Here’s the good, the very bad, and the boring TR. It has it all!
The Set-Up:
First off I started writing this, but stopped for reasons you’ll see and after awhile I decided to complete this trip report and post it so here goes. It had been a long time since we had been to Vegas and damn it all it was time to re-visit. We had the minimum Dividend Miles needed with US Airways for a flight and occasionally I would check the website to see if a flight would be possible and it didn't look good, but on Oct. 12 I booked a flight for the dates mentioned in the title. Yes, 9 months in advance and the booking fee of $70 were made. Next up was a hotel reservation and I picked the posh luxurious Fiesta Henderson as out home away from home for the 6 nights. Wait, I forgot to add swanky to the Fiesta Henderson’s description. Because we just love to travel around in the far different environment and because of the Fiesta’s location a car rental was needed. I chose Fox Car Rental because I could rent a Fiat 500 and since I own some Fix It Again Tony’s we decided to give their latest offering a test drive.
Friday July 5th:
We left our home at 2:15 AM for the 2 1/2 hour ride to Pittsburgh International, but we almost cancelled our trip because of an ongoing problem. About 3 months ago one of our cats (we have 3) developed some medical problems. Of course we didn't see it causing any problems with our impending trip and then many visits to the vet(s) started. The little buddy just can’t shake his condition and the vet bills have been high, but we keep telling him it’s going to get better. He’s been to 3 different clinics with overnight stays totaling 14 nights on 5 visits alone and he’s visited the vet(s) like 12 times. He’s breaking us, but hey we love the little guy and our money could be spent on something else less worthy so we’re good with it. Anyway, because of his problems serious thoughts were given for our trip to not come about. Wednesday July 3rd we took him to the vet and he assured us he would be alright and we could travel. We have a friend who was going to check in on our cats twice daily and we decided to continue on with our trip. We arrived at the off-site parking lot and dropped off our car and were shuttled for the 5 minute ride to the airport. Going through security was a breeze and soon we were on our way to the first leg of our journey (Charlotte, NC). We had a long layover so we of course just sat and waited. While waiting I noticed this gentleman who it turns out was going to be on the same flight as ours. I went over and politely asked him are you who I think you are and he replied “yes”. I told him I appreciate his work on TV and we talked some about his specialty. Strangely he didn't recognize me. I get that a lot and I’m used to it so it doesn't bother me. Alright everybody, who is this?
We had some problems at Charlotte because our roll-away luggage handles broke almost at the same time so we had to carry them through the airport. Damn! Then, the plane was booked solid and there was no more room for carry-on luggage and we had to check our 2 bags. Double damn!! I had a real beef with this because I see bags I know are over the size limits, however mostly there’s no room because people load their bags overhead north/south instead of east/west and that’s where the room goes. I saw airline personnel loading them that way too. I was a little steamed over this, but in the long run this turned out to be a blessing because when we arrived in Vegas we didn't have to carry our busted up roll-away luggage through the airport. Mostly we were very worried about our sick cat; however we called and were told he was doing fine along with the other two.
We arrived at McCarran and got on the car rental shuttle bus and then had to get on another shuttle for the ride to Fox Car Rental to pick up our Fiat 500. The agent gave the usual insurance and buying fuel upfront jargon, but I passed and away we went to our resort, I say resort because they do charge a $9.99 daily resort fee. Our 9th floor room was more than adequate for us and must be LVA's Bags has stayed there in the past because our room had a 50” Panasonic flat screen TV. Thanks Bags! It had been a long day with nothing substantial to eat yet so after getting everything unpacked and put away we went for the hotel’s buffet. With the club card it’s $8.99 and what an array of food, however to us we didn't really enjoy it as we thought we would. Maybe we were just too tired, I don’t know. After eating we went out to the casino and did some gambling. I played mostly VP and my wife chose her Buffalo slots. She didn't hit anything and I wasn't doing much better until I saw a $.01 ten play progressive VP game. Yes, that 50 cents per play and there was people just a pounding away at it and I found the only open seat and put in a $100 seeking the +$720 progressive on a DEALT Royal. I played for a bit and on the deal got 4 to the royal in hearts and on the draw hit 1 Royal. The casino was immediately put in lock-down and I heard later that McCarran International was stopping all inbound/outbound flights as my TITO of $176.10 was being dispensed and casino security whisked me away to the redemption kiosk. A picture:
But hey, a Royal is a Royal no matter what and I was happy. Soon after we retired for the night and down some; the huge Royal didn't pull us ahead and there’s always tomorrow.
