PROLOGUE:
I originally wanted to make this trip the 2nd week of December, but the Rodeo was in town that week. Big hats, big boots, big belt buckles and inflated hotel prices to go along with the big crowds. CET wouldn't give me any love for a room that week..almost gave up on the trip, but on a whim I checked out the 1st week and Dec .... CET still loves me. They gave me 4 free nights at Bally's...booked it. Sun Country came through with a decent fare of $240 RT from MSP. No rental car this trip....purchased a 3 day bus pass on line; ticket arrived in the mail a couple of days before the trip. I've seen most of the "A" list Vegas shows, but jumped at the chance to see Jeff Dunham at the PHo..got a 2nd row seat in the center section...close enough to see Walter's nose hairs.
THE TRIP:
Winter came early this year, bringing a bunch of snow and plunging temperatures. I can take below zero temps, but in mid November..geesh, give me a break. I was really looking forward to some mild temperatures and some of that good old southern Nevada sunshine.....Ha!
I upgraded myself to first class the night before my trip; nothing like starting out a Vegas trip flying 1st class. I was glad that I upgraded as the TSA line at the airport was HUGE. There was no one in the first class line, so I strolled past a mass of humanity, right up to the security agent and handed him my ID and boarding pass...sensing the glares of the people in the regular line. I had TSA pre-check, so I didn't even have to take off my shoes...talk about Rock Star status. I had my usual double Hendricks and tonic at the bar; should have had another as our plane had mechanical problems and we were an hour late pulling out of the gate. Oh well, a delicious gin and tonic before takeoff took the frustrating edge off and I relaxed in my comfortable 1st class seat. Dinner entree was meatloaf, washed down with a couple more G & T's. I passed on the warm chocolate cookie for dessert.
I cabbed it to Bally's..."No Tunnel". The cabbie was chatting away when I realized that he was in the wrong lane on Tropicana in order to make the right turn onto Koval. "Where the hell are you taking me?" "Thought you wanted to go up the Strip". Wrong, I've seen it dozens of times...get in the other lane and take Koval. Suddenly Mr "chatty" went silent for the remainder of the ride...sons-of-bitching cab drivers.
The $20 sandwich upgraded me from a north tower room to a very nice strip view room in the Jubilee tower on the 64th floor overlooking the south strip and 2/3 of the Bellagio fountains...great view. The remodeled room was very nice, roomy with a comfortable bed and more pillows than in a sorority house. The bathroom had a huge walk-in shower, but no tub...fine by me.
The weather was pretty bad compared to previous Vegas trips. It was heavily overcast the entire trip with a steady downpour of rain for most of Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I spent Tuesday afternoon downtown and the FSE was barren of tourists, even the costumed performers had fled. However the temperatures remained in the mid 60's during the day...short sleeve weather for me. Temps were in the 40's at night so I resorted to a long sleeve shirt...can't believe call the wimps walking around with goose down coats and mittens. I guess the weather was the biggest letdown for me this trip...always look forward to a heavy dose of the great Nevada sunshine.
I took full advantage of my dining coupons this trip. I sampled the Paris and Pho buffets this trip; I hadn't been to either of them in several years. Both were okay, not great...Paris had more variety than the Spice Market buffet...the crepes at Paris were disappointing however. Neither buffet had a big variety of fresh fruit...no watermelon. Thursday I had breakfast at Bally's cafe and I grabbed a breakfast sandwich and doughnut on Friday. My evening meals consisted mostly of scavenging off of the Diamond lounge buffet offering and coney dogs at the D casino downtown. I rarely eat lunch in Vegas.....well usually my midday nourishment is of the liquid variety.
