PROLOGUE:
This late winter escape from the Land of 10,000 FROZEN Lakes actually was in two parts. I mentioned in my previous Super Bowl TR that my daughter was performing in a play in Albuquerque & Santa Fe during the month of March. It's been 5 years since I have seen my daughter perform live on stage, so I was overdue. Originally, I was going to fly out for a long weekend, see her perform and then fly back. When my co-worker, MadMan Mike heard of my trip he said, "Hey, as long as you are out there, Vegas is calling!" Somehow he was able to sweet talk his wife into letting him plan a Vegas trip without her. Hmmmm.....I started searching for various flights and pieced together a patchwork flight schedule and a Vegas trip started to take shape. Fly out of MSP on Frontier Air 3/14 to ABQ, then I found a cheap Delta flight from ABQ to Vegas via a 4 hour stopover in SLC(what was I thinking!) and finally a red-eye flight on Spirit leaving Vegas early on 3/21. Mikey waffled on picking up his flights; waiting for the fares to drop...no such luck. He booked a flight for Saturday the 16th and then flying back with me on the red-eye. Last time Mike went out a day early, I found him in pretty much of a train wreck state. It wasn't pretty. The Golden Gate offered each of us 3 free nights, a meal credit at Dupars and some free slot play...booked a downtown trip. Fingers Freddie declined our offer to join us at first, but called a couple of days later and said he would fly out on Monday the 18th. His only request was that a trip to the "nudie bars" would be included on the trip intinerary; hey, that was already a 'given'...I love it when a plan comes together.
THURSDAY 3/14:
The March Lion roared into Minnesota with plunging temperatures and heavy snowfalls. I had a 6 AM flight and was lucky enough to arrive in Minneapolis before the white stuff started to fall in earnest..temps in the single digits. It was a cluster F#*k at the airport; they only had one de-icing truck available so we had to wait almost an hour on board before they hosed down our plane. The pilot put the hammer down and made up some of the time getting into Denver, but I literally had to run from the plane in order to make my connecting flight to ABQ. Whew, settled into my window seat with two women sitting in the middle and aisle seats. Sniff...my God what kind of perfume is that women wearing....smells like rotten onions...aack! To make matters worst, she decided to 'pass gas' several times during the flight. I think my eyes started to water. Fortunately the flight was a short one and we soon landed under sunny skies in Albuquerque.
My daughter was there to greet me, grabbed my suitcase and then we drove downtown and had breakfast at a restaurant on Central Ave across for the University. I think the place was called the Frontier....great food. We spent the day driving around Albuquerque, did some hiking and ended up having a flight of wine at one of the local vineyards, Casa Rondena. My daughter took me out to one of the groves and explained how they go about trimming the grapevines. She worked at Merry Edwards vineyards in California during last year's harvest. The wines were good, not great, but the grounds were absolutely gorgeous. The next day my daughter met me at the hotel and we took a short walk to the transportation depot downtown and boarded the Rail Runner train to Santa Fe. We spent a pleasant morning and afternoon taking in the sights and then took the late afternoon train back to ABQ.
I watched her play, being performed at the historic KiMo theater in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday nights. The play was "Clybourne Park" written by Bruce Norris. The play is in two acts, the 1st act takes place in 1959 and the 2nd in 2009. In the 1st act my daughter played a deaf person, pregnant and married to a 'closet bigot'. The 2nd act, she played the role of a wife of a yuppy couple...a polite, well intentioned woman...but kind of a know-it-all. (okay, she was kind of a bitch). The play was funny and thought provoking and well acted. The show was also performed at the Lensic theater in Santa Fe the following week. Both theaters were built in the 30's and have a lot of history and character.
