Thursday, February 17
We left the house at 7pm and made it to Silverton a little before 11pm. They had the exit closed down, so we had to drive down to Russell to exit the freeway and backtrack to Silverton.
We checked into one of the newly renovated rooms (#1089) and settled in for the night. Scott forgot to take pictures of the room, but it’s actually very nice. There is no tub – they used the whole space for a very nice tiled shower. The bathroom is just as small as before, but with slate tiled floor and granite vanity top now. My only complaint was that the bed is very tall (and I’m not!), but it was very comfortable – much nicer linens than before.
Friday, February 18
Got up around 8am and got ready for the day. We had breakfast at the counter in Sundance, served by our favorite server, Betty Jane. My pancake sandwich and Scott’s country fried steak were both very good. Charged the bill to the room and then Scott went running around town while I hit the casino.
I noticed when we came in the night before that the quarter progressive near the hotel was over $2200 and this morning had still not been hit and was now over $2400, so I had to give it a shot. I played for a few hours losing. The lady next to me that had only been playing for 5 minutes hit it at $2650. The entire bank cashed out and left.
I walked over to the 3/5 play machines near the tournament room and started playing quarter 5 play TDB. I had literally been playing for around 5 minutes when I held Js As Ks 10s and caught the queen on the 2nd and 4th lines for a $2k payout. Nice!
Scott continued to play that machine for a little while and I played the one next to it. I cashed out a couple hundred more and then went to my favorite dollar single line machine. I put in a hundred and hit several quads – had it up to $1100 at one point, but cashed out at $700. It was time to get moving – we had a busy day and had to leave, so we left the casino up $2,457 after doing only $12,842 coin in (don’t think my host will be happy about that).
Next stop was Monte Carlo to check into Hotel 32 for two nights. I went to the regular hotel counter and was told to check in at the VIP lounge for Hotel 32. Ten minutes later I was checked into a Studio (32-067). She called up to the suite assistant to tell her I would be right up and I had to tell her we wouldn’t be up there until later tonight. So, I didn’t get the suite assistant experience and have no idea what they would have done (probably just show you the lounge and take you to your room?).
Scott was waiting for me out front, so I ran back out and we headed off to Four Queens. He dropped me off there and went off to do his running around. I checked into room 1133 in the South Tower and then hit the casino. I was going to be a good girl and stick to 9/6 JOB, but as I passed the 10/7 DB $ machines I decided to take a shot. I was hitting some quads, but not enough and was in for my $200 free play and $600 cash when Barb walked by! She sat down on the other side of the bank to play and as soon as the seat next to her opened up she held it for me. I went over there to play. Quads were still few and far between, but I did manage to get a couple dealt quads (jacks and fours). When it was time to quit for our 5:30pm dinner reservation at Hugo’s I was down $600 and had done 1,791 points ($14,328 coin in). I took my ACG coupon for 500 points to the players club and got $57 cash back and the Rabbit box for 777 points.
This was by far the best dinner experience we have had at Hugo’s. We both had salad, Scott had the crab cake appetizer, and we split the Beef Wellington, which came with our choice of potato (red potatoes) and a very nicely done asparagus. For dessert we both had Bananas Foster. With a Lemon Drop martini for me and one beer for Scott the bill was $126. We used the VIP meal passport and left a cash tip. Everything, including our service from Eric, Eric, and Rick, was absolutely outstanding. We already have reservations for April 1st and probably won’t vary from these choices at all.
After dinner we said goodbye to Dan and Barb and headed off to Boulder Station to see Robin Trower at Railhead. I’m not really a current fan of his music, but I LOVED the album Bridge of Sighs back in the 70s. He played five songs from that album, but he stretched everything out so long it got boring. Scott wasn’t really impressed with his guitar playing skills, either. It was an okay diversion, but I wouldn’t see him again.
Robin Trower on You Tube
We drove back to Silverton, got our bags and checked out. Then we drove over to Monte Carlo and took our bags to the room. On the website, they advertise Kiehl’s bath products for Hotel 32, but when I looked in the bathroom there were just the crappy products they use at Excalibur! We went down to Lounge 32 to grab a couple waters and diet sodas for the night and I asked the suite assistant on duty about the Kiehl’s products. He said they were waiting for their shipment and were just using the standard products for now, but went on to say that they had some in reserve and he would have them sent to our room. We went back to our room and housekeeping arrived with them within five minutes.
We started to get settled in the room and Scott discovered a dirty sock behind the bathroom door. Disgusting! So much for the really upscale experience Hotel 32 is supposed to provide. The rest of the room looked clean, but really, this room could have been any recently renovated room in any Las Vegas hotel. It was nothing special. We had even asked for King bed, but got two queens. The bathroom is a single sink, shower only, and toilet room all in one. There weren’t even water glasses in the bathroom. The beds were comfortable, but not as nice as the new Silverton bed from the night before. In fact, Scott rated the newly renovated Silverton rooms higher than the Hotel32 Studio room.
