Trip Report – Part One
21st December – Depart Kelowna BC at 0600 hrs on Horizon Air for Seattle. 4 hour layover then Alaska Air to Vegas. Picked up Avenger from Dollar Express - $310.00 all in for 12 days. Their service as usual was exceptional – car was waiting for us with keys in ignition. Drove to our favourite resort in Laughlin – Aquarius – for 6 nights. Forgot to go to Liquor Store so went to hotel convenience shop - $36.00 for a 375ml Scotch. Told them what we thought of that and went to Bullhead City - $20.88 for 750 ml.
Went back to Aquarius to play 9-6 JoB. Theirs pays 450 for a straight flush – much better than the Vegas full pay. Cocktail service at Aquarius is great – double scotches – good stuff – as fast as you want them. I played a $20.00, hit AAAA, played that down to $5.00 then hit 4444. After another 10 minutes hit hearts straight flush. Went to Aquarius Cafe for dinner – exceptional value – then watched TV & had a few drinks – went to bed.
22 Dec – Met our friends who live in New York. They are high rollers there – this year they had a suite comped for 6 weeks. They had already been there a week and were down. That afternoon they won $20,000 on multi line poker. Played some video poker then went next door to Riverside – terrible smoke-filled casino but great movie theatre – saw the Hobbit – really enjoyed it. Came back to Aquarius and played a few hands video poker, then went to Edgewater with the 2 for 1 buffet coupon. A good dinner for 2 for $9.00! Back to Aquarius and an early night watching TV.
23 Dec - Breakfast in Cafe Aquarius – great breakfast for $6.00. Then day trip to the animal rescue in Arizona. Lots of tigers. I love the work that those guys are doing but they are clueless about photographers. There are so many ways that they could have made it camera friendly, but couldn’t get one decent photograph. Back to Riverside in the late afternoon to see Lincoln. Worth seeing – not great, but worth seeing. Outback Steakhouse for dinner – good value – decent steak. 3 hours video poker – came out up $120.00 – put $21.00 in Megabucks (which I do every day) 7 pulls and cash – no matter what. Cashed out $86.00.
24 December – Had heard about a really cool general store on Route 66 so went to check it out. Amazing place – I spent 2 hours there. The owner showed me some of his favourite memorabilia and one piece was a poster promoting a big concert in England in the Sixties. I showed him one of the photos on it and said, recognize that guy? He looked at it, looked at me, looked at it, looked at me, then a customer said – hey that’s you. That was pretty cool – and I signed it for him. Back to Aquarius via Bullhead City where I bought a Virgin Mobile stick and 5 x $20.00 cards (the cards last for 5 years) – once activated they last 30 days. A $20.00 card I learned this trip is good for more than 20 hours G4 time – I finally got over my issues of where to get internet in the US. I will bring my own in future. Played some more video poker at Aquarius – was down then got another straight flush. Dinner at a local restaurant in Laughlin – it wasn’t memorable. Watched TV. More VP then bed.
25th Dec Merry Christmas – went to Oatman to check out a town from yesteryear. Pretty cool place – Burros wandering free in the streets, got to look around a house that had caves as rooms in the back. Returned to Laughlin and went to Riverside to see Les Misrables – VERY highly recommended. We just loved that movie. Back to Aquarius. Christmas Buffet was terrible – I let the GM know what we thought. Didn’t even have a fresh turkey, no decorations, no Christmas desserts. Last year they did a great job.
26 December – went to check out Harrahs and the Avi – the only 2 resorts in Laughlin that we had not visited. Neither impressed us. We still believe that Aquarius is the only place to stay in Laughlin. Also, as a long-time smoker who quit 20 years ago – air quality is major to me – there are so many casinos that I have to leave because I can’t breathe – must have done some damage in all those years smoking. Aquarius has the cleanest air in Laughlin – add that to the best video poker, best cocktail service, best cafe, nice rooms and best location – and free wifi at Starbucks – in casino . Good dinner at outback steakhouse. Won again at VP – but my wife lost. I won enough to cover the rooms and meals – my wife ain’t telling me how much she lost.
27th December – Drive to Vegas – to be continued . . . .