SUNDAY 3/17
I took the hotel shuttle to the airport and had a short flight to Salt Lake, where I had a four hour layover before catching my plane to Vegas. I camped out at one of the airport bars that serves some very delicious microbrews. Their Polygamy Porter (Why have just one!) by the Wasatch brewery was a hit with me. This brew has earned the honor of 2nd place for Porters....sorry MSS, the Black Chip porter had fallen to 3rd place. I watched the college basketball games on the TV and chatted with the heavily tattooed bartender. I finally boarded my plane and landed in Sin City at 2 PM, picked up my bag and headed to the car rental center. I was given a Chevy Malibu with all the bells and whistles, but when I tried to drive out of the facility my rental contract would not scan at the gate. I tried over and over again, with no luck. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw that a long line of cars had accumulated behind me. I tooted the horn several times and eventually an attendant walked over and gave me a condescending look .. fricking idiot tourist! He tried several times, but the gate would not budge. His look took on a rather sheepish tone, apologized and said he would have to go back to the kiosk and open the gate from there. Free, Free at last!!! I drove up LVB, took a left onto Hacienda and hooked up to Frank Sinatra Dr...north on Industrial, then Main St and cruised into the valet at the Golden Gate....Honey, I'm home!!!
Madman was there to greet me; he looked to be in good shape and hadn't blown all of his bankroll in one night. Check-in was quick, room 405 facing Main St. The bathroom was incredibly small...I've seen closets bigger. Flat screen TV, coffee maker...what's this? A sign that states there is a $2 charge for the coffee and the bottled water...geesh. I dumped the suitcase in the room, put on my Guinness T shirt and met Mikey at the bar down in the casino. First order of business...bartender, I'll have a Heineken(it's in a green bottle) and an Irish Car bomb please!!! We walked down the FSE, being swallowed up in a sea of people wearing everything green. We stopped to listen to some of the bands playing and then ducked into the Coney Island grill at the D for a coney dog. With appetites satisfied, it was back to the Gate for some blackjack.
We played at a $10 table for several hours and ended up +$275 for the session. Mikey was up a couple of hundred also, saying that he had lost close to $500 the night before...ouch. We walked over to the MSS brew pub and had a couple of burgers for dinner...solid food and good service. Then if was back to the Gate and more BJ. The place was really jumping, and we had to squeeze into a $5 table with several idiot players..after 30 minutes of bonehead plays, a couple of openings at the adjacent $10 table occurred and we jumped to that table. The couple at our new table happened to be from Albert Lea, just 40 miles or so from Rochester..small world...you betcha. The wife had not played a lot of BJ, her husband was a good coach and she did well. Mikey was treading water and I went into a downward spiral. A couple of inebriated Leprechauns appeared and started to dance with the female dealer/dancers on the platforms inside the pit. It was a minor miracle one of them didn't take a header off of the platform. Things were getting pretty crazy inside of the casino. We drank copious quantities of Heineken; Ivy our CW never let us sit with an empty bottle. I finally called it quits at 1 AM with a loss for the day of $25...whatever happened to the Luck of the Irish?
MONDAY 3/18
The room was quiet and I slept like the dead. Mike called me at 08:30 and I was already up, showered and ready to take on the day. Breakfast was at Dupar's..delicious. We wandered down FSE and sat down at the long bar at the D and played some video poker. I ordered up a Blue Moon and shoved a twenty into the machine. I wasn't doing very well, but just as I was down to my last spin I hit a royal with deuces and ended up cashing out even. Mikey had to call his wife, so I walked down to the Gate and bought in at the craps table. Up and down session, played for an hour and cashed out losing only $25. MadMan and I played blackjack for the rest of the afternoon before we had to pick up Fingers at the airport. Down another $150.
We picked up Freddie and then drove over to Spring Mountain Rd and had dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant. They have a gas grill built into the table to cook your meat. Fingers parents are from Hong Kong, he is very knowledgeable about Asian food, so we let him do the ordering. Wow, what a great meal. I think we each chipped in only 20 bucks apiece to cover the bill and tip. We drove back downtown and dropped Fingers at the Golden Nugget and told him to come over to the Gate when he was settled. Mikey and I settled into a BJ table and proceed to lose again. I can't tell you how many times we each had 20 and the dealer would hit 20 or 21 it was uncanny. Fingers finally came over, bought in and lost $100 in about 5 minutes. Time to hit the Rhino.