I made my usual pilgrimage to the Rio Wine Cellar one evening. Jose set me up with an excellent wine flight of various white wines. The Four Graces Pinot Gris from Oregon is very nice. There was an elderly gentleman sitting a few stools down from me and after a while we struck up a conversation. Spencer is a grand old gentleman from the Phoenix area who grew up and lived in Chicago most of his life. Interesting guy. He and his wife were regular Vegas visitors; unfortunately his wife had died recently and he was making the trip alone, frequenting all the old places that they enjoyed in Vegas. Nice old guy, I hope I run into him again.
I met a couple of LVA members this trip. Swann5077 and his wife Laura(Laurie?) from New York City and Timberwolf from San Diego. Swann5077 and I decided to meet one evening at the Hogs and Heifers bar downtown just off of the FSE. It was so loud in the bar that we soon walked across the street to the Downtown Grand so that we could carry on a conversation without screaming at each other. He was interested about my September road trip up to the Lake Tahoe area, so I provided him with some literature about the area that I had picked up during my stay. We talked for quite a while before we parted ways...hope he makes it to Tahoe some day....I know he will enjoy the trip. Good meeting you, Tommy.
I had met Timberwolf while playing at the Boar's Head Bar at MSS on my last trip. He PM'd me shortly before my trip and informed me that he would be staying at the Cromwell. We spent quite a bit of time together and I really enjoyed the company of a Vegas veteran. He introduced me to the World of the CET Diamond lounges; visiting the ones at the Flamingo, Harrah's, Pho and the very nice lounge at Caesars. Nothing like free drinks and free food. I found out that I am quite fond of Mudslides...very tasty. Timberwolf and I spent a couple of hours playing VP at the bar at the Palms casino late one night....had a blast. Timberwolf showed me some of the hand signals that he uses to let his friends know when he hits certain hands...signs indicating a straight, a flush, full house, etc. I improvised my own signal for a flush, which Timberwolf quickly adopted. So here we are playing at the bar side by side, frequently making these animated hand gestures....I wonder what the bartender and the other players around us thought we were doing. I had a run of flushes all night, but couldn't get a 4OAK. Timberwolf kept hitting straights, but no 4OAKs either. His buyin was getting pretty low, but shortly before we had to leave in order to catch the last Rio shuttle, he hit a couple of those suckers to put him ahead for the session. We had to make for a brisk walk back to the Rio and just made the shuttle with a couple of minutes to spare.
CET was having their Great Gift Wrap going on during the week. I have just ignored this event in the past, as I just assumed that my play didn't make me eligible for any rewards...wrong. Timberwolf filled me in on what the program was all about and we made our way over to Caesars so that I could check it out. Hey, I got a $10 gift card for Home Depot...not much but I'll take it. They had a huge ballroom crammed with merchandise on display. I think I'll have to up my level of play considerably in order to be able to buy that bass boat. Timberwolf, I can't thank you enough for letting me hang out with you during my trip....really enjoyed our VP sessions and conversations in the Diamond Lounges..hope to run into you again.
Tuesday was my "downtown" day. I played VP for quite a while at MSS, with Jose the bartender serving up those tasty Black Chip porters. I also gave the machines at the Vue bar upstairs at the D a lot of play. Shortly after sitting down, a lady came up to me and asked if I had seen a TITO that was in the next machine to my right. I told her that I had not seen it when I sat down. She looked dismayed and then resigned that it was lost. I hope that she didn't think that I swiped it. About ten minutes later a "suit" arrived at the bar and the bartender called him over. He showed him a TITO that he had found in a machine. I piped up and told him about the lady looking for a lost TITO...bad timing all the way around.
Thursday morning I walked down to the Mandalay Bay Shoppes to the Art of Shaving. My usual barber, Jack, gave me another great haircut and Royal straight razor shave; guilty pleasures I afford myself about every other Vegas trip.
There was some big NASCAR thing going on during the week that I was in Vegas. They closed down the strip on Thursday afternoon from the PHo on the south end all the way up to the Wynn on the north end. The had a parade of a couple dozen race cars roaring their engines up and down the Strip, burning rubber from their tires from time to time. I was trying to cross Flamingo in order to get to the Cromwell, when the procession turned from the Strip onto Flamingo and streamed past me while I was standing on the sidewalk. I didn't think about getting some close up photos of the cars until afterwards...dumb.
