And so begins another trip to Vegas! Even though I spent 6 nights at Caesars between Christmas and New Year, the pull to return is so strong. I usually head to Vegas for my birthday in March (good reason to go) but had not planned to do so this year as airfare was very high. SW lowered their fares, I have lots of points, comped rooms were waiting for me…so what was I waiting for? Several nights of hotel time on a business trip spent pouring over Vegas trip reports and checking airfare, then I pulled the trigger for a 4 night trip to Mecca that would begin in 2 weeks – the shortest time between booking and leaving I’ve ever done. And I liked it, it felt like a surprise trip and I suddenly had something to look forward to.
You see, I turned the big 5-0 on this particular birthday, certainly reason enough for a Vegas trip. As a little background, I’m married to the most wonderful guy I’ve ever met (even after 25 years), but he does not like Vegas. I, on the other hand, am Vegas obsessed. Our compromise is this: as a frequent (weekly) business traveler, I have copious amounts of points, and I am free to travel to Vegas when I like using points, comps, etc… and in return, he is not required to go. Who wants to go to Vegas with someone who doesn’t LOVE it anyway? So, I make solo trips, sometimes meeting friends from around the country there. And sometimes not. This trip will be primarily solo with a breakfast meeting with two dear friends who are die-hard Vegas junkies like me.
If you’re looking for a TR full of drunken escapades and high-limit gambling, move along now before you’re sorely disappointed. I play, nearly exclusively, multi-line nickel & dime VP games. It’s what my bankroll can handle, and makes my love of occasionally playing volatile games palatable. I travel to LV 4-5 times per year, play frequently in my “home” casinos, and just really enjoy the play of low-roller VP. Consider yourself warned!
I usually have a spreadsheet with plans. Not so this trip. I’ve not been to Vegas during March Madness, and although I imagine I won’t like it as I don’t like crowds, I didn’t want to have a set schedule so I was free to watch my beloved Mizzou Tigers and also SLU play their games. So, no spreadsheet to reference this trip, I will just wing it as I please, and I will do just fine.
Tuesday March 13th
I live 2 hours from the St Louis airport, but was already scheduled to work in our St Louis facility on Monday and Tuesday, so I spent Monday night in St Louis. I left our plant at 2pm, did a quick gas-up and changed into jeans/t-shirt in the station restroom, drove 5 miles to the airport, parked, shuttled, printed boarding pass and checked bag, passed through security, and arrived at the gate at 2:25pm. That’s a new personal best! Direct flight on SW, only moderately full, and blissfully an empty middle seat in my row. I am normally a pretty patient flier, except on flights to Vegas. They drag on endlessly.
Landed 20 minutes early, bag came right out, short taxi line, it’s all good. Taxi driver said we can go two ways – the freeway which would be faster but more expensive, or the side streets which might take longer but would be less expensive. Even tho it’s 5:30pm and there’s a little traffic, I can’t imagine taking the freeway to go to the Flamingo? Nonetheless, I asked him to take Tropicana to Koval and he laughed and said “you even know our streets!”. He was a really nice guy and got a nice tip.
There wasn’t anyone in the Diamond checkin when I arrived. I had originally booked a comped Fab Luxury room, even though I wasn’t pleased with the HARD bed when I spent a night there in December. A week before leaving, I received an email offering an upgrade to a GO room for $20/night. I had hoped I would get the email, and I jumped on the upgrade as soon as it arrived. The beds in the GO room are much softer, I really like having the refrigerator, love the HUGE flat screen tv in the room plus the tv in the bathroom mirror, and the electronic drapes. I’m not used to paying anything for my rooms, but small amount is definitely worth it, and I could always use points.
I had a pool view from the 26th floor room, room was right around the corner from the elevator, which was fantastic. I enjoyed the pool view as I’ve had strip views my last 3 stays so this was something different. Settled a few things in the room then headed downstairs to play.