21st December – Depart Kelowna BC at 0600 hrs on Horizon Air for Seattle. 4 hour layover then Alaska Air to Vegas. Picked up Avenger from Dollar Express - $310.00 all in for 12 days. Their service as usual was exceptional – car was waiting for us with keys in ignition. Drove to our favourite resort in Laughlin – Aquarius – for 6 nights. Forgot to go to Liquor Store so went to hotel convenience shop - $36.00 for a 375ml Scotch. Told them what we thought of that and went to Bullhead City - $20.88 for 750 ml.
Went back to Aquarius to play 9-6 JoB. Theirs pays 450 for a straight flush – much better than the Vegas full pay. Cocktail service at Aquarius is great – double scotches – good stuff – as fast as you want them. I played a $20.00, hit AAAA, played that down to $5.00 then hit 4444. After another 10 minutes hit hearts straight flush. Went to Aquarius Cafe for dinner – exceptional value – then watched TV & had a few drinks – went to bed.
22 Dec – Met our friends who live in New York. They are high rollers there – this year they had a suite comped for 6 weeks. They had already been there a week and were down. That afternoon they won $20,000 on multi line poker. Played some video poker then went next door to Riverside – terrible smoke-filled casino but great movie theatre – saw the Hobbit – really enjoyed it. Came back to Aquarius and played a few hands video poker, then went to Edgewater with the 2 for 1 buffet coupon. A good dinner for 2 for $9.00! Back to Aquarius and an early night watching TV.
23 Dec - Breakfast in Cafe Aquarius – great breakfast for $6.00. Then day trip to the animal rescue in Arizona. Lots of tigers. I love the work that those guys are doing but they are clueless about photographers. There are so many ways that they could have made it camera friendly, but couldn’t get one decent photograph. Back to Riverside in the late afternoon to see Lincoln. Worth seeing – not great, but worth seeing. Outback Steakhouse for dinner – good value – decent steak. 3 hours video poker – came out up $120.00 – put $21.00 in Megabucks (which I do every day) 7 pulls and cash – no matter what. Cashed out $86.00.
24 December – Had heard about a really cool general store on Route 66 so went to check it out. Amazing place – I spent 2 hours there. The owner showed me some of his favourite memorabilia and one piece was a poster promoting a big concert in England in the Sixties. I showed him one of the photos on it and said, recognize that guy? He looked at it, looked at me, looked at it, looked at me, then a customer said – hey that’s you. That was pretty cool – and I signed it for him. Back to Aquarius via Bullhead City where I bought a Virgin Mobile stick and 5 x $20.00 cards (the cards last for 5 years) – once activated they last 30 days. A $20.00 card I learned this trip is good for more than 20 hours G4 time – I finally got over my issues of where to get internet in the US. I will bring my own in future. Played some more video poker at Aquarius – was down then got another straight flush. Dinner at a local restaurant in Laughlin – it wasn’t memorable. Watched TV. More VP then bed.
25th Dec Merry Christmas – went to Oatman to check out a town from yesteryear. Pretty cool place – Burros wandering free in the streets, got to look around a house that had caves as rooms in the back. Returned to Laughlin and went to Riverside to see Les Misrables – VERY highly recommended. We just loved that movie. Back to Aquarius. Christmas Buffet was terrible – I let the GM know what we thought. Didn’t even have a fresh turkey, no decorations, no Christmas desserts. Last year they did a great job.
26 December – went to check out Harrahs and the Avi – the only 2 resorts in Laughlin that we had not visited. Neither impressed us. We still believe that Aquarius is the only place to stay in Laughlin. Also, as a long-time smoker who quit 20 years ago – air quality is major to me – there are so many casinos that I have to leave because I can’t breathe – must have done some damage in all those years smoking. Aquarius has the cleanest air in Laughlin – add that to the best video poker, best cocktail service, best cafe, nice rooms and best location – and free wifi at Starbucks – in casino . Good dinner at outback steakhouse. Won again at VP – but my wife lost. I won enough to cover the rooms and meals – my wife ain’t telling me how much she lost.
27th December – Drive to Vegas – to be continued . . . .