We hailed a taxi behind the Gate and told the drive to take us to the Spearmint Rhino. He turns out of the valet area and starts to head north for the freeway. I tell him the Rhino is the other way and if he wants a tip he better turn this puppy around. The cabbie does a U-turn and heads south a Main...that's better. The Rhino was packed for a Monday night, but we were able for find a table. Fingers wanted to find a table closer to the stage. The table we had was in a 'high traffic area" but once Freddie gets an idea in his head, there's no recourse. He said he would find another table and we should wait a few minutes and find him in the other section. Mike and I wait about 10 minutes and walk over to the other area and no Fingers...can't find him anywhere. We walk back to our table only to find that it is now taken over my another group. We wander around for about 20 minutes and finally find a table near one of the stages. Fingers finally shows up about 30 minutes later...VIP room? The talent was pretty good, but sparse. The dancers were few in number and I had few lap dances...got kind of bored. Fingers and Madman said they were going to walk around for a few minutes and I stayed put to secure our seats. Didn't see those guys for another hour. Mike comes back and says that he found someone 'interesting' and that he would be back in about 20 minutes and then we could leave. By this time Freddie is toast and starts to fall asleep. Another hour crawls by and MadMan appears and says that we should take a cab back without him. It's now 04:30 and we take a cab back downtown. The cabbie really gives us the hard sell about taking us to a massage parlor for a "happy ending" to the evening. No thanks.
Fingers is hungry again,so I take him over to the California cafe for Ox Tail soup. Man on man did that hit the spot...awesome. Freddie inhaled his before I had my soup half done; he then polished off the rest of mine. The soup is a late night special for only $9.95...I highly recommend this after a night of heavy drinking. We split up after our delicious meal and I crashed at around 06:30.
TUESDAY 3/19
I'm up at 10:30 and feeling pretty decent after last night's activities. Mikey calls me and says he will meet me down in the casino in a little while and then we can go have some breakfast. I played deuces at the bar, lost $20, put in another 20 and started to lose that too. Just as MadMan walked up I hit another deuces assisted Royal and cashed out even. We had breakfast at the counter and the guy sitting next to Mike talked our ears off. Most of his conversation was disjointed and didn't make a lot of sense...hey, it's Vegas. We met Fingers over at the GN and check out the poker room. I've never seen such a bunch of solemn looking grouches in one place....geesh. On our way out I passed a BJ table near one or the entrances. There was one guy sitting at it....$50 minimum. I look at the placard on the table and I can't believe my eyes......no double after split and BJ pays 6:5!!!! No wonder I have never liked playing at the Nugget.
Fingers decides to check out the poker room at Binions and Mike and I head back to the Gate to play some more BJ. More losing ensues and I bail after I am down $150. I bought in for a hundred at the roulette table and leisurely spent the next hour hitting small wins. I hit a cold streak, then made a nice hit on #20 to bring back to even. A guy walked up and put a bennie on #22 and promptly lost; shrugged his shoulders and walked away without saying a word. I ended up with a net lost of $1. I rejoined Madman back at a $10 table. Tina, my favorite dealer was there and Mike and I were the only players at the table. Things turn positive and we hit a couple of hot shoes. She is not very talkative tonight and I can tell she is not feeling very well. After about 30 minutes the PB comes over and she is done for the evening. New dealer...things start to go south again and I am down another hundred. It is at this point that I can see Madman is starting to go on tilt. Fingers shows up and wants to get something to eat...oysters and chowder at Big Al's over at the Orleans. Madman wants to continue to play even though we are getting our asses kicked...yup he's on tilt. Fingers and I drive over to the Rio as I want to have a glass of wine at the Wine Cellar and chat with Mary Ann or Jose. We get there and the place is closed for a private function. Fingers googles Big Al's and says that they close at 11 PM...it's now 10:55. We then drive over to Palace Station to try their Oyster Bar. Place is packed with a long line. Only one person working behind the counter...we're outa there. Fingers suggests we go to the Cathay House over on Spring Mtn...great choice. The place is pretty empty, but they are still serving food. Freddie engages the waiter in Cantonese and orders our food. Salt and pepper crab and some kind of beef and noodles dish. This was another marvelous meal ....wonderful.