The Flamingo has one bank of 6 triple-five-ten play nickel-dime-quarter VP machines and these are primarily what I play. I played for 2 hours the first night, hit a few 4oak on ddb, but ended up losing. I was in bed early watching tv, worn out from a long day.
Observations:
• I fly frequently, and it must be a requirement for each plane to be equipped with a screaming kid. There can be no other explanation.
• Do you realize how unbelievably rude it is for you to watch a movie on your laptop, during a flight, not using headphones and the sound blaring? Seriously.
• The best part of a Vegas trip is walking into your hotel room and knowing all the travel is behind you and the whole trip is in front of you!
Wednesday March 14th
I woke up every few hours most of the night and was awake for good at 5am. The time change gets me every time! I have a long history of waking up too early the first day, running downstairs to gamble, and losing my a$$, so I forced myself to stay in bed enjoying Wake Up with the Wagners on NBC (I just love them!).
Went downstairs to play around 6:30am and was glad I did. Playing nickel triple play DDB poker, I held 2 aces and got the last 2 with the kicker. Three hands later, I held 3 aces and got the last ace with the kicker again! I walked to Harrahs for the breakfast buffet using the ACG 25% off coupon and paying the balance with points. I like basic breakfast food….scrambled eggs, lots of crisp bacon, biscuits and gravy, and eggs bene. Harrah’s has a great breakfast buffet, although they have started putting the eggs bene on individual plates and I didn’t care for that. Since there wasn’t a serving spoon, you couldn’t tell which ones weren’t overcooked, plus the plates were hot but the eggs bene wasn’t. Nonetheless, it’s a solid breakfast and one of my favorites.
I took the Coast shuttle to the Gold Coast and earned 10 points to use the LVA $10 freeplay coupon. I also swiped and won 2000 birthday points. After earning the points and playing the freeplay, I won $1, which paid for my shuttle tip. Shuttled to the Orleans where I had the same coupon PLUS an online offer to earn 10 points and get $10 freeplay. It was a drag they couldn’t activate them both, I earn 20 points, and both would be available. Nope, had to play one, then go back to the desk to activate the second one. I ended up clearing $22, a $20 profit and $2 for shuttle tips. It took about an hour and was fun, and profitable.
Back to VP at the Flamingo with poor results. The VP on this day was either feast or famine, the hits were big but the dry spells were awful. After several hours of play, primarily at 5 play BP or DDB, I held AsQs and the king-ten-jack appeared on the first line for a shocking royal! Once the $200 had finished ringing up, my total was $200.50, I was down to my last $.50 when I hit it! This was on DDB as Bonus poker was not very good most of the day.
Feeling rich, I switched to 10-play DDB which I never do, but decided to risk a $20 bill for fun. After playing a few hands I was DEALT quad 6’s for a 2500 credit win! Sweet. I switched machines and began playing triple play dime BP and was DEALT quad 6’s! Shortly after, the same game DEALT quad queens.
For dinner, I used the monorail to go to the LVH to eat at Benihanna, a birthday tradition for me. If you sign up on their website, they send an email voucher worth $30 towards your meal in honor of your birthday. These are good Sunday-Thursday the entire month of your birthday. I always look forward to the meal as I love Japanese food, plus it’s fun to sit with a group of people. The group tonight was a bunch of guys in Vegas for March Madness, which was great as I’m an avid sports fan and really enjoyed talking sports all evening. I ordered filet mignon and shrimp. The food was outstanding and the cost was the $30 voucher plus $25, including tip. Well worth it to me as I don’t get Japanese nearly often enough.
Back to VP and after an hour or so of dismal play, I switched to 10 play DDB nickels, held KJA of hearts and filled the queen-ten for another royal! Once the credits rang up, my total was $201, since I had also hit a paying pair on two lines, I was again down to my last $.50 in credits when I hit it. So fun!
But what a wild day, big hits but long streaks of no straights, full houses, nothing. Very odd, but profitable.
Observations:
• I’m always shocked how few people tip the driver on the Coast shuttle.
