We had a great time in Vegas despite the fact that my husband had back problems shortly after arriving. We spent a little time at Fremont Medical Center. We did several promotions. I had some great luck with 4 royals .05-.50. and a surprising drawing win.
Here are the highlights:
Saturday, July 30
If my Dad were alive today, he would have turned 90 as today was his birthday. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 77.
Upon arrival in Vegas around 3:00, we headed to the car rental to Dollar. We were given a Ford Focus. We used about 7 gals of gas for the week. Rental for the week was around $166. The car was fine with surprising trunk space for luggage.
My plan was to go to Church at the Shrine across from Tropicana. I was a little late, but hubby dropped me off. I told him to go to Tropicana to see if we were qualified for the promotion. We played there many years ago, and I guess they had no record as they gave him a new account which I had applied for online. They gave us a joint account (surprising as I didn't think they did that anymore). I got out of Church around 5:00 and walked over Tropicana. Hubby was playing 3-play $ 8/5 BP. He had the $200 in and still had $150. He told me about the joint account and had me play awhile. I was up and down but finally cashed out at $605.
We went to the Rio where we were staying for 3 nights. I ran into Catherine (Bigfus) who was waiting at the door for Lydia (Amazon) to check in with her. Unreal timing in a large place. Hubby was parking the car, but I had to wait for him to check in as he was companion. We were in the Ipanema Tower. I think the rooms we've had in Masquerade Tower were larger, and much more convenient to the parking garage.
We got settled in our room and then went to eat at the buffet as I had a 2 for 1 coupon which expired the next day. We then went to play the $ 8/5 BP (yes, unbelievable CET) I wanted to play on my card to get me to diamond as I was only about 1100 points away for next year. Hubby & I played and earned 1200 points. We left there and went to Palms to play. We were still even for the day as we lost $400 against the win earlier.
We played the 8/5BP quarters at Palms with the $1199 RF. We won $40 after playing about 1 1/2 hours. I was supposed to play K or better Joker Poker with Catherine this night, but as others reported, it was gone. We went to bed very late as what became a pattern this trip.
Sunday, July 31
We met some of the ECLVA'ers at Garduno's. It was a lot of fun drinking Margaritas and meeting & sharing stories. The ladies were at one table and guys at the other. We left Harv, Dennis & Lydia at Palms and Catherine & I went with Rob to get tickets for Human Nature for later that night. When we got back, we all played the BP quarters for awhile until it was time to go to go to Imperial Palace for the show.
Dennis was starting to have problems with his back about this time. He has had several things in his life like falling from a railroad car and cutting down a telephone pool skidding through water (we call him a cat) which have left him with back problems. He usually pops a few ibuprofen rests awhile and back at it. He's been building a deck at home, and I think he flared it up digging the holes for posts. When we got to IP, he was only able to walk a short way, and had to stop to recover. We told him we would get him a wheelchair, but he didn't want it. duh! The show was really great. Love those good old day tunes, brings back our youth!
After the show, it took a long time to get back to the car. I had wanted to go to 4Q's to use $50 free play which would expire at midnight. I told him he could wait in the car while I went in and I would just play it off. He decided to go in and play as well. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my card so I had to wait in line to make some. The lady at the booth told me I could play the other $50 for Aug. after midnight which was nice so I didn't need to come back later.
Well, I got a quarter royal playing the first $50. I left with $1150 and hubby only lost about $40. I'm glad he decided to stay as I would not have played long enough for the royal.
We got back to Rio, and this is where Dennis finally gave in and let me get him a wheelchair. Security took him to the room where he took some pills and went to bed. Ok, I'm crazy, I went down to play. I played on his card for several hours earning about 1300 points with a $700 profit. I went to bed at 5:00am. I just had a machine that was so much fun. Like A's & 2,3, 4 bonuses etc. I finally had to give up. Why do I get the good machines in the middle of the night?
Monday, Aug. 1
Today is MPT day. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go. We had room service breakfast, and between myself and my daughter on the phone, we finally convinced Dad to go to the medical center. I called security, and they brought a wheelchair and called for a cab to take us to Fremont Medical Center. He had an X-Ray, and was given 3 prescriptions. They told him he had scoliosis, and something with a disc and will need to follow up with an orthopedic doctor. They gave him a disc with his X-Ray. The meds were a pain pill, steroid and muscle relaxer. We had the cab take us to a Walgreen's to leave the prescriptions. We then had the cab take us to our car to drive back to Walgreen's to pick up the meds. The pills made things better, but still moving slow.
We got back to Rio, and I finally got to play today. Darn good thing I played until 5:00am, lol! After all that work, I gave it back. Dennis played awhile and was about even. We went to the All American Grille for dinner. We had a coupon for a buy 1 get a free one entry. You had to read the fine print to see that it was limited to $15.00. Shame on you CET! It was a good meal and we used points for the rest.
