Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 22
It was a night of more tossing and turning that I don’t like, but sleep eventually came so I got a rather late start to the day. After writing up the trip report, I had to pack everything up as it was moving day once again. After checking out and putting the bags in the car, I went back to the buffet for an omelet and coffee with a newspaper. Where I live, they don’t deliver newspapers, and though I know they’re heading the way of the VHS tape players, I still enjoy actually holding the newspaper in my hand and scanning the entire page. It’s one of the more relaxing times for me.
I was running low on gas and needed to find a Starbucks to post the report, so I drove down to Henderson to the Costco and filled up ($3.43 per gallon). When I take these trips every year, I make it a habit to set my odometer to zero, so I can keep track of the miles each trip takes. So far, I’ve driven just less than 1600 miles. I’m anticipating about 5K for the total trip. After my Starbuck stop, I thought being that I’m down this way, I might as well get in my annual Lake Las Vegas run.
People who have been with me when I drive will attest to the fact that I always insist on driving. I say it’s a motion sickness thing when I’m a passenger, but most everyone will say it’s a “control” thing. I sometimes do have a problem with “auto-pilot syndrome.” When I’ve driven certain routes many times, I will catch myself following a certain pattern, even though it’s not where I want to go. This happened this morning. I caught myself twice driving the wrong way. First, I was heading towards, Sam’s Town until I realized it was the wrong direction, and then I turned back towards the Costco, which is still the wrong way. After a “you idiot!” to myself (I left out some epithets), I was on my way.
Lake Las Vegas is a favorite of mine. I used to come here when it first opened, and it held so much promise. However, the recession really kicked its butt. The Ritz Carlton went through a couple of ownership changes and is now a Hilton. I parked in the Montelago garage. The Montelago Casino was closed for a while but was re-opened about a year ago under new management. Well, things have not gone well. The casino is now down to under a hundred machines. It’s around noon and I counted only seven people in the entire place.
Lake Las Vegas, still a beautiful sight
The Montelago Casino...not many people...not many machines
I walked out to the Village and things were not much better. I’ve taken pictures of his same village now for perhaps the last seven or eight years, and if I were to take all of those pictures and compare it to this year’s you’d swear it’s the same picture—a completely empty shopping area.
The Lake Las Vegas Village
Though many stores come and go, there are a couple that somehow manage to hang on. The Gelato store, an Italian restaurant, and the Irish bar. Other than that, it’s a new, brave entrepreneur hoping things turn around. I stopped into a new restaurant to get out of the heat and have a beer. It’s called 3 Amigos. The bartender/waiter was very enthusiastic and asked what I’d like. I ordered a Dos Equis Amber (I don’t usually drink beer, but when I do…). I didn’t order anything to eat, but there were a few other diners here, and it looks like the food is very good. One of my favorite things to do on these trips is to just sit in a bar, enjoy a beer and watch TV.
I took a walk over to the now Hilton hotel. All the furnishings are still the same as when it was the Ritz Carlton—still a beautiful place. They offer a pretty good weekend brunch, Steak and Eggs with bottomless glasses of sparkling wines or mimosas for $9.99. I still have my hopes for Lake Las Vegas—I have many special memories here.
On my drive back, I thought I’d take Boulder Hwy so I could make a couple of stops at the small, local casinos there. First was Joker’s Wild. This place has been here for many, many years and was bought by the Stations Corp a few years ago; however, they have their own slot club. This is a place where you can still play $2 blackjack and $1 craps.
Joker's Wild on Boulder Hwy in Henderson
The casino at Joker's Wild
The place wasn’t jammed but there were quite a few customers playing the machines, at the tables, and in the sportsbook. One thing these local casinos all seem to have are great food deals. For the month of July, the Joker’s Wild café is featuring a complete spaghetti and meatball dinner for $2.99. I played a 2-cent Multi-Strike video poker game for a little while breaking even. Then $5 in Keno—nada.
I drove further down Boulder Hwy and pulled into Skyline Casino, another local’s favorite known for their good food deals.
The Skyline Casino
Entrance to the Skyline
As you can see on their sign, there is no slot club, however, they do have a lot of full pay video poker games including full pay deuces wild (a more and more rare find nowadays), 9/6 Jacks and a Joker’s Wild 18/7/5 with royals paying $1175. The 9/6 Jacks paid a 4500 royal, but I might drive back down there sometime and look at those machines again. There was something I noticed when I took a picture of it—I’ll explain later. One major thing to note here, all these good paying machines are all coin-fed. So, expect to take a longer time playing, hopper fills, and dirty hands. Finally, if people smoking bothers you—this isn’t a place for you.
