A week in Vegas just goes by SO fast!
I met my sister for a week of fun and profit – well, the fun part was achieved! She arrived several hours before I did and picked up the car at Alamo ($73.69 all in). We booked an economy car but she asked for and was able to get a free upgrade to a Chevy Impala (mid/full size?) –there weren’t many small cars available. We always try to get an Impala because the trunk size is so nice and big. She headed off for the M Resort and played until I called to tell her I arrived. She already had a coupon for a free buffet but I didn’t receive one this time (I fell off their list a few months ago and despite a few emails, I never got put back on). She gambled enough to earn a free buffet – even on the weekend! , so after she picked me up we went right back to the M Resort and I got to start my Vegas trip as I love to do – free crab legs and champagne – it just doesn’t get any better than that! No line at the buffet early on a Friday evening. They do the seafood buffet on the weekends and the food was excellent, as usual.
We gambled there for several hours before heading to Orleans to check in for the weekend. My sister had 2 nights comped with a $10 food credit. I have medication that I need to keep cool so we always get a refrigerator when we check in. It’s usually free so I was a little surprised when they said they recently changed their policy and the refrigerator would be $15 for the length of the visit. Not great, but really not a choice, so o.k. We both thought we’d gamble for just a little and then head up early – hmpf! I think we got back to the room somewhere around 2-3am. You might be tired, but it just seems to vanish with the excitement on your first night in VEGAS! I played blackjack the rest of the night. I got on a good table with a nice group of people and nice dealers and the hours just seemed to fly by. I played a $10 ACG match play and won! I finished the night up a little bit.
Saturday was a glorious sunny upper 70’s kind of day so we went to the outdoor LV Food Festival at the Silverton. There was a group of about 40 food trucks in the Silverton parking lot. The event was to raise funds for Cancer awareness. I had been reading about the food trucks for a while, but so far we’d never been to one. This was our opportunity to try several of them in one go. It cost $8 to get in, but they gave us a $25 match play for Silverton and some coupons for free shows (Nathan Burton and Jeff Civillico). We walked around and tried many of the trucks – we would have tried more, but most of them weren’t offering anything “small”. You’d think for an event like this they’d offer more sample sized things rather than full-sized burgers, sandwiches and sausages. It’s way too hard to pick just one or two things to try! Our favorites were the Loganisa Bahn Mi sausage ($7) from ****** and the cola braised short rib slider from Tasty Bunz ($4).
The Loganisa Bahn Mi sausage w/carrot, cucumber, jalepeno and cilantro chili past mayo
The cola braised short rib slider
After eating we went into the Silverton. I played my $25 matchplay at blackjack and won! Great selection of games here! I played lots of slots and video poker before we headed out. I was up a few bucks when we left. This trip was starting out pretty good – lots of great food and I was up a bit.
We went to the Gold Coast next. They were offering a free video poker tournament after earning 100 points. For their tournaments you play DDB as fast as you can for 15 minutes. Neither of us did very well, but the tournament is fun.
We decided to head back to the Orleans for the rest of the night. I usually play at a Boyd casino in Shreveport, LA and they keep track of your points a little differently there. They separate your points into “slot points” and “table points”. You’re only able to use your table points for meals, hotel rooms or shows. I had a lot of table points so I thought I’d cash them in for 2 tickets for Big Al’s Comedy club. I tried to cash them in at the box office, but they weren’t able to “see” my points. They suggested I go to a pit boss – he couldn’t see them either. He suggested I go see one of the hosts. I found host Sarah (Breaux, I think was her last name). Anyway, she was as nice as could be but she couldn’t see my points either. I was ready to give up but she insisted she call Shreveport to find out what the deal was. Long story short, the points were there but I could only use them in Shreveport (that really sucks). Sarah asked what I wanted to use them for and when I told her I wanted to get tix for the comedy club she said, “Oh, I can give you that” and then just wrote me out a comp. VIP seats too, so we were able to sit in the comfy leather chairs at the front. The show was great – the opening guy in particular (I think his name was John Christie) was very funny.
