brief tour of the restaurants and about their players club. It was the first time that I have been in this casino and it was surprisingly very nice. We finally bid Terry farewell and headed back to Las Vegas. I missed my exit off the interstate and finally got off at the Charleston Ave exit and got snarled up in Vegas rush hour traffic...ugh.

Eventually we made it over to the Rio and made a bee line for the wine cellar. Lita was glad to see us, and Jose arrived a little while later ...good to see these people again...they are like old friends. Dave had a glass of Duckhorn pinot noir and I had a flight of zinfandels. They have finally updated their wine flight menus, which I thought was long over due. My flight included a zin/red blend, called the Prisoner, and a sample of the Lust zinfandel. I forgot what the third wine was, but it was surprisingly good; so much so that I ordered a glass of that after I had finished my flight. Lita has a heavy hand and I had a rather full glass sitting in front of me. The last time I visited (Dec), Lita mentioned that she was taking a vacation to Hawaii with her son. I told her that I was going to be back the end of January and that I wanted to see pictures of her vacation. Indeed she produced some very nice shots of herself enjoying the islands. The crew at the wine cellar are terrific folks.

We headed back downtown after finishing our drinks and settled at the far end of the bar and played a lengthy session of VP, while watching the dancing dealers in the black jack pit. We wandered down to Binions and sat at the bar next to the poker room where Dave's friend, John, was working tonight....great guy. We put enough points on our cards to that we could use their spin promotion after getting 40 points. I ended up with a free gift and a token for a free drink. Timberwolf fared better and received 10 dollars off for food at their cafe. I had received a similar food coupon earlier in the week that expired in an hour, so we made our way over and grabbed at table in the rather empty cafe. I tried the patty melt with a side order of fries which hit the spot and with the coupon it was a free meal...score. We were sitting next to the window overlooking the bar and it was great for people watching. Halfway through our meal a lady walked by the window and she had "hooker" written all over her. She stopped and started talking to a couple of dopey looking guys that were standing by the bar area. In a few minutes it looked like that were getting along famously and they look a table next to us in the cafe. It was pretty entertaining listening to this chick work these two potential clients.

It had been a long day and I finally left Timberwolf at the Golden Gate bar and headed back to my room at Harrahs. I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow around 0330.

FRIDAY: Jan 27th
I struggled to keep my eyes open at 0900...it's been a long week. I packed up and did the express checkout. My bill came to $1.63, the sales tax from the buffet. I drove over to the Black Bear diner on Tropicana and Jones for a late breakfast. The portions are not on the scale of HHAGG, but you won't walk away hungry here. Their homemade biscuits are intimidatingly huge...almost a meal in itself. They are good, but I wish they would serve them with a side order of honey. Thoroughly stuffed, I took a drive west on Tropicana for several miles, just to take in the scenery and let my stomach digest the huge breakfast that I had just consumed. I ended up back at the Rio to play a last VP session before I had to leave for the airport.

I played some triple play bonus poker and went quadless and found myself down $300. I took a break and walked over to the sportsbook and placed a money line bet on Atlanta for the Super Bo......I mean the Big Game. I walked over to check out the craps tables and watched a young lady have a pretty good run. She was setting the dice, had a very nice throw and hit several points. In between hitting points she hit several inside numbers including the number 9 multiple times plus several hardways. Another woman at the table was making decent sized bets on the field...that was her only bet. Amazingly the shooter hit 12 a couple of times and rarely rolled a 6 or 8...this woman walked away with a nice stack of chips. After the shooter 7'd out I decided to give it one more try and see if the VP gods would smile upon me. I found a single line dollar full pay bonus poker machine and stuck a hundy in, crossed by fingers and started to play. I hit several flushes, full boats, and finally a quad and I cashed out with a profit of $150 which cut today's loss in half....I'll take it.