Saturday July 6th:
We decided to get up and do some traveling to some sites and visit some casinos too. We had breakfast with a 2 fer from the ACG book at my casino. A throwback casino to the way Vegas used to be. We enjoyed our breakfast and went out to play and shortly after I connected with this:
We left happy and drove to Primm to ride the Desperado and because we both had ACG books we got all days ride passes free. We've ridden it before and it’s an awesome ride and the both of us were at one time roller coaster freaks, but we rode once and said “that’s it, once is enough”. I guess we’re just freaks now. We then decided to go to Red Rock Canyon for the beautiful drive along with some minor hiking in the +100 heat and very quickly said “damn, it's friggin’ hot so let’s go to Pahrump”. We've never been there and the ride was very nice and we could easily see the fire on Mt. Charleston which happened to be a place we were going to check out, but the fire snuffed out those plans.
We were very impressed with Pahrump away from the too much, to us anyway, hustle and bustle of Las Vegas and we stopped at the Pahrump Nugget casino. We each signed up for our card and with the ACG coupons received $25 each in free slot play. We played it off and won nothing, but had fun and I started to play VP and playing $0.10 denom received this:
We then went to their buffet and were very impressed. The buffet costs with tax $11.77 and that price is for 2! It’s good and on the buffet they have prime rib which was very tasty and I enjoyed seconds. We give big thumbs up to the Pahrump Nugget and their buffet and we liked what we saw of laid back Pahrump. After eating we gambled some more and gave most back. We stayed and listened to and really enjoyed a 50’s-70’s band that was playing at the casino bar and stage area. Very good sound and around 10 PM we headed back to the Fiesta which is around 70-80 miles away. We could easily see the flames from the Mt Charleston fire on our return.
Sunday July 7th:
We gambled at the Fiesta with no luck at all and went to a local Walmart for some things and also hit a nearby McD’s drive-thru for some coffee. That’s where we encountered Lexus Bitch. Let me explain, I drive the Fiat to the placard that shows menu items and wait for a greeting of “Welcome to McDonald’s and how can I help you today” or something like that and wait maybe a minute and nothing. That’s when Lexus Bitch behind us gets on her horn and starts blasting away, you see as we found out you don’t order there, you have to remember what you want and drive to the first window to order and pay. Sheesh, I didn't know I’m just a small town boy from the backwoods of PA and this is the first McD’s I've ever encountered like this. So I’m paying with my arm out the window waiting for my receipt and credit card when Lexus Bitch starts blasting away on her damn car horn again. I was going to go back and strongly suggest she try the decaf. I still don't know what her problem was. A reminder, if you ever stop at the Boulder Highway McD’s just north of Lake Mead Parkway beware of Lexus Bitch. You've been warned. We then headed south to the Boulder City area to check out (again) Hoover Dam which is still a marvel to see no matter how many times you've seen it and also to get a first time look at the completed bridge that spans the Nevada/Arizona border. It’s pretty impressive and what a time-saver for traffic from the old route snaking down the canyon and across the dam. We then headed back and stopped at the Hacienda which is located just outside of Boulder City and gambled and lost. Sunday was definitely our down day on the whole trip. It became time for dinner so we decided to eat at their buffet and we used the 2 fer from the ACG book. It was steak and shrimp night for $10.95 and the steaks were flavorful yet leathery, the shrimp were breaded shrimp but tasty. $10.95 + tax and a $5 tip were fine with us. I guess I should have warned you in advance that if you came here to read about exotic adventuresome meals you've came to the wrong place. I suggest you read westie’s excellent TR’s; hey that’s what I do when I’m hungry. Anyway, we had to go back to the casino to lose some more money and we did just that. The Hacienda is a nice little casino though and we’ll go back because I just know the next time we hit Vegas we’ll win there. They do have full pay LDW in $0.25 and that’s cool. We headed back to the Fiesta and proceeded to lose some more. Yep, Sunday was our bad day, no doubt about it. Oh well, that’s the way it goes and we’ll hopefully hit it big Monday and beyond.
Monday July 8th:
We got up and went down to the food court and had some coffee, I just didn't want to deal with Lexus Bitch, and make plans to venture to The Strip. We were going to pick up our tickets for Criss Angel’s Believe show for the 7:00 Tuesday night show and to just walk around and check things out. So off we went to the Luxor parking area and made the long trek in to the casino. Somehow I think those casinos have gotten bigger and Mandalay Bay is a city on to itself. It’s huge, to each their own, but just too much for me and the wife. We like the small casinos better, but if you want to see the shows this is where one must go. We gambled some and lost and then made our way back to our car to hit a casino more to our liking. So we found my casino again and wishfully hoped we would start righting the gambling ship. And we did! I was pounding away playing Deuces Wild and my wife was playing some slots with her returning to me telling me she wasn't having any luck…damn her! I said “hey, take the wheel because I need to see a man about a horse” and off I went. Just after I returned the wife hit this:
She was thrilled and so was I. So I sat down at the machine next to hers and immediately stumbled on to this:
Things are looking up! We played some more and of course gave some back, but not too much. We wanted to stay on the plus side. We then went for dinner with another 2 fer and enjoyed. It was our only meal of the day and looking back Saturday the 7th was the only day we had 2 meals. With our places of eating and the 2 fers and later the comps our food budget was very minimal. So after eating it was back to the casino and we always try a little in the Wheel of Fortune games and as always we never see the fortune, but hey you've got to give it a whirl. We tried the $0.25 game first and cashed out +$40 and then reinvested (?) $20 of it in a $1 WOF and cashed out at $186. Schweet! We had been there awhile and were making plans to return to the Fiesta when this arose:
We quickly packed up and happily headed for the door.
