First vegas trip departing from Summerland, British Columbia. I swore I wouldn't go
to Vegas in the sweltering heat of summer ever again. The thing is, we moved to the Okanagan valley, Canada's only desert, where the summer heat is about the same as
the Las Vegas desert. So if the weather's the same, I guess June is an ok time for
a sojourn in Vegas. Flew Air Canada from YLW Kelowna Airport, stop over in YVR Vancouver, then on to LAS Las Vegas. (Flew Alaska Airlines home)
Got a decent price on airfare, about $160 each way.
Its a shorter travel day than from London to Detroit, to Las Vegas.
Picked up rental car, 2015 Hyundai Elantra. Felt like very solid car,
no rattles or problems. $150USD for 8 days. Hot outside 35 C, 95 F.
Checked in at Palace Station, room #7026. Free night using MyVegas comp.
Most of you are probably familiar with the MyVegas game on facebook that
allows you to earn real vegas comps by playing an online game. It was pretty
awesome in the beginning. We worked the hell out of it and got some awesome
comps, but the rewards have become much less valuable and come with
many more restrictions. This will likely be my last time redeeming them.
(Wouldn't be shocked if promotion totally disappears by next trip.)
Its a good lessen. Things like free comps or juicy online poker games
dont last forever so hit 'em hard while you can.
Dinner at Mama Maria's Mexican Restaurant (6055 E. Lake Mead Blvd).
About 10km/6miles from downtown, 12 minutes driving. Used a Restaurant.com
gift certificate (cost $6). Great food. Total bill for two $27.02 including beer lol.
Crazy amount of food, bring your biggest appetite with you.
If you've got a car, worth the drive for some authentic mexican 9/10
So much food
Hot skillet
It was a chore to eat all this delicious food
Lots of murals and mexican art
There's a mexican bakery attached to the restaurant
post dessert sugar coma, giant cookie
Wed June 3rd
Palace Station breakfast buffet, myvegas comp. Its a super cheap utility buffet,
$5.99 but there was a huge lineup because people were using a 2for1 coupon
from the newspaper. Everyone loves a deal, especially poor people.
Balleys poker. W +$596, G -45.
Drove out to Clark County Wetlands Park in Henderson NV.
the desert. Some of the concrete rubble from imploded casinos lines the river banks.
It was 34 Celsius, 93 F in the shade
Comped using MyVegas reward. Very long check-in. 45 minutes +.
Room was nice. Phone by the toilet, TV by the sink.
Tried Mandalay poker room but left after a half hour waiting for a seat.
Bellagio dinner buffet comped, wonderful kobe beef, lamb and tasty desserts.
6 hours at Harrah's poker W -$100, G -$200. Went to bed 3am.
Thurs June 4th
Brunch at Bellagio comped. You know that I loaded up on desserts.
The Bellagio Gardens were absolutely beautiful as always.
Virtually everything you see is plants and flowers
Virtually everything you see is plants and flowers
Caesars poker room W+$45, G+$106
Tried to redeem 2 free dinner buffet myvegas comp at MGM Grand.
MGM buffet was "closed without notice, reopen date unknown".
Haven't found out what happened, we maybe lucked out that it was closed,
even though it kinda fucked our plans.
Went to IN n OUT Burger. About as good as fast food gets.
Inexpensive, simple menu. 2 Cheeseburgers, 2 fries, 2 real milkshake for $14.
Tried out the Excalibur poker room, it was smokey, had dirty chips and bad players.
What more would you expect from this place ? W -$100, G+$138.
Poker session at Mandalay Bay poker room before bed. W +$251, G -$34
Friday June 5th
Lunch buffet at Silverton Casino. 2 for $21.60, good value as usual.
Bass Pro Shops, bought a cool shirt, fish batter and some socks with lifetime warranty.
Gotta warn ya, this shit will set off alarms going through TSA security.
Luggage searched and they did the full Explosives Residue Testing on it.
Photo: Random items you see at the better dollar stores.
Stopped at the LasVegas Outlet mall to check out New Balance and Reebok stores.
I tried on 25+ pairs, not one fit well enough. Gina tries on 3 and buys a pair.
Easy online check-in at the LINQ hotel for the weekend. Room #21027.
Used Caesars Total Rewards comp dollars to get free rooms without using our cash..
First hotel stay for me since it fully transformed from the Imperial Palace.
I appreciate the new air conditioner that was reasonably quiet, unlike the old
rattle boxes at most Caesars properties.
Brutal parking situation at LINQ caused by friday night volume plus "labor issues".
Only way we got a spot was by offering to help a girl, drove her around searching
for her lost car and taking her parking spot after we located it.
Played at the remodeled Mirage Poker room. Seated at the table
right under the A/C vent, bring a sweater. W +$20, G - $34.
Ventured downtown. Had a craving for dried meat, but the Jerky Store
off Fremont St. was closed at 6:15pm, wtf!. Dissapointed.
Fremont has become a bit of a shit-show mix of bottom tier performers and homeless.
6:30pm dinner at Top of Binions Steakhouse, 24th floor, nice view.
Had Lobster bisque $10.99 - 8/10. Wedge salad $8.99. 7/10
18oz Porterhouse $49.99 7.5/10 16oz Ribeye $46.99 8/10
(green beens were meh, overall vibe was less than expected)
Had about $90 worth of comps that somehow stayed alive despite not playing at
Binions for 2 years. Always wanted to visit the vintage steakhouse, glad we did
Checked out the Downtown Container Park.
Hipster central. Not really my thing but i can see why it was super busy. Walked over
to the Downtown Grand casino, and all around the Fremont East Entertainment District.
Saturday June 6th
Headed south to Green Valley Ranch for free lunch buffet, myvegas comp.