• I tipped my room maid a couple of bucks. When I returned to the room, she saw me and knocked on the door. She thanked me for the tip and asked if I needed anything from her cart, whatever I liked I was welcome to. Nice of her to thank me, but she did an excellent job and earned it.
• I’m really glad I’m not a hotel maid and have to clean up after drunks in the room. I’m certain my stomach couldn’t take it.
Thursday March 15th
Slept a little later this morning then downstairs for some VP. There won’t be any stories of big hits, aces, royals, etc today unfortunately. This was one of those days where quads helped you tread water and I had tons of play for each $20 and was occasionally able to cash out up a little.
Decided to try the Flamingo buffet for breakfast. Two years ago it really sucked, but I tried it over Christmas and it was very good. I used an ACG 25% off coupon and paid with points for the balance. The hostess made a big deal of taking me to the diamond area and my table was right on the glass with the stream and Flamingo habitat right outside. The Flamingos were all flocked there, and there was a black swan that swam by right beside, it was really cool. The Flamingo breakfast buffet has gotten even better, although they are also serving their eggs bene on single serving plates and they weren’t hot. The bacon, however, was the absolute best, so crisp. I really enjoyed eating and watching the Flamingos, spent a lot of time thinking how much I enjoy this diamond gig. I don’t think I can give it up.
I decided I wanted a massage and called the spa, they had an appointment open in an hour, which was perfect. It’s also “tradition” I get a birthday massage each year, the cash for this is a gift from my mother in law. The Flamingo spa is definitely not Qua Spa, but it was very nice and the massage was the absolute best I’ve ever had. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did.
Unfortunately, the therapist had just turned in her two week notice (after working there for 4 years) to go back to college. The massage therapist job is just commission and she needed an income where you can count on the $$ each week. When I told her good luck, but that I was terribly disappointed, she offered to give me her number as she will be doing private massages while attending college and she could come to my hotel room or wherever. I tipped her very well and she hugged me when I left, such a nice young lady. With magic hands.
Back to VP and more of the same, lots of play, no big hits. March Madness was in full swing, funny watching so many “wolfpacks” running around, filling the sports books and the bars. I liked the crowd more than I thought, so many sports fans drinking beer and having a good time. Much nicer than the NYE crowd and the crowd that would arrive tomorrow for St Pats. I did make some sports bets on behalf of my son at home and we won 75% of our bets, pretty good for college basketball I think. Thank goodness the spread was too large on the Mizzou game (I’m a huge fan) or I would have lost on that disaster of a game. Had a great time watching Creighton beat Alabama (barely) in one of the bars with a bunch of guys who, like me, had money on Creighton to win.
I’ve always wanted to try a Brazilian steakhouse and I had purchased a Groupon $50 for $25 deal about a month ago. I walked down to Pampas Brazilian Steakhouse in the Miracle Mile shops, it was fairly empty at 5pm but began filling up quickly afterwards. I chose the meat rodizio which was around $44 including the side bar, and ordered a glass of ice tea. The sides on the bar were not what I expected, many were “weird” like tomato and mozzarella, odd pasta salads, etc… There were garlic mashed potatoes that were VERY garlic-y. I call the sides “weird” as I was thinking about taking my kids to one of these, but there’s no way they would like the sides they have, we would expect sides like corn, green beans,…etc. The meat was excellent, I had sirloin twice, very nice and tender. I like the char on the outside. The turkey wrapped in bacon was fantastic, I preferred it with the bacon removed. I thought the best meat was the ham, outstanding. The sausage was ok. The tri-tip tasted good but was tough for my taste. The bbq chicken didn’t get eaten as they only had dark meat. I passed on the pork as I was too full. It was fun and I was glad I got to try this for such a good discount, but doubt I will go back. After the $50 groupon, I owed $1 plus tip. I just don’t eat enough to justify the $44 charge and if I did, for that price I could have a nice sit-down steak dinner in a regular restaurant.