Before the show we stopped in at Big Al’s Oyster Bar and had some clam chowder and seafood chowder. Eating here had been on my list of things to do for a few years. We had a $10 food credit with the room offer so we took advantage of that. All of the reviews I’d read about this place were correct. This was some of the best clam chowder I’ve ever had. Both of the chowders in fact, were excellent! We will definitely eat here again.
After the show we went about our gambling. I had read about the “loose deuces” from somebody else’s trip report and I was determined to hit them. I played on them last night with no success but tonight I hit them. $625 is so much better than $250 for the deuces! I also hit a straight flush on 3-card poker so I finished the night up about $600 for the trip.
We were up late again but we did remember to “fall back” and reset the clocks before we went to bed.
Sunday promised a high of 78 degrees and we checked out of Orleans. My sister questioned the charge for the refrigerator so they called a host and got that charge comped along with the small amount leftover from our snack at Big Al’s Oyster Bar. Ah, free is so much better! Put that in the plus column!
We arrived at Mandalay Bay a little early for our brunch reservations at Border Grill so we got about an hour of gambling in before brunch. I couldn’t win at anything I tried – that proved to be the gambling theme for the day. I had been playing the MyVegas game on Facebook and had enough points for 2 free Sunday brunches at Border Grill. I had to go to the player’s club to get a voucher, but it couldn’t have been easier. We asked if the voucher included the unlimited champagne and were surprised when he said “yes”. Turns out it did not include the alcohol but they verified that’s what we were told and comped it anyway. Service was excellent and the food was all delicious and beautifully presented. Some of our favorites: the short rib hash and eggs; the Peruvian shrimp and grits; and the bread pudding French toast with caramelized bananas and coconut syrup. The crazy item: the bacon, jalapeno PBJ! We left a very generous tip – we really weren’t expecting the free booze!
After brunch we went back to M Resort for a few hours. I really hope to get back on their list! No wins to speak of so we stopped at CVS to pick up some water and sodas for the room and then headed to Paris to check in. Between the two of us we were able to get 4 nights comped. We love staying at Paris – the location just can’t be beat. There was a fairly long line at check in but it moved quickly. I spent the rest of the evening between Paris and Bally’s – losing. I just could not win. It was a horrible, horrible gambling day. I played 3-card poker, blackjack, slots, and video poker. I went from being up $600 to being up just a few bucks. Nuts!
Monday was another gorgeous day. We took a break from gambling and drove up to Mt Charleston. When we left Vegas it was in the upper 70’s. Halfway up Mt. Charleston it was 64 degrees – we watched the temperature decrease as we watched the elevation increase. We had lunch at The Resort on Mount Charleston using a $25 rr.com coupon. We both had the beef tip salad and shared the crème brulee’ cheesecake. The salads were great, the cheesecake was just o.k. We were the only people in the place for most of our lunch, but we enjoyed the getaway.
We headed back to the Palms to play our slotplaycoupons.com $40 coupons. The losing continued at The Palms, but they also have a nice selection of video poker and slots. I had a $10 match play that I tried at Roulette. I bet Red, it came up Black. We went across the street to the Gold Coast to play some bingo and take advantage of some of their Senior Day bonuses (10xpoints slots/5x points VP, free bingo blue pack, free VP tournament w/50 points earned). My sister bingo’ed on the very first game and got down to one number on almost every other game after! It was crazy! I managed a score of 2485 in the VP tournament (15 minutes of DDB). One of the attendants said you usually need to get above 2500 to be in the money, so I crossed my fingers and hoped I had a chance.
We went back to Paris to park the car and then went across the street to play at the Bellagio for a little while (I really just went there for the chocolate martini!). My sister did well and hit a 4OAK on DDB VP and then hit some great bonuses on the Airplane! slot. My losing ways continued ? On the way out we stopped to watch the fountain show. It started out just fine, but about half-way through, the song stopped and the canned music came on. The fountains just kept going. Another canned song played. The fountains continued. That went on for over 20 minutes before we gave up and left – I wonder how long the fountains “danced”?
It was another bad gambling day. I started out the day up $100 for the trip and finished down $400 for the trip. Poop!
On Tuesday we took our cue from Westie (thanks for your excellent trip reports) and ventured down to Tacos El Gordo just north of the Encore for lunch. We had the Adobado tacos (spicy pork) and a carne asada tostada. They were fantastic! They were so good we came back a few days later and had them again. At $2 a pop you can do some great eating very cheaply.