We drove back to the Gate only to find Mikey still parked at the same BJ table getting pretty much out of control. He had went over to Dupars and ordered a shrimp cocktail to go and started eating it at the table, which made the pit boss quite upset. Fingers wants to check out Crazy Horse III, so I tell them I want to change clothes and tell Freddie to try and pry MadMan away from the table. Mike decides to go all in with a $300 bet and hits a blackjack...good time to quit....nope on tilt...total chaser mode now. He makes a couple of more big bets and busts out.
We drive over to the Crazy Horse...first time here and it is really nice inside. I promptly have a shapely blond sitting on my lap, her name is Kitty Cat...really? We engage in some small talk; she is rambling on about how she is on Adderall and likes to smoke marajuana...okay she seems pretty stable. I finally get the hard sell about going to the VIP room, but I decline her offers. She gives me a lapdance and disappears. The talent was pretty good but most of the girls hit you with the VIP scam right up front and if you were not interested they got up and left. I had a very lovely Hawaiian girl with long black hair down to her butt sit down and engaged in some small talk. I had a lap dance which was very good and I ended up buying her a drink at the bar. We talked for quite a while; I was expecting the VIP talk any second, but the topic never came up. We walked back to the table and she gave me another great dance. We enjoyed ourselves...Fingers had a really good time...and left at 04:30 A Heineken cost $11 and a fricking bottle of water cost me 10 bucks!!!
WEDNESDAY 3/20
I struggle out of bed at the crack of 11AM, sigh. Mikey and Fingers bring over their suitcases to stash in my room for the day. While Mikey is checking out of his room, I sat down at a Playboy slot machine and promptly hit a nice bonus round and cash out with a tidy $40 profit. We put Freddie's suitcase in the car and drive down to the Aria to meet Freddie's Mom. Mike wants to pick up some things for his infant son, so we walk over to the M & M store and he buys some clothes for him. We started to walk up towards the PHo when Fingers sees a sign advertising a foot massage for only $9.95..Fingers is sold. Really?? Mikey says that there has to be a catch, and we continue on to wander around the Miracle Mile shops while Fingers gets his massage. A little while later he gives us a call and we meet back up over at the Aria. Turns out that it cost $9.95 PER FOOT. We watched the George Mason game in the Aria sportsbook and then say our goodbyes to Fingers. He is staying over until Friday.
Back at the Gate we have our heads handed to us at the BJ tables again...lose another $200 to end the trip with a whimper....or was that a sob? We dropped off the car without incident and check in at Spirit was quick. The lines at security were small and soon we were at the gate. Dinner was at Burger King..only place open at that time of night. Our 12:30 AM flight was on time and both of us slept until touchdown in MSP. It took me about 10 minutes to clear and scrape the snow and ice off of my car at the park and fly lot; fortunately this trip the roads were clear and we made good time getting back to Rochester. It took me about a half and hour to shovel my driveway and sidewalks...welcome home.
EPILOGUE
My Vegas bankroll really took a beating this trip, but I had a great time with Madman and Fingers. Most of my gambling was at the Gate...never spent a dime on the strip. The weather was great, sunny and in the high 70's and low 80's...perfect...especially when it was snowing and in the single digits back home. I like staying at the Gate...rooms aren't fancy, but comfortable. The dealers are friendly and pleasant on the eyes. Drink service was terribly slow during the afternoon, but Ivy took good care of us at night. I really hate the players who buy in for 20-40 bucks, play a few hands then leave. We had one guy sit down at the beginning of a shoe and buy in for $10...ten bucks!!. He gets a 14 to the dealers 6...takes a hit and busts...WTF? Then gets up and leaves. It seemed that when Mike and I played at a table alone we did well, but as soon as other people sat down, we would start to lose. Oh well, they all can't be winning trips.
I mentioned in my last TR about having Enterprise file a claim against me about a small scrape on the bumper of my rental car. I have a premium rental car insurance policy thru American Express. It took a while, but Am Ex came thru and paid the $450 claim...sweet. The last couple of trips I haven't been able to do a lot of things that I wanted...so a solo trip seemed like a good idea. First week in June...two free nights in a Bally's north tower room...probably stay at the Golden Gate for free for the rest of the trip. Sun Country just posted a RT fare for $271...jumped on it. Starting my countdown. Well, it's a wrap....sorry for being long winded...hope you enjoyed the read....Thanks.