Something look fishy to you?
It was almost 4PM and I’ve yet to check in to my new digs. I’m staying at the Candlewood Suites, which is located at Paradise and Flamingo. What? No casino? Candlewood Suites is in the Holiday Inn Express family and I belong to their IHG Rewards club, which awards points for your stays. I used my points to pay for my two nights here—free is a very big incentive for me. I stayed here either last summer (or the summer before—it’s all becoming a fog) and I like it. The suites are really studio apartments with a complete kitchen.
Candlewood Hotel
The view from my 4th floor room
There’s free WI-FI, free laundry and an honor-system mini-store with frozen food selections, beverages, and breakfast items. They have stove tops that have a safety timer on them, a microwave, and full refrigerators with ice makers, and a dishwasher. It’s really a nice place. The negatives? There’s a hospital a few blocks away and sirens seem to be non-stop, and there’s no covered parking.
After checking in, I just hung out in the room. There’s HBO on TV and they were showing FORREST GUMP. I’m a sucker for this movie and got caught up watching it again. I mentioned in a previous report that I was a fan of Paula Poundstone and I did buy a ticket, which is tonight. So, I got dressed and had dinner at the Silver Sevens (the old Terribles), which is just across the street. They are offering a Grand Opening special Steak and Lobster dinners for $7.77. Okay, I’ll bite (pun intended).
What you'd expect from a Steak and Lobster dinner costing only $7.77
I used my slot points to pay for the dinner and headed back to the Orleans. I’ve never been in the showroom here and I was surprised at how small it was compared to other places. Though I paid for the better seats, I’ll know in the future that pretty much every seat here is okay. Paula’s show was supposed to be 90 minutes, but she stayed on stage for over two hours as everyone (including her) seemed to be having a great time. It’s hard to figure if she has a set “act” or not. All of her comedy and stories were built around the audience. She’s not like Rickles or Vinnie and puts people down, she simply talks to people and tells stories. One man was a retired vending machine owner, and she went on about her life and vending machines. I laughed for almost the entire two hours. Her brand of humor isn’t for everyone (a few people left early), but I had a great time.
I got back to the hotel after 11PM (way, way, way past my bedtime—I’m SO old). The bed here is soft (thank you!). It was a good day.
More tomorrow
It was a night of more tossing and turning that I don’t like, but sleep eventually came so I got a rather late start to the day. After writing up the trip report, I had to pack everything up as it was moving day once again. After checking out and putting the bags in the car, I went back to the buffet for an omelet and coffee with a newspaper. Where I live, they don’t deliver newspapers, and though I know they’re heading the way of the VHS tape players, I still enjoy actually holding the newspaper in my hand and scanning the entire page. It’s one of the more relaxing times for me.
I was running low on gas and needed to find a Starbucks to post the report, so I drove down to Henderson to the Costco and filled up ($3.43 per gallon). When I take these trips every year, I make it a habit to set my odometer to zero, so I can keep track of the miles each trip takes. So far, I’ve driven just less than 1600 miles. I’m anticipating about 5K for the total trip. After my Starbuck stop, I thought being that I’m down this way, I might as well get in my annual Lake Las Vegas run.
People who have been with me when I drive will attest to the fact that I always insist on driving. I say it’s a motion sickness thing when I’m a passenger, but most everyone will say it’s a “control” thing. I sometimes do have a problem with “auto-pilot syndrome.” When I’ve driven certain routes many times, I will catch myself following a certain pattern, even though it’s not where I want to go. This happened this morning. I caught myself twice driving the wrong way. First, I was heading towards, Sam’s Town until I realized it was the wrong direction, and then I turned back towards the Costco, which is still the wrong way. After a “you idiot!” to myself (I left out some epithets), I was on my way.
Lake Las Vegas is a favorite of mine. I used to come here when it first opened, and it held so much promise. However, the recession really kicked its butt. The Ritz Carlton went through a couple of ownership changes and is now a Hilton. I parked in the Montelago garage. The Montelago Casino was closed for a while but was re-opened about a year ago under new management. Well, things have not gone well. The casino is now down to under a hundred machines. It’s around noon and I counted only seven people in the entire place.
Lake Las Vegas, still a beautiful sight
The Montelago Casino...not many people...not many machines
I walked out to the Village and things were not much better. I’ve taken pictures of his same village now for perhaps the last seven or eight years, and if I were to take all of those pictures and compare it to this year’s you’d swear it’s the same picture—a completely empty shopping area.