Adobada taco (spicy pork)
Since we were so close, I went around the corner to the Las Vegas Nail Salon and they got me right in for a pedicure. Very nice people there! After all the walking there’s nothing like a pedicure to get your feet back in shape. The only problem is you look down admiring your pretty feet for the rest of the day and tend to run into things!
We stopped off at the Gold Coast to check the VP tournament results. I had 2485 points, but I would have needed 2845 to be in the money (if someone had been a little dyslexic, I would have been in the money!) Better luck next time. We stayed and played for a little while because they were having some gift giveaways. They were giving out gifts for earning 100 points. You could have 2 gifts for 200 points. I picked up a digital photo key chain and a flashlight. My sister got a Snuggie and a floor mat. Next we went to Orleans to take advantage of their senior day specials. I played a little and just could not stop losing. I decided to take a break to go watch a movie ($4 before 4pm on senior day). I went to see “Flight” with Denzel Washington. Not a bad movie, but it made me leery to get back on a plane!
That break was just what I needed because it ended my losing and set me on a good little winning streak for the rest of the night. I came out of the movie and had a few minutes to kill before we were meeting up to go to dinner. I sat down at a 25 cent DDB VP machine and almost immediately hit quad 9’s! That was the first good hand I’d had in almost 2 days!
Dinner tonight was at Technique - the student run restaurant at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. We try to eat here on almost every Vegas trip, either for lunch or dinner. We were able to use up our last $25 rr.com coupon (they don’t sell them anymore, but will still honor them if you have them). The prices went up slightly ($18.95 for a 3-course dinner) but you just can’t beat that deal! We each tried something different so we got a taste of a lot of different things. Appetizers were crab cakes for me and beef carpaccio w/truffle oil and field green salad for my sister. Our entrees were pistachio crusted shrimp w/ pasta alfredo and asparagus; and gnocci w/ asparagus, paramesan and basil pesto. For dessert we had an apple galette w/homemade cinnamon ice cream and a chocolate lava cake w/ vanilla ice cream. Tonight was the last night of their training so I think we got the best of their effort. The food was just delicious! I can’t recommend this place highly enough. The head chef came over to talk to us and he just went on about how proud he was of his students – with good reason. They’re usually not crowded but their hours are fairly limited and they close frequently for private events, so if you decide to give them a try, reservations are recommended.
crab cakes!
Apple galette w/cinnamon ice cream
Since we were so close, after dinner we drove over to Suncoast for a little while. I played a few slots and then found a nice 3-card poker table to play at for an hour or so. Great dealer, nice pit boss and a few lively players! And there was a TV on right near the table so I could watch the election returns. I left there up $70 so I was happy with that.
We headed back to the strip for the night and parked the car. My little winning streak started at Bally’s by hitting 25 cent quad 4’s (no kicker) and quad A’s (no kicker). I moved over to the 3-card poker table and although I didn’t hit anything major I walked with a $150 profit. I stopped by a penny Quick Strike slot and made a $150 profit on that. Next I walked over to Paris. I couldn’t believe the good luck I was having so I sat down at a dollar VP machine and hit quad Q’s for a $250 profit. I played the Buffalo penny slots for a $95 profit (Buffaloooooo!). Another VP machine gave me quad 4’s w/ the kicker this time for $200. I finished the night at 3-card with another $100 profit. So that erased my losses and got me back in the plus column! Yiipppeeee!
Wednesday was our last full day. We had an early lunch at the Paris buffet using the LVA $10 off coupon and paid the rest with points. We must have timed it just right because there was no line ? I know a lot of people say this buffet has gone down a lot over the years, but we still like it a lot! I didn’t make it back to the crepe station until dessert so I didn’t know they now do savory crepes too. They had some great sounding combinations that I’ll have to save for next time.
After lunch we went to Southpoint to play for a while and get some more bingo in. This time it was my turn to yell “Bingo!” It was on a double pay game too so I made a quick $100.