THE GAMBOL:
My gambling pretty much sucked for the entire trip. It started out fairly well on Monday night, with hitting a quad and a straight flush at Harrah's. Tuesday was a quad-less day and I only hit three more quads for the remainder of the trip...ouch. I shot craps at Bally's one night...with a bunch of losers. Dice went around the entire table....point, 7 out, point, 7 out. I was the only one to hit a point. I rolled several 6's and 8's including several hard eights to dig out of a hole, but still ended up losing about $75. I played blackjack at the Golden Gate one night. Sat at a table and played one on one with the dealer for about 2 hours. I lost the first ten hands in a row(dealer got 3 blackjacks), pushed on the 11th hand, then lost another 4 hands(dealer got 2 blackjacks) before winning on the 16th hand..brutal. I was able to hang around playing up and down, then hitting a streak and making up a lot of my initial loses...still walked away down $50. The Flamingo has taken out my "Cash Time" slot machine that I always play every trip....progress I guess. I ran a Hundy through a $1 slot at the Rio after my Wine Cellar session and quickly lost that. I played Roulette at Bally's on Friday, losing another $75, but had a lot of fun. There was a lady playing next to me who was celebrating her 50th birthday. Sounded like she was having a good time, as she told me that she was too drunk to gamble the previous night. Her number 13 hit twice in a row and three times within a 10 minute span...it was her lucky day. She mentioned that the "0" and "00" was overdue, so she put some chips on them. Seeing her hit 13 twice in a row, convinced me to follow her lead. The very next spin was "0". I was playing a couple of numbers and a couple of "double streets"; betting about $25 per spin. Lost money, but had fun with my tablemates. My sportsbetting went poorly; I lost 3 out of 4 bets..not betting on those stupid college teams ever again. I had a 5 team NFL parlay bet that lost. Every team covered except the Colts....They won, but didn't beat the spread...would have been a nice $220 payday.
ENTERTAINMENT
I very much enjoyed seeing Jeff Dunham. If you want to see a show and laugh until your sides hurt...this is the one. The show is performed Vegas style, so it is not suitable for kids (language). Jeff was experimenting for this show with having a joke of the day segment which he planned on putting on You Tube. My blurry image can be seen on the video, when his wife scanned the audience...I made the big time. The only other entertainment was fencing with a hooker while playing VP at the center bar at Harrah's one night. She complimented me on my Fedora and we had the usual small talk before she inquired with the " You having a good time?". At this point I stopped playing, turned to her with a chuckle and told her that I ALWAYS have a good time while I am in Vegas, but that she was wasting her time on me. End of conversation, and she was off to seek better(more profitable) company. Thing of it was, she was not all that attractive. Friday afternoon, shortly before I had to depart for the airport, I was able to meet up with several folks from the Vegas Message Board over at the Cosmo. Nice group of people, wish I could have spent more time getting to know them better. Look forward to another meet sometime. Wish I could have gotten a picture with the monkey. I did visit the Art Gallery at the Bellagio one afternoon. They have a display of Faberge jewelry and art. I learned a lot about Faberge...it's a whole lot more that those damn eggs he made for the Russian Czars. What craftmanship, what intricate works of art...wow. The detail that went to simple things like a parasol handle was amazing.
EPILOGUE AND RANDOM THOUGHTS
The cab ride to the airport was uneventful..gave the cabbie a nice tip for not trying to jerk me around. I upgraded to first class again and had a long and pleasant conversation with a guy sitting next to me which made the flight go by quickly. I had to take my time driving back to Rochester, as the area was blanketed with heavy fog. Pulled up in the driveway at 2 AM.