After dinner, more VP with the same results. I played a lot of dimes as I was getting so much play, literally hours for a $20 investment on 5-play dimes. Overall it was a losing day, but I certainly couldn’t complain about the amount of play.
Observations:
• I love walking the strip early in the morning when it’s so empty
• The weather was absolutely perfect the whole trip 80 deg and sunny
• It’s awesome to wear t’shirts and sandals in March!
• The service at CET props is always so friendly.
• Surely these young girls walking the strip can’t have mirrors in their room?
Friday March 16th
Last full day for this short trip. My flight leaves very early on Saturday and I’m usually so sad during my last full day, but not this trip. I have no interest in being in Las Vegas during St Pats! The young drunk crowd just isn’t for me anymore.
I met friends of mine from Illinois (yes, I live in Missouri and they live in Illinois, but we meet in Vegas…LOL) for breakfast at the Harrah’s breakfast buffet. I met Buddha on a chat board years ago, traded coupons, and found we have a lot in common like our love of baseball (me Cardinals, him White Sox, so both anti-Cubs), our love of Las Vegas, etc… We email frequently but it’s been quite some time since our trips overlapped, it was great to see Buddha and his wonderful wife, such a nice visit! The White Sox are playing in STL in June and Buddha & his wife & I are all going to the game, rooting opposite sides of course..LOL. They were kind enough to pay for my breakfast with points for my birthday, many thanks!
First VP of the day and it was much like yesterday, lots of play and I’ve never had so many dealt straights and flushes. Over the course of the day, I was dealt 4-to-the-royal 6 times on 5-play and did not pull the final card once..ugh. Yet I held 2 cards on Wednesday and got a royal…go figure!
I spent a lot of time watching basketball, unfortunately with Mizzou losing a heart-breaker but St Louis University winning. I watched some games at the casino bars, some in the diamond lounge once it opened, but watched quite a bit in my room and really enjoyed that big flat screen tv.
I decided to try the Flamingo café for dinner as my offer included a $10 credit. I ordered prime rib (and thought I was probably stupid to order prime rib in a café), salad, baked potato, vegetables, and iced tea. The prime rib was excellent! Very flavorful and tender, a very good deal at $14.99 as it was a huge piece I couldn’t finish. The new steakhouse in the Flamingo is now open, Center Cut. It looked very nice inside, and I actually considered eating there and using points to cover the bill, but decided It wasn’t worth it when I looked at the menu outside. A 10 oz prime rib, with nothing else, was nearly $40. Baked potato $8. Salad $8. A lot more than I was looking for.
Man, has the crowd started to change. The young drunk kids have piled into town for St Pats. At 5pm, one of the 20-something kids in the elevator was so drunk he couldn’t remember which floor his room is on, then he dropped his wallet in the elevator and didn’t notice. My floor, which had been so quiet all week, had loud drunk kids going up and down the hallway most of the night, sometimes knocking on doors (my door once). I was quite the party gal in my time, and to each his own, but don’t wake up those who are sleeping by being so loud in the hotel hallways and, for god’s sake, don’t pound on everyone else’s hotel doors. When they banged on mine, I woke up very startled, fun getting back to sleep.
Played VP after dinner and held my own. I knew I needed to hit the sack early as my flight leaves Saturday morning at 7:15am, but decided to play a few penny machines. I won $40 on my favorite Mojo Rising then decided to play $20 in a thundering buffalo machine. I was only betting minimum $.50/spin and hit the bonus with 16 free spins. On one spin, I hit a bunch of wilds and it paid $115 for just that one spin. I cashed out ahead $140 after the bonus was over and decided my gambling work was done..LOL.
Saturday March 17th
Actually glad to be going home after the overnight antics in the hotel last night. I’m finishing this report while on my flight home, we should be on time and will be good to be home. There was only one empty seat on the entire plane and it’s between me and the BIG guy in the aisle seat. Score!
