Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: January 01, 2005 to January 08, 2005 Hotel Stayed At: Terribles/Rio/Orleans/Four Queens Report by: Marg in Calgary <> From: Calgary, AB Canada

I can’t think of any better way to begin the New Year than winning the lottery. Second only to that would be going to Vegas.



Mario and I were up bright and early on New Years Day. First thing I did was dig out our lottery tickets from the kitchen cupboard and check the newspaper for our lucky ticket numbers. Alright then, that fantasy was quickly dispensed with. I then dug a little deeper into the cupboard and pulled out the next best type of tickets. Las Vegas here we come!!



As always, we left far too early for the airport. We spent the next 3 hours wandering aimlessly around Calgary Int’l. Airport.



At the security area I was pulled aside by two female security personnel. They scrutinized my passport and boarding pass, and then one of them asked me if she could conduct a body search. She took out a pair of latex gloves. The gloves made a sharp snapping sound as she pulled each one of them on. I asked her by “body search” she meant a “body cavity search”. She seemed to find some humour in that. If only she knew that I was only half-kidding. Once she was satisfied that I wasn’t concealing anything more than the wire in my underwire bra, I was released and told to walk on.



The Westjet plane was only a little late, but the jetway was frozen in place and they couldn’t move it up to the plane. Whatever happened to the days when the plane pulled up to the jetway? Now the jetway pulls up to the plane. Mechanics were called, and 20 minutes later we were in business. I wonder which group of people were more frustrated? The people inside the plane that just wanted to get out of there and go home, or us people in the waiting area anxiously waiting to board.



LAX was busy. We waited almost 45 minutes for our luggage. We had plenty of time before we needed to board our Southwest flight to Las Vegas, and I had printed off our A passes from Southwest’s website just after midnight that morning. Thank you to those of you who have mentioned that little tip on the Board recently.



McCarran Airport was not busy – in fact it was downright deserted. By the time we made our way at a fairly brisk pace to the baggage area, our luggage was riding around in the carousel. This only felt good and right to me because last trip our luggage took an unprecedented amount of time to arrive, like over an hour.



At 10:30 p.m. nobody was at the Dollar lot except us, either. Again, this was in contrast to our last trip where the Dollar lot was swarming with very unhappy people waiting in long lines to pick up their rental vehicles.



We are Fastlane members, so the shuttle had dropped us off at the line-up of full-size vehicles. We could choose any car there that we wanted – and believe me, there were plenty of cars to choose from. However, each and every one was a Taurus. Not that a Taurus is bad, it’s just that’s what we drive at home, and it’s always kind of fun to try out a different vehicle for a change. Our rate for the week came to $144 US total, using the DESLV coupon code.



I had quite the time trying to find a decent (read cheap) rate for this Saturday night of the NYE weekend. I searched TravelAxe day after day preceding our trip, and was finally rewarded with a $49 rate (Lodging.com) at Terribles. This was considerably better than the rates being offered for places like the El Cortez and Gold Spike, which were offering rates of $79 and up. And forget places like the Orleans or the Gold Coast.



This was our first stay at Terribles, and we weren’t exactly sure what we would find. We were pleasantly surprised at the generous size of the room, which was furnished nicely enough in standard hotel room style. The sink area was separate from the toilet/tub area, we had a coffee maker, the carpets were in good shape and the room did not have any offending odours. Just for comparison purposes, I would rate this room above the rooms we’ve stayed in at the Las Vegas Club. My only criticism would be that the hallways were ill-lit– they really should try investing in some 60 watt bulbs.



The casino itself is quite smoky, and it was very busy that night. The Bougainvillea Café is up on the 2nd floor. We were famished, and that was where we were headed first. I ordered a clubhouse sandwich and Mario chose some kind of chicken melt sandwich. The waiter asked if I wanted thick or thin bread. I chose thin, which wasn’t really thin, but just regular. The sandwich itself was huge. Without exaggeration, just the shaved turkey in there was more than an inch and a half thick. Once you added in the bacon and lettuce, there’s no way that you would get your mouth around that sandwich if you ordered thick bread. Mario said his sandwich was very good, but he was really eyeing my clubhouse. Lucky for him, along with the stack of fries that came with it, this meal was way more than I could eat. Mario said it was one of the best clubhouses he’s ever tasted. The meal, plus soft drinks, came to $18, plus tip.



