Went to Tahoe for MM tournament on 6/19.
6/16 drove from Los Angeles area to Manteca, CA stayed overnight at Hampton Inn Manteca. There's a Bass Pro shop(no slots), restaurants, and an AMC theatre within a short walk of hotel. Ghirardelli's factory with discount store a few miles north in Lathrop. Got there around 10:45 am, couldn't get early check-in as hotel had been full the night before and most people hadn't checked out yet. There had been a baseball tournament at their "Field of Dreams" facility and lots of the players and their families were staying in Manteca area to be close to baseball field. So we had lunch, got an awesome banana split and chocolate bars at Ghirardellis, went to a movie and were able to check-in at 3:30 pm. Last year we had stayed at the Madera Hampton Inn, but nothing close to it so you had to get on the freeway and drive an exit or two from the hotel to eat, shop, or whatever.
Left Monday morning after a typical Hampton Inn breakfast, only this time there were actual slices of bacon as the Rogue River hotshots (specialty firefighters from Oregan) had all come down for breakfast and finished off the cheese sausage omelet before we came down to eat. Worked out for me, I don't eat eggs so we usually drive thru a Mc Donalds for my sausage mc muffin so I have some meat.
Note: lots of construction on the 99 where you have those krails on your left if in the fast lane and a semi on your right that's in the slow lane of the 2 lanes. I didn't count the miles, but it was over 20 miles like that leaving Manteca. I still prefer the 99 to the 5 when going to Tahoe or Reno.
We usually use a credit card for gas purchases, but this time noticed that the Arco stations were about 30 cents/gallon less than Chevron and Shell our usual stations. So we paid cash.
Stayed at Mont Bleu Monday on $29 offer, no resort fee. Room worn, but bed was nice and that Caesars Palace emblem glass panel around the very large round jetted tub was a surprise. I knew if had been CP before, but thought there would only be small reminders that it had been CP.
Mont Bleu has the discounted breakfasts, lunches, and dinners Harrahs and Harveys don't offer. We had the $9.99 prime rib dinner one night and the prime rib was great. It came with a baked potato(or mashed) with sour cream/chives and butter on the side and a medley of fresh cauliflower, broccoli, & carrots. Drinks were at additional cost. At lunch they have a daily special for those over 55, we tried the Wednesday Chicken pot pie and it was delicious(cost is $5.55 each day). They also have 2 of the Sigma horse racing machines down in the sports book area. I hit a 45 to 1 shot.
Mont Bleu was remodeling their buffet so we didn't get to try it. Wasn't very impressed with Harrahs buffet last time and didn't chance it this trip.
Had to get over to Harrahs to get my $100 freeplay as it was the last day to claim it. I had option of $100 chip for tables or slot freeplay. Freeplay was given at cashiers on those slips you put into the slot machines(these had a September expiration so I thought about saving them for next trip, but wasn't sure we'd get back to Tahoe this year). I used them the next day when I also had $70 freeplay from monthly mailer. I wish they would let you break the freeplay down to smaller amounts. I tried to get them to break the $20 ones, but didn't succeed with my many trips to the cashiers at different times of day and night.
Tuesday morning checked out of Mont Bleu and into Harrahs Tahoe. Room wasn't ready yet, but that was ok. My hubby and I both had comped exec rooms.
Since tournament registration and play weren't until Wednesday, we went down to Reno to claim some freeplay at Siena and Harrahs. We got to Harrahs in time for beginning of lunch at buffet and we were able to use my husband's 2 for 1 coupon with my $15 dining coupon and my son's $10 dining coupon and got all 3 buffets for free. This was the best food I've ever had at the Reno Harrahs buffet. We looked for some slots to use our freeplay and found the 3 kings slot with all 3 spins a blaze. I pointed it out to my son and he hit it for the 84 free spins which netted him $284.
After that we went over to Siena to use up our free slot play. I had $70 in freeplay, and just wanted to turn it into cash. Remember that Arco gas we paid cash for, I had to get it back. So I turned it into $75 of real cash and we left. I'm still trying to get some of my money back from first time we stayed at Siena a couple of years ago.
Drove back to Tahoe and picked up keys to rooms. Played some VP, but nothing hitting for me, played some slots was up and down. Hubby and son were short on their bankrolls and went to the room. I went and played some $1 Dbl Dbl single line and was up about $155 when I was about to leave. Played it one more time and up pops 4 aces and a 4. Made sure to hold everything and it was a sweet $2000 pay off. Did get a W2G also. Played same machine a little more, but nothing working. Decided to go back to room and keep my winnings.
Wednesday was tournament registration with 2 10 minute rounds after registering(we like the earlier rounds). Hubby and son had average scores for that round, mine just hit 3,000. High score in that round was 11, 300. Same thing next round hubby and son average score me 3,100. High score in our second round was over 10,000 on same machine other person had gotten 11,300. They were only paying to 50th place and hubby and son each got $40 of freeplay. It's funny, while I don't know if the person who got the 11,300 score ended up winning the whole tournament, he had bought in for $25 just like the guy who won the whole tournament last year for a $25 buy in. Next time I'm going to buy in and see if it helps.
We had a good time I brought back some money. Weather was on the temperature cold side 60's in day and mid 30's at night. We were outside quite a bit in shorts and short sleeve shirts and it didn't seem that cold. With the exception of the road construction on 99, the drives up and back were nice.