Later when we were back at Bally’s we went to find some penny machines to slow play outside the Indigo Lounge where Taylor Hicks was performing. The set-up there is pretty goofy for a paying gig. The only thing between the casino floor and the venue is a curtain. So although you can’t see the performance you can certainly hear it really well. I played a Cashman machine, had a few glasses of wine and listed to Taylor. He was really great – he plays the blues and a lot of soul music. They dropped the curtain for his final song so you could get a good look at him too. The rest of my evening wasn’t at all profitable but I had to try since it was my last night. It was a losing day again, but because yesterday was so good I was still about even.
Thursday the wind started picking up (naturally, we were leaving – and don’t you just hate to fly when it’s windy in Vegas?). The temperature was still great – mid 70’s. They were forecasting a cold front to come in on Friday. We checked out and picked up some of those great cranberry rolls at JJ’s Boulongerie to take home with us. We went back to Tacos El Gordo. We got 3 more spicy pork Adobada tacos. The guy misunderstood my order for ONE carne asada taco and gave us THREE. We said, “Oh, that’s o.k.” and ate them all!
We stopped off at the Great Gift Wrap-up at the Flamingo. I usually don’t have enough points for anything, but this year they had some cheap $10 gift cards (3500 points), so I got one for Home Depot. My sister got a couple Shell gas cards.
We killed my last half hour at Bally’s – I played nickel 3-play video poker (I was trying to preserve my money). We stopped to put gas in the car ($40) and my sister dropped me off at the airport – she would be staying for a few hours more. Everything went smoothly at the airport – my husband checked us in for our flights yesterday so I got an “A” boarding pass. Even though it was starting to get windy, the takeoff and flight were very smooth and I arrived home precisely on time. I’m VERY proud to say I went home with exactly what I came with (and I paid cash for what little we paid for), so that was a fabulous WIN in my book! When I got home, I immediately deposited the money back in the bank so now I’m all set for our next trip in May.
Thanks for reading. I really enjoy reading all of your trip reports, so I hope somewhere, someone got something out of reading all this!
BONUS PHOTO - this is our new pup, Cole. We got him the day after I got back and he is a dear!
This is the BEFORE picture . . .
Here is the AFTER . . . YES, it's the same dog!!!
I met my sister for a week of fun and profit – well, the fun part was achieved! She arrived several hours before I did and picked up the car at Alamo ($73.69 all in). We booked an economy car but she asked for and was able to get a free upgrade to a Chevy Impala (mid/full size?) –there weren’t many small cars available. We always try to get an Impala because the trunk size is so nice and big. She headed off for the M Resort and played until I called to tell her I arrived. She already had a coupon for a free buffet but I didn’t receive one this time (I fell off their list a few months ago and despite a few emails, I never got put back on). She gambled enough to earn a free buffet – even on the weekend! , so after she picked me up we went right back to the M Resort and I got to start my Vegas trip as I love to do – free crab legs and champagne – it just doesn’t get any better than that! No line at the buffet early on a Friday evening. They do the seafood buffet on the weekends and the food was excellent, as usual.
We gambled there for several hours before heading to Orleans to check in for the weekend. My sister had 2 nights comped with a $10 food credit. I have medication that I need to keep cool so we always get a refrigerator when we check in. It’s usually free so I was a little surprised when they said they recently changed their policy and the refrigerator would be $15 for the length of the visit. Not great, but really not a choice, so o.k. We both thought we’d gamble for just a little and then head up early – hmpf! I think we got back to the room somewhere around 2-3am. You might be tired, but it just seems to vanish with the excitement on your first night in VEGAS! I played blackjack the rest of the night. I got on a good table with a nice group of people and nice dealers and the hours just seemed to fly by. I played a $10 ACG match play and won! I finished the night up a little bit.
Saturday was a glorious sunny upper 70’s kind of day so we went to the outdoor LV Food Festival at the Silverton. There was a group of about 40 food trucks in the Silverton parking lot. The event was to raise funds for Cancer awareness. I had been reading about the food trucks for a while, but so far we’d never been to one. This was our opportunity to try several of them in one go. It cost $8 to get in, but they gave us a $25 match play for Silverton and some coupons for free shows (Nathan Burton and Jeff Civillico). We walked around and tried many of the trucks – we would have tried more, but most of them weren’t offering anything “small”. You’d think for an event like this they’d offer more sample sized things rather than full-sized burgers, sandwiches and sausages. It’s way too hard to pick just one or two things to try! Our favorites were the Loganisa Bahn Mi sausage ($7) from ****** and the cola braised short rib slider from Tasty Bunz ($4).