We went back down to the main casino area, and spent the next few hours playing mostly Austin Powers penny slots. We hit some good bonus rounds, and won more than we lost. We called it a night around 2:30, and went back to the room up about $60.



Sunday morning. Our first full day in Vegas. Does it get any better? We’re staying for a week, so the next wonderful 6 days stretch ahead of us.



Our room deal came with a free buffet breakfast for two. The Terribles buffet was fine. The food was fresh, there was decent variety, and we had no complaints. It’s not the Paris buffet, but then it’s not the Imperial Palace buffet either.



Way back in September I’d booked the Orleans for the Sunday night of our stay on TripReservations.com for $20. We had a coupon for the next 2 free nights free, and our 4th night was at their website rate of $29. $49 total for 4 nights!



In the meantime, the Rio sent me a coupon for a free night on selected nights in January. It worked out that I could have the free night tonight. The Rio’s rooms are so nice, and we do love staying there, so I booked it despite already having a paid-for room at the Orleans. TripReservations.com charges a $50 cancellation fee, so there was no point in canceling the Orleans booking anyway.



We checked-in at the Orleans, asking for a room in the new tower. The rooms are virtually the same as in the old tower, just newer. Go figure. Anyway, as if the beds in the older towers aren’t already comfortable enough, the new ones are to die for. I had to climb up onto the bed, the mattress was that high. The fixtures in the bathroom were shiny and new. Not to say that the other rooms are shabby, it’s just that they’ve seen some wear, and our room had such a nice “new” feel to it.



We spent the next couple of hours playing some slots in the casino, not having much luck, but not losing the farm either.



This afternoon we had arranged to meet up for coffee with some fellow Canadians. Grenadier9 (Gary) from the LVT Board, and his wife, Henny, are from the Ottawa area. They were staying at Texas Station, one of our favorite casinos. We found each other easily at our appointed meeting spot, and spent the next pleasant few hours gabbing over Starbucks coffee. Gary and Henny are Texas Station “regulars”, and it was interesting to learn something about the comp system there. Gary told us that TS is trying to cultivate its number of out-of-state/country “regulars”, and it sounds as though Gary’s host has made him feel very comfortable and welcome there.



It had been raining practically all that day. And it rained off and on throughout our entire trip. It was cold, too. I’m glad I’d brought a fairly warm jacket with me because the one I usually bring to wear in the daytime at this time of year would not have been warm enough. We used the car heater more than we’d ever used it before in Las Vegas.



We drove to the Rio to check-in there. Our room was in the Carnival Tower, 19th floor, looking down onto the pool area. This was a big improvement over the view from our last room at the Rio, which had been on the same level as one of the lower roofs and had offered a dismal view of some very large metal air conditioning units.



We had supper at the Orleans buffet, and spent the rest of the night playing the slots there, walking away with that days’ gambling budget all but blown. But we had fun, and that’s what it’s all about. Winning would of course have made it better, but let’s be realistic here. We had some luck on a Turkey Shoot game, which had fun bonus rounds that usually paid quite well, and we managed to last quite some time on that one. By midnight we hopped in the car and went back to the Rio.



I must say, the Rio casino is one noisy casino. If it weren’t for the fact that they send us the odd free room night, we probably wouldn’t spend much time there, especially at night when the younger crowds seem to get particularly loud and rowdy. We played some Turkey Shoot and Tabasco slots before turning in for the night. Nada.



One of the best things about the Rio rooms is their big floor-to-ceiling windows that stretch the length of the room. There is nothing better than pulling those drapes all the way open and falling asleep as the City of Las Vegas glitters before you.



Another thing I like about the Rio rooms … well, really, what isn’t there to like? … is the extra little counter in the bathroom, complete with a chair and make-up mirror. Other niceties are the coffee maker, fridge and safe.



I had a couple $5-off coupons for the Rio’s Carnival World buffet, so that’s where we headed for breakfast. The breakfast buffet is $13 per person (except on weekends, when the price goes up to $23 for their champagne brunch). I wouldn’t pay the price on weekends, but on a Monday, with the coupon, our bill was around $17 total, plus tip. And I think this buffet is one of the better ones.