This late winter escape from the Land of 10,000 FROZEN Lakes actually was in two parts. I mentioned in my previous Super Bowl TR that my daughter was performing in a play in Albuquerque & Santa Fe during the month of March. It's been 5 years since I have seen my daughter perform live on stage, so I was overdue. Originally, I was going to fly out for a long weekend, see her perform and then fly back. When my co-worker, MadMan Mike heard of my trip he said, "Hey, as long as you are out there, Vegas is calling!" Somehow he was able to sweet talk his wife into letting him plan a Vegas trip without her. Hmmmm.....I started searching for various flights and pieced together a patchwork flight schedule and a Vegas trip started to take shape. Fly out of MSP on Frontier Air 3/14 to ABQ, then I found a cheap Delta flight from ABQ to Vegas via a 4 hour stopover in SLC(what was I thinking!) and finally a red-eye flight on Spirit leaving Vegas early on 3/21. Mikey waffled on picking up his flights; waiting for the fares to drop...no such luck. He booked a flight for Saturday the 16th and then flying back with me on the red-eye. Last time Mike went out a day early, I found him in pretty much of a train wreck state. It wasn't pretty. The Golden Gate offered each of us 3 free nights, a meal credit at Dupars and some free slot play...booked a downtown trip. Fingers Freddie declined our offer to join us at first, but called a couple of days later and said he would fly out on Monday the 18th. His only request was that a trip to the "nudie bars" would be included on the trip intinerary; hey, that was already a 'given'...I love it when a plan comes together.
THURSDAY 3/14:
The March Lion roared into Minnesota with plunging temperatures and heavy snowfalls. I had a 6 AM flight and was lucky enough to arrive in Minneapolis before the white stuff started to fall in earnest..temps in the single digits. It was a cluster F#*k at the airport; they only had one de-icing truck available so we had to wait almost an hour on board before they hosed down our plane. The pilot put the hammer down and made up some of the time getting into Denver, but I literally had to run from the plane in order to make my connecting flight to ABQ. Whew, settled into my window seat with two women sitting in the middle and aisle seats. Sniff...my God what kind of perfume is that women wearing....smells like rotten onions...aack! To make matters worst, she decided to 'pass gas' several times during the flight. I think my eyes started to water. Fortunately the flight was a short one and we soon landed under sunny skies in Albuquerque.
My daughter was there to greet me, grabbed my suitcase and then we drove downtown and had breakfast at a restaurant on Central Ave across for the University. I think the place was called the Frontier....great food. We spent the day driving around Albuquerque, did some hiking and ended up having a flight of wine at one of the local vineyards, Casa Rondena. My daughter took me out to one of the groves and explained how they go about trimming the grapevines. She worked at Merry Edwards vineyards in California during last year's harvest. The wines were good, not great, but the grounds were absolutely gorgeous. The next day my daughter met me at the hotel and we took a short walk to the transportation depot downtown and boarded the Rail Runner train to Santa Fe. We spent a pleasant morning and afternoon taking in the sights and then took the late afternoon train back to ABQ.
I watched her play, being performed at the historic KiMo theater in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday nights. The play was "Clybourne Park" written by Bruce Norris. The play is in two acts, the 1st act takes place in 1959 and the 2nd in 2009. In the 1st act my daughter played a deaf person, pregnant and married to a 'closet bigot'. The 2nd act, she played the role of a wife of a yuppy couple...a polite, well intentioned woman...but kind of a know-it-all. (okay, she was kind of a bitch). The play was funny and thought provoking and well acted. The show was also performed at the Lensic theater in Santa Fe the following week. Both theaters were built in the 30's and have a lot of history and character.
