Santa Barbara and Vegas (w/Pics)!

Trip Part 1) Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez valley

Last year I started a new tradition with my Vegas trip.  I spent the first two days flying out to 
Santa Barbara, Ca for some wine tasting and then finish the week in Vegas.  I like how thats working out.   
Seven days in Vegas is just too much for me anymore.  After 25 years I feel like I've seen every show, 
eaten at every restaurant and visited every casino.   There's just not enough for me to explore for 7 full days anymore.    Plus my new format allows me to bring home some kick ass wines.   I bought this cool suitcase that is specifically designed to haul up to 8 bottles so I can really stock up.   

Thats enough for all 8 colors of MD 20/20 !     Ask me about pairing suggestions.

Its a completely different climate between coastal Santa Barbara where I stayed vs wine country which is about 45 minutes inland.  The Santa Ynez valley towns of Solvang, Buellton, and Los Olivos were a good 20 degrees hotter than Santa B.   I made new friend while I was touring the wine fields.

You can try a different tasting room here every week for a year and never visit the same place twice.    So....I have lots of territory to cover on future trips.

Trip Part 2) on to Vegas!     
Between the construction on the highway and the city readying for the F1 race I decided to stay as far away from the Strip and downtown as possible.    I landed on The Berkley which is a timeshare property that is adjacent to the Silverton.

You get the living room, full kitchen, big bathroom and the coveted in-room washer/dryer.   I think I got in for the last week of pool season and they have a nice one.    I largely had the pool and hot tub to myself for the entire stay....and there werent any little shit kids around - so even when a few people joined me in the pool area they were adults.

I went downtown exactly long enough to do my coupon run with the LVA matchplays.    I was on Fremont St for a total of 2 hours.  And that was enough.  I had a hard time finding a place to use my free play at El Cortez....they have completely gutted  the front room of all VP machines.  Is just tight slots now.  Mgmt has completely ruined that place.   Makes me sad.

I was on the strip for even less time.  I wanted to treat myself to a fancy dinner so I tried to get into the 
Peter Lugar steakhouse at Caesers.     Unfortunately my sandals and Big Johnson t-shirt didn't measure up to their pretentious dress code.   I thought this was America!

Lucky for me Hell's Kitchen wasnt so discriminating.    I got the three course meal thats always featured on the show.   And they had a fancy Old Fashioned they served in a smokey box which is how they justify charging $24 for it.    Only in Vegas.    My final bill for everything with tax and tip was $160.   it was a damn good meal - but not $160 good.   You only live once, I guess.    Chef Ramsay was absent so I took the liberty of bouncing a frying pan off the head of a random person on the red team.   Gotta keep those amateur chefs in line !

For gambling I spent most of time bouncing around the south valley and Henderson.    Silverton had some good progressive VP and some low stakes spin poker.  I managed to get a royal playing 3-play dimes there.

I went out to the Water Street district and hit up Emerald Island.    Its been years since I last visited them so they  treated me like a new member which got me a free breakfast at the diner...and also a free open faced sandwich entree which I never used.   Also got the free wheel spin for $10....and free strawberry shortcake they were handing out to everyone...and a nice 4OAK playing dollars.  That $400 hit was enough to trigger a handpay at Emserald Island.   I had to wait for an attendant to come pay me while listening to the jackpot music.   You would have thought I hit the Megabucks.   This is truly a great place.

 
Lets hope their new owners (Stations) dont ruin it.   Also - it seems like they are gentrifying that street and trying to turn it into a hipster nightlife area.  Johnny Mac's bar is going to open a second location there soon - thats an awesome bar that  serves Western New York street food. 

I also went to some places I havent visited in a long time:  M-Resort,  Sunset Station, Red Rock.   The last time I was in M-Resort they had a buffet.  How many years ago was that?    Its a good time there.  Plenty of good VP schedules and a $10 craps table.   I spent the whole evening  bouncing around machines and watching MNF.   M-Resort Drinks came fast and strong at the bars.   

All in all, it was a fun trip but I definitely like splitting it up. I might do the same thing with Napa Valley and Reno next year.

Thanks for reading and Happy Trails !  

Real good read.  I'm planning a similiar trip like this in late Oct or early Nov.  

I grew up in the SF Bay Area and always had friends and relatives in SoCal, so I've spent a lot of time in the Santa Barbara area. I would have had a hard time tearing myself away from that place to go to Vegas (especially since the drive is awful).

I'm glad to hear that you heeded the siren call of Emerald Island. There's no better place to play. If you're wondering, by the way, why the handpay threshold is so low, there's two reasons: 1) they have a promo certain times of the week where any handpay gets you entered into a pretty decent drawing and/or qualifies you for a wheel spin, and 2) most of their slots are bonusing games, and the midsize jackpots tend to be in the $400-600 range, so you get the mild fanfare, and 2.5) the employees get tipped more often than if the handpay threshold was higher.

If you do Napa Valley/Reno, set aside a day to visit Lake Tahoe, which is sorta kinda on the way. If it's not winter, you can do the absolutely gorgeous drive around the lake. And when you get to Reno, you might be surprised at how laid-back and non-frenetic it is compared to Vegas--and how much nicer the people are, and how much cheaper everything is, and how much better and cheaper the gambling is, and, and, and...

Great report.   Wife and I really like Solvang.  Good to see you had a great time and enjoyed some good wine.