I utilized the buses quite a bit this trip. A 3 day bus pass costs $20 and is a good deal. The buses were not crowded at all for the entire trip. I even sat in the upper level front row on the Deuce on my way downtown one afternoon.
Visited the new SLS casino one afternoon. The place was empty. I stayed long enough to get a players card and run my whole $5 free play before leaving. I don't see anything special about this place; don't see any reason to return.
The first couple of days the Strip was pretty empty, but on Thursday it filled up with the Rodeo people and Thursday night was a zoo trying to find room at a table game at Bally's.
Angelina, a bartender at the Cromwell is lovely; she makes a great gin and tonic.
I spent my usual afternoon session at Hogs and Heifers this trip. Two of the female bartenders instantly recognized me from previous visits when I sat down at the bar. We shared several shots together including a "Red Snapper". Good times; will be back again next trip. Love to see those ladies dancing on the bar.
The shopping bizarre in front of Bally's is making progress, but won't be opening anytime soon...definitely not this year.
Still have not made it over to the Stage Door.
They were constructing a tubing hill in the lot behind the Linq area. They plan to put snow on it so that you can sled/tube down it.....interesting.
Glad to meet up with Swann5077 and his wife and make the Vegas rounds with Timberwolf. LVA people are the best.
Next trip is in the planning stages for the middle of March for St Patrick's Day. I had a huge stroke of luck last month when I booked the Rio for three comped nights and the 4th night for only $50....booked it the evening before CET's new resort fee policy went into effect....saved $100!!! The March endeavor will be a guys trip. Madman Mike is on board as is our buddy Mark. Since Mark is coming...a trip to the Rhino is definitely on the agenda. Freddy Five Fingers says that he can't make it....conflict with a wedding that he has to attend....too bad. I'll have a bowl of oxtail soup for you, Fred.
Well, looks like that's about it. The weather was lousy, I lost another $800....3rd losing trip in a row...I'm overdue to a winning trip....Luck of the Irish?? We'll see. Still had a great time. Thanks for reading
I originally wanted to make this trip the 2nd week of December, but the Rodeo was in town that week. Big hats, big boots, big belt buckles and inflated hotel prices to go along with the big crowds. CET wouldn't give me any love for a room that week..almost gave up on the trip, but on a whim I checked out the 1st week and Dec .... CET still loves me. They gave me 4 free nights at Bally's...booked it. Sun Country came through with a decent fare of $240 RT from MSP. No rental car this trip....purchased a 3 day bus pass on line; ticket arrived in the mail a couple of days before the trip. I've seen most of the "A" list Vegas shows, but jumped at the chance to see Jeff Dunham at the PHo..got a 2nd row seat in the center section...close enough to see Walter's nose hairs.
THE TRIP:
Winter came early this year, bringing a bunch of snow and plunging temperatures. I can take below zero temps, but in mid November..geesh, give me a break. I was really looking forward to some mild temperatures and some of that good old southern Nevada sunshine.....Ha!
I upgraded myself to first class the night before my trip; nothing like starting out a Vegas trip flying 1st class. I was glad that I upgraded as the TSA line at the airport was HUGE. There was no one in the first class line, so I strolled past a mass of humanity, right up to the security agent and handed him my ID and boarding pass...sensing the glares of the people in the regular line. I had TSA pre-check, so I didn't even have to take off my shoes...talk about Rock Star status. I had my usual double Hendricks and tonic at the bar; should have had another as our plane had mechanical problems and we were an hour late pulling out of the gate. Oh well, a delicious gin and tonic before takeoff took the frustrating edge off and I relaxed in my comfortable 1st class seat. Dinner entree was meatloaf, washed down with a couple more G & T's. I passed on the warm chocolate cookie for dessert.
I cabbed it to Bally's..."No Tunnel". The cabbie was chatting away when I realized that he was in the wrong lane on Tropicana in order to make the right turn onto Koval. "Where the hell are you taking me?" "Thought you wanted to go up the Strip". Wrong, I've seen it dozens of times...get in the other lane and take Koval. Suddenly Mr "chatty" went silent for the remainder of the ride...sons-of-bitching cab drivers.