SUNDAY 3/17
I took the hotel shuttle to the airport and had a short flight to Salt Lake, where I had a four hour layover before catching my plane to Vegas. I camped out at one of the airport bars that serves some very delicious microbrews. Their Polygamy Porter (Why have just one!) by the Wasatch brewery was a hit with me. This brew has earned the honor of 2nd place for Porters....sorry MSS, the Black Chip porter had fallen to 3rd place. I watched the college basketball games on the TV and chatted with the heavily tattooed bartender. I finally boarded my plane and landed in Sin City at 2 PM, picked up my bag and headed to the car rental center. I was given a Chevy Malibu with all the bells and whistles, but when I tried to drive out of the facility my rental contract would not scan at the gate. I tried over and over again, with no luck. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw that a long line of cars had accumulated behind me. I tooted the horn several times and eventually an attendant walked over and gave me a condescending look .. fricking idiot tourist! He tried several times, but the gate would not budge. His look took on a rather sheepish tone, apologized and said he would have to go back to the kiosk and open the gate from there. Free, Free at last!!! I drove up LVB, took a left onto Hacienda and hooked up to Frank Sinatra Dr...north on Industrial, then Main St and cruised into the valet at the Golden Gate....Honey, I'm home!!!
Madman was there to greet me; he looked to be in good shape and hadn't blown all of his bankroll in one night. Check-in was quick, room 405 facing Main St. The bathroom was incredibly small...I've seen closets bigger. Flat screen TV, coffee maker...what's this? A sign that states there is a $2 charge for the coffee and the bottled water...geesh. I dumped the suitcase in the room, put on my Guinness T shirt and met Mikey at the bar down in the casino. First order of business...bartender, I'll have a Heineken(it's in a green bottle) and an Irish Car bomb please!!! We walked down the FSE, being swallowed up in a sea of people wearing everything green. We stopped to listen to some of the bands playing and then ducked into the Coney Island grill at the D for a coney dog. With appetites satisfied, it was back to the Gate for some blackjack.
We played at a $10 table for several hours and ended up +$275 for the session. Mikey was up a couple of hundred also, saying that he had lost close to $500 the night before...ouch. We walked over to the MSS brew pub and had a couple of burgers for dinner...solid food and good service. Then if was back to the Gate and more BJ. The place was really jumping, and we had to squeeze into a $5 table with several idiot players..after 30 minutes of bonehead plays, a couple of openings at the adjacent $10 table occurred and we jumped to that table. The couple at our new table happened to be from Albert Lea, just 40 miles or so from Rochester..small world...you betcha. The wife had not played a lot of BJ, her husband was a good coach and she did well. Mikey was treading water and I went into a downward spiral. A couple of inebriated Leprechauns appeared and started to dance with the female dealer/dancers on the platforms inside the pit. It was a minor miracle one of them didn't take a header off of the platform. Things were getting pretty crazy inside of the casino. We drank copious quantities of Heineken; Ivy our CW never let us sit with an empty bottle. I finally called it quits at 1 AM with a loss for the day of $25...whatever happened to the Luck of the Irish?
MONDAY 3/18
The room was quiet and I slept like the dead. Mike called me at 08:30 and I was already up, showered and ready to take on the day. Breakfast was at Dupar's..delicious. We wandered down FSE and sat down at the long bar at the D and played some video poker. I ordered up a Blue Moon and shoved a twenty into the machine. I wasn't doing very well, but just as I was down to my last spin I hit a royal with deuces and ended up cashing out even. Mikey had to call his wife, so I walked down to the Gate and bought in at the craps table. Up and down session, played for an hour and cashed out losing only $25. MadMan and I played blackjack for the rest of the afternoon before we had to pick up Fingers at the airport. Down another $150.
We picked up Freddie and then drove over to Spring Mountain Rd and had dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant. They have a gas grill built into the table to cook your meat. Fingers parents are from Hong Kong, he is very knowledgeable about Asian food, so we let him do the ordering. Wow, what a great meal. I think we each chipped in only 20 bucks apiece to cover the bill and tip. We drove back downtown and dropped Fingers at the Golden Nugget and told him to come over to the Gate when he was settled. Mikey and I settled into a BJ table and proceed to lose again. I can't tell you how many times we each had 20 and the dealer would hit 20 or 21 it was uncanny. Fingers finally came over, bought in and lost $100 in about 5 minutes. Time to hit the Rhino.
