Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 23
For a guy who usually gets up between 4 and 6 AM, waking at 10 AM is just a little disconcerting. Having gotten home after midnight and watching late night TV took its toll. For more than twenty years as a musician playing clubs and bars where the nights started at 9PM and getting home at four in the morning was common, you can imagine how ludicrous it is for me to be the schedule I’m on now. It’s odd how my life turned out to have three distinct chapters: first 20 years - school and Air Force; second 20 years – musician and school; third 20 years – high school teacher. The final 20 years? Retired curmudgeon…
Being that the day started so late, today’s report will no doubt be a short one. I went across the street once again to the Silver Sevens for breakfast (I intend to use up all my slot comps here). Being a weekend I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised to see the place is full of people, but it always strikes me that it doesn’t matter which casino you walk into here in Las Vegas, there are always people walking to the next machine, sitting at the bars sipping drinks, hunched over cards or tossing dice, or standing in line at the sportsbook to make their next bet—lots and lots and lots of people.
Today I thought I’d take a drive out to North Las Vegas to the Aliante Hotel and Casino. I wanted to see the latest Despicable Me movie and to check out what was new, if anything. Fortunately, Interstate 15 was free of construction and a lot of traffic (a rare thing). As I arrived at the casino, the smoke was very obvious. If you haven’t read about it, Mt. Charleston is on fire and has been for a few days. There’s been a full evacuation of the popular ski and hiking destination. I tried to take a picture of the fire, but it’s not very good as I’m very far from it but I could still make out the smoke billowing up to the sky.
That's smoke making this picture dull of the marquee at Aliante Hotel and Casino
My best shot at trying to the smoke rising off Mt Charleston
The casino itself is pretty much the same as when Station owned it. I needed to go to the slot booth to get a new card as the Station card is no longer valid here. They gave me my new card and told me of a room they now have called The Launching Pad where they have the newest games they want people to try out. I went in and played a few of them. Let’s face it; all the penny games are pretty much all the same, only the themes and characters change. If you don’t catch a bonus round, you’re likely not going to win anything. There was one called Dazzle which is playing five Triple 7s games at the same time with an extra spins bonus. I broke even and was not impressed.
I did catch the 3D showing of Despicable Me 2 and though I thought the first one was better, this one featured the minions more and it was good—not great—but the kids in the audience loved it.
So, it was my intention to drive back the way I came and make a stop at a couple of the small casinos like the Opera House and Jerry’s Nugget, but I took a wrong turn, got on the wrong highway and before I knew it, I was driving along the 125 heading along the back swing to Red Rock.
My hallway at the Candlewood Hotel...very SHINING-like.
I honestly didn’t feel like doing anything else today, so I drove back to the Strip, stopped and at sub joint and got a chicken wrap and took it back to the hotel. It wasn’t much of a day to report on, but some of them will be just that—more of a kick back day—and there’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose.
More tomorrow.
For a guy who usually gets up between 4 and 6 AM, waking at 10 AM is just a little disconcerting. Having gotten home after midnight and watching late night TV took its toll. For more than twenty years as a musician playing clubs and bars where the nights started at 9PM and getting home at four in the morning was common, you can imagine how ludicrous it is for me to be the schedule I’m on now. It’s odd how my life turned out to have three distinct chapters: first 20 years - school and Air Force; second 20 years – musician and school; third 20 years – high school teacher. The final 20 years? Retired curmudgeon…
Being that the day started so late, today’s report will no doubt be a short one. I went across the street once again to the Silver Sevens for breakfast (I intend to use up all my slot comps here). Being a weekend I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised to see the place is full of people, but it always strikes me that it doesn’t matter which casino you walk into here in Las Vegas, there are always people walking to the next machine, sitting at the bars sipping drinks, hunched over cards or tossing dice, or standing in line at the sportsbook to make their next bet—lots and lots and lots of people.
Today I thought I’d take a drive out to North Las Vegas to the Aliante Hotel and Casino. I wanted to see the latest Despicable Me movie and to check out what was new, if anything. Fortunately, Interstate 15 was free of construction and a lot of traffic (a rare thing). As I arrived at the casino, the smoke was very obvious. If you haven’t read about it, Mt. Charleston is on fire and has been for a few days. There’s been a full evacuation of the popular ski and hiking destination. I tried to take a picture of the fire, but it’s not very good as I’m very far from it but I could still make out the smoke billowing up to the sky.
That's smoke making this picture dull of the marquee at Aliante Hotel and Casino
My best shot at trying to the smoke rising off Mt Charleston
The casino itself is pretty much the same as when Station owned it. I needed to go to the slot booth to get a new card as the Station card is no longer valid here. They gave me my new card and told me of a room they now have called The Launching Pad where they have the newest games they want people to try out. I went in and played a few of them. Let’s face it; all the penny games are pretty much all the same, only the themes and characters change. If you don’t catch a bonus round, you’re likely not going to win anything. There was one called Dazzle which is playing five Triple 7s games at the same time with an extra spins bonus. I broke even and was not impressed.
I did catch the 3D showing of Despicable Me 2 and though I thought the first one was better, this one featured the minions more and it was good—not great—but the kids in the audience loved it.
So, it was my intention to drive back the way I came and make a stop at a couple of the small casinos like the Opera House and Jerry’s Nugget, but I took a wrong turn, got on the wrong highway and before I knew it, I was driving along the 125 heading along the back swing to Red Rock.
My hallway at the Candlewood Hotel...very SHINING-like.
I honestly didn’t feel like doing anything else today, so I drove back to the Strip, stopped and at sub joint and got a chicken wrap and took it back to the hotel. It wasn’t much of a day to report on, but some of them will be just that—more of a kick back day—and there’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose.
More tomorrow.