We didn't take this, but this is exactly what our room looked like
We watched some television and talked about possibly leaving the next morning rather than staying another day to preserve the win, but didn’t want to let our concert tickets for Saturday night go and made a compromise. I had $200 in free play to use at Monte Carlo – I would add $350 in winnings to that and guarantee that I went home up $1500. So with our plans made, I put my original stake and $1500 extra in the safe and we finally went to sleep around 1am.
Saturday, February 19
We slept in late (9:45am) and took our time getting ready for the day. At 10:30am Scott went down to Lounge 32 to check out the breakfast offerings, but there was nothing but some whole fruit, coffee, water, and sodas out. Breakfast ended at 10am. It would be nice if they told you that.
We decided to go to the café for breakfast. There was a very long line, but nobody at all in the line pass line. My platinum card had us seated in less than a minute. I had the regular 2-egg breakfast and Scott had an omelet. Both were very good, but with one soda, coffee, and orange juice the bill was just under $38. That always astounds me that breakfast can be that pricey in Vegas. We charged it to the room leaving $87 remaining of my $125 dining credit for dinner.
Scott headed off to do his thing and I hit the casino. I ran my free play through on a quarter single line DDB progressive and managed to hit a $100 quad. After running through the whole $200 I had $335, but decided to continue to play. I hit some more quads, Aces once and then Aces w/kicker for $500 and finally decided to go play something else. I found the quarter 3/5 play machines and sat down and started playing DDB. I hit a quad here and there, but was through $400 and decided to quit. Then I went and played some dollar Top Dollar slots, but couldn’t get ahead and went back to 3/5 play. It never gave me enough to make me a winner and I ended my play for the day down $50. I earned 1991 points on video poker and 384 points on slots. If I’m doing the math right with the new MLife system for Platinum cardholders that should be $15,508 coin in, but looking at my account online today I really don’t know. My tier points increased by 52,004, I have 1,839 Holiday Gift Shoppe points, and earned 24.51 in Point Play and $48.94 in Express Comps. None of it really makes any sense.
We tried to go to Diablo’s for dinner, but there was a 40-minute wait. The place was packed and really noisy and I wasn’t in the mood for that anyway, so we went into the casino to see what else was around. We ended up at D.Vino, the Italian restaurant. We were seated immediately. Scott had a $15 Italian beer, I had a soda and we started off with fried calamari. Entrees were chicken parm w/spaghetti for me and Scott had the Rigatoni w/sausage. Everything was delicious, but the sausage in Scott’s dish wasn’t big chunks it was kind of ground sausage mixed with onions and peppers, so he shared my entrée. If we had to pay for Italian food in Vegas we would go to Nora’s, but we would definitely go back to D.Vino comped – the food was very good. Total bill was $83.24 so it was covered by my remaining food credit.
We went up to the room and packed up, checked out (they charged me $22.40 for a resort fee even on a comped room! grrrr), and started driving over to Mandalay Bay for the Joe Bonamassa concert at House of Blues when I realized we left the cash in the safe! We turned around and drove back. Scott dropped me off and I went into VIP and told her what happened. She gave me a new key and I went up and got the money. Scott was waiting for me and I jumped in the car and we headed off to Mandalay Bay again.
We paid the valet $20 to hold the car up front and went to House of Blues. It was 7:30pm and the doors opened at 8pm, but when we asked we found out the show didn’t start until 9pm (tickets said 8pm and the marquee also said 8pm). The line was a mile long, so we decided to find some penny slots and just play 1 penny per line to kill the time until the show. I sat down at All That Glitters and Scott sat next to me on Super Jackpot Party. At 20 cents per bet he proceeded to win $30 and I lost $44. His game sure seemed like a lot more fun than mine!
Right before 9pm we went in and took our seats. The show started right away. I’m not a fan, but Scott loves Joe Bonamassa. I can say it was a good show and he is extremely talented, but I probably wouldn’t get into his records.
Joe Bonamassa on You Tube
We left the show about 10 minutes early to get on the road. When we went out to get the car they didn’t hold it up front – for $20 that pissed me off. It took them almost 10 minutes to get the car.
We finally made it on the road just before 10:30pm. Everything was fine until the rain started, then the rain/snow mix, and then some pretty heavy snow just before Apple Valley! There was some pretty heavy clouds/fog on the Cajon Pass, too. Even slowing down for all of that we still made it home just before 2:30am.
All in all it was a very nice trip and I came home with $1763 in gambling winnings.
