Five guys decided to go to Las Vegas and eat too much, drink too much, gamble too much, sleep too little and play a little golf.
It was my turn to drive to the airport and I managed to get everyone picked up and to the airport. Our Allegiant flight was delayed out of Moline, Illinois however we still managed to arrive by late afternoon on Friday. For the first time ever, I decided to rent a car while in town since two of our party wanted to play golf at Aliante. The rest of us decided that we would drive them up and hang out in Aliante Casino while they played.
The shuttle to the rental car center was quick and painless. Avis was my rental car provider and was the first rental counter as I came in, and where I thought I had a reservation for a Chrysler Town and Country. Nope- sorry- how about a Kia Sedona? We settled on a Dodge Caravan. (Hey, I thought I ordered a prime rib? Nope, how about a hamburger?) It was an easy trip to the Gold Coast where our party was staying on a variety of offers. As I was handing the van over to the valet I noticed that my license had disappeared from the console where I had placed it with the rental contract when leaving the lot. What I though was a solid surface was actually a little door that slides like a roll top desk. The license had made a break for it and was hiding somewhere within the plastic and fake wood trim of the center console. I did find a quarter on the floor but no license. I couldn’t get my hand up under there and didn’t see any place that looked like a possible hiding spot for the license. I decided that I could figure this out later and went inside.
My offer was for three nights in a suite, $100 a day free play and $100 in food a day. As I was checking in, they said, non-smoking room with two queens, right?
Sigh- I still had the offer letter and showed it to the desk agent. I ended up in a suite but a smoking suite. The odor was noticeable but tolerable. The couch had burn marks and the carpet was stretched out however it was clean and functional enough. I am not much of a room guy and as long as there is a locking door, bathroom and bed, I can make do. I wish that there safes in the rooms here.
There was one of those earn a few points and swipe your card to earn exciting prize events going on at the Gold Coast. I played a little on my favorite triple play $1 BP machine in the high limit lounge, swiped my card and learned that I had won a mystery gift. How cool is that?
As I was standing in line to get my mystery gift, I noticed a large sign declaring, “Have your photo ID available”
I dug through my wallet and found that I still had my Army ID which had my picture on it although it had expired in 2010.
This was accepted and I was soon the proud owner of two Gold Coast logoed canning jars, without lids. The boothling was very nice and gave me a plastic bag to tote my new treasures around in.
We rounded up the crew and went to Bellagio where I also had an offer that included three nights and $300 in resort credit. They have apparently changed their policy and now I was charged a resort fee. Still, I figured that this was enough to sponsor everyone at the buffet where the boys could gorge on high end delicacies. We had agreed earlier to take cabs if we were drinking and yes, we did plan to have a few snorts. I got checked into my room and we all went over to the buffet. The boys went about attacking the buffet in earnest and we easily got our money’s worth, had we been paying. One of our party made two multi-dessert trips and started to get that glazed look about him brought on by caloric overload. He was too big to carry and we warned him that he would have to rally or be left behind.
I went in with another one of our group on the $1 bonus poker/spinpoker right near the buffet entrance. We decided that we would split two $500 buy ins and cash out at $750 or go down with the ship. We managed to cash out both sessions positively. Meanwhile three other of the tribe were huddled around a $5 slot machine. They had decided to go in on a group effort as well and had each thrown a ten dollar bill into the kitty and were going to do three spins. They got 40 credits or $200 on their first spin and cashed out.
We went back to the Gold Coast for some $10 double deck black jack. The penetration is not great but the game is fun with a well lubricated group. The Gold Coast has created what they call the “Hippie Pit” and no, this is not a place where old stoners are sent after they die but rather an area decked out with psychedelic colors, tie dyed t shirts on the dealers and a steady beat of 1960s rock. We are all of a certain age that remembers these tunes from High School. I didn’t end up a winner so it wasn’t groovy, far-out or out-of-sight.
The next day was golf day and after a buffet breakfast, we loaded up the van and I drove to Aliante. It was about 20 minutes away and we were able to drop the golfers off at the course and valet the van at the casino. I have wanted to visit Aliante for a while and pound away on some quarter FPDW but the machines were occupied the entire time I was there. It is a very attractive casino where my military ID was accepted at the slot club and I was soon the proud recipient of $10 in free play. Naturally the free play was quickly returned to its rightful owner in the high limit area where I found some $1 8/5 bonus poker.
The casino did not seem particularly busy for a Saturday but was nicely laid out, clean and had very effective smoke control. Unless a power puffer was right next to me, I wasn’t bothered by the smoke.