The $80 GO Room upgrade had been comped off my room bill, I didn’t know they did that before using TR points, great surprise. I’m coming home with about $200 less than I left home with, that included cabs, some food, tips, etc… flights were free using points, rooms comped, and what a great trip! I hope to be back in July if I can wait that long!
Thanks for hanging in there!
diane
You see, I turned the big 5-0 on this particular birthday, certainly reason enough for a Vegas trip. As a little background, I’m married to the most wonderful guy I’ve ever met (even after 25 years), but he does not like Vegas. I, on the other hand, am Vegas obsessed. Our compromise is this: as a frequent (weekly) business traveler, I have copious amounts of points, and I am free to travel to Vegas when I like using points, comps, etc… and in return, he is not required to go. Who wants to go to Vegas with someone who doesn’t LOVE it anyway? So, I make solo trips, sometimes meeting friends from around the country there. And sometimes not. This trip will be primarily solo with a breakfast meeting with two dear friends who are die-hard Vegas junkies like me.
If you’re looking for a TR full of drunken escapades and high-limit gambling, move along now before you’re sorely disappointed. I play, nearly exclusively, multi-line nickel & dime VP games. It’s what my bankroll can handle, and makes my love of occasionally playing volatile games palatable. I travel to LV 4-5 times per year, play frequently in my “home” casinos, and just really enjoy the play of low-roller VP. Consider yourself warned!
I usually have a spreadsheet with plans. Not so this trip. I’ve not been to Vegas during March Madness, and although I imagine I won’t like it as I don’t like crowds, I didn’t want to have a set schedule so I was free to watch my beloved Mizzou Tigers and also SLU play their games. So, no spreadsheet to reference this trip, I will just wing it as I please, and I will do just fine.
Tuesday March 13th
I live 2 hours from the St Louis airport, but was already scheduled to work in our St Louis facility on Monday and Tuesday, so I spent Monday night in St Louis. I left our plant at 2pm, did a quick gas-up and changed into jeans/t-shirt in the station restroom, drove 5 miles to the airport, parked, shuttled, printed boarding pass and checked bag, passed through security, and arrived at the gate at 2:25pm. That’s a new personal best! Direct flight on SW, only moderately full, and blissfully an empty middle seat in my row. I am normally a pretty patient flier, except on flights to Vegas. They drag on endlessly.
Landed 20 minutes early, bag came right out, short taxi line, it’s all good. Taxi driver said we can go two ways – the freeway which would be faster but more expensive, or the side streets which might take longer but would be less expensive. Even tho it’s 5:30pm and there’s a little traffic, I can’t imagine taking the freeway to go to the Flamingo? Nonetheless, I asked him to take Tropicana to Koval and he laughed and said “you even know our streets!”. He was a really nice guy and got a nice tip.
There wasn’t anyone in the Diamond checkin when I arrived. I had originally booked a comped Fab Luxury room, even though I wasn’t pleased with the HARD bed when I spent a night there in December. A week before leaving, I received an email offering an upgrade to a GO room for $20/night. I had hoped I would get the email, and I jumped on the upgrade as soon as it arrived. The beds in the GO room are much softer, I really like having the refrigerator, love the HUGE flat screen tv in the room plus the tv in the bathroom mirror, and the electronic drapes. I’m not used to paying anything for my rooms, but small amount is definitely worth it, and I could always use points.
I had a pool view from the 26th floor room, room was right around the corner from the elevator, which was fantastic. I enjoyed the pool view as I’ve had strip views my last 3 stays so this was something different. Settled a few things in the room then headed downstairs to play.
The Flamingo has one bank of 6 triple-five-ten play nickel-dime-quarter VP machines and these are primarily what I play. I played for 2 hours the first night, hit a few 4oak on ddb, but ended up losing. I was in bed early watching tv, worn out from a long day.
Observations:
• I fly frequently, and it must be a requirement for each plane to be equipped with a screaming kid. There can be no other explanation.