Tuesday July 9th:
In the morning we did our usual just hanging around with some coffee and some gambling and lost, but no major amount. Today was the day we were to make the trip back to the Strip to see the Criss Angel show and in years past we've seen some good circus acts at Circus Circus and we thought we’d take a chance on seeing some. I know, I know it’s Circus Circus which is probably the most maligned casino in Vegas and in spite of this it was off to Circus Circus. We luckily found close parking in the garage as a vehicle was exiting just as we were entering so we parked and headed on in. My God, there are a lot of kids in this world and I think most of them are in this hotel/casino complex. So we watched some shows and they were very good. The shows for the most part are spaced 30 minutes apart, however they only last 10 minutes top so then what do you do? Here's some photos of one of the circus acts, I bet you can’t do these stunts. Though I certainly wouldn't mind playing some Twister with the girl. Damn!
.
We gambled some and lost $60 then after another act I played some midway games (skeeball & shooting hoops) and I won! I must confess, in my day I was a pretty darn good skeeball player and we once had a spare room that was almost full of stuffed animals to the ceiling and they were eventually given to hospitals, charities, etc. Hmm, so now what do I do with these just won stuffed animals? As I always do now, I look at a kid who doesn't stand a snowballs chance in Vegas in July of winning anything and ask the parent(s) if they want my winning(s) for their children. Everybody is happy that way and the look on the faces is really priceless. I think the parents are happier, I wonder why? Oh oh, we haven’t ate yet and yes we decided on the dreaded Circus buffet which gets so much notoriety but we’re in the gambling capital of the world so we gambled. All things considered not too shabby and we found some offerings very good. Self service drinks and we like that, but the buffet is set up very strange. There’s food stations all over the place and you can’t see them, they do tell you about it when you enter though. Next we headed to the Luxor to see Criss Angel. I think he’s the best magician ever from his Mindfreak show and things you see on YouTube and even Oprah Winfrey says he’s the best and you don't mess with the Big O. However in large venues I think there is too much lavish production and not enough close up so much was lost to me. We've seen many magicians in Vegas and for me Mac King is the best because of the close(er) magic and his stage presence. We also thought the show showed some poor taste with some of its presentations for younger audience members and there were many teens and pre-teens in the crowd. The showroom was packed and I don’t think there was an empty seat in the house so Criss is doing alright. We left and returned to our car and went and tried some more gambling at my casino, you know my throwback Vegas as it used to be casino and soon after arriving:
And later another:
A-OK!! After playing some more and redistributing some wealth we headed back to the Fiesta in beautiful Henderson, NV. It was late and the wife was tired and I still had the urge to play some more VP so I said I’m taking a $100 down to the casino and try my luck. It was really 2:30 AM Wednesday the 10th when I went to seek my fortune. I picked out my machine and in went the $100 and after maybe 8-9 plays I had a big surprise:
Woo Hoo!! I immediately called the wife and said “guess what just happened?” and she said “ you've lost your $100 already!?!?” Like the late and great Rodney Dangerfield I get no respect at all I tell ya and I told her the good news and soon I was in our room showing her my $1091.25 voucher. What a way to end the long day.
Wednesday July 10th:
Our last real day in Vegas and we were up so should we play it close to the vest or do some more gambling? Decisions decisions and what should we do? Of course, we gambled and stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts and went to the drive thru that I scoped out seeing exactly how orders were placed and looking in my rear view mirror for you know who even though we were 8-9 miles away from her stomping grounds you just never can be too careful. We then went back to our little casino and I started to play as my wife went and found a quiet spot to made one of her twice daily calls to check up on things (our cats) at home. Right after she left a Royal came my way:
Wow, wow, wow!!! She came back and saw what I had just hit and she played some on that machine and I sat down next to her and immediately this came my way:
$1250 in hits in just minutes, I'm without speech. We, no make that I, played too long after this and gave back $300 of it but what the hell, it's Vegas baby? We had lunch and had easily built up comps for this to be free and spent the rest of our comps in the gift shop. We pulled up shortly thereafter because we had to get up early the next day for the long travel time back to PA, but I still had the urge so when we got back to the Fiesta I made a trek down to the casino for one last hurrah. I was getting some good play bouncing around on different VP machines and lo and behold I hit this:
I went back to our room up $150.