Dennis returned to the room to rest, and I played a short while then walked over to the Gold Coast for midnight bowling with the ECLVA'ers. We earned another big day on Dennis's card. We had 3 guys & 4 ladies. It was decided that the trophy would go to the highest lady, and I got it. I was a bowler way back in the day, and this score was probably lower than I had as a beginner. It doesn't help using house equipment, and being old. I could end up at the clinic if I continued lol! It was lots of fun though. We had lots of laughs sharing bowling lingo etc. No, I didn't play anymore even though it was only 3:00am, lol!
Tuesday, Aug.2
This was the big ECLVA meet at Noodles at Gold Coast. It was really nice to meet some new people, and catch up with Jon and his adventures. This was our first trip there, and it was really great as well as reasonable. I got to witness JM's wheel royal.
We headed over to Southpoint to check in after the meet. We had a great day playing here. I got my first hand-pay here, a .50 royal (hit about 2:20am-gotta love late night) as well as a couple sets of deuces playing NSU. We ate dinner at the Oyster Bar.
Wednesday, Aug. 3
We finally made it to the pool, well actually the jetted island hot tub. It was really great for Dennis as his back was acting up.
We played for awhile, and then went to Vito's Italian for dinner. Just before dinner I ran into Jon & Terry & his wife just before they headed to the airport. We had a great dinner then headed out to Rampart. The group was golfing, and we were playing 10-play dimes. I played NSU and won $400. I got a royal and a couple sets of deuces. Dennis lost the same. We met the others at Gordon Biersh for happy hour.
We played a little while at SP and went to bed.
Thursday, Aug. 4
We went to the pool again. Hot tub to pool back to hot tub. I dropped my cell phone in the room and broke it.
We played awhile, then we headed to the Steakhouse for dinner. Dinner was great. We love the scallops appetizer. I had a filet and Dennis had Prime Rib.
We played the rest of the evening and into the morning again, imagine that. We played 50-play .05 and hubby finally got a royal. I also got one. Well, just before heading to bed, I went to check the list for the drawing that evening. here's what I found.
I found someone at the player's club to find out where to get paid, and he prepared the paperwork and took me to the cashier to be paid. I was so surprised. I am now a believer of drawings. We finally went to bed very early in the morning again.
Friday, Aug 5
This is our last day. We had a 3:00 checkout. We went down and had some breakfast at the Cafe. We then played awhile to use our cash back. Dennis had a decent machine so I left him to play a little longer. I went to the VIP services to check my play. I finally met Kelly Juliano (formerly Lumpford), the host we have been using. This is the first time we have won significantly there so she said she could not take off our room charges. We have always had losing trips so they always comped everything. This was a surprise. We did have over $200 cash back. She did say that we could get a suite on our next trip based on our play this trip. She also gave me a comp for $80 for later this evening.
We wanted to go to Cosmopolitan as we had not been there yet and wanted to do the promo. We went over there and got our players cards and played 10-play quarters 8/6. There was only 1 machine working on this island so we took turns doing our play. We both cashed out around $200 making a $100 profit. I only wish we would have gotten here earlier to get more value out of this promo, but this was good anyway.
I also wanted to do the Terrible's promo. We were really getting pressed for time, and this place was crazy. I had to wait in line to get a card. Not being used to this place, we had to find a machine. I found a $1 BP, and it didn't take long to lose the $100. It took longer to figure out how to get the $100 back. I went back to the Club to load the $100. Dennis waited at the machines. I wasn't able to use the same machine probably because it was a progressive. We had a crazy time finding a machine and figuring out how to use the free play. I kinda remembered after awhile how these machines work, but I was very stressed by this time. I got back all but a few dollars.
We stopped to fill the gas tank then went back to SP for dinner at Vito's. We then listened to the names for the promo, and then we headed to the rental facility. Everyone working at the airport at that time of night was full of humor. By the time we got near our gate, Dennis stopped to rest as he was in some pain. We heard our flight announced for last call. It was about 45 mins. before our flight, WTF! We got there then Dennis wanted to go to the restroom, so he headed back. People were still boarding for quite sometime after that.
Final Thoughts:
I am now getting Elite status for Continental using my Chase Continental Credit Card. I pretty much put everything on it. I pay it in full every month. It will be interesting in the future as they are not supposed to have restrictions for card holders for free flights. I don't like the redeyes, but it worked out for my free trip at this time.
I don't think a week is long enough to do all the things that we would like to do.
It sucks that my husband had shingles on our last trip in October and now had the back problems. He feels pretty well today. I only hope he can get this deck done without killing himself.
It was really fun meeting a few new people, but it was a bummer missing the MPT.