The $20 sandwich upgraded me from a north tower room to a very nice strip view room in the Jubilee tower on the 64th floor overlooking the south strip and 2/3 of the Bellagio fountains...great view. The remodeled room was very nice, roomy with a comfortable bed and more pillows than in a sorority house. The bathroom had a huge walk-in shower, but no tub...fine by me.
The weather was pretty bad compared to previous Vegas trips. It was heavily overcast the entire trip with a steady downpour of rain for most of Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I spent Tuesday afternoon downtown and the FSE was barren of tourists, even the costumed performers had fled. However the temperatures remained in the mid 60's during the day...short sleeve weather for me. Temps were in the 40's at night so I resorted to a long sleeve shirt...can't believe call the wimps walking around with goose down coats and mittens. I guess the weather was the biggest letdown for me this trip...always look forward to a heavy dose of the great Nevada sunshine.
I took full advantage of my dining coupons this trip. I sampled the Paris and Pho buffets this trip; I hadn't been to either of them in several years. Both were okay, not great...Paris had more variety than the Spice Market buffet...the crepes at Paris were disappointing however. Neither buffet had a big variety of fresh fruit...no watermelon. Thursday I had breakfast at Bally's cafe and I grabbed a breakfast sandwich and doughnut on Friday. My evening meals consisted mostly of scavenging off of the Diamond lounge buffet offering and coney dogs at the D casino downtown. I rarely eat lunch in Vegas.....well usually my midday nourishment is of the liquid variety.
I made my usual pilgrimage to the Rio Wine Cellar one evening. Jose set me up with an excellent wine flight of various white wines. The Four Graces Pinot Gris from Oregon is very nice. There was an elderly gentleman sitting a few stools down from me and after a while we struck up a conversation. Spencer is a grand old gentleman from the Phoenix area who grew up and lived in Chicago most of his life. Interesting guy. He and his wife were regular Vegas visitors; unfortunately his wife had died recently and he was making the trip alone, frequenting all the old places that they enjoyed in Vegas. Nice old guy, I hope I run into him again.
I met a couple of LVA members this trip. Swann5077 and his wife Laura(Laurie?) from New York City and Timberwolf from San Diego. Swann5077 and I decided to meet one evening at the Hogs and Heifers bar downtown just off of the FSE. It was so loud in the bar that we soon walked across the street to the Downtown Grand so that we could carry on a conversation without screaming at each other. He was interested about my September road trip up to the Lake Tahoe area, so I provided him with some literature about the area that I had picked up during my stay. We talked for quite a while before we parted ways...hope he makes it to Tahoe some day....I know he will enjoy the trip. Good meeting you, Tommy.
I had met Timberwolf while playing at the Boar's Head Bar at MSS on my last trip. He PM'd me shortly before my trip and informed me that he would be staying at the Cromwell. We spent quite a bit of time together and I really enjoyed the company of a Vegas veteran. He introduced me to the World of the CET Diamond lounges; visiting the ones at the Flamingo, Harrah's, Pho and the very nice lounge at Caesars. Nothing like free drinks and free food. I found out that I am quite fond of Mudslides...very tasty. Timberwolf and I spent a couple of hours playing VP at the bar at the Palms casino late one night....had a blast. Timberwolf showed me some of the hand signals that he uses to let his friends know when he hits certain hands...signs indicating a straight, a flush, full house, etc. I improvised my own signal for a flush, which Timberwolf quickly adopted. So here we are playing at the bar side by side, frequently making these animated hand gestures....I wonder what the bartender and the other players around us thought we were doing. I had a run of flushes all night, but couldn't get a 4OAK. Timberwolf kept hitting straights, but no 4OAKs either. His buyin was getting pretty low, but shortly before we had to leave in order to catch the last Rio shuttle, he hit a couple of those suckers to put him ahead for the session. We had to make for a brisk walk back to the Rio and just made the shuttle with a couple of minutes to spare.