Thursday July 11th:
Virtually all day spent traveling and first we had comped breakfast at the hotel’s Cafe Fiesta and it was very good. We made one last stop back at our room for a final check and then checked out and loaded our belongings in the Fiat to return the car back at Fox Rental. We got on their shuttle to get to the next shuttle to return to McCarran. The security checkpoint didn't go as brisk as Pittsburgh, but only because there were more people waiting to fly. My bag was pulled aside because of my shaving cream can and was confiscated; damn I paid a $1 for that at a Henderson Dollar Tree! Of course I had to play some more VP at McCarran and I gave back $115. It’s a Vegas tradition for me to lose money just before Leaving Las Vegas and I don’t mess with traditions. Actually their paytables were the same or even better than some casinos we visited and I got decent play. Next stop Charlotte, NC and we did have a delay at LV so we had to rush to catch our next plane to Pittsburgh, we made it successfully and headed to the Steel City. We found the shuttle to return us to our car and headed home. We arrived at 11:45 PM and everyone and everything seemed OK. We slept in just a little and woke up and our little troubled boy was acting up again so we called the vet and they said to bring him down and they would check him out. At the vets he just didn't look right and we left him there so he could be unblocked again and headed home. There was a message on our phone and my wife called back to find out what was going on. I knew something was up and she hung up and told me the bad news, the vet told her the operation he was scheduled to have wouldn't work with his condition and his time with us was up. We've had to put down many cats, but this one has hit us the hardest because of what we've been through the last 3 months and just hoping there would be a happy ending that never came. Also, our little buddy was less than 5 years old and we expected him to be around for much more time. We miss him dearly. We had the best gambling luck ever on this trip and saw the thrill of victory go to the agony of defeat in less than 24 hours. We would gladly give everything back if he could be here with us right now. I’m truly sorry I made you hear about our cat, but this is what happened and call it a relief for me to talk about it. I miss you Woody.
Final Thoughts:
Las Vegas is still a great place to visit because it offers so much. Everybody has different tastes, styles, budgets, and the like and we still enjoy it after an almost 5 year time gap between trips. We’re going to up that frequency and I see us maybe visiting every other year or so at least. Air travel is such a pain and I envy those who can easily drive there, but how has it grown since our first visit in 1998. There are things I wish we would have seen or done, but no matter how long you visit it’s never enough to accomplish this and I’m a poor planner anyway. As you've read we’re not big on the exciting times and in reality never were. What you see is what you get and so go enjoy Vegas in your way and style and most of all have fun. In our boring way we did, ours was a great trip that ended badly. We’re doing OK in spite of everything and life moves on.
Travel: As mentioned air travel sucks anymore, but you have to do it and I can’t think of a more economically way to get from PA to Las Vegas so I’m alright with some nuisance(s).
Our Rental Car: The Fiat 500 is one (little) cool car. I was surprised how relatively quick it was when it only has 100 hp and saddled with an automatic transmission. Not a speed demon in any way, but it will get you there. For sure it’s not the Family Truckster and the trunk is very limited and the backseat is only suitable for small pets, nonetheless a nice vehicle and if Fiat has put to sleep the gremlins that always came with their prior vehicles I’d buy or lease one.
.
Fiesta Henderson: Our room was fine with us and the hotel is very nice. I slept very comfortable and it was clean. Thumbs downs to their pillows though, they were big foam ones with no scrunch-ability. My wife really disliked them because she’s a big time pillow scruncher. We would stay there again, the casino is nice and there are plenty of food outlets. We did only try the buffet, food court, and café though. They also have a steakhouse and a Mexican restaurant. The Fiesta labels itself as The Royal Flush Capital of the World and I did have 2 so that proves there's truth in their advertising.
Summer Heat: Yes, it was hot and I took the picture below when we returned to our car after sitting in a parking lot on Tuesday the 9th. Yes that’s 118 degrees, now I know that’s not an official temperature however I drove around the parking area for a bit and the temp dropped to a chilly 114 and I've always found car thermometers to be fairly accurate so you can draw your own conclusions. However I must stress this important fact and that is: It’s a dry heat…lol. We returned to PA and the temps were in the low 90’s and to me 110 in Vegas were more comfortable that what we witnessed here in PA. Our next trip will be in the summer, an air conditioned hotel room, air conditioned casinos and restaurants with an air conditioned vehicle; I mean what’s there not to like? So bring on the heat. We would like to visit Death Valley, so maybe we’ll have to schedule a non-summer trip sometime.
The photo above is a picture I took at the Fiesta Henderson’s hot parking lot. Yes, they’re burgers and maybe someone was doing a variation of “it’s so hot, you can fry an egg on the pavement” and substituted burgers instead. I don’t really know? I didn't notice the q-tip until I uploaded the pictures. Before I end let me add this disclaimer: All pictures posted above were taken on our trip and cameras used were my Samsung T404G cell phone or my trusty Canon A720IS. The reason I’m mentioning this is I've noticed on some of my cell phone pictures the date is 7/21. That must be when I renamed or uploaded them and again they were taken on our trip. You have my word.
Well, that’s about all. We’re doing fine and I hope you are too so,……………
...........