The Lake Las Vegas Village
Though many stores come and go, there are a couple that somehow manage to hang on. The Gelato store, an Italian restaurant, and the Irish bar. Other than that, it’s a new, brave entrepreneur hoping things turn around. I stopped into a new restaurant to get out of the heat and have a beer. It’s called 3 Amigos. The bartender/waiter was very enthusiastic and asked what I’d like. I ordered a Dos Equis Amber (I don’t usually drink beer, but when I do…). I didn’t order anything to eat, but there were a few other diners here, and it looks like the food is very good. One of my favorite things to do on these trips is to just sit in a bar, enjoy a beer and watch TV.
I took a walk over to the now Hilton hotel. All the furnishings are still the same as when it was the Ritz Carlton—still a beautiful place. They offer a pretty good weekend brunch, Steak and Eggs with bottomless glasses of sparkling wines or mimosas for $9.99. I still have my hopes for Lake Las Vegas—I have many special memories here.
On my drive back, I thought I’d take Boulder Hwy so I could make a couple of stops at the small, local casinos there. First was Joker’s Wild. This place has been here for many, many years and was bought by the Stations Corp a few years ago; however, they have their own slot club. This is a place where you can still play $2 blackjack and $1 craps.
Joker's Wild on Boulder Hwy in Henderson
The casino at Joker's Wild
The place wasn’t jammed but there were quite a few customers playing the machines, at the tables, and in the sportsbook. One thing these local casinos all seem to have are great food deals. For the month of July, the Joker’s Wild café is featuring a complete spaghetti and meatball dinner for $2.99. I played a 2-cent Multi-Strike video poker game for a little while breaking even. Then $5 in Keno—nada.
I drove further down Boulder Hwy and pulled into Skyline Casino, another local’s favorite known for their good food deals.
The Skyline Casino
Entrance to the Skyline
As you can see on their sign, there is no slot club, however, they do have a lot of full pay video poker games including full pay deuces wild (a more and more rare find nowadays), 9/6 Jacks and a Joker’s Wild 18/7/5 with royals paying $1175. The 9/6 Jacks paid a 4500 royal, but I might drive back down there sometime and look at those machines again. There was something I noticed when I took a picture of it—I’ll explain later. One major thing to note here, all these good paying machines are all coin-fed. So, expect to take a longer time playing, hopper fills, and dirty hands. Finally, if people smoking bothers you—this isn’t a place for you.
Something look fishy to you?
It was almost 4PM and I’ve yet to check in to my new digs. I’m staying at the Candlewood Suites, which is located at Paradise and Flamingo. What? No casino? Candlewood Suites is in the Holiday Inn Express family and I belong to their IHG Rewards club, which awards points for your stays. I used my points to pay for my two nights here—free is a very big incentive for me. I stayed here either last summer (or the summer before—it’s all becoming a fog) and I like it. The suites are really studio apartments with a complete kitchen.
Candlewood Hotel
The view from my 4th floor room
There’s free WI-FI, free laundry and an honor-system mini-store with frozen food selections, beverages, and breakfast items. They have stove tops that have a safety timer on them, a microwave, and full refrigerators with ice makers, and a dishwasher. It’s really a nice place. The negatives? There’s a hospital a few blocks away and sirens seem to be non-stop, and there’s no covered parking.
After checking in, I just hung out in the room. There’s HBO on TV and they were showing FORREST GUMP. I’m a sucker for this movie and got caught up watching it again. I mentioned in a previous report that I was a fan of Paula Poundstone and I did buy a ticket, which is tonight. So, I got dressed and had dinner at the Silver Sevens (the old Terribles), which is just across the street. They are offering a Grand Opening special Steak and Lobster dinners for $7.77. Okay, I’ll bite (pun intended).
What you'd expect from a Steak and Lobster dinner costing only $7.77
I used my slot points to pay for the dinner and headed back to the Orleans. I’ve never been in the showroom here and I was surprised at how small it was compared to other places. Though I paid for the better seats, I’ll know in the future that pretty much every seat here is okay. Paula’s show was supposed to be 90 minutes, but she stayed on stage for over two hours as everyone (including her) seemed to be having a great time. It’s hard to figure if she has a set “act” or not. All of her comedy and stories were built around the audience. She’s not like Rickles or Vinnie and puts people down, she simply talks to people and tells stories. One man was a retired vending machine owner, and she went on about her life and vending machines. I laughed for almost the entire two hours. Her brand of humor isn’t for everyone (a few people left early), but I had a great time.
I got back to the hotel after 11PM (way, way, way past my bedtime—I’m SO old). The bed here is soft (thank you!). It was a good day.
More tomorrow