Historian (Tom) from the LVT Board, and his wife, Gail, were scheduled to arrive from New Hampshire later this morning. Tom called to say they’d landed at McCarran, and a couple hours later, once they had made their way from the Dollar lot through the flooded streets and checked in at the Orleans, we met them at Terrible Mike’s for a quick lunch. Mario recommended the chicken fingers, and we took our meals to a quiet table off to the side of the food bar. I must say that Historian is as humorous and is as much of a personality in “real life” as he seems on the Board, and Gail is a warm and interesting lady. It was fun spending the next hour or so with them, and we parted after making plans for lunch at Nora’s Cuisine for the next day.



Every trip to Las Vegas we like to check out a casino we’ve never been to before, and The Cannery had been mentioned several times on the Board over the past few months, so we decided on it. We took the I-15 past downtown for a few miles, and there it was, off to the left in a rather industrialized looking area. Guess that might be a clue as to how it got its name, d’ya think? We happened to be visiting during their 2nd anniversary celebration. The free champagne was flowing, and they were serving up slices of every kind of cake you could think of, as well. We signed up at the slot club, got a free t-shirt and some coupons, and hit the slot machines.



We played a Spam machine, which I thought was a lot of fun: Mario thought it was rather annoying because the bonus game involved getting 3 Spam symbols, and every time one of them came up the machine “said” Spam in a rather, loud, nasal “voice”. And of course at least one Spam symbol came up every single roll. We also played some kind of Alien slot that had the most amazing graphics I’ve ever seen on a slot machine. We won some, we lost some, and then we lost a little more, and finally decided to make use of the 2/1 coupon we had for their Mexican restaurant, the Casa Cocina.



Bearing in mind that we fully recognize we are not the best judges of Mexican food (you just don’t see many Mexican restaurants up here in this part of Canada), we thought it was pretty good. I’d read some posters reviews of the restaurants at the Cannery, and they were less than enthusiastic, but for us the food was good. Not great, but not bad.



The Cannery was okay, but nothing about it made it unique, or particularly impressed us, and I doubt we will bother going there again. Had we walked out of there winners, I suspect my opinion of it may be slightly different.



It was raining yet again when we left The Cannery and we decided not to go back on the I-15, but just to take a back route to Texas Station. I suspect we traveled farther afield than we needed to, but we weren’t in any hurry, so it was no big deal.



At Texas Station we settled down at a Turkey Shoot slot machine and I looked to the side and there stood Grenadier9 and Henny, not five feet from us. Texas Station was holding some ticket draws every night, and they were hoping to hear their numbers drawn. We chatted and they watched us play our slot machine for a while, and then wandered off to their own devices.



Texas Station has theaters, so we decided to take in the movie “Meet the Fockers”, which features Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand and Robert De Niro. Not as funny as “Meet the Parents” in my opinion, but nonetheless, an entertaining show.



We’ve never eaten at Fatburger, which sometimes surprises me since I’ve read enough comments about it that I would have thought by now we might have tried something there. After the movie, I had a mighty craving for a chocolate milkshake. I noticed a sign at Fatburger that said they make their own shakes from scratch. I went with the chocolate and Mario had a strawberry. I had to sit down when I saw just how much ice cream was being scooped into that mixer – it was practically indecent. That’s probably more ice cream than I normally eat in a year. That was also, without reservation, the best milkshake I’ve had in my entire life. I had another one a couple nights later.



I have to mention it again. The beds at the Orleans are wonderfully comfortable. Mario has a bad back, and one night of sleeping on a lousy mattress can mean a full week of back problems for him, so we particularly appreciate the beds at the Orleans.



We had breakfast the next morning at the café downstairs, and then spent the morning moving from slot machine to slot machine. We won around $150 on a Turkey Shoot game, which by now you can tell we seem to be addicted to. I personally love those Mr. Lucky slots – where the bonus games allow you to choose from Mr. Lucky’s Chinese food take-out menu. We’d won over $400 on one of them once, and I was hoping for some déjà vu. You don’t see many of them anymore, and I hope they don’t disappear entirely before we make it back to Vegas again.



Nora’s Cuisine is not more than 5 minutes drive up Arville to Flamingo from the Orleans. We weren’t exactly sure if we had turned into the right strip mall, that is, until the mouth-watering smell of garlic reached our nostrils. Las Vegas Norm was already there waiting for us, and Historian and Gail arrived minutes later. Fine company and excellent food made this small and unofficial meet special. As Historian mentioned in his trip report, the slab of lasagna I was served was indeed the size of a VW. Thinking back, I should have had the presence of mind to cut my serving in half and share it with everyone else at the table, and it was a crying shame to let it go to waste.