The Loganisa Bahn Mi sausage w/carrot, cucumber, jalepeno and cilantro chili past mayo
The cola braised short rib slider
After eating we went into the Silverton. I played my $25 matchplay at blackjack and won! Great selection of games here! I played lots of slots and video poker before we headed out. I was up a few bucks when we left. This trip was starting out pretty good – lots of great food and I was up a bit.
We went to the Gold Coast next. They were offering a free video poker tournament after earning 100 points. For their tournaments you play DDB as fast as you can for 15 minutes. Neither of us did very well, but the tournament is fun.
We decided to head back to the Orleans for the rest of the night. I usually play at a Boyd casino in Shreveport, LA and they keep track of your points a little differently there. They separate your points into “slot points” and “table points”. You’re only able to use your table points for meals, hotel rooms or shows. I had a lot of table points so I thought I’d cash them in for 2 tickets for Big Al’s Comedy club. I tried to cash them in at the box office, but they weren’t able to “see” my points. They suggested I go to a pit boss – he couldn’t see them either. He suggested I go see one of the hosts. I found host Sarah (Breaux, I think was her last name). Anyway, she was as nice as could be but she couldn’t see my points either. I was ready to give up but she insisted she call Shreveport to find out what the deal was. Long story short, the points were there but I could only use them in Shreveport (that really sucks). Sarah asked what I wanted to use them for and when I told her I wanted to get tix for the comedy club she said, “Oh, I can give you that” and then just wrote me out a comp. VIP seats too, so we were able to sit in the comfy leather chairs at the front. The show was great – the opening guy in particular (I think his name was John Christie) was very funny.
Before the show we stopped in at Big Al’s Oyster Bar and had some clam chowder and seafood chowder. Eating here had been on my list of things to do for a few years. We had a $10 food credit with the room offer so we took advantage of that. All of the reviews I’d read about this place were correct. This was some of the best clam chowder I’ve ever had. Both of the chowders in fact, were excellent! We will definitely eat here again.
After the show we went about our gambling. I had read about the “loose deuces” from somebody else’s trip report and I was determined to hit them. I played on them last night with no success but tonight I hit them. $625 is so much better than $250 for the deuces! I also hit a straight flush on 3-card poker so I finished the night up about $600 for the trip.
We were up late again but we did remember to “fall back” and reset the clocks before we went to bed.
Sunday promised a high of 78 degrees and we checked out of Orleans. My sister questioned the charge for the refrigerator so they called a host and got that charge comped along with the small amount leftover from our snack at Big Al’s Oyster Bar. Ah, free is so much better! Put that in the plus column!
We arrived at Mandalay Bay a little early for our brunch reservations at Border Grill so we got about an hour of gambling in before brunch. I couldn’t win at anything I tried – that proved to be the gambling theme for the day. I had been playing the MyVegas game on Facebook and had enough points for 2 free Sunday brunches at Border Grill. I had to go to the player’s club to get a voucher, but it couldn’t have been easier. We asked if the voucher included the unlimited champagne and were surprised when he said “yes”. Turns out it did not include the alcohol but they verified that’s what we were told and comped it anyway. Service was excellent and the food was all delicious and beautifully presented. Some of our favorites: the short rib hash and eggs; the Peruvian shrimp and grits; and the bread pudding French toast with caramelized bananas and coconut syrup. The crazy item: the bacon, jalapeno PBJ! We left a very generous tip – we really weren’t expecting the free booze!
After brunch we went back to M Resort for a few hours. I really hope to get back on their list! No wins to speak of so we stopped at CVS to pick up some water and sodas for the room and then headed to Paris to check in. Between the two of us we were able to get 4 nights comped. We love staying at Paris – the location just can’t be beat. There was a fairly long line at check in but it moved quickly. I spent the rest of the evening between Paris and Bally’s – losing. I just could not win. It was a horrible, horrible gambling day. I played 3-card poker, blackjack, slots, and video poker. I went from being up $600 to being up just a few bucks. Nuts!