The Set-Up:
First off I started writing this, but stopped for reasons you’ll see and after awhile I decided to complete this trip report and post it so here goes. It had been a long time since we had been to Vegas and damn it all it was time to re-visit. We had the minimum Dividend Miles needed with US Airways for a flight and occasionally I would check the website to see if a flight would be possible and it didn't look good, but on Oct. 12 I booked a flight for the dates mentioned in the title. Yes, 9 months in advance and the booking fee of $70 were made. Next up was a hotel reservation and I picked the posh luxurious Fiesta Henderson as out home away from home for the 6 nights. Wait, I forgot to add swanky to the Fiesta Henderson’s description. Because we just love to travel around in the far different environment and because of the Fiesta’s location a car rental was needed. I chose Fox Car Rental because I could rent a Fiat 500 and since I own some Fix It Again Tony’s we decided to give their latest offering a test drive.
Friday July 5th:
We left our home at 2:15 AM for the 2 1/2 hour ride to Pittsburgh International, but we almost cancelled our trip because of an ongoing problem. About 3 months ago one of our cats (we have 3) developed some medical problems. Of course we didn't see it causing any problems with our impending trip and then many visits to the vet(s) started. The little buddy just can’t shake his condition and the vet bills have been high, but we keep telling him it’s going to get better. He’s been to 3 different clinics with overnight stays totaling 14 nights on 5 visits alone and he’s visited the vet(s) like 12 times. He’s breaking us, but hey we love the little guy and our money could be spent on something else less worthy so we’re good with it. Anyway, because of his problems serious thoughts were given for our trip to not come about. Wednesday July 3rd we took him to the vet and he assured us he would be alright and we could travel. We have a friend who was going to check in on our cats twice daily and we decided to continue on with our trip. We arrived at the off-site parking lot and dropped off our car and were shuttled for the 5 minute ride to the airport. Going through security was a breeze and soon we were on our way to the first leg of our journey (Charlotte, NC). We had a long layover so we of course just sat and waited. While waiting I noticed this gentleman who it turns out was going to be on the same flight as ours. I went over and politely asked him are you who I think you are and he replied “yes”. I told him I appreciate his work on TV and we talked some about his specialty. Strangely he didn't recognize me. I get that a lot and I’m used to it so it doesn't bother me. Alright everybody, who is this?
We had some problems at Charlotte because our roll-away luggage handles broke almost at the same time so we had to carry them through the airport. Damn! Then, the plane was booked solid and there was no more room for carry-on luggage and we had to check our 2 bags. Double damn!! I had a real beef with this because I see bags I know are over the size limits, however mostly there’s no room because people load their bags overhead north/south instead of east/west and that’s where the room goes. I saw airline personnel loading them that way too. I was a little steamed over this, but in the long run this turned out to be a blessing because when we arrived in Vegas we didn't have to carry our busted up roll-away luggage through the airport. Mostly we were very worried about our sick cat; however we called and were told he was doing fine along with the other two.
We arrived at McCarran and got on the car rental shuttle bus and then had to get on another shuttle for the ride to Fox Car Rental to pick up our Fiat 500. The agent gave the usual insurance and buying fuel upfront jargon, but I passed and away we went to our resort, I say resort because they do charge a $9.99 daily resort fee. Our 9th floor room was more than adequate for us and must be LVA's Bags has stayed there in the past because our room had a 50” Panasonic flat screen TV. Thanks Bags! It had been a long day with nothing substantial to eat yet so after getting everything unpacked and put away we went for the hotel’s buffet. With the club card it’s $8.99 and what an array of food, however to us we didn't really enjoy it as we thought we would. Maybe we were just too tired, I don’t know. After eating we went out to the casino and did some gambling. I played mostly VP and my wife chose her Buffalo slots. She didn't hit anything and I wasn't doing much better until I saw a $.01 ten play progressive VP game. Yes, that 50 cents per play and there was people just a pounding away at it and I found the only open seat and put in a $100 seeking the +$720 progressive on a DEALT Royal. I played for a bit and on the deal got 4 to the royal in hearts and on the draw hit 1 Royal. The casino was immediately put in lock-down and I heard later that McCarran International was stopping all inbound/outbound flights as my TITO of $176.10 was being dispensed and casino security whisked me away to the redemption kiosk. A picture:
But hey, a Royal is a Royal no matter what and I was happy. Soon after we retired for the night and down some; the huge Royal didn't pull us ahead and there’s always tomorrow.