• Do you realize how unbelievably rude it is for you to watch a movie on your laptop, during a flight, not using headphones and the sound blaring? Seriously.
• The best part of a Vegas trip is walking into your hotel room and knowing all the travel is behind you and the whole trip is in front of you!
Wednesday March 14th
I woke up every few hours most of the night and was awake for good at 5am. The time change gets me every time! I have a long history of waking up too early the first day, running downstairs to gamble, and losing my a$$, so I forced myself to stay in bed enjoying Wake Up with the Wagners on NBC (I just love them!).
Went downstairs to play around 6:30am and was glad I did. Playing nickel triple play DDB poker, I held 2 aces and got the last 2 with the kicker. Three hands later, I held 3 aces and got the last ace with the kicker again! I walked to Harrahs for the breakfast buffet using the ACG 25% off coupon and paying the balance with points. I like basic breakfast food….scrambled eggs, lots of crisp bacon, biscuits and gravy, and eggs bene. Harrah’s has a great breakfast buffet, although they have started putting the eggs bene on individual plates and I didn’t care for that. Since there wasn’t a serving spoon, you couldn’t tell which ones weren’t overcooked, plus the plates were hot but the eggs bene wasn’t. Nonetheless, it’s a solid breakfast and one of my favorites.
I took the Coast shuttle to the Gold Coast and earned 10 points to use the LVA $10 freeplay coupon. I also swiped and won 2000 birthday points. After earning the points and playing the freeplay, I won $1, which paid for my shuttle tip. Shuttled to the Orleans where I had the same coupon PLUS an online offer to earn 10 points and get $10 freeplay. It was a drag they couldn’t activate them both, I earn 20 points, and both would be available. Nope, had to play one, then go back to the desk to activate the second one. I ended up clearing $22, a $20 profit and $2 for shuttle tips. It took about an hour and was fun, and profitable.
Back to VP at the Flamingo with poor results. The VP on this day was either feast or famine, the hits were big but the dry spells were awful. After several hours of play, primarily at 5 play BP or DDB, I held AsQs and the king-ten-jack appeared on the first line for a shocking royal! Once the $200 had finished ringing up, my total was $200.50, I was down to my last $.50 when I hit it! This was on DDB as Bonus poker was not very good most of the day.
Feeling rich, I switched to 10-play DDB which I never do, but decided to risk a $20 bill for fun. After playing a few hands I was DEALT quad 6’s for a 2500 credit win! Sweet. I switched machines and began playing triple play dime BP and was DEALT quad 6’s! Shortly after, the same game DEALT quad queens.
For dinner, I used the monorail to go to the LVH to eat at Benihanna, a birthday tradition for me. If you sign up on their website, they send an email voucher worth $30 towards your meal in honor of your birthday. These are good Sunday-Thursday the entire month of your birthday. I always look forward to the meal as I love Japanese food, plus it’s fun to sit with a group of people. The group tonight was a bunch of guys in Vegas for March Madness, which was great as I’m an avid sports fan and really enjoyed talking sports all evening. I ordered filet mignon and shrimp. The food was outstanding and the cost was the $30 voucher plus $25, including tip. Well worth it to me as I don’t get Japanese nearly often enough.
Back to VP and after an hour or so of dismal play, I switched to 10 play DDB nickels, held KJA of hearts and filled the queen-ten for another royal! Once the credits rang up, my total was $201, since I had also hit a paying pair on two lines, I was again down to my last $.50 in credits when I hit it. So fun!
But what a wild day, big hits but long streaks of no straights, full houses, nothing. Very odd, but profitable.
Observations:
• I’m always shocked how few people tip the driver on the Coast shuttle.
• I tipped my room maid a couple of bucks. When I returned to the room, she saw me and knocked on the door. She thanked me for the tip and asked if I needed anything from her cart, whatever I liked I was welcome to. Nice of her to thank me, but she did an excellent job and earned it.