CET was having their Great Gift Wrap going on during the week. I have just ignored this event in the past, as I just assumed that my play didn't make me eligible for any rewards...wrong. Timberwolf filled me in on what the program was all about and we made our way over to Caesars so that I could check it out. Hey, I got a $10 gift card for Home Depot...not much but I'll take it. They had a huge ballroom crammed with merchandise on display. I think I'll have to up my level of play considerably in order to be able to buy that bass boat. Timberwolf, I can't thank you enough for letting me hang out with you during my trip....really enjoyed our VP sessions and conversations in the Diamond Lounges..hope to run into you again.
Tuesday was my "downtown" day. I played VP for quite a while at MSS, with Jose the bartender serving up those tasty Black Chip porters. I also gave the machines at the Vue bar upstairs at the D a lot of play. Shortly after sitting down, a lady came up to me and asked if I had seen a TITO that was in the next machine to my right. I told her that I had not seen it when I sat down. She looked dismayed and then resigned that it was lost. I hope that she didn't think that I swiped it. About ten minutes later a "suit" arrived at the bar and the bartender called him over. He showed him a TITO that he had found in a machine. I piped up and told him about the lady looking for a lost TITO...bad timing all the way around.
Thursday morning I walked down to the Mandalay Bay Shoppes to the Art of Shaving. My usual barber, Jack, gave me another great haircut and Royal straight razor shave; guilty pleasures I afford myself about every other Vegas trip.
There was some big NASCAR thing going on during the week that I was in Vegas. They closed down the strip on Thursday afternoon from the PHo on the south end all the way up to the Wynn on the north end. The had a parade of a couple dozen race cars roaring their engines up and down the Strip, burning rubber from their tires from time to time. I was trying to cross Flamingo in order to get to the Cromwell, when the procession turned from the Strip onto Flamingo and streamed past me while I was standing on the sidewalk. I didn't think about getting some close up photos of the cars until afterwards...dumb.
THE GAMBOL:
My gambling pretty much sucked for the entire trip. It started out fairly well on Monday night, with hitting a quad and a straight flush at Harrah's. Tuesday was a quad-less day and I only hit three more quads for the remainder of the trip...ouch. I shot craps at Bally's one night...with a bunch of losers. Dice went around the entire table....point, 7 out, point, 7 out. I was the only one to hit a point. I rolled several 6's and 8's including several hard eights to dig out of a hole, but still ended up losing about $75. I played blackjack at the Golden Gate one night. Sat at a table and played one on one with the dealer for about 2 hours. I lost the first ten hands in a row(dealer got 3 blackjacks), pushed on the 11th hand, then lost another 4 hands(dealer got 2 blackjacks) before winning on the 16th hand..brutal. I was able to hang around playing up and down, then hitting a streak and making up a lot of my initial loses...still walked away down $50. The Flamingo has taken out my "Cash Time" slot machine that I always play every trip....progress I guess. I ran a Hundy through a $1 slot at the Rio after my Wine Cellar session and quickly lost that. I played Roulette at Bally's on Friday, losing another $75, but had a lot of fun. There was a lady playing next to me who was celebrating her 50th birthday. Sounded like she was having a good time, as she told me that she was too drunk to gamble the previous night. Her number 13 hit twice in a row and three times within a 10 minute span...it was her lucky day. She mentioned that the "0" and "00" was overdue, so she put some chips on them. Seeing her hit 13 twice in a row, convinced me to follow her lead. The very next spin was "0". I was playing a couple of numbers and a couple of "double streets"; betting about $25 per spin. Lost money, but had fun with my tablemates. My sportsbetting went poorly; I lost 3 out of 4 bets..not betting on those stupid college teams ever again. I had a 5 team NFL parlay bet that lost. Every team covered except the Colts....They won, but didn't beat the spread...would have been a nice $220 payday.