Las Vegas Norm is a genuinely nice person, and he provides a wealth of information to the LVT Board. It’s always a pleasure to spend time in his company. We thoroughly enjoyed our few hours at Nora’s with him, Tom and Gail. Tom had won his very first royal that morning at the Orleans, and he most generously announced that lunch was on “the winner”. Thanks again, Tom!



We headed to the Strip that afternoon and checked out the Conservatory at the Bellagio. I can’t say it wasn’t impressive, because of course it was, but I must say that I didn’t find this display quite as spectacular as most of the others we’ve seen there. I hope I’m not becoming jaded, but I don’t think so.



The sun was just beginning to set as we walked out of the Bellagio, and we found a good spot to watch the fountain show from. The day had been quite cool and a far smaller crowd than usual gathered as we waited for the fountain show to begin. My favorite fountain show is the Singin’ in the Rain one, but instead we saw an instrumental show that we hadn’t seen before. No show disappoints, however. I must say, I was rather glad that it wasn’t Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye) sung by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman because I’m always a little embarrassed as I watch it since the beauty of the voices and the fountains combine, never failing to bring me to tears.



We strolled down to the Excalibur because I wanted to find out what time they held their daily Texas Hold ‘Em poker lessons. We arrived far too late for that day’s session, but it was worth the trip there because it gave us every excuse to head upstairs for a Krispy Kreme donut. I read a while ago how many calories and how much fat is in one of those suckers, but – heck – that chocolate shake last night had already done the damage, so I might as well run with it. Weight Watchers here I come.



We went back to the casino floor and found a Tabasco penny slot that entertained us for quite some time, and even was so kind as to give us a $60 handpay. Other machines that we tried were not so kind or forgiving.



Next stop, New York New York. Dueling Pianos at The Bar at Times Square was just getting started. The first 2 pianists got the crowd fired up, with one of them in particular providing a fine show with his outstandingly nimble fingers. Particularly memorable for me was his rendition of “Proud to be American”, with all the Americans in the bar raising their glasses and singing along at the tops of their voices. The intense national pride of Americans has always made such a strong impression on Mario and me. Far too many Canadians don’t show that type of pride and love of country, and instead focused on preserving their own particular racial heritage rather than assimilating into the Canadian culture. I am undoubtedly going to get jumped on by some of you fellow Canucks, but I’m not saying all Canadians or most Canadians, I’m saying “far too many”. And it’s just my personal opinion. Anyway, it was a wonderful and inspiring thing to see, and I was really choked up by it. God Bless America.



Mario dragged me out of the Bar a couple hours later, shortly after the second set of pianists started their set. I hated to leave, but Mario’s back was getting sore from standing for so long.



We picked the car up from the Bally’s valet and drove to the Gold Coast for a late dinner at their café, the Monterey Room. A band was playing in the adjacent bar area, and we enjoyed listening to some good music while we ate our supper. Then, back to the Orleans for some more slots before bed.



Coming out of the elevators the next morning, we noticed the regular security guard was on duty – many of you would recognize him as the friendly older gentleman who collects all the small toys at his security desk. He was in conversation with a rather pretty young woman of small stature, but spectacularly huge breasts. The very revealing red top she was wearing consisted mostly of a series of lacings, with very little actual material holding the shirt together and almost nothing left to the imagination. You will probably think I’m exaggerating here, but I’m not. Imagine a couple beach balls filled with saline, and that would approximate the size of her breast implants. Her skin was stretched so tightly that it took on a shiny, plastic look. I was completely grossed out. Mario said he was rather intrigued. Men!!



We’ve always had good luck playing slots and vp at Green Valley Ranch. It’s never crowded there, at least when we’ve visited it in the daytime. We used our 2 for 1 ACG coupon for the breakfast buffet. I thought the selection was reduced from the last time we were there, but there were still more than enough choices to keep anyone happy. The oatmeal was very good, by the way. I always have to take some of the pickled herring, which is not an item I’ve often seen at a buffet, and I was not disappointed this time either. Pickled herring and oatmeal, now that I’ve reread this, does not sound all that appetizing. Sorry I even mentioned it.