• I’m really glad I’m not a hotel maid and have to clean up after drunks in the room. I’m certain my stomach couldn’t take it.
Thursday March 15th
Slept a little later this morning then downstairs for some VP. There won’t be any stories of big hits, aces, royals, etc today unfortunately. This was one of those days where quads helped you tread water and I had tons of play for each $20 and was occasionally able to cash out up a little.
Decided to try the Flamingo buffet for breakfast. Two years ago it really sucked, but I tried it over Christmas and it was very good. I used an ACG 25% off coupon and paid with points for the balance. The hostess made a big deal of taking me to the diamond area and my table was right on the glass with the stream and Flamingo habitat right outside. The Flamingos were all flocked there, and there was a black swan that swam by right beside, it was really cool. The Flamingo breakfast buffet has gotten even better, although they are also serving their eggs bene on single serving plates and they weren’t hot. The bacon, however, was the absolute best, so crisp. I really enjoyed eating and watching the Flamingos, spent a lot of time thinking how much I enjoy this diamond gig. I don’t think I can give it up.
I decided I wanted a massage and called the spa, they had an appointment open in an hour, which was perfect. It’s also “tradition” I get a birthday massage each year, the cash for this is a gift from my mother in law. The Flamingo spa is definitely not Qua Spa, but it was very nice and the massage was the absolute best I’ve ever had. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did.
Unfortunately, the therapist had just turned in her two week notice (after working there for 4 years) to go back to college. The massage therapist job is just commission and she needed an income where you can count on the $$ each week. When I told her good luck, but that I was terribly disappointed, she offered to give me her number as she will be doing private massages while attending college and she could come to my hotel room or wherever. I tipped her very well and she hugged me when I left, such a nice young lady. With magic hands.
Back to VP and more of the same, lots of play, no big hits. March Madness was in full swing, funny watching so many “wolfpacks” running around, filling the sports books and the bars. I liked the crowd more than I thought, so many sports fans drinking beer and having a good time. Much nicer than the NYE crowd and the crowd that would arrive tomorrow for St Pats. I did make some sports bets on behalf of my son at home and we won 75% of our bets, pretty good for college basketball I think. Thank goodness the spread was too large on the Mizzou game (I’m a huge fan) or I would have lost on that disaster of a game. Had a great time watching Creighton beat Alabama (barely) in one of the bars with a bunch of guys who, like me, had money on Creighton to win.
I’ve always wanted to try a Brazilian steakhouse and I had purchased a Groupon $50 for $25 deal about a month ago. I walked down to Pampas Brazilian Steakhouse in the Miracle Mile shops, it was fairly empty at 5pm but began filling up quickly afterwards. I chose the meat rodizio which was around $44 including the side bar, and ordered a glass of ice tea. The sides on the bar were not what I expected, many were “weird” like tomato and mozzarella, odd pasta salads, etc… There were garlic mashed potatoes that were VERY garlic-y. I call the sides “weird” as I was thinking about taking my kids to one of these, but there’s no way they would like the sides they have, we would expect sides like corn, green beans,…etc. The meat was excellent, I had sirloin twice, very nice and tender. I like the char on the outside. The turkey wrapped in bacon was fantastic, I preferred it with the bacon removed. I thought the best meat was the ham, outstanding. The sausage was ok. The tri-tip tasted good but was tough for my taste. The bbq chicken didn’t get eaten as they only had dark meat. I passed on the pork as I was too full. It was fun and I was glad I got to try this for such a good discount, but doubt I will go back. After the $50 groupon, I owed $1 plus tip. I just don’t eat enough to justify the $44 charge and if I did, for that price I could have a nice sit-down steak dinner in a regular restaurant.
After dinner, more VP with the same results. I played a lot of dimes as I was getting so much play, literally hours for a $20 investment on 5-play dimes. Overall it was a losing day, but I certainly couldn’t complain about the amount of play.
