Celebrating the end of another school year and my birthday and our 2nd daughters graduation, the wife and another couple ventured our way to Vegas to enjoy some time away from the home area. Sorry this may get long but we were there for a week and tried to accomplish alot.
-Wed. the 12th - Leaving from MSP at 7:30, great flight, arrived early and were able to get into our room at 10:15 a.m. at Luxor with the mobile check in that I did prior to leaving on flight. Friends haven't been there in about 7 years so took them some time to figure some things out, but our plan was to head to Fremont at 11. Hit a cab ride, stopped by LVA office to pick up books and play card and hit Fremont for lunch at 11:30. Was around 112 for temp so quite warm, but kept hopping from place to place to keep out of heat and it was good. Friend used some coupons from his book and played some BJ at El Cortez (lost a bit) but was able to recoop some losses using free play at D, 4 Queens and Plaza, lost some at Circa. Me on the other hand, held the coupons for later and played at Circa, found a machine in the Overhang that decided it wanted to start my trip out right. Hit 2 low four OAK'S and one upper and ended up 500, went to Plaza following for some more play and ended up another 200 on JOB with a 4 OAK and a couple full houses. All of this was on $1 play.Wife lost at places except Plaza was able to get a couple wins.
Following, headed back to strip to get ready for dinner and show, ate at Public House at Luxor used pop slots points for money off of bill which was great and resort credit covered the rest and food was really good.
Beer, wings, burgers, salads all good for us. From there moved on to Beatles show at Mirage, used tram from Park MGM to Bellagio which was great again with heat, wife was starting to get tired and hurting feet from the day. Beatles show was absolutely great. I'm not a show person, but love the tunes, but this show was definitely worth it. Again used pop slots points for a BOGO ticket so good time and worth it for sure. Took tram back and wife and friends went to bed. I wanted to try out the machines in high limit room at Luxor since those had best odds and played some multiline JOB for .25 and played for about an hour. Ended up 100 so a great start to trip from my side, wife did lose some of it but still a good day. Went to bed around 2 a,m,
-Thurs. the 13th - Up at 6:30 still feeling good and wanted to play so went back to high limit and played some more along with some of the other machines playing deuces wild. Ended up down some and wanted to try some slots so hit some dragon link and huff and more puff and was able to come up to even again bought breakfast at Backstage Deli, bagel sandwich and wife wanted regular breakfast, food was very good, little spendy but covered with resort credit. Figured with winnings, why not get a small cabana for pool day. So our group headed to pool about 11. When I reserved cabana, north pool had people swimming and things, when we went back no one was in pool except south one. Our group started to get in, I go all in and lifeguard gives me the whistle, says pool is closed. Host comes over and says someone released in the pool and it was closed for the day. Had to have a few discussions with pool staff about cost and what could be done and they offered other cabana closer to south pool for higher charge or could stay and get money towards drinks. We decided to take the comps which ended up being 100 bucks worth and pool ended up having pool open up around an hour later. Stayed around pool for about 4 hours or so, got a little crispy, but laughs, drinks were all good.
Following a little rest, hit the RiRa for dinner, (ACG coupon for 15% off helped out) sat in back room for first time, had reuben type sandwich, friends had steak and pasta, wife had salmon and all was great, went to Mandalay for some play and walk around. Not much hitting for anyone, wife lost some and friends did as well, so back to Luxor and tried again, wife won some back friends did as well. Buddy and I stayed out while ladies went to bed. Had a couple cocktails and taught him some video poker. Both ended up losing, but not bad overall. Good day overall. Started to hit a wall from all the action so bed was calling.