I dropped the car off at the rental center without incident, upgraded to first class at the Sun Country desk and was amazed to see that the security check in area was like a ghost town. I soon found a bar stool and ordered up a double Hendricks and tonic and watched some ESPN before my flight. I had a window seat in the front row again, the meal entree was meatloaf; I was so full that I had to pass on the warm chocolate cookie for dessert. I had another gin and tonic after dinner and drifted off to sleep until touchdown in MSP.

My son had been texting me about all of the snow that they had received in Rochester while I was away, but it didn't seem too bad on the drive home until I got close to Rochester. I pulled up in front of my house a little before 0200 to be surprised that my daughter in law (she was feeding my cat) had cleared my sidewalk and part of the driveway with my snowblower...atta girl! Unfortunately the city snowplow had come by and pushed a huge mound of snow in front of my driveway. So there I was at 2 o'clock in the morning, snow shovel in hand, digging and chipping away at this icey, frozen mess in order to get my car into the garage. Meanwhile my cat, Nick, is watching me through the window and wondering when he is going to get an extra helping of canned cat food....penance for leaving him alone all week. He got his revenge later by sitting outside my bedroom and loudly meowing around 0600....just at an angle where I could not toss a slipper at him in order to get him to shut up.

EPILOGUE:
Another trip in the books and I came back this time tired, but relaxed...it was a fun trip. I didn't see any shows, dining was on the fly, another losing trip, but I had a lot of fun and escaped into the parallel universe that they call Las Vegas for a few days. Timberwolf introduced me to several of the Vegas "regulars", some really colorful characters. We talked with an older gentleman whom Dave tagged as being the 'Mayor of the Four Queens'. I laughed so hard at his story about how the security people had towed his car from the Binions parking garage after he had been staying on a comp for 30 days at the hotel, that I almost split my beer. Dave and I have a contest when we play VP together, each putting a $1 in a "prize pool". Whoever gets a quad gets the pool money. It went back and forth all week, but I think Dave ended up winning a dollar from me....but he did hit that Royal at MSS.

MadMan and I are in the planning stages for an April trip for 5 nights. Freddie Five Fingers is getting married in June, so we are planning a Vegas bachelor party for him. Should be classic getting some of my co-workers from past Vegas trips to come out with us....maybe make another epic run at the Orleans roulette table...Helen is ready. There will be no St Patrick's Day or March Madness trip this year as my younger brother and his girlfriend talked me into going with them to the Florida Keys for ten days. I'll probably get burned to a crisp the first day and have to sit indoors for the rest of the trip, but I dug out my swim trunks, dusted off my sandals(they were buried under several pairs of insulated boots) and purchased a family sized bottle of SPF 200+ sunscreen. Thanks for reading, hope your next trip to Vegas will be soon. Thanks Timberwolf for being such a great Vegas wing man. I had a great time hanging out with you. Terry, thanks so much for taking time out to show us what Laughlin and the Aquarius have to offer. Next time folks.

Another great trip report, did you come back + or - in gambling? We are heading out Friday Night staying at the Golden Gate. Again Great Report.

BWW---I came back losing $500 for the trip, but that's a lot of entertainment for 5 days. I gambled more this time than my normal trips; so I am not complaining. If you see Valeria, one of the bartenders at the Gate, tell her that Big Lar says "hi".

-$500 not bad, my thoughts exactly, will say hello to Valeria for Big Lar.

Thanks for the great report. I'm planning on hitting the Total Rewards casinos in late March for the 25 point quest. If you have any pointers on where to go in each casino I'd be glad to hear about them.

Just check out VPfree2.com for the best info & locations for video poker. Played slots at Cromwell and Caesars. Good luck

Thanks for the report and that was nice that you were able to get together with other LVAers to make your trip even more enjoyable!

Very well written report! Sounds like you had a great trip despite the gambling losses.

Thanks for writing!

Great detailed report. You really packed in a lot of activities for your five night stay. Thanks for taking the time to write it all out. Id just like to know how to stay up into the wee hours in the morning doing so much. I'm pretty well done way before midnight when I'm there.