Observations:
• I love walking the strip early in the morning when it’s so empty
• The weather was absolutely perfect the whole trip 80 deg and sunny
• It’s awesome to wear t’shirts and sandals in March!
• The service at CET props is always so friendly.
• Surely these young girls walking the strip can’t have mirrors in their room?
Friday March 16th
Last full day for this short trip. My flight leaves very early on Saturday and I’m usually so sad during my last full day, but not this trip. I have no interest in being in Las Vegas during St Pats! The young drunk crowd just isn’t for me anymore.
I met friends of mine from Illinois (yes, I live in Missouri and they live in Illinois, but we meet in Vegas…LOL) for breakfast at the Harrah’s breakfast buffet. I met Buddha on a chat board years ago, traded coupons, and found we have a lot in common like our love of baseball (me Cardinals, him White Sox, so both anti-Cubs), our love of Las Vegas, etc… We email frequently but it’s been quite some time since our trips overlapped, it was great to see Buddha and his wonderful wife, such a nice visit! The White Sox are playing in STL in June and Buddha & his wife & I are all going to the game, rooting opposite sides of course..LOL. They were kind enough to pay for my breakfast with points for my birthday, many thanks!
First VP of the day and it was much like yesterday, lots of play and I’ve never had so many dealt straights and flushes. Over the course of the day, I was dealt 4-to-the-royal 6 times on 5-play and did not pull the final card once..ugh. Yet I held 2 cards on Wednesday and got a royal…go figure!
I spent a lot of time watching basketball, unfortunately with Mizzou losing a heart-breaker but St Louis University winning. I watched some games at the casino bars, some in the diamond lounge once it opened, but watched quite a bit in my room and really enjoyed that big flat screen tv.
I decided to try the Flamingo café for dinner as my offer included a $10 credit. I ordered prime rib (and thought I was probably stupid to order prime rib in a café), salad, baked potato, vegetables, and iced tea. The prime rib was excellent! Very flavorful and tender, a very good deal at $14.99 as it was a huge piece I couldn’t finish. The new steakhouse in the Flamingo is now open, Center Cut. It looked very nice inside, and I actually considered eating there and using points to cover the bill, but decided It wasn’t worth it when I looked at the menu outside. A 10 oz prime rib, with nothing else, was nearly $40. Baked potato $8. Salad $8. A lot more than I was looking for.
Man, has the crowd started to change. The young drunk kids have piled into town for St Pats. At 5pm, one of the 20-something kids in the elevator was so drunk he couldn’t remember which floor his room is on, then he dropped his wallet in the elevator and didn’t notice. My floor, which had been so quiet all week, had loud drunk kids going up and down the hallway most of the night, sometimes knocking on doors (my door once). I was quite the party gal in my time, and to each his own, but don’t wake up those who are sleeping by being so loud in the hotel hallways and, for god’s sake, don’t pound on everyone else’s hotel doors. When they banged on mine, I woke up very startled, fun getting back to sleep.
Played VP after dinner and held my own. I knew I needed to hit the sack early as my flight leaves Saturday morning at 7:15am, but decided to play a few penny machines. I won $40 on my favorite Mojo Rising then decided to play $20 in a thundering buffalo machine. I was only betting minimum $.50/spin and hit the bonus with 16 free spins. On one spin, I hit a bunch of wilds and it paid $115 for just that one spin. I cashed out ahead $140 after the bonus was over and decided my gambling work was done..LOL.
Saturday March 17th
Actually glad to be going home after the overnight antics in the hotel last night. I’m finishing this report while on my flight home, we should be on time and will be good to be home. There was only one empty seat on the entire plane and it’s between me and the BIG guy in the aisle seat. Score!
The $80 GO Room upgrade had been comped off my room bill, I didn’t know they did that before using TR points, great surprise. I’m coming home with about $200 less than I left home with, that included cabs, some food, tips, etc… flights were free using points, rooms comped, and what a great trip! I hope to be back in July if I can wait that long!
Thanks for hanging in there!
diane