We left the house at 7pm and made it to Silverton a little before 11pm. They had the exit closed down, so we had to drive down to Russell to exit the freeway and backtrack to Silverton.
We checked into one of the newly renovated rooms (#1089) and settled in for the night. Scott forgot to take pictures of the room, but it’s actually very nice. There is no tub – they used the whole space for a very nice tiled shower. The bathroom is just as small as before, but with slate tiled floor and granite vanity top now. My only complaint was that the bed is very tall (and I’m not!), but it was very comfortable – much nicer linens than before.
Friday, February 18
Got up around 8am and got ready for the day. We had breakfast at the counter in Sundance, served by our favorite server, Betty Jane. My pancake sandwich and Scott’s country fried steak were both very good. Charged the bill to the room and then Scott went running around town while I hit the casino.
I noticed when we came in the night before that the quarter progressive near the hotel was over $2200 and this morning had still not been hit and was now over $2400, so I had to give it a shot. I played for a few hours losing. The lady next to me that had only been playing for 5 minutes hit it at $2650. The entire bank cashed out and left.
I walked over to the 3/5 play machines near the tournament room and started playing quarter 5 play TDB. I had literally been playing for around 5 minutes when I held Js As Ks 10s and caught the queen on the 2nd and 4th lines for a $2k payout. Nice!
Scott continued to play that machine for a little while and I played the one next to it. I cashed out a couple hundred more and then went to my favorite dollar single line machine. I put in a hundred and hit several quads – had it up to $1100 at one point, but cashed out at $700. It was time to get moving – we had a busy day and had to leave, so we left the casino up $2,457 after doing only $12,842 coin in (don’t think my host will be happy about that).
Next stop was Monte Carlo to check into Hotel 32 for two nights. I went to the regular hotel counter and was told to check in at the VIP lounge for Hotel 32. Ten minutes later I was checked into a Studio (32-067). She called up to the suite assistant to tell her I would be right up and I had to tell her we wouldn’t be up there until later tonight. So, I didn’t get the suite assistant experience and have no idea what they would have done (probably just show you the lounge and take you to your room?).
Scott was waiting for me out front, so I ran back out and we headed off to Four Queens. He dropped me off there and went off to do his running around. I checked into room 1133 in the South Tower and then hit the casino. I was going to be a good girl and stick to 9/6 JOB, but as I passed the 10/7 DB $ machines I decided to take a shot. I was hitting some quads, but not enough and was in for my $200 free play and $600 cash when Barb walked by! She sat down on the other side of the bank to play and as soon as the seat next to her opened up she held it for me. I went over there to play. Quads were still few and far between, but I did manage to get a couple dealt quads (jacks and fours). When it was time to quit for our 5:30pm dinner reservation at Hugo’s I was down $600 and had done 1,791 points ($14,328 coin in). I took my ACG coupon for 500 points to the players club and got $57 cash back and the Rabbit box for 777 points.
This was by far the best dinner experience we have had at Hugo’s. We both had salad, Scott had the crab cake appetizer, and we split the Beef Wellington, which came with our choice of potato (red potatoes) and a very nicely done asparagus. For dessert we both had Bananas Foster. With a Lemon Drop martini for me and one beer for Scott the bill was $126. We used the VIP meal passport and left a cash tip. Everything, including our service from Eric, Eric, and Rick, was absolutely outstanding. We already have reservations for April 1st and probably won’t vary from these choices at all.
After dinner we said goodbye to Dan and Barb and headed off to Boulder Station to see Robin Trower at Railhead. I’m not really a current fan of his music, but I LOVED the album Bridge of Sighs back in the 70s. He played five songs from that album, but he stretched everything out so long it got boring. Scott wasn’t really impressed with his guitar playing skills, either. It was an okay diversion, but I wouldn’t see him again.
Robin Trower on You Tube
We drove back to Silverton, got our bags and checked out. Then we drove over to Monte Carlo and took our bags to the room. On the website, they advertise Kiehl’s bath products for Hotel 32, but when I looked in the bathroom there were just the crappy products they use at Excalibur! We went down to Lounge 32 to grab a couple waters and diet sodas for the night and I asked the suite assistant on duty about the Kiehl’s products. He said they were waiting for their shipment and were just using the standard products for now, but went on to say that they had some in reserve and he would have them sent to our room. We went back to our room and housekeeping arrived with them within five minutes.
We started to get settled in the room and Scott discovered a dirty sock behind the bathroom door. Disgusting! So much for the really upscale experience Hotel 32 is supposed to provide. The rest of the room looked clean, but really, this room could have been any recently renovated room in any Las Vegas hotel. It was nothing special. We had even asked for King bed, but got two queens. The bathroom is a single sink, shower only, and toilet room all in one. There weren’t even water glasses in the bathroom. The beds were comfortable, but not as nice as the new Silverton bed from the night before. In fact, Scott rated the newly renovated Silverton rooms higher than the Hotel32 Studio room.