Still a very good place to eat. No line up. Casino and sportsbook were very busy
for the Belmont Stakes (American Pharoah won triple crown).
The GVR poker room continues to be good to me. W +$324, G -$123
Gina missed out on a $100 bonus when she flopped Quads but there wasn't
enough money in the pot to qualify. Later I bet her off a pot by shoving all-in
to isolate another player. She correctly folded a Royal Flush draw, thinking one of us probably had the King of Clubs she needed anyway. Wasn't the case, the King of Clubs
came on the river, costing her a $350 Royal Flush bonus. I did win the pot, but that was
no consolation to her, missing her second high hand bonus of the session.
Later, played a few hours at Caesars poker room W -$165, G +$91
Headed to South Point Casino Coronodo Cafe tried the dinner specials.
16oz Porterhouse w/ soup, fries, onion rings and garlic toast for $13.
G. had Grilled chicken chiabatta w/fries $10. Decent but not noteworthy.
Harrah's poker W -$200, G +$283
Sunday June 7th
Breakfast at remodelled ElCortez cafe, big portions, hot and delicious ($23.72 for two).
Short poker session at Golden Nugget, crazy/bad players W-$85, G+$27.
Checked in to Red Rock Hotel. Room #17146 free night using MyVegas comp.
Love this place. Great pools, lots of activities like movie theatre and bowling lanes.
Found out they have hourly free shuttle to and from hotel/airport and hotel/mid-strip.
nice pool view from our room
RR Poker room was surprisingly busy, likely because the high hand
and bad beat jackpots were swelling. Short session at RR poker room.
W-$27 G-$200. Free RedRock dinner buffet, excellent.
2nd poker session W+$180, G-$274. Later G. got on a hot streak on
slotmachines. +$24 on Jungle World slots, +$9.30 LuckyLionFish and
+$55.09 QueenOfTheWild slots. Late night milkshakes from Fat Burger
inside RedRock. Delicious, made with Real ice cream.
Monday June 8th
Good thing we were up and at 'em early, maintenance staff was drilling/hammering
in the room next door, right above our headboard. Had Red Rock Feast brunch,
free with a MyVegas comp. No more omlettes at 11:30am?/ limited breakfast items,
dry sushi, dry carot cake. Not up to usual RedRock buffet standards.
Hot day outside 38 Celcius, 100 degrees F.
Waiting list at Red Rock poker room so we left.
Checked back in to Palace Station for another free night accommodation.
Room #9003. Layout was Weird as fuck. I think room used to be a storage room,
and was filled with random pieces of leftover furniture from remodelled rooms.
The alarm clock was on a flimsy table beside the loveseat. There was barely
enough room to get beside the bed, a larger person would have to climb over.
The curved window looks out of the silver vertical tube on the right of the hotel.
Caesars poker room session, terrible players, no luck at all. W -$85, G - $15.
Another free Bellagio dinner buffet via myvegas comp. it was just ok.
The strip was very busy, lots of people everywhere.
Harrahs poker room, card dead + run bad = W -$200 G-$200
Back at Palace Station late at night, found a bank of full-pay video poker,
they were good to me but couldn't quite hit that royal flush.
Tuesday June 8th
Free Bellagio Brunch, myvegas comp. It was ok.
Caesars poker, more of traditional last day run-bad. W-$200, G-$258
Sad to be Leaving Las Vegas.
Bought two 1L of Crown Royal at the duty-free for $45.60 to make us feel better.
Our plane home was coming in from Seattle and hit some hardcore turbulence.
So bad that the plane had to be grounded for structural inspection.
People coming off looked shaken. Had to wait a couple hours. ...
Most of the others scheduled for our flight rebooked and crammed themselves onto
another plane. We weren't in any hurry because with the delay there was no way
we could catch our connection back to Kelowna in time any way. There were 7 of us
who were still waiting. The Seattle plane passed inspection and seven of us boarded
and had the whole Boeing 737 all to ourselves. We even got served the hot dinner
that would have been eaten by the 1st class passengers had they been there.
In Seattle, Alaska Airlines put us up in the Seattle Best Western Airport Executel.
Total SHITHOLE. Best/worst part was front desk gave us key to room, open door,
safety lock is on because there's a poor woman in her bed sleeping as i try to
get in her room. Sketchy tattooed woman wandering the halls. 3 smoke detectors
but no sprinkler in the room. The only hotel room that i lifted the mattress
checking for bedbugs. Photo: Bad sign that rooms are prone to break-ins.
Random Notes: Every hotel room had noise issues. Drunken guests and
ignorant hotel staff. Spanish cleaning ladies yelling "MI HIJO" !
None of the buffets were amazing, or as good as last visit, not even Bellagio.
The poker rooms were very slow in the weeks leading up to our visit, but the
World Series Of Poker probably saved a few rooms from closure because
every room had a huge spike once the series started. Cash game waiting lists
30-50 deep around the WSOP Colossus tournament. A lot of douchey locals
at the poker tables. I win money against competent and skilled poker players,
but i lose money against weaker, bad players. Not sure that's how its supposed
to work, but it was very consistent. Much lower numbers of Canadians this trip,
likely because of the weak $CAD dollar. Futures Bets: Pittsburgh Steelers 22/1. Baltimore Ravens 22/1. Good long shots. TB Lightning to win Cup +150.
Chicago Blackhawks are great, but i couldn't turn down that number.
My pre-Vegas scale weight 157.6 lbs, post-Vegas 169.4 lbs. I gained
11.8 lbs in 9 days. (Actually gained another 4.4 lbs the following day lol)
The tradition is broken: no major celebrity deaths while in Las Vegas.