After taking our time over a last cup of coffee, we made our way over to a penny slot with a bee theme. Don’t know the name of it, but it was very good to us. We hit for 16,000 coins two times, never losing our initial $20, within the span of about an hour. We tried a few other machines in the area, with no luck even managing to reach a bonus game. Finally, we decided to cash in our two TITO tickets, pocket our $320 in winnings and head to the Excalibur in time to catch that afternoon’s Texas Hold ‘Em lesson.



There were enough participants to fill two tables. Our dealer started at the beginning, explaining the terminology, how the house is paid, how the betting works, and some strategy. He was an entertaining instructor and gave us some tips about poker etiquette as well, which was much appreciated. We played four or five hands, and then anyone who wanted to bought in for $20 and played for real.



We played for an hour or so, and we were having fun. The betting was low; all of us were tentative and inexperienced. Mario and I won a pot or two each. A couple people dropped out, and a while later two other younger guys sat at the table. Immediately, one of them started making higher bets than any of us had been making up until then. I was feeling pretty good about the pocket Kings that I’d been dealt. He raised $4.00 before the flop, and several of us stayed in. I thought he was bluffing; so did Mario. He raised $4.00 again after the flop, and again after the turn. This was getting a little rich for my blood. However, there was a pair of 7’s on the table so I just didn’t feel I could back off with 2 pair, K’s high. After the river card, which was no help to me, the young guy who we thought was bluffing and was constantly raising threw away his hand, but his friend stayed in. Sheesh, this ended up being such a big pot compared to the others we had played. A final $4 raise by the guy’s friend, and we showed our hands. Aaaah, the guy had a full house. Somehow I felt scammed. I think I saw a show about a group of university kids that pull this kind of thing. Yeah, I know. I watch too much tv. Anyway, that last hand pretty well wiped me out. Mario played a couple more hands, and we walked away from the table.



We went back to the Orleans, played some more slots, and had dinner at the coffee shop around 8:00. After that we settled in at a Mr. Lucky machine, and without a word of a lie we played the same $20 for 3 hours. Up and down, max penny bet (which was 45 cents). We planned to cash out if we could double our money, but do you think we could ever work it up to $40? It became a mission. We must have gotten up to $36 about 10 times, but could we hit the magic $40? You might have thought that playing the same slot for that long, just once we would have hit a decent little jackpot. But no. Finally, the initial $20 dwindled down to nothing. Not a bad price, though, for 3 hours entertainment.



Next morning, we packed up and checked out of the Orleans, heading to the Venetian for breakfast. The Grand Lux Café is our favorite place for breakfast. We got there around 7:30, thinking the café wouldn’t be busy that early in the morning, but this was our first introduction to the CES crowd. Up until now we hadn’t really been affected by the huge influx of people for this electronics convention. There was a line-up at the door, but within 10 minutes or so we were seated.



One thing that struck us was that everyone had a cell phone held to their ear. I mean, it was rather funny. People were sitting three and four to a table, and at some tables everyone was on a cell phone. Then we had the Loud Talker a couple tables over. She was at a table by herself, talking on the phone in a voice that was easily heard halfway across the noisy restaurant. And her conversation went on for most of our meal, which was rather annoying. Seinfeld had the Low Talker – I wonder if he ever did a bit about the Loud Talker? There seemed to be some of these people at most places we went. In the casinos there were people that felt they needed to walk along and laugh hysterically and talk at the tops of their voices. You heard them well before they ever got to you. Great, I’m glad you’re having such an obviously wonderful time. Other people manage to enjoy themselves without being unusually loud and obnoxious, why can’t they? Then there was the guy at LAX who was standing at the bottom of the cement stairwell with his two kids. We were headed up to the departures area, and he was letting his kids scream at the tops of their voices because they liked the echo it made in the stairwell.



Anyway, I digress. The Grand Lux has a kind of mini-buffet bar, complete with an omelet station, for about $13 a person, beverages included. The juices are fresh-squeezed, the coffee is a gourmet blend, the breads and pastries are obviously fresh baked that morning, and the omelets are lightly-textured and cooked to perfection while you wait.



We were moving to the 4 Queens today, with an offer we received from them for $19 a night with the second night free Sunday to Thursday, or $39 a night with the second night free on Friday/Saturdays. The weird thing was that I was able to book Thursday night at $19, and they gave me Friday night free. I’m sure that was not the way it was supposed to work, but I wasn’t about to make any noise about it. The clerk gave us a VIP pass to put on the dashboard of the car so that we could self-park in their garage, or use the valet with no extra charge.