We hailed a taxi behind the Gate and told the drive to take us to the Spearmint Rhino. He turns out of the valet area and starts to head north for the freeway. I tell him the Rhino is the other way and if he wants a tip he better turn this puppy around. The cabbie does a U-turn and heads south a Main...that's better. The Rhino was packed for a Monday night, but we were able for find a table. Fingers wanted to find a table closer to the stage. The table we had was in a 'high traffic area" but once Freddie gets an idea in his head, there's no recourse. He said he would find another table and we should wait a few minutes and find him in the other section. Mike and I wait about 10 minutes and walk over to the other area and no Fingers...can't find him anywhere. We walk back to our table only to find that it is now taken over my another group. We wander around for about 20 minutes and finally find a table near one of the stages. Fingers finally shows up about 30 minutes later...VIP room? The talent was pretty good, but sparse. The dancers were few in number and I had few lap dances...got kind of bored. Fingers and Madman said they were going to walk around for a few minutes and I stayed put to secure our seats. Didn't see those guys for another hour. Mike comes back and says that he found someone 'interesting' and that he would be back in about 20 minutes and then we could leave. By this time Freddie is toast and starts to fall asleep. Another hour crawls by and MadMan appears and says that we should take a cab back without him. It's now 04:30 and we take a cab back downtown. The cabbie really gives us the hard sell about taking us to a massage parlor for a "happy ending" to the evening. No thanks.
Fingers is hungry again,so I take him over to the California cafe for Ox Tail soup. Man on man did that hit the spot...awesome. Freddie inhaled his before I had my soup half done; he then polished off the rest of mine. The soup is a late night special for only $9.95...I highly recommend this after a night of heavy drinking. We split up after our delicious meal and I crashed at around 06:30.
TUESDAY 3/19
I'm up at 10:30 and feeling pretty decent after last night's activities. Mikey calls me and says he will meet me down in the casino in a little while and then we can go have some breakfast. I played deuces at the bar, lost $20, put in another 20 and started to lose that too. Just as MadMan walked up I hit another deuces assisted Royal and cashed out even. We had breakfast at the counter and the guy sitting next to Mike talked our ears off. Most of his conversation was disjointed and didn't make a lot of sense...hey, it's Vegas. We met Fingers over at the GN and check out the poker room. I've never seen such a bunch of solemn looking grouches in one place....geesh. On our way out I passed a BJ table near one or the entrances. There was one guy sitting at it....$50 minimum. I look at the placard on the table and I can't believe my eyes......no double after split and BJ pays 6:5!!!! No wonder I have never liked playing at the Nugget.
Fingers decides to check out the poker room at Binions and Mike and I head back to the Gate to play some more BJ. More losing ensues and I bail after I am down $150. I bought in for a hundred at the roulette table and leisurely spent the next hour hitting small wins. I hit a cold streak, then made a nice hit on #20 to bring back to even. A guy walked up and put a bennie on #22 and promptly lost; shrugged his shoulders and walked away without saying a word. I ended up with a net lost of $1. I rejoined Madman back at a $10 table. Tina, my favorite dealer was there and Mike and I were the only players at the table. Things turn positive and we hit a couple of hot shoes. She is not very talkative tonight and I can tell she is not feeling very well. After about 30 minutes the PB comes over and she is done for the evening. New dealer...things start to go south again and I am down another hundred. It is at this point that I can see Madman is starting to go on tilt. Fingers shows up and wants to get something to eat...oysters and chowder at Big Al's over at the Orleans. Madman wants to continue to play even though we are getting our asses kicked...yup he's on tilt. Fingers and I drive over to the Rio as I want to have a glass of wine at the Wine Cellar and chat with Mary Ann or Jose. We get there and the place is closed for a private function. Fingers googles Big Al's and says that they close at 11 PM...it's now 10:55. We then drive over to Palace Station to try their Oyster Bar. Place is packed with a long line. Only one person working behind the counter...we're outa there. Fingers suggests we go to the Cathay House over on Spring Mtn...great choice. The place is pretty empty, but they are still serving food. Freddie engages the waiter in Cantonese and orders our food. Salt and pepper crab and some kind of beef and noodles dish. This was another marvelous meal ....wonderful.