Eventually we settled into a $5 black jack table and had a great time while the boys swatted small white balls around the desert. Cocktail service was great and enlivened by saucy server who held her own against one of our party. After multiple Crown and Gingers, he asked if he could get a strawberry daiquiri. She asked him if he had lost his man parts. He then changed to a Jack Daniels sour which she brought out decorated with fruit. There, she said, I girlied it up for you. Pretty funny stuff. I was on nothing but Coke, since I was driving and without a license to boot.
The golfers finally came back and the pit provided comps to the buffet. While not the Bellagio buffet, I thought that the basics were well done and left filled. The bananas foster ice cream was particularly good.
The ride back was uneventful, other than my taking the wrong exit and ending up in that confusing area between the Mirage and Treasure Island. I got myself sorted out, onto the strip and made the next right onto Flamingo.
We gave the valet the van and headed inside for what else, more drinking and gambling. Our group is somewhat divided into slot and anything but slot players. I am a VP/ black jack player and preach the gospel of low house edge and perfect play, The slot players were enamored with the Britney Spears slot machine where ooops, she did it again. Naturally they were winning while I was being ground down in the hippie pit and not letting my freak flag fly. Many Heinekens later I did the math and realized that back at home it would be 2:30 am. I called it a night.
I was vaguely worried about my ability to board the return flight without proper ID so I had asked my wife to Fed Ex my passport to me. Fed Ex could not get the package to me in time so there went that plan. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t be the first person who has lost ID for the flight home and there would some kind of process in place. We would simply go to the airport earlier and figure it out when we got there. How’s that for strategic planning?
The next day was coupon and down town day. After another breakfast buffet we piled into cabs and went to Main Street Station. May of the boys were interested in sitting at a bar and watching Iowa basketball. I was interested in just sitting at a bar. High Roller Gold seemed to be the drink of choice at 10:00 am and I noticed that the bar tops had been replaced. Doesn’t it seem like the cost of getting new machines is generally covered by lowering the pay tables? Luckily the 9/6 JOB was still there so we played for several hours- generally hovering around our buy in. I think I lost $100 and forgot to ask for scratch cards when I got four of a kinds).
Next it was the Four Queens where I was denied my LVA $10 in free play because I didn’t have a valid photo ID. This ended up being the only place that the expired ID was a problem. I tried to explain that my experience with free play meant that they would have it back in about ten seconds but the boothling was not sympathetic.
Then off to the Down Town Grand. I hadn’t been here since it was Lady Luck and thought that they did a nice job on the place. The players club was happy to issue me free play, a $25 match play coupon and then thanked me for my service. Very classy. We settled into the high limit area for some $1 8/5 BP. The place was not particularly busy but clean and not smokey. Cocktail service was very fast with a return trip occurring about every ten minutes. That is a bit faster than I can chug these days but we kept up best we could.
No wins so we wandered over to the Golden Gate to play low limit black jack and drink beer. They’ve got that 1920s look for the pit bosses with Fedoras and suspenders. Our young female Asian dealer was a bit befuddled by our banter- after all those beers maybe anyone would be flustered, but we had a good time. I needed to pick up my won loss statement at the Stratosphere and cabbed over there with one of the guys in our group. I had recently been demoted from the high tier level and my free play has dried up to $125 a quarter. It turned out that the computers were down so I cycled my free play through some short pay machines and left. I remembered that I needed to check out of the Bellagio and stopped by to turn in the keys to a room I had not seen.
The group’s plan was to reassemble at the Gold Coast for dinner at the Cortez Room. The menu has recently changed and all sides, salads and soups are an extra charge. I started with an extra dry Bombay Sapphire Martini to help me focus- and ordered the special. It was shrimp scampi and a six ounce strip steak. I know I had a salad and a side of some sort but I can’t remember what they were. See, I told you that the martini helped me focus.
We then went to our separate gambling ways in the casino. I remember playing a lot of black jack and video poker however I had no wins but was only down about $400.00 tomorrow was my big day- get on a flight without a valid picture ID.
We had one last buffet breakfast and checked in with a host to get the various charges covered. We took the van back to Avis and I told me if they ever ripped the insides out of the car and found a license that it was mine.
There was another huge line for terminal A with a busy mob of people snaking back and forth before being granted access. I handed my expired ID and boarding pass to the TSA Officer and explained that I had lost my license and that that this was all I had. The guy was busy using a red pen to circle things on my boarding pass, handed it back to me and wished me a good day. I should have had him call the boothling at the Four Queens.
The trip home was uneventful and while I had no jackpots or other big wins, I was only down a little over $600 for the trip. The guys split the rental car with me which worked out to $28 each for the three days.