I requested a room in the South Tower because I’d heard the rooms were generally bigger and not quite so dated. I know that the room we had once in the North Tower was small – like so small that once we put our suitcases down there really was no room to walk around the bed. We were assigned room 1949, which was on the top floor, far corner. It was a good size, and the room itself was fine. However, we had requested a non-smoking room and our room smelled like stale cigarette smoke masked with a cheap and not very pleasantly perfumed deodorizer. We discovered that the window actually opened, so despite it being such a cool day, we left the window open and that helped dispel the smell enough that we didn’t feel the need to ask for another room.



My only real complaint was the bedding. Holy crap, give me a freakin’ break. The sheets and pillow cases were actually yellowed with age. They were made before the discovery of perma-press sheets. Somebody there really needs to get the hang of the pressing machine, because they actually had pressed the wrinkles into the sheets. I’m not saying that I thought the bedding was unclean –they just needed to send it to Good Will and invest in some new sheets. The blanket was positively threadbare. I don’t even want to think about the thin, limp, bedspread, which we pulled well away from our faces when we went to bed that night.



Today’s plan was to drive over to the Walmart by Sunset Station to pick up a few items that we wanted to bring home with us. Then we headed off to the Fiesta Henderson to gamble a little. Our initial luck was pretty bad – three $20’s gone in no time flat. No bonus games, no hits (small or otherwise). We’d only been there a half hour and I was thinking we should probably just leave.



We noticed a Mr. Lucky slot, and very shortly printed out a TITO ticket for $70. Now, that’s better! We fed another $20 in just to see if we could be lucky twice in a row, but half of that was gone in no time, so we salvaged the last $10 and moved over to some penny MIB (Men in Black) machines. My first bet was 20 lines (we always play max lines), 3 coins per line. First hit, and my 60 cents rang up a 10,000 coin win. We cashed that $100 out, put in another $20 and played for quite a while, up and down, but eventually the machine swallowed that up. We walked around the casino a bit, trying a few likely looking slot machines, but ... nada.



We wanted to leave while we were still a little ahead for the day, so we hopped in the car and took the I-515 (93/95) back downtown.



At the Four Queens we dropped our Walmart purchases off at the room. When our elevator reached the 19th floor, the doors opened and there stood one very annoyed guy. He said he’d timed it, and the elevator had taken 23 minutes to arrive. He was handicapped, and walked with a cane, so obviously taking the stairs would have been a problem for him. We waited a couple minutes for an elevator on our way back down, but we apparently lucked out because somebody was coming up to the 19th floor. People got on at several floors on the way down, everybody complaining that they’d waited forever for the elevator. I’m pretty sure we hit maximum capacity on that ride. This was like déjà vu for us, since our last stay at the Four Queens there were elevator problems, but it was in the North Tower that time. One of the passengers said he was going to complain to the front desk, so we figured the problem would be looked after.



We checked the Blackjack tables to see if there were any $2 or $3 games, but we only found $5 and up. I guess you only find those in the early morning. We sat down at a $5 table, and I was a little ahead after a half hour or so. Then, I went into one of those spirals where I couldn’t win a hand if my life depended on it. I was either busting every hand, or if I had a 19, the dealer got 20. If I got 20, the dealer either got 21 or we pushed. If I got a Blackjack, the dealer got a Blackjack. I was out of chips, and didn’t feel like taking any more of a beating, so I left Mario to continue playing at the table, and I went up to the room to sulk. Not really, but I did go up to the room for a short snooze. Okay, truth be told I did sulk a little, but then I fell asleep, so at least it was short-lived.



Mario showed up about an hour later, with nothing to show for his time at the tables except the lint in his pockets. It was shortly after 5:00 and we were both hungry, so we headed to the elevators (no problems this time) to search out some dinner. We strolled over to Main Street Station to the buffet. It was early enough that no lines had formed yet, which was great because as big as that place is, the last time we were there, probably at more like 7:30 p.m., we waited in line forever to get a table.



Thursday nights are filet and scampi nights, at $12.98 per person. Mario tried the filet and said it was very good – he could cut the meat with his fork. He pointed out a guy at an adjacent table. This guy had about 5 healthy-sized filets on a plate. And also a separate plate heaped high with other foods. He wasn’t a big man, but he ate it all. I don’t know where he put it all – he must have had a hollow leg. He was already sitting there when we came in, so I’m not sure if those were his first helpings, or if he was maybe on seconds. Then he hit the dessert bar – hard. Some people are just gluttons.