Monday was another gorgeous day. We took a break from gambling and drove up to Mt Charleston. When we left Vegas it was in the upper 70’s. Halfway up Mt. Charleston it was 64 degrees – we watched the temperature decrease as we watched the elevation increase. We had lunch at The Resort on Mount Charleston using a $25 rr.com coupon. We both had the beef tip salad and shared the crème brulee’ cheesecake. The salads were great, the cheesecake was just o.k. We were the only people in the place for most of our lunch, but we enjoyed the getaway.
We headed back to the Palms to play our slotplaycoupons.com $40 coupons. The losing continued at The Palms, but they also have a nice selection of video poker and slots. I had a $10 match play that I tried at Roulette. I bet Red, it came up Black. We went across the street to the Gold Coast to play some bingo and take advantage of some of their Senior Day bonuses (10xpoints slots/5x points VP, free bingo blue pack, free VP tournament w/50 points earned). My sister bingo’ed on the very first game and got down to one number on almost every other game after! It was crazy! I managed a score of 2485 in the VP tournament (15 minutes of DDB). One of the attendants said you usually need to get above 2500 to be in the money, so I crossed my fingers and hoped I had a chance.
We went back to Paris to park the car and then went across the street to play at the Bellagio for a little while (I really just went there for the chocolate martini!). My sister did well and hit a 4OAK on DDB VP and then hit some great bonuses on the Airplane! slot. My losing ways continued ? On the way out we stopped to watch the fountain show. It started out just fine, but about half-way through, the song stopped and the canned music came on. The fountains just kept going. Another canned song played. The fountains continued. That went on for over 20 minutes before we gave up and left – I wonder how long the fountains “danced”?
It was another bad gambling day. I started out the day up $100 for the trip and finished down $400 for the trip. Poop!
On Tuesday we took our cue from Westie (thanks for your excellent trip reports) and ventured down to Tacos El Gordo just north of the Encore for lunch. We had the Adobado tacos (spicy pork) and a carne asada tostada. They were fantastic! They were so good we came back a few days later and had them again. At $2 a pop you can do some great eating very cheaply.
Adobada taco (spicy pork)
Since we were so close, I went around the corner to the Las Vegas Nail Salon and they got me right in for a pedicure. Very nice people there! After all the walking there’s nothing like a pedicure to get your feet back in shape. The only problem is you look down admiring your pretty feet for the rest of the day and tend to run into things!
We stopped off at the Gold Coast to check the VP tournament results. I had 2485 points, but I would have needed 2845 to be in the money (if someone had been a little dyslexic, I would have been in the money!) Better luck next time. We stayed and played for a little while because they were having some gift giveaways. They were giving out gifts for earning 100 points. You could have 2 gifts for 200 points. I picked up a digital photo key chain and a flashlight. My sister got a Snuggie and a floor mat. Next we went to Orleans to take advantage of their senior day specials. I played a little and just could not stop losing. I decided to take a break to go watch a movie ($4 before 4pm on senior day). I went to see “Flight” with Denzel Washington. Not a bad movie, but it made me leery to get back on a plane!
That break was just what I needed because it ended my losing and set me on a good little winning streak for the rest of the night. I came out of the movie and had a few minutes to kill before we were meeting up to go to dinner. I sat down at a 25 cent DDB VP machine and almost immediately hit quad 9’s! That was the first good hand I’d had in almost 2 days!
Dinner tonight was at Technique - the student run restaurant at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. We try to eat here on almost every Vegas trip, either for lunch or dinner. We were able to use up our last $25 rr.com coupon (they don’t sell them anymore, but will still honor them if you have them). The prices went up slightly ($18.95 for a 3-course dinner) but you just can’t beat that deal! We each tried something different so we got a taste of a lot of different things. Appetizers were crab cakes for me and beef carpaccio w/truffle oil and field green salad for my sister. Our entrees were pistachio crusted shrimp w/ pasta alfredo and asparagus; and gnocci w/ asparagus, paramesan and basil pesto. For dessert we had an apple galette w/homemade cinnamon ice cream and a chocolate lava cake w/ vanilla ice cream. Tonight was the last night of their training so I think we got the best of their effort. The food was just delicious! I can’t recommend this place highly enough. The head chef came over to talk to us and he just went on about how proud he was of his students – with good reason. They’re usually not crowded but their hours are fairly limited and they close frequently for private events, so if you decide to give them a try, reservations are recommended.
crab cakes!
