Flew in on Friday night 12/2 with my wife. We are celebrating our 20th anniversary. Rented a full size SUV (Chevy Traverse) from Advantage. $41.40 total for the weekend.
Got to the Encore and mentioned our anniversary and asked if we might get an upgrade from our Resort king room. The front desk guy says they are all out of upgrades for a non-smoking room, but if he has a panoramic suite on the 63rd (top floor) if we wouldn’t mind a smoking room. My wife and I look at each other and shrug- why not? Get to the room and it reeks, but it is an amazing suite with floor to ceiling sized windows looking out at the north strip and downtown. Worth the smell, which would subside by the next day (or we got used to it).
We head down for a late dinner at Switch. Service and food were excellent and we really enjoyed the décor and art changes that went on through out our meal. They brought us a nice dessert for our celebration and our meal was complete.
After some room time and saying good night, I went downstairs to gamble a bit. I am a low roller and the limits at the Encore for bj were all $25. I settled on a $10 craps table. Figured I would start small and go from there. Bought in for $100. Was at the table for 2 hours and some young guy (23 tops) rolls for about an hour. It was epic. The whole table was hooting and hollering and I don’t even know how much money I have. Tipping the dealers by playing the pass line and odds. They’re winning, we’re all winning, we’re all high fiving and bowing down to this dude. It was the most fun ever I’ve had gambling and have always heard about, but never experienced. He finally sevens out. Wow- what a roll! Go to cash out as I was exhausted and my throat was raw from yelling. I figured I had maybe $700 or $800. They cash me out- I had $1400 and change! Give the dealers the change as an additional tip and head upstairs with a $1000 chip and 4 $100s. I had so much adrenaline pumping, I could not get to sleep for an hour or so.
Up at 6 or so on Saturday, we walk the strip south and look at the Christmas decorations at the Venetian/ Palazzo and the Bellagio Conservatory. Had breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi @ Paris and sat by the windows and enjoyed people watching. We visited some friends at MSS downtown and couldn’t help but notice the contrast to the Wynn properties (Downtown is where I usually stay when not celebrating with my wife ; < ). Had a nice visit with them and then headed back to Encore to get ready for dinner at the Craft Steakhouse @ MGM. They too acknowledged our anniversary, but the service was very poor (bad waiter) even though the food was very good. Quite a contrast to Switch.
On Sunday, up early again, we headed to the Riv. I have been coming to Vegas for 20+ years but had never set foot in the place. It was pretty dead, but even though it’s showing its age, it’s better than most casinos downtown. I kinda like the old school vibe that it has. Played 3CP and hit a 3 of a kind for a nice $150 win. Headed over to the Clown and played some craps. We then headed back to the Wynn for some betting on the ponies. Loved the sports/ race book. Got a few seats and was told that I could go to the front of the line because we were betting horses. Didn’t win, but we had fun betting longshots and getting drink coupons. Before checking out, we went to Ferrari dealership to look at cars worth as much as our house. FYI- it’s free during the month of December (normally $10 unless you’re a guest).
Next it was on to In-N-Out for lunch. We are from SoCal originally, but we don’t have them in OR. , so we needed our fix. It hit the spot as it always does. I like it way better than Five Guys. We then headed to the airport to secure 1st class seats on our Alaska flight leaving that night. Then it was over to Mandalay to watch the start of the marathon and see Cheap Trick. They were performing a free concert in the parking lot for the marathon. MB was packed with marathoners, Michael Jackson fans and NFR fans. Crazy. Had some cheap happy hour food @ House of Blues and headed to the airport to enjoy our first class seats on the way home. What a great trip!
Got to the Encore and mentioned our anniversary and asked if we might get an upgrade from our Resort king room. The front desk guy says they are all out of upgrades for a non-smoking room, but if he has a panoramic suite on the 63rd (top floor) if we wouldn’t mind a smoking room. My wife and I look at each other and shrug- why not? Get to the room and it reeks, but it is an amazing suite with floor to ceiling sized windows looking out at the north strip and downtown. Worth the smell, which would subside by the next day (or we got used to it).
We head down for a late dinner at Switch. Service and food were excellent and we really enjoyed the décor and art changes that went on through out our meal. They brought us a nice dessert for our celebration and our meal was complete.
After some room time and saying good night, I went downstairs to gamble a bit. I am a low roller and the limits at the Encore for bj were all $25. I settled on a $10 craps table. Figured I would start small and go from there. Bought in for $100. Was at the table for 2 hours and some young guy (23 tops) rolls for about an hour. It was epic. The whole table was hooting and hollering and I don’t even know how much money I have. Tipping the dealers by playing the pass line and odds. They’re winning, we’re all winning, we’re all high fiving and bowing down to this dude. It was the most fun ever I’ve had gambling and have always heard about, but never experienced. He finally sevens out. Wow- what a roll! Go to cash out as I was exhausted and my throat was raw from yelling. I figured I had maybe $700 or $800. They cash me out- I had $1400 and change! Give the dealers the change as an additional tip and head upstairs with a $1000 chip and 4 $100s. I had so much adrenaline pumping, I could not get to sleep for an hour or so.
Up at 6 or so on Saturday, we walk the strip south and look at the Christmas decorations at the Venetian/ Palazzo and the Bellagio Conservatory. Had breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi @ Paris and sat by the windows and enjoyed people watching. We visited some friends at MSS downtown and couldn’t help but notice the contrast to the Wynn properties (Downtown is where I usually stay when not celebrating with my wife ; < ). Had a nice visit with them and then headed back to Encore to get ready for dinner at the Craft Steakhouse @ MGM. They too acknowledged our anniversary, but the service was very poor (bad waiter) even though the food was very good. Quite a contrast to Switch.
On Sunday, up early again, we headed to the Riv. I have been coming to Vegas for 20+ years but had never set foot in the place. It was pretty dead, but even though it’s showing its age, it’s better than most casinos downtown. I kinda like the old school vibe that it has. Played 3CP and hit a 3 of a kind for a nice $150 win. Headed over to the Clown and played some craps. We then headed back to the Wynn for some betting on the ponies. Loved the sports/ race book. Got a few seats and was told that I could go to the front of the line because we were betting horses. Didn’t win, but we had fun betting longshots and getting drink coupons. Before checking out, we went to Ferrari dealership to look at cars worth as much as our house. FYI- it’s free during the month of December (normally $10 unless you’re a guest).
Next it was on to In-N-Out for lunch. We are from SoCal originally, but we don’t have them in OR. , so we needed our fix. It hit the spot as it always does. I like it way better than Five Guys. We then headed to the airport to secure 1st class seats on our Alaska flight leaving that night. Then it was over to Mandalay to watch the start of the marathon and see Cheap Trick. They were performing a free concert in the parking lot for the marathon. MB was packed with marathoners, Michael Jackson fans and NFR fans. Crazy. Had some cheap happy hour food @ House of Blues and headed to the airport to enjoy our first class seats on the way home. What a great trip!