6/16 drove from Los Angeles area to Manteca, CA stayed overnight at Hampton Inn Manteca. There's a Bass Pro shop(no slots), restaurants, and an AMC theatre within a short walk of hotel. Ghirardelli's factory with discount store a few miles north in Lathrop. Got there around 10:45 am, couldn't get early check-in as hotel had been full the night before and most people hadn't checked out yet. There had been a baseball tournament at their "Field of Dreams" facility and lots of the players and their families were staying in Manteca area to be close to baseball field. So we had lunch, got an awesome banana split and chocolate bars at Ghirardellis, went to a movie and were able to check-in at 3:30 pm. Last year we had stayed at the Madera Hampton Inn, but nothing close to it so you had to get on the freeway and drive an exit or two from the hotel to eat, shop, or whatever.
Left Monday morning after a typical Hampton Inn breakfast, only this time there were actual slices of bacon as the Rogue River hotshots (specialty firefighters from Oregan) had all come down for breakfast and finished off the cheese sausage omelet before we came down to eat. Worked out for me, I don't eat eggs so we usually drive thru a Mc Donalds for my sausage mc muffin so I have some meat.
Note: lots of construction on the 99 where you have those krails on your left if in the fast lane and a semi on your right that's in the slow lane of the 2 lanes. I didn't count the miles, but it was over 20 miles like that leaving Manteca. I still prefer the 99 to the 5 when going to Tahoe or Reno.
We usually use a credit card for gas purchases, but this time noticed that the Arco stations were about 30 cents/gallon less than Chevron and Shell our usual stations. So we paid cash.
Stayed at Mont Bleu Monday on $29 offer, no resort fee. Room worn, but bed was nice and that Caesars Palace emblem glass panel around the very large round jetted tub was a surprise. I knew if had been CP before, but thought there would only be small reminders that it had been CP.
Mont Bleu has the discounted breakfasts, lunches, and dinners Harrahs and Harveys don't offer. We had the $9.99 prime rib dinner one night and the prime rib was great. It came with a baked potato(or mashed) with sour cream/chives and butter on the side and a medley of fresh cauliflower, broccoli, & carrots. Drinks were at additional cost. At lunch they have a daily special for those over 55, we tried the Wednesday Chicken pot pie and it was delicious(cost is $5.55 each day). They also have 2 of the Sigma horse racing machines down in the sports book area. I hit a 45 to 1 shot.
Mont Bleu was remodeling their buffet so we didn't get to try it. Wasn't very impressed with Harrahs buffet last time and didn't chance it this trip.
Had to get over to Harrahs to get my $100 freeplay as it was the last day to claim it. I had option of $100 chip for tables or slot freeplay. Freeplay was given at cashiers on those slips you put into the slot machines(these had a September expiration so I thought about saving them for next trip, but wasn't sure we'd get back to Tahoe this year). I used them the next day when I also had $70 freeplay from monthly mailer. I wish they would let you break the freeplay down to smaller amounts. I tried to get them to break the $20 ones, but didn't succeed with my many trips to the cashiers at different times of day and night.
Tuesday morning checked out of Mont Bleu and into Harrahs Tahoe. Room wasn't ready yet, but that was ok. My hubby and I both had comped exec rooms.
Since tournament registration and play weren't until Wednesday, we went down to Reno to claim some freeplay at Siena and Harrahs. We got to Harrahs in time for beginning of lunch at buffet and we were able to use my husband's 2 for 1 coupon with my $15 dining coupon and my son's $10 dining coupon and got all 3 buffets for free. This was the best food I've ever had at the Reno Harrahs buffet. We looked for some slots to use our freeplay and found the 3 kings slot with all 3 spins a blaze. I pointed it out to my son and he hit it for the 84 free spins which netted him $284.
After that we went over to Siena to use up our free slot play. I had $70 in freeplay, and just wanted to turn it into cash. Remember that Arco gas we paid cash for, I had to get it back. So I turned it into $75 of real cash and we left. I'm still trying to get some of my money back from first time we stayed at Siena a couple of years ago.
Drove back to Tahoe and picked up keys to rooms. Played some VP, but nothing hitting for me, played some slots was up and down. Hubby and son were short on their bankrolls and went to the room. I went and played some $1 Dbl Dbl single line and was up about $155 when I was about to leave. Played it one more time and up pops 4 aces and a 4. Made sure to hold everything and it was a sweet $2000 pay off. Did get a W2G also. Played same machine a little more, but nothing working. Decided to go back to room and keep my winnings.
Wednesday was tournament registration with 2 10 minute rounds after registering(we like the earlier rounds). Hubby and son had average scores for that round, mine just hit 3,000. High score in that round was 11, 300. Same thing next round hubby and son average score me 3,100. High score in our second round was over 10,000 on same machine other person had gotten 11,300. They were only paying to 50th place and hubby and son each got $40 of freeplay. It's funny, while I don't know if the person who got the 11,300 score ended up winning the whole tournament, he had bought in for $25 just like the guy who won the whole tournament last year for a $25 buy in. Next time I'm going to buy in and see if it helps.
We had a good time I brought back some money. Weather was on the temperature cold side 60's in day and mid 30's at night. We were outside quite a bit in shorts and short sleeve shirts and it didn't seem that cold. With the exception of the road construction on 99, the drives up and back were nice.