Apple galette w/cinnamon ice cream
Since we were so close, after dinner we drove over to Suncoast for a little while. I played a few slots and then found a nice 3-card poker table to play at for an hour or so. Great dealer, nice pit boss and a few lively players! And there was a TV on right near the table so I could watch the election returns. I left there up $70 so I was happy with that.
We headed back to the strip for the night and parked the car. My little winning streak started at Bally’s by hitting 25 cent quad 4’s (no kicker) and quad A’s (no kicker). I moved over to the 3-card poker table and although I didn’t hit anything major I walked with a $150 profit. I stopped by a penny Quick Strike slot and made a $150 profit on that. Next I walked over to Paris. I couldn’t believe the good luck I was having so I sat down at a dollar VP machine and hit quad Q’s for a $250 profit. I played the Buffalo penny slots for a $95 profit (Buffaloooooo!). Another VP machine gave me quad 4’s w/ the kicker this time for $200. I finished the night at 3-card with another $100 profit. So that erased my losses and got me back in the plus column! Yiipppeeee!
Wednesday was our last full day. We had an early lunch at the Paris buffet using the LVA $10 off coupon and paid the rest with points. We must have timed it just right because there was no line ? I know a lot of people say this buffet has gone down a lot over the years, but we still like it a lot! I didn’t make it back to the crepe station until dessert so I didn’t know they now do savory crepes too. They had some great sounding combinations that I’ll have to save for next time.
After lunch we went to Southpoint to play for a while and get some more bingo in. This time it was my turn to yell “Bingo!” It was on a double pay game too so I made a quick $100.
Later when we were back at Bally’s we went to find some penny machines to slow play outside the Indigo Lounge where Taylor Hicks was performing. The set-up there is pretty goofy for a paying gig. The only thing between the casino floor and the venue is a curtain. So although you can’t see the performance you can certainly hear it really well. I played a Cashman machine, had a few glasses of wine and listed to Taylor. He was really great – he plays the blues and a lot of soul music. They dropped the curtain for his final song so you could get a good look at him too. The rest of my evening wasn’t at all profitable but I had to try since it was my last night. It was a losing day again, but because yesterday was so good I was still about even.
Thursday the wind started picking up (naturally, we were leaving – and don’t you just hate to fly when it’s windy in Vegas?). The temperature was still great – mid 70’s. They were forecasting a cold front to come in on Friday. We checked out and picked up some of those great cranberry rolls at JJ’s Boulongerie to take home with us. We went back to Tacos El Gordo. We got 3 more spicy pork Adobada tacos. The guy misunderstood my order for ONE carne asada taco and gave us THREE. We said, “Oh, that’s o.k.” and ate them all!
We stopped off at the Great Gift Wrap-up at the Flamingo. I usually don’t have enough points for anything, but this year they had some cheap $10 gift cards (3500 points), so I got one for Home Depot. My sister got a couple Shell gas cards.
We killed my last half hour at Bally’s – I played nickel 3-play video poker (I was trying to preserve my money). We stopped to put gas in the car ($40) and my sister dropped me off at the airport – she would be staying for a few hours more. Everything went smoothly at the airport – my husband checked us in for our flights yesterday so I got an “A” boarding pass. Even though it was starting to get windy, the takeoff and flight were very smooth and I arrived home precisely on time. I’m VERY proud to say I went home with exactly what I came with (and I paid cash for what little we paid for), so that was a fabulous WIN in my book! When I got home, I immediately deposited the money back in the bank so now I’m all set for our next trip in May.
Thanks for reading. I really enjoy reading all of your trip reports, so I hope somewhere, someone got something out of reading all this!
BONUS PHOTO - this is our new pup, Cole. We got him the day after I got back and he is a dear!
This is the BEFORE picture . . .
Here is the AFTER . . . YES, it's the same dog!!!