An hour later we were walking down Fremont Street. We stopped and listened to one band that was playing. They were good, but were mostly playing their own, unknown material, so after about a half hour we walked on. Another band was playing a little further along Fremont. The Speaks Brothers. We’ve seen them before, and we find them fun to watch. They seem to be able to play everything from AC/DC to George Strait, and anything in between.



The street people and rubbee-dubs were out in full force tonight. The crowds were thinner than usual, probably because it was so cool outside, so the street people were more noticeable. And most of them seemed to be pretty liquored up. I actually recognized one toothless woman as having seen her the last time we were in Vegas on Fremont Street. You know you must be becoming a Vegas “regular” when you start to recognize the street people. There were also more than enough cops in the area, and they were paying very close attention to everything that was going on. A few of the drunker "personalities" were dancing (more like reeling) around in front of the bandstand, and accidentally bumping into the people. The cops were on them like white on rice. The rest were just having a good old time, enjoying the music, and causing nobody any trouble.



I’d heard that the Plaza had put new carpeting in since the last time we’d been there. I was curious to see if the stench had disappeared with the old carpeting. There seemed to be two camps on this subject last year with the LVT board members. Those who thought the Plaza stunk, and those who did not. Mario and I thought it stunk. As we went through the front door, we got just a whiff of the old bad smell, but as we walked farther into the casino we couldn’t honestly say it smelled like it used to. Since we didn’t have to hold our breath, we sat down at an Austin Powers slot and then later a MIB slot, with no luck in the wins department.



We were in bed by 11:30 that night. The late nights and early mornings were beginning to take their toll. I huddled in our cold room under those yellowed sheets and the threadbare blanket, wishing I had my nice warm (clean and white) feather duvet at home, and fell asleep quickly despite it all.



We had a wake-up call for 5:00. This was our last full day, and we were not wasting any of it by sleeping in. We got to the elevators, the button lit up, but no elevator came. We did hear the elevator move up and down a few times, but it never sounded anywhere near close to us. And at 5:30 in the morning, you can really hear the elevator well. There was a house phone not far from the elevator, so I called through to security and they said they would send somebody up. I think the word they left out of that little conversation was “eventually”. We waited another 10 minutes and finally heard the elevator getting close to our floor. A gentleman stepped out and wandered off to his room. We jumped into the elevator and away we went. I suppose security eventually showed up.



Fremont Street was totally abandoned as we walked over to the Las Vegas Club. We wanted to use our 2 for 1 ACG coupon at the Upper Deck for breakfast. That was a mistake. Mario had a steak and egg breakfast; I had a ham and egg breakfast. The hash browns were so greasy as to be inedible. The grease was actually pooling on the plate. My ham steak was absolutely huge, but strangely tasteless. I ate about 2 bites of the ham, and the 2 eggs (which were a little greasy but nowhere near as bad as the hash browns). Mario said his steak and eggs were passable, but he too left his hash browns sitting where they were, in a pool of oil. Ee-yuck.



Back at the Four Queens, there were a couple $2 BJ tables open. The players already sitting at the table welcomed us, saying that maybe a couple new people at the table would change the dealer’s hot streak. It didn’t help. The dealer didn’t seem to know how to bust, and instead seemed to be making 20 or 21 almost every hand.



Time to find something else to do.



A huge electronics convention (the CES) was in town, and we thought it would be interesting to go have a look. We drove towards the Convention Centre, and could not believe the traffic in the area. All the parking lots seemed to be full, so we got the bright idea to park over at the Hilton. Us and hundreds of other people, and they were charging $20 to park. We found a way out of there, and drove over to Bally’s and valet parked. We would take the monorail to the Convention Centre. I wanted to take a ride on the monorail anyway, so this was a good way to kill two birds with one stone.



It had been raining most of the morning, and it was darn cold out. While we stood at the monorail station the rain turned to snow. Great. That was something I never really expected to see in Las Vegas. When the train came it was packed pretty full of people already, but several of us managed to sandwich our way inside. We stopped at the next few stations, but nobody else was able to get on.