-Friday the 14th - Up at 8 for a workout got a good hour in and friends had already headed out for some sight seeing wife and I got going around 10:30 and stopped for some pretzel bites at NY Pretzel at NYNY (wife's favorite). Walked to Caesars area as wife wanted to see Whip-It's show at Carnival Court (her favorite band). Took a little round about way through Paris, Horseshoe, Planet Hollywood and Flamingo, wife wanted to play some and lost a little at Flamingo. Really disappointed that Margaritaville closed. Made it to Carnaval, sat at bar. First time for our friends here, bartender Rob was fantastic, shots, Morgans, beers and mixes later, friends wife needed a cab about 4 so he was playing babysitter for awhile, since we only had pretzels earlier I was in need of some help and lo and behold, White Castle was near so made a run and they did the trick to soak some stuff up. My wife was not as lucky and soon she was in need of assistance too so headed back to Flamingo but needed a frozen Bailey's at O'Sheas, don't know how she tasted it, but for 23 bucks it had better been a good one. She then wanted to play at Flamingo again and lo and behold, started a win streak that ended with her up 60 bucks. Don't really know if she remembers it or not. She managed to make it to Bellagio and wanted to play more, knowing this wasn't going to end well, she managed to burn through her winnings so only loss on the day was at the bar but 500 bill was not good. Meanwhile, my buddy wasn't staying home so he walked all the way back to Carnaval to find us gone and finally met us at Bellagio for cab ride back. Sobered him up though. Made our way to Chicken Tenders in food court at Luxor and both of us ordered the women food and both were done for the night. He just left his by his wife for later. We of course were not done for the day. Decided to walk to OYO for some blackjack play (his game of choice) he had won some earlier in the day and won some here too. I had no interest in playing at all so tried a little poker and slots and lost. We hit the wall and wandered back to Luxor. He headed off to bed, which I should have as well, but decided to play. High limit wasn't hitting much and tried some dollar JOB and that wasn't either. Decided to be done but ended down a couple hundred for the day.
-Sat. the 15th - needed a rebound so went to play at .50 denom and lo and behold hit 4 deuces for 500. Great way to start the day. High limit was even and tried a couple slots again to no avail, but was up 400 for the morning. Women were pretty recovered and ready and went to TAP at Excalibur, wanted to use pop slots discount, but couldn't because of Father's Day weekend. No problem, and had salad, wife had burger, friends had sharable 3 for 33 deal. Food was very good and watched some soccer and College World Series. I should add that my buddy had been sports betting since Thurs. and was up and down but still ahead at this point. Moved to NYNY for some play and friends won some money on crazy chickens game, wife lost on her slots, I pulled 100 on last spin on bonus deluxe at Piano Bar so was able to salvage 15 bucks overall. Went MGM and played some more here. Wife couldn't hit anything, and I was good where I was so watched friends lose a little. Went back over to Park MGM and made way to Cosmo for some play, fairly even here again wife only playing, friends lost some and learned how to play craps. Friends wife threw dice off of table 3 times, but they had fun and learned some stuff. Like the Cosmo and glad it will be MGM soon. On was back stopped at Park MGM again and wife played and was able to get some minimal wins. All of this happening while we were getting some good drinks during play. Stopped at sports book for a break and a couple of futures bets and watching some games. Moving towards end of friends time with us we ate at Broadway Burger Bar, very funny server, burgers were very good and good atmosphere. Friends wife had spicy burger with a Jalapeno that you could probably smell from 3 tables away and it basically made her cry while eating but she enjoyed it. On way back needed some ice cream at Hersheys and used pop slots rewards for free sundae with a shake purchase, both of us got them and shake was great, wife liked the sundae but it was really rich. Got back to Luxor and played a little more, friends went to black jack and wife did some slots, she was up a little her but overall down for the day. She wanted to go read so I decided to hit Mandalay, I know there isn't much there and should have stayed at Luxor took a beating on poker, was able to hit a one line slot win for 300, but gave some of it back after pushing it so call it a bloody Sat. for me.
-Sun the 16th. - Half way home on the trip, friends were leaving, I decided to get a workout in at 8 and friends were leaving at 9 so met up to wish them well and since I have the MGM card we decided earlier that I would cover a bunch of things for them and they'd pay at the end, they made good and I got the point/comps out of it so win all around. We now needed to pack as well as we were moving to downtown at The D and our daughter was flying in on her way back to Boise. She is on break from med. school and wanted to spend some time with us which was great. Get all packed, check on comps/slot points and ended up have 200 off of bill which was welcomed with our bill and play. Going to do 2nd report on downtown.
Overall, for strip, food at places was very good, service was as well, drinks were good while playing, servers were around a lot so that was great. Good atmosphere at places during hockey and hoops games. Rooms and comps were good and overall gambling was good except for Sat. night and for my bride, heat didn't affect us too much, got some exercise in walking, had our parties and had fun. At this point money wise for gambling, were were down a couple hundred so overall not bad considering the pay tables and things. Trip 2 coming up.