I hope a lot more of you put in your TR's
I really hoped to make this a lot shorter. Sorry!
Here are the highlights:
Saturday, July 30
If my Dad were alive today, he would have turned 90 as today was his birthday. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 77.
Upon arrival in Vegas around 3:00, we headed to the car rental to Dollar. We were given a Ford Focus. We used about 7 gals of gas for the week. Rental for the week was around $166. The car was fine with surprising trunk space for luggage.
My plan was to go to Church at the Shrine across from Tropicana. I was a little late, but hubby dropped me off. I told him to go to Tropicana to see if we were qualified for the promotion. We played there many years ago, and I guess they had no record as they gave him a new account which I had applied for online. They gave us a joint account (surprising as I didn't think they did that anymore). I got out of Church around 5:00 and walked over Tropicana. Hubby was playing 3-play $ 8/5 BP. He had the $200 in and still had $150. He told me about the joint account and had me play awhile. I was up and down but finally cashed out at $605.
We went to the Rio where we were staying for 3 nights. I ran into Catherine (Bigfus) who was waiting at the door for Lydia (Amazon) to check in with her. Unreal timing in a large place. Hubby was parking the car, but I had to wait for him to check in as he was companion. We were in the Ipanema Tower. I think the rooms we've had in Masquerade Tower were larger, and much more convenient to the parking garage.
We got settled in our room and then went to eat at the buffet as I had a 2 for 1 coupon which expired the next day. We then went to play the $ 8/5 BP (yes, unbelievable CET) I wanted to play on my card to get me to diamond as I was only about 1100 points away for next year. Hubby & I played and earned 1200 points. We left there and went to Palms to play. We were still even for the day as we lost $400 against the win earlier.
We played the 8/5BP quarters at Palms with the $1199 RF. We won $40 after playing about 1 1/2 hours. I was supposed to play K or better Joker Poker with Catherine this night, but as others reported, it was gone. We went to bed very late as what became a pattern this trip.
Sunday, July 31
We met some of the ECLVA'ers at Garduno's. It was a lot of fun drinking Margaritas and meeting & sharing stories. The ladies were at one table and guys at the other. We left Harv, Dennis & Lydia at Palms and Catherine & I went with Rob to get tickets for Human Nature for later that night. When we got back, we all played the BP quarters for awhile until it was time to go to go to Imperial Palace for the show.
Dennis was starting to have problems with his back about this time. He has had several things in his life like falling from a railroad car and cutting down a telephone pool skidding through water (we call him a cat) which have left him with back problems. He usually pops a few ibuprofen rests awhile and back at it. He's been building a deck at home, and I think he flared it up digging the holes for posts. When we got to IP, he was only able to walk a short way, and had to stop to recover. We told him we would get him a wheelchair, but he didn't want it. duh! The show was really great. Love those good old day tunes, brings back our youth!
After the show, it took a long time to get back to the car. I had wanted to go to 4Q's to use $50 free play which would expire at midnight. I told him he could wait in the car while I went in and I would just play it off. He decided to go in and play as well. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my card so I had to wait in line to make some. The lady at the booth told me I could play the other $50 for Aug. after midnight which was nice so I didn't need to come back later.
Well, I got a quarter royal playing the first $50. I left with $1150 and hubby only lost about $40. I'm glad he decided to stay as I would not have played long enough for the royal.
We got back to Rio, and this is where Dennis finally gave in and let me get him a wheelchair. Security took him to the room where he took some pills and went to bed. Ok, I'm crazy, I went down to play. I played on his card for several hours earning about 1300 points with a $700 profit. I went to bed at 5:00am. I just had a machine that was so much fun. Like A's & 2,3, 4 bonuses etc. I finally had to give up. Why do I get the good machines in the middle of the night?
Monday, Aug. 1
Today is MPT day. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go. We had room service breakfast, and between myself and my daughter on the phone, we finally convinced Dad to go to the medical center. I called security, and they brought a wheelchair and called for a cab to take us to Fremont Medical Center. He had an X-Ray, and was given 3 prescriptions. They told him he had scoliosis, and something with a disc and will need to follow up with an orthopedic doctor. They gave him a disc with his X-Ray. The meds were a pain pill, steroid and muscle relaxer. We had the cab take us to a Walgreen's to leave the prescriptions. We then had the cab take us to our car to drive back to Walgreen's to pick up the meds. The pills made things better, but still moving slow.
We got back to Rio, and I finally got to play today. Darn good thing I played until 5:00am, lol! After all that work, I gave it back. Dennis played awhile and was about even. We went to the All American Grille for dinner. We had a coupon for a buy 1 get a free one entry. You had to read the fine print to see that it was limited to $15.00. Shame on you CET! It was a good meal and we used points for the rest.