We drove back to the Gate only to find Mikey still parked at the same BJ table getting pretty much out of control. He had went over to Dupars and ordered a shrimp cocktail to go and started eating it at the table, which made the pit boss quite upset. Fingers wants to check out Crazy Horse III, so I tell them I want to change clothes and tell Freddie to try and pry MadMan away from the table. Mike decides to go all in with a $300 bet and hits a blackjack...good time to quit....nope on tilt...total chaser mode now. He makes a couple of more big bets and busts out.
We drive over to the Crazy Horse...first time here and it is really nice inside. I promptly have a shapely blond sitting on my lap, her name is Kitty Cat...really? We engage in some small talk; she is rambling on about how she is on Adderall and likes to smoke marajuana...okay she seems pretty stable. I finally get the hard sell about going to the VIP room, but I decline her offers. She gives me a lapdance and disappears. The talent was pretty good but most of the girls hit you with the VIP scam right up front and if you were not interested they got up and left. I had a very lovely Hawaiian girl with long black hair down to her butt sit down and engaged in some small talk. I had a lap dance which was very good and I ended up buying her a drink at the bar. We talked for quite a while; I was expecting the VIP talk any second, but the topic never came up. We walked back to the table and she gave me another great dance. We enjoyed ourselves...Fingers had a really good time...and left at 04:30 A Heineken cost $11 and a fricking bottle of water cost me 10 bucks!!!
WEDNESDAY 3/20
I struggle out of bed at the crack of 11AM, sigh. Mikey and Fingers bring over their suitcases to stash in my room for the day. While Mikey is checking out of his room, I sat down at a Playboy slot machine and promptly hit a nice bonus round and cash out with a tidy $40 profit. We put Freddie's suitcase in the car and drive down to the Aria to meet Freddie's Mom. Mike wants to pick up some things for his infant son, so we walk over to the M & M store and he buys some clothes for him. We started to walk up towards the PHo when Fingers sees a sign advertising a foot massage for only $9.95..Fingers is sold. Really?? Mikey says that there has to be a catch, and we continue on to wander around the Miracle Mile shops while Fingers gets his massage. A little while later he gives us a call and we meet back up over at the Aria. Turns out that it cost $9.95 PER FOOT. We watched the George Mason game in the Aria sportsbook and then say our goodbyes to Fingers. He is staying over until Friday.
Back at the Gate we have our heads handed to us at the BJ tables again...lose another $200 to end the trip with a whimper....or was that a sob? We dropped off the car without incident and check in at Spirit was quick. The lines at security were small and soon we were at the gate. Dinner was at Burger King..only place open at that time of night. Our 12:30 AM flight was on time and both of us slept until touchdown in MSP. It took me about 10 minutes to clear and scrape the snow and ice off of my car at the park and fly lot; fortunately this trip the roads were clear and we made good time getting back to Rochester. It took me about a half and hour to shovel my driveway and sidewalks...welcome home.
EPILOGUE
My Vegas bankroll really took a beating this trip, but I had a great time with Madman and Fingers. Most of my gambling was at the Gate...never spent a dime on the strip. The weather was great, sunny and in the high 70's and low 80's...perfect...especially when it was snowing and in the single digits back home. I like staying at the Gate...rooms aren't fancy, but comfortable. The dealers are friendly and pleasant on the eyes. Drink service was terribly slow during the afternoon, but Ivy took good care of us at night. I really hate the players who buy in for 20-40 bucks, play a few hands then leave. We had one guy sit down at the beginning of a shoe and buy in for $10...ten bucks!!. He gets a 14 to the dealers 6...takes a hit and busts...WTF? Then gets up and leaves. It seemed that when Mike and I played at a table alone we did well, but as soon as other people sat down, we would start to lose. Oh well, they all can't be winning trips.
I mentioned in my last TR about having Enterprise file a claim against me about a small scrape on the bumper of my rental car. I have a premium rental car insurance policy thru American Express. It took a while, but Am Ex came thru and paid the $450 claim...sweet. The last couple of trips I haven't been able to do a lot of things that I wanted...so a solo trip seemed like a good idea. First week in June...two free nights in a Bally's north tower room...probably stay at the Golden Gate for free for the rest of the trip. Sun Country just posted a RT fare for $271...jumped on it. Starting my countdown. Well, it's a wrap....sorry for being long winded...hope you enjoyed the read....Thanks.