Saturday July 6th:
We decided to get up and do some traveling to some sites and visit some casinos too. We had breakfast with a 2 fer from the ACG book at my casino. A throwback casino to the way Vegas used to be. We enjoyed our breakfast and went out to play and shortly after I connected with this:
We left happy and drove to Primm to ride the Desperado and because we both had ACG books we got all days ride passes free. We've ridden it before and it’s an awesome ride and the both of us were at one time roller coaster freaks, but we rode once and said “that’s it, once is enough”. I guess we’re just freaks now. We then decided to go to Red Rock Canyon for the beautiful drive along with some minor hiking in the +100 heat and very quickly said “damn, it's friggin’ hot so let’s go to Pahrump”. We've never been there and the ride was very nice and we could easily see the fire on Mt. Charleston which happened to be a place we were going to check out, but the fire snuffed out those plans.
We were very impressed with Pahrump away from the too much, to us anyway, hustle and bustle of Las Vegas and we stopped at the Pahrump Nugget casino. We each signed up for our card and with the ACG coupons received $25 each in free slot play. We played it off and won nothing, but had fun and I started to play VP and playing $0.10 denom received this:
We then went to their buffet and were very impressed. The buffet costs with tax $11.77 and that price is for 2! It’s good and on the buffet they have prime rib which was very tasty and I enjoyed seconds. We give big thumbs up to the Pahrump Nugget and their buffet and we liked what we saw of laid back Pahrump. After eating we gambled some more and gave most back. We stayed and listened to and really enjoyed a 50’s-70’s band that was playing at the casino bar and stage area. Very good sound and around 10 PM we headed back to the Fiesta which is around 70-80 miles away. We could easily see the flames from the Mt Charleston fire on our return.
Sunday July 7th:
We gambled at the Fiesta with no luck at all and went to a local Walmart for some things and also hit a nearby McD’s drive-thru for some coffee. That’s where we encountered Lexus Bitch. Let me explain, I drive the Fiat to the placard that shows menu items and wait for a greeting of “Welcome to McDonald’s and how can I help you today” or something like that and wait maybe a minute and nothing. That’s when Lexus Bitch behind us gets on her horn and starts blasting away, you see as we found out you don’t order there, you have to remember what you want and drive to the first window to order and pay. Sheesh, I didn't know I’m just a small town boy from the backwoods of PA and this is the first McD’s I've ever encountered like this. So I’m paying with my arm out the window waiting for my receipt and credit card when Lexus Bitch starts blasting away on her damn car horn again. I was going to go back and strongly suggest she try the decaf. I still don't know what her problem was. A reminder, if you ever stop at the Boulder Highway McD’s just north of Lake Mead Parkway beware of Lexus Bitch. You've been warned. We then headed south to the Boulder City area to check out (again) Hoover Dam which is still a marvel to see no matter how many times you've seen it and also to get a first time look at the completed bridge that spans the Nevada/Arizona border. It’s pretty impressive and what a time-saver for traffic from the old route snaking down the canyon and across the dam. We then headed back and stopped at the Hacienda which is located just outside of Boulder City and gambled and lost. Sunday was definitely our down day on the whole trip. It became time for dinner so we decided to eat at their buffet and we used the 2 fer from the ACG book. It was steak and shrimp night for $10.95 and the steaks were flavorful yet leathery, the shrimp were breaded shrimp but tasty. $10.95 + tax and a $5 tip were fine with us. I guess I should have warned you in advance that if you came here to read about exotic adventuresome meals you've came to the wrong place. I suggest you read westie’s excellent TR’s; hey that’s what I do when I’m hungry. Anyway, we had to go back to the casino to lose some more money and we did just that. The Hacienda is a nice little casino though and we’ll go back because I just know the next time we hit Vegas we’ll win there. They do have full pay LDW in $0.25 and that’s cool. We headed back to the Fiesta and proceeded to lose some more. Yep, Sunday was our bad day, no doubt about it. Oh well, that’s the way it goes and we’ll hopefully hit it big Monday and beyond.
Monday July 8th:
We got up and went down to the food court and had some coffee, I just didn't want to deal with Lexus Bitch, and make plans to venture to The Strip. We were going to pick up our tickets for Criss Angel’s Believe show for the 7:00 Tuesday night show and to just walk around and check things out. So off we went to the Luxor parking area and made the long trek in to the casino. Somehow I think those casinos have gotten bigger and Mandalay Bay is a city on to itself. It’s huge, to each their own, but just too much for me and the wife. We like the small casinos better, but if you want to see the shows this is where one must go. We gambled some and lost and then made our way back to our car to hit a casino more to our liking. So we found my casino again and wishfully hoped we would start righting the gambling ship. And we did! I was pounding away playing Deuces Wild and my wife was playing some slots with her returning to me telling me she wasn't having any luck…damn her! I said “hey, take the wheel because I need to see a man about a horse” and off I went. Just after I returned the wife hit this:
She was thrilled and so was I. So I sat down at the machine next to hers and immediately stumbled on to this:
Things are looking up! We played some more and of course gave some back, but not too much. We wanted to stay on the plus side. We then went for dinner with another 2 fer and enjoyed. It was our only meal of the day and looking back Saturday the 7th was the only day we had 2 meals. With our places of eating and the 2 fers and later the comps our food budget was very minimal. So after eating it was back to the casino and we always try a little in the Wheel of Fortune games and as always we never see the fortune, but hey you've got to give it a whirl. We tried the $0.25 game first and cashed out +$40 and then reinvested (?) $20 of it in a $1 WOF and cashed out at $186. Schweet! We had been there awhile and were making plans to return to the Fiesta when this arose:
We quickly packed up and happily headed for the door.