Next trip: April
It was my turn to drive to the airport and I managed to get everyone picked up and to the airport. Our Allegiant flight was delayed out of Moline, Illinois however we still managed to arrive by late afternoon on Friday. For the first time ever, I decided to rent a car while in town since two of our party wanted to play golf at Aliante. The rest of us decided that we would drive them up and hang out in Aliante Casino while they played.
The shuttle to the rental car center was quick and painless. Avis was my rental car provider and was the first rental counter as I came in, and where I thought I had a reservation for a Chrysler Town and Country. Nope- sorry- how about a Kia Sedona? We settled on a Dodge Caravan. (Hey, I thought I ordered a prime rib? Nope, how about a hamburger?) It was an easy trip to the Gold Coast where our party was staying on a variety of offers. As I was handing the van over to the valet I noticed that my license had disappeared from the console where I had placed it with the rental contract when leaving the lot. What I though was a solid surface was actually a little door that slides like a roll top desk. The license had made a break for it and was hiding somewhere within the plastic and fake wood trim of the center console. I did find a quarter on the floor but no license. I couldn’t get my hand up under there and didn’t see any place that looked like a possible hiding spot for the license. I decided that I could figure this out later and went inside.
My offer was for three nights in a suite, $100 a day free play and $100 in food a day. As I was checking in, they said, non-smoking room with two queens, right?
Sigh- I still had the offer letter and showed it to the desk agent. I ended up in a suite but a smoking suite. The odor was noticeable but tolerable. The couch had burn marks and the carpet was stretched out however it was clean and functional enough. I am not much of a room guy and as long as there is a locking door, bathroom and bed, I can make do. I wish that there safes in the rooms here.
There was one of those earn a few points and swipe your card to earn exciting prize events going on at the Gold Coast. I played a little on my favorite triple play $1 BP machine in the high limit lounge, swiped my card and learned that I had won a mystery gift. How cool is that?
As I was standing in line to get my mystery gift, I noticed a large sign declaring, “Have your photo ID available”
I dug through my wallet and found that I still had my Army ID which had my picture on it although it had expired in 2010.
This was accepted and I was soon the proud owner of two Gold Coast logoed canning jars, without lids. The boothling was very nice and gave me a plastic bag to tote my new treasures around in.
We rounded up the crew and went to Bellagio where I also had an offer that included three nights and $300 in resort credit. They have apparently changed their policy and now I was charged a resort fee. Still, I figured that this was enough to sponsor everyone at the buffet where the boys could gorge on high end delicacies. We had agreed earlier to take cabs if we were drinking and yes, we did plan to have a few snorts. I got checked into my room and we all went over to the buffet. The boys went about attacking the buffet in earnest and we easily got our money’s worth, had we been paying. One of our party made two multi-dessert trips and started to get that glazed look about him brought on by caloric overload. He was too big to carry and we warned him that he would have to rally or be left behind.
I went in with another one of our group on the $1 bonus poker/spinpoker right near the buffet entrance. We decided that we would split two $500 buy ins and cash out at $750 or go down with the ship. We managed to cash out both sessions positively. Meanwhile three other of the tribe were huddled around a $5 slot machine. They had decided to go in on a group effort as well and had each thrown a ten dollar bill into the kitty and were going to do three spins. They got 40 credits or $200 on their first spin and cashed out.
We went back to the Gold Coast for some $10 double deck black jack. The penetration is not great but the game is fun with a well lubricated group. The Gold Coast has created what they call the “Hippie Pit” and no, this is not a place where old stoners are sent after they die but rather an area decked out with psychedelic colors, tie dyed t shirts on the dealers and a steady beat of 1960s rock. We are all of a certain age that remembers these tunes from High School. I didn’t end up a winner so it wasn’t groovy, far-out or out-of-sight.
The next day was golf day and after a buffet breakfast, we loaded up the van and I drove to Aliante. It was about 20 minutes away and we were able to drop the golfers off at the course and valet the van at the casino. I have wanted to visit Aliante for a while and pound away on some quarter FPDW but the machines were occupied the entire time I was there. It is a very attractive casino where my military ID was accepted at the slot club and I was soon the proud recipient of $10 in free play. Naturally the free play was quickly returned to its rightful owner in the high limit area where I found some $1 8/5 bonus poker.
The casino did not seem particularly busy for a Saturday but was nicely laid out, clean and had very effective smoke control. Unless a power puffer was right next to me, I wasn’t bothered by the smoke.