Dennis returned to the room to rest, and I played a short while then walked over to the Gold Coast for midnight bowling with the ECLVA'ers. We earned another big day on Dennis's card. We had 3 guys & 4 ladies. It was decided that the trophy would go to the highest lady, and I got it. I was a bowler way back in the day, and this score was probably lower than I had as a beginner. It doesn't help using house equipment, and being old. I could end up at the clinic if I continued lol! It was lots of fun though. We had lots of laughs sharing bowling lingo etc. No, I didn't play anymore even though it was only 3:00am, lol!
Tuesday, Aug.2
This was the big ECLVA meet at Noodles at Gold Coast. It was really nice to meet some new people, and catch up with Jon and his adventures. This was our first trip there, and it was really great as well as reasonable. I got to witness JM's wheel royal.
We headed over to Southpoint to check in after the meet. We had a great day playing here. I got my first hand-pay here, a .50 royal (hit about 2:20am-gotta love late night) as well as a couple sets of deuces playing NSU. We ate dinner at the Oyster Bar.
Wednesday, Aug. 3
We finally made it to the pool, well actually the jetted island hot tub. It was really great for Dennis as his back was acting up.
We played for awhile, and then went to Vito's Italian for dinner. Just before dinner I ran into Jon & Terry & his wife just before they headed to the airport. We had a great dinner then headed out to Rampart. The group was golfing, and we were playing 10-play dimes. I played NSU and won $400. I got a royal and a couple sets of deuces. Dennis lost the same. We met the others at Gordon Biersh for happy hour.
We played a little while at SP and went to bed.
Thursday, Aug. 4
We went to the pool again. Hot tub to pool back to hot tub. I dropped my cell phone in the room and broke it.
We played awhile, then we headed to the Steakhouse for dinner. Dinner was great. We love the scallops appetizer. I had a filet and Dennis had Prime Rib.
We played the rest of the evening and into the morning again, imagine that. We played 50-play .05 and hubby finally got a royal. I also got one. Well, just before heading to bed, I went to check the list for the drawing that evening. here's what I found.
I found someone at the player's club to find out where to get paid, and he prepared the paperwork and took me to the cashier to be paid. I was so surprised. I am now a believer of drawings. We finally went to bed very early in the morning again.
Friday, Aug 5
This is our last day. We had a 3:00 checkout. We went down and had some breakfast at the Cafe. We then played awhile to use our cash back. Dennis had a decent machine so I left him to play a little longer. I went to the VIP services to check my play. I finally met Kelly Juliano (formerly Lumpford), the host we have been using. This is the first time we have won significantly there so she said she could not take off our room charges. We have always had losing trips so they always comped everything. This was a surprise. We did have over $200 cash back. She did say that we could get a suite on our next trip based on our play this trip. She also gave me a comp for $80 for later this evening.
We wanted to go to Cosmopolitan as we had not been there yet and wanted to do the promo. We went over there and got our players cards and played 10-play quarters 8/6. There was only 1 machine working on this island so we took turns doing our play. We both cashed out around $200 making a $100 profit. I only wish we would have gotten here earlier to get more value out of this promo, but this was good anyway.
I also wanted to do the Terrible's promo. We were really getting pressed for time, and this place was crazy. I had to wait in line to get a card. Not being used to this place, we had to find a machine. I found a $1 BP, and it didn't take long to lose the $100. It took longer to figure out how to get the $100 back. I went back to the Club to load the $100. Dennis waited at the machines. I wasn't able to use the same machine probably because it was a progressive. We had a crazy time finding a machine and figuring out how to use the free play. I kinda remembered after awhile how these machines work, but I was very stressed by this time. I got back all but a few dollars.
We stopped to fill the gas tank then went back to SP for dinner at Vito's. We then listened to the names for the promo, and then we headed to the rental facility. Everyone working at the airport at that time of night was full of humor. By the time we got near our gate, Dennis stopped to rest as he was in some pain. We heard our flight announced for last call. It was about 45 mins. before our flight, WTF! We got there then Dennis wanted to go to the restroom, so he headed back. People were still boarding for quite sometime after that.
Final Thoughts:
I am now getting Elite status for Continental using my Chase Continental Credit Card. I pretty much put everything on it. I pay it in full every month. It will be interesting in the future as they are not supposed to have restrictions for card holders for free flights. I don't like the redeyes, but it worked out for my free trip at this time.
I don't think a week is long enough to do all the things that we would like to do.
It sucks that my husband had shingles on our last trip in October and now had the back problems. He feels pretty well today. I only hope he can get this deck done without killing himself.
It was really fun meeting a few new people, but it was a bummer missing the MPT.
I hope a lot more of you put in your TR's
I really hoped to make this a lot shorter. Sorry!