Tuesday July 9th:
In the morning we did our usual just hanging around with some coffee and some gambling and lost, but no major amount. Today was the day we were to make the trip back to the Strip to see the Criss Angel show and in years past we've seen some good circus acts at Circus Circus and we thought we’d take a chance on seeing some. I know, I know it’s Circus Circus which is probably the most maligned casino in Vegas and in spite of this it was off to Circus Circus. We luckily found close parking in the garage as a vehicle was exiting just as we were entering so we parked and headed on in. My God, there are a lot of kids in this world and I think most of them are in this hotel/casino complex. So we watched some shows and they were very good. The shows for the most part are spaced 30 minutes apart, however they only last 10 minutes top so then what do you do? Here's some photos of one of the circus acts, I bet you can’t do these stunts. Though I certainly wouldn't mind playing some Twister with the girl. Damn!
.We gambled some and lost $60 then after another act I played some midway games (skeeball & shooting hoops) and I won! I must confess, in my day I was a pretty darn good skeeball player and we once had a spare room that was almost full of stuffed animals to the ceiling and they were eventually given to hospitals, charities, etc. Hmm, so now what do I do with these just won stuffed animals? As I always do now, I look at a kid who doesn't stand a snowballs chance in Vegas in July of winning anything and ask the parent(s) if they want my winning(s) for their children. Everybody is happy that way and the look on the faces is really priceless. I think the parents are happier, I wonder why? Oh oh, we haven’t ate yet and yes we decided on the dreaded Circus buffet which gets so much notoriety but we’re in the gambling capital of the world so we gambled. All things considered not too shabby and we found some offerings very good. Self service drinks and we like that, but the buffet is set up very strange. There’s food stations all over the place and you can’t see them, they do tell you about it when you enter though. Next we headed to the Luxor to see Criss Angel. I think he’s the best magician ever from his Mindfreak show and things you see on YouTube and even Oprah Winfrey says he’s the best and you don't mess with the Big O. However in large venues I think there is too much lavish production and not enough close up so much was lost to me. We've seen many magicians in Vegas and for me Mac King is the best because of the close(er) magic and his stage presence. We also thought the show showed some poor taste with some of its presentations for younger audience members and there were many teens and pre-teens in the crowd. The showroom was packed and I don’t think there was an empty seat in the house so Criss is doing alright. We left and returned to our car and went and tried some more gambling at my casino, you know my throwback Vegas as it used to be casino and soon after arriving:
And later another:
A-OK!! After playing some more and redistributing some wealth we headed back to the Fiesta in beautiful Henderson, NV. It was late and the wife was tired and I still had the urge to play some more VP so I said I’m taking a $100 down to the casino and try my luck. It was really 2:30 AM Wednesday the 10th when I went to seek my fortune. I picked out my machine and in went the $100 and after maybe 8-9 plays I had a big surprise:
Woo Hoo!! I immediately called the wife and said “guess what just happened?” and she said “ you've lost your $100 already!?!?” Like the late and great Rodney Dangerfield I get no respect at all I tell ya and I told her the good news and soon I was in our room showing her my $1091.25 voucher. What a way to end the long day.
Wednesday July 10th:
Our last real day in Vegas and we were up so should we play it close to the vest or do some more gambling? Decisions decisions and what should we do? Of course, we gambled and stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts and went to the drive thru that I scoped out seeing exactly how orders were placed and looking in my rear view mirror for you know who even though we were 8-9 miles away from her stomping grounds you just never can be too careful. We then went back to our little casino and I started to play as my wife went and found a quiet spot to made one of her twice daily calls to check up on things (our cats) at home. Right after she left a Royal came my way:
Wow, wow, wow!!! She came back and saw what I had just hit and she played some on that machine and I sat down next to her and immediately this came my way:
$1250 in hits in just minutes, I'm without speech. We, no make that I, played too long after this and gave back $300 of it but what the hell, it's Vegas baby? We had lunch and had easily built up comps for this to be free and spent the rest of our comps in the gift shop. We pulled up shortly thereafter because we had to get up early the next day for the long travel time back to PA, but I still had the urge so when we got back to the Fiesta I made a trek down to the casino for one last hurrah. I was getting some good play bouncing around on different VP machines and lo and behold I hit this:
I went back to our room up $150.