Eventually we settled into a $5 black jack table and had a great time while the boys swatted small white balls around the desert. Cocktail service was great and enlivened by saucy server who held her own against one of our party. After multiple Crown and Gingers, he asked if he could get a strawberry daiquiri. She asked him if he had lost his man parts. He then changed to a Jack Daniels sour which she brought out decorated with fruit. There, she said, I girlied it up for you. Pretty funny stuff. I was on nothing but Coke, since I was driving and without a license to boot.
The golfers finally came back and the pit provided comps to the buffet. While not the Bellagio buffet, I thought that the basics were well done and left filled. The bananas foster ice cream was particularly good.
The ride back was uneventful, other than my taking the wrong exit and ending up in that confusing area between the Mirage and Treasure Island. I got myself sorted out, onto the strip and made the next right onto Flamingo.
We gave the valet the van and headed inside for what else, more drinking and gambling. Our group is somewhat divided into slot and anything but slot players. I am a VP/ black jack player and preach the gospel of low house edge and perfect play, The slot players were enamored with the Britney Spears slot machine where ooops, she did it again. Naturally they were winning while I was being ground down in the hippie pit and not letting my freak flag fly. Many Heinekens later I did the math and realized that back at home it would be 2:30 am. I called it a night.
I was vaguely worried about my ability to board the return flight without proper ID so I had asked my wife to Fed Ex my passport to me. Fed Ex could not get the package to me in time so there went that plan. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t be the first person who has lost ID for the flight home and there would some kind of process in place. We would simply go to the airport earlier and figure it out when we got there. How’s that for strategic planning?
The next day was coupon and down town day. After another breakfast buffet we piled into cabs and went to Main Street Station. May of the boys were interested in sitting at a bar and watching Iowa basketball. I was interested in just sitting at a bar. High Roller Gold seemed to be the drink of choice at 10:00 am and I noticed that the bar tops had been replaced. Doesn’t it seem like the cost of getting new machines is generally covered by lowering the pay tables? Luckily the 9/6 JOB was still there so we played for several hours- generally hovering around our buy in. I think I lost $100 and forgot to ask for scratch cards when I got four of a kinds).
Next it was the Four Queens where I was denied my LVA $10 in free play because I didn’t have a valid photo ID. This ended up being the only place that the expired ID was a problem. I tried to explain that my experience with free play meant that they would have it back in about ten seconds but the boothling was not sympathetic.
Then off to the Down Town Grand. I hadn’t been here since it was Lady Luck and thought that they did a nice job on the place. The players club was happy to issue me free play, a $25 match play coupon and then thanked me for my service. Very classy. We settled into the high limit area for some $1 8/5 BP. The place was not particularly busy but clean and not smokey. Cocktail service was very fast with a return trip occurring about every ten minutes. That is a bit faster than I can chug these days but we kept up best we could.
No wins so we wandered over to the Golden Gate to play low limit black jack and drink beer. They’ve got that 1920s look for the pit bosses with Fedoras and suspenders. Our young female Asian dealer was a bit befuddled by our banter- after all those beers maybe anyone would be flustered, but we had a good time. I needed to pick up my won loss statement at the Stratosphere and cabbed over there with one of the guys in our group. I had recently been demoted from the high tier level and my free play has dried up to $125 a quarter. It turned out that the computers were down so I cycled my free play through some short pay machines and left. I remembered that I needed to check out of the Bellagio and stopped by to turn in the keys to a room I had not seen.
The group’s plan was to reassemble at the Gold Coast for dinner at the Cortez Room. The menu has recently changed and all sides, salads and soups are an extra charge. I started with an extra dry Bombay Sapphire Martini to help me focus- and ordered the special. It was shrimp scampi and a six ounce strip steak. I know I had a salad and a side of some sort but I can’t remember what they were. See, I told you that the martini helped me focus.
We then went to our separate gambling ways in the casino. I remember playing a lot of black jack and video poker however I had no wins but was only down about $400.00 tomorrow was my big day- get on a flight without a valid picture ID.
We had one last buffet breakfast and checked in with a host to get the various charges covered. We took the van back to Avis and I told me if they ever ripped the insides out of the car and found a license that it was mine.
There was another huge line for terminal A with a busy mob of people snaking back and forth before being granted access. I handed my expired ID and boarding pass to the TSA Officer and explained that I had lost my license and that that this was all I had. The guy was busy using a red pen to circle things on my boarding pass, handed it back to me and wished me a good day. I should have had him call the boothling at the Four Queens.
The trip home was uneventful and while I had no jackpots or other big wins, I was only down a little over $600 for the trip. The guys split the rental car with me which worked out to $28 each for the three days.
Next trip: April