We didn't take this, but this is exactly what our room looked like
We watched some television and talked about possibly leaving the next morning rather than staying another day to preserve the win, but didn’t want to let our concert tickets for Saturday night go and made a compromise. I had $200 in free play to use at Monte Carlo – I would add $350 in winnings to that and guarantee that I went home up $1500. So with our plans made, I put my original stake and $1500 extra in the safe and we finally went to sleep around 1am.
Saturday, February 19
We slept in late (9:45am) and took our time getting ready for the day. At 10:30am Scott went down to Lounge 32 to check out the breakfast offerings, but there was nothing but some whole fruit, coffee, water, and sodas out. Breakfast ended at 10am. It would be nice if they told you that.
We decided to go to the café for breakfast. There was a very long line, but nobody at all in the line pass line. My platinum card had us seated in less than a minute. I had the regular 2-egg breakfast and Scott had an omelet. Both were very good, but with one soda, coffee, and orange juice the bill was just under $38. That always astounds me that breakfast can be that pricey in Vegas. We charged it to the room leaving $87 remaining of my $125 dining credit for dinner.
Scott headed off to do his thing and I hit the casino. I ran my free play through on a quarter single line DDB progressive and managed to hit a $100 quad. After running through the whole $200 I had $335, but decided to continue to play. I hit some more quads, Aces once and then Aces w/kicker for $500 and finally decided to go play something else. I found the quarter 3/5 play machines and sat down and started playing DDB. I hit a quad here and there, but was through $400 and decided to quit. Then I went and played some dollar Top Dollar slots, but couldn’t get ahead and went back to 3/5 play. It never gave me enough to make me a winner and I ended my play for the day down $50. I earned 1991 points on video poker and 384 points on slots. If I’m doing the math right with the new MLife system for Platinum cardholders that should be $15,508 coin in, but looking at my account online today I really don’t know. My tier points increased by 52,004, I have 1,839 Holiday Gift Shoppe points, and earned 24.51 in Point Play and $48.94 in Express Comps. None of it really makes any sense.
We tried to go to Diablo’s for dinner, but there was a 40-minute wait. The place was packed and really noisy and I wasn’t in the mood for that anyway, so we went into the casino to see what else was around. We ended up at D.Vino, the Italian restaurant. We were seated immediately. Scott had a $15 Italian beer, I had a soda and we started off with fried calamari. Entrees were chicken parm w/spaghetti for me and Scott had the Rigatoni w/sausage. Everything was delicious, but the sausage in Scott’s dish wasn’t big chunks it was kind of ground sausage mixed with onions and peppers, so he shared my entrée. If we had to pay for Italian food in Vegas we would go to Nora’s, but we would definitely go back to D.Vino comped – the food was very good. Total bill was $83.24 so it was covered by my remaining food credit.
We went up to the room and packed up, checked out (they charged me $22.40 for a resort fee even on a comped room! grrrr), and started driving over to Mandalay Bay for the Joe Bonamassa concert at House of Blues when I realized we left the cash in the safe! We turned around and drove back. Scott dropped me off and I went into VIP and told her what happened. She gave me a new key and I went up and got the money. Scott was waiting for me and I jumped in the car and we headed off to Mandalay Bay again.
We paid the valet $20 to hold the car up front and went to House of Blues. It was 7:30pm and the doors opened at 8pm, but when we asked we found out the show didn’t start until 9pm (tickets said 8pm and the marquee also said 8pm). The line was a mile long, so we decided to find some penny slots and just play 1 penny per line to kill the time until the show. I sat down at All That Glitters and Scott sat next to me on Super Jackpot Party. At 20 cents per bet he proceeded to win $30 and I lost $44. His game sure seemed like a lot more fun than mine!
Right before 9pm we went in and took our seats. The show started right away. I’m not a fan, but Scott loves Joe Bonamassa. I can say it was a good show and he is extremely talented, but I probably wouldn’t get into his records.
Joe Bonamassa on You Tube
We left the show about 10 minutes early to get on the road. When we went out to get the car they didn’t hold it up front – for $20 that pissed me off. It took them almost 10 minutes to get the car.
We finally made it on the road just before 10:30pm. Everything was fine until the rain started, then the rain/snow mix, and then some pretty heavy snow just before Apple Valley! There was some pretty heavy clouds/fog on the Cajon Pass, too. Even slowing down for all of that we still made it home just before 2:30am.
All in all it was a very nice trip and I came home with $1763 in gambling winnings.