Thursday July 11th:
Virtually all day spent traveling and first we had comped breakfast at the hotel’s Cafe Fiesta and it was very good. We made one last stop back at our room for a final check and then checked out and loaded our belongings in the Fiat to return the car back at Fox Rental. We got on their shuttle to get to the next shuttle to return to McCarran. The security checkpoint didn't go as brisk as Pittsburgh, but only because there were more people waiting to fly. My bag was pulled aside because of my shaving cream can and was confiscated; damn I paid a $1 for that at a Henderson Dollar Tree! Of course I had to play some more VP at McCarran and I gave back $115. It’s a Vegas tradition for me to lose money just before Leaving Las Vegas and I don’t mess with traditions. Actually their paytables were the same or even better than some casinos we visited and I got decent play. Next stop Charlotte, NC and we did have a delay at LV so we had to rush to catch our next plane to Pittsburgh, we made it successfully and headed to the Steel City. We found the shuttle to return us to our car and headed home. We arrived at 11:45 PM and everyone and everything seemed OK. We slept in just a little and woke up and our little troubled boy was acting up again so we called the vet and they said to bring him down and they would check him out. At the vets he just didn't look right and we left him there so he could be unblocked again and headed home. There was a message on our phone and my wife called back to find out what was going on. I knew something was up and she hung up and told me the bad news, the vet told her the operation he was scheduled to have wouldn't work with his condition and his time with us was up. We've had to put down many cats, but this one has hit us the hardest because of what we've been through the last 3 months and just hoping there would be a happy ending that never came. Also, our little buddy was less than 5 years old and we expected him to be around for much more time. We miss him dearly. We had the best gambling luck ever on this trip and saw the thrill of victory go to the agony of defeat in less than 24 hours. We would gladly give everything back if he could be here with us right now. I’m truly sorry I made you hear about our cat, but this is what happened and call it a relief for me to talk about it. I miss you Woody.
Final Thoughts:
Las Vegas is still a great place to visit because it offers so much. Everybody has different tastes, styles, budgets, and the like and we still enjoy it after an almost 5 year time gap between trips. We’re going to up that frequency and I see us maybe visiting every other year or so at least. Air travel is such a pain and I envy those who can easily drive there, but how has it grown since our first visit in 1998. There are things I wish we would have seen or done, but no matter how long you visit it’s never enough to accomplish this and I’m a poor planner anyway. As you've read we’re not big on the exciting times and in reality never were. What you see is what you get and so go enjoy Vegas in your way and style and most of all have fun. In our boring way we did, ours was a great trip that ended badly. We’re doing OK in spite of everything and life moves on.
Travel: As mentioned air travel sucks anymore, but you have to do it and I can’t think of a more economically way to get from PA to Las Vegas so I’m alright with some nuisance(s).
Our Rental Car: The Fiat 500 is one (little) cool car. I was surprised how relatively quick it was when it only has 100 hp and saddled with an automatic transmission. Not a speed demon in any way, but it will get you there. For sure it’s not the Family Truckster and the trunk is very limited and the backseat is only suitable for small pets, nonetheless a nice vehicle and if Fiat has put to sleep the gremlins that always came with their prior vehicles I’d buy or lease one.
.Fiesta Henderson: Our room was fine with us and the hotel is very nice. I slept very comfortable and it was clean. Thumbs downs to their pillows though, they were big foam ones with no scrunch-ability. My wife really disliked them because she’s a big time pillow scruncher. We would stay there again, the casino is nice and there are plenty of food outlets. We did only try the buffet, food court, and café though. They also have a steakhouse and a Mexican restaurant. The Fiesta labels itself as The Royal Flush Capital of the World and I did have 2 so that proves there's truth in their advertising.
Summer Heat: Yes, it was hot and I took the picture below when we returned to our car after sitting in a parking lot on Tuesday the 9th. Yes that’s 118 degrees, now I know that’s not an official temperature however I drove around the parking area for a bit and the temp dropped to a chilly 114 and I've always found car thermometers to be fairly accurate so you can draw your own conclusions. However I must stress this important fact and that is: It’s a dry heat…lol. We returned to PA and the temps were in the low 90’s and to me 110 in Vegas were more comfortable that what we witnessed here in PA. Our next trip will be in the summer, an air conditioned hotel room, air conditioned casinos and restaurants with an air conditioned vehicle; I mean what’s there not to like? So bring on the heat. We would like to visit Death Valley, so maybe we’ll have to schedule a non-summer trip sometime.
The photo above is a picture I took at the Fiesta Henderson’s hot parking lot. Yes, they’re burgers and maybe someone was doing a variation of “it’s so hot, you can fry an egg on the pavement” and substituted burgers instead. I don’t really know? I didn't notice the q-tip until I uploaded the pictures. Before I end let me add this disclaimer: All pictures posted above were taken on our trip and cameras used were my Samsung T404G cell phone or my trusty Canon A720IS. The reason I’m mentioning this is I've noticed on some of my cell phone pictures the date is 7/21. That must be when I renamed or uploaded them and again they were taken on our trip. You have my word.
Well, that’s about all. We’re doing fine and I hope you are too so,……………
...........