ENTERTAINMENT
I very much enjoyed seeing Jeff Dunham. If you want to see a show and laugh until your sides hurt...this is the one. The show is performed Vegas style, so it is not suitable for kids (language). Jeff was experimenting for this show with having a joke of the day segment which he planned on putting on You Tube. My blurry image can be seen on the video, when his wife scanned the audience...I made the big time. The only other entertainment was fencing with a hooker while playing VP at the center bar at Harrah's one night. She complimented me on my Fedora and we had the usual small talk before she inquired with the " You having a good time?". At this point I stopped playing, turned to her with a chuckle and told her that I ALWAYS have a good time while I am in Vegas, but that she was wasting her time on me. End of conversation, and she was off to seek better(more profitable) company. Thing of it was, she was not all that attractive. Friday afternoon, shortly before I had to depart for the airport, I was able to meet up with several folks from the Vegas Message Board over at the Cosmo. Nice group of people, wish I could have spent more time getting to know them better. Look forward to another meet sometime. Wish I could have gotten a picture with the monkey. I did visit the Art Gallery at the Bellagio one afternoon. They have a display of Faberge jewelry and art. I learned a lot about Faberge...it's a whole lot more that those damn eggs he made for the Russian Czars. What craftmanship, what intricate works of art...wow. The detail that went to simple things like a parasol handle was amazing.
EPILOGUE AND RANDOM THOUGHTS
The cab ride to the airport was uneventful..gave the cabbie a nice tip for not trying to jerk me around. I upgraded to first class again and had a long and pleasant conversation with a guy sitting next to me which made the flight go by quickly. I had to take my time driving back to Rochester, as the area was blanketed with heavy fog. Pulled up in the driveway at 2 AM.
I utilized the buses quite a bit this trip. A 3 day bus pass costs $20 and is a good deal. The buses were not crowded at all for the entire trip. I even sat in the upper level front row on the Deuce on my way downtown one afternoon.
Visited the new SLS casino one afternoon. The place was empty. I stayed long enough to get a players card and run my whole $5 free play before leaving. I don't see anything special about this place; don't see any reason to return.
The first couple of days the Strip was pretty empty, but on Thursday it filled up with the Rodeo people and Thursday night was a zoo trying to find room at a table game at Bally's.
Angelina, a bartender at the Cromwell is lovely; she makes a great gin and tonic.
I spent my usual afternoon session at Hogs and Heifers this trip. Two of the female bartenders instantly recognized me from previous visits when I sat down at the bar. We shared several shots together including a "Red Snapper". Good times; will be back again next trip. Love to see those ladies dancing on the bar.
The shopping bizarre in front of Bally's is making progress, but won't be opening anytime soon...definitely not this year.
Still have not made it over to the Stage Door.
They were constructing a tubing hill in the lot behind the Linq area. They plan to put snow on it so that you can sled/tube down it.....interesting.
Glad to meet up with Swann5077 and his wife and make the Vegas rounds with Timberwolf. LVA people are the best.
Next trip is in the planning stages for the middle of March for St Patrick's Day. I had a huge stroke of luck last month when I booked the Rio for three comped nights and the 4th night for only $50....booked it the evening before CET's new resort fee policy went into effect....saved $100!!! The March endeavor will be a guys trip. Madman Mike is on board as is our buddy Mark. Since Mark is coming...a trip to the Rhino is definitely on the agenda. Freddy Five Fingers says that he can't make it....conflict with a wedding that he has to attend....too bad. I'll have a bowl of oxtail soup for you, Fred.
Well, looks like that's about it. The weather was lousy, I lost another $800....3rd losing trip in a row...I'm overdue to a winning trip....Luck of the Irish?? We'll see. Still had a great time. Thanks for reading