We had heard on the news that the day before there had been a monorail malfunction. Somehow the safeguard that won’t allow the train to move until the doors are all shut failed to work. The train drove off with a door open. They said it was “human error”. I can’t imagine what would have happened if that had occurred this morning, because people would have definitely fallen out of the train.



We arrived at our stop, and walked through the pouring rain (the snowfall had only lasted a few minutes) over to the Convention Centre. The place was crawling with thousands of people. There were more than 2500 exhibitors, from all over the world. They were displaying the newest advances in consumer and information technologies, including digital audio and imaging, home networking, communications … you name it – it was there.



We saw small personal DVD players that fit in your hand, yet the pictures they displayed were crisp and clear. DVD players for your car with GPS capability. Speakers the size of my cell phone, yet the sound that came out of them was powerful and the tone clear. TV screens with displays that were so true to life that you felt like you could reach right into the picture. One TV was showing an outer-space shot, and the picture appeared to be 3D. We saw a camera that would fit in the palm of your hand, yet it was capable of filming videos of considerable length. There was an atmosphere of exhilaration and excitement in the air, and the entire experience was overwhelming and ultimately exhausting. We lasted a little more than an hour, and then we dragged ourselves out of there. Sensory overload.



I have since been surprised to learn that admittance to the CES was supposedly restricted to qualified people affiliated with the industry. We didn’t see anyone checking the throngs of people pouring through the doors, and although there were plenty of people wearing CES identification tags, there were many people that didn’t have any visible identification. We did see some registration tables at the entrance, but they were off to the side, and we assumed that was just for the exhibitors to check in at. Oh, well, their secrets are safe with us. Especially since most of the technological talk we heard was beyond our knowledge or understanding.



There was lots of room on the monorail ride back to Bally’s, and we were glad to sit down for a short while. I noticed the windows were leaking only after I leaned against the inside wall of the train and my pant leg got entirely wet. Way to go, Bombardier. You can’t even make a window that doesn’t leak? How do you build your planes?



We picked up the car at the valet and drove to the Orleans for lunch at Don Miguel’s, a must-do for us every trip. Beef fajitas for Mario, and a chicken chimi’ for me. Oh, and I didn’t forget my coupon for a free margarita. Strawberry, please. The margaritas at Don Miguel’s are simply the best!



We really noticed on this trip that the Orleans seemed to be perpetually busy, whether it was morning, noon or night. Busier than any other casino we went to. I guess the secret is out.



My Christmas gift from my bosses at work was US money for our trip, and I had saved some of it to treat Mario and me to a massage. I booked a couples massage for 2:30 at the Orleans Spa ($150, plus tip). We went to the spa a little early because Mario wanted to relax in the men’s steam room and Jacuzzi first. I took a long, leisurely shower, and then sat in the waiting area for a while, striking up a conversation with a very talkative lady from Arkansas. She told me more about her kids, her everyday life and her trials and tribulations than I would have thought possible in the span of 20 minutes. A massage therapist came into the room, and said “Margaret?”, and we both stood up. What were the chances we’d both have the same name? It turned out she was there for me, and she lead me to the couples massage room, where Mario and his masseuse were already waiting. Once we’d gotten settled, the therapists turned down the lights and soft, relaxing music played in the background. About 20 minutes into our massages, I could hear Mario starting to breathe slower and deeper. Before long he was snoring. I wanted to tell his masseuse to slap his a$$ and wake him up! What was he doing sleeping through the darn massage? I bit my tongue, ignored the temptation to laugh, and concentrated on enjoying my own massage. 50 minutes went by awfully fast. Mario denied sleeping through any of it, although he did comment later that it only felt like the massage lasted about 15 minutes.



We spent the next several hours playing various slot machines, hoping for that “big jackpot” that some people manage to win on their last day in Las Vegas just before going home. We went back to the Mr. Lucky machine that we’d played for such a long time the other night, and it sucked our $20 down in no time. Apparently, it had no time for us tonight.



We had supper at the Orleans buffet around 8:30, and then some time later we got the car from the valet and went back downtown. Due to the inclement weather, the bands weren’t playing that night. We watched a light show, strolled through a few casinos, and decided to call it a night.



I asked for a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call, and I think we were asleep as soon as the lights went out. What seemed like only moments later the phone was ringing, and a voice was telling me it was time to get up. We quickly got ready, packed our bags, and took the elevator (which seemed to be working properly) downstairs to check out. For some reason their video check-out does not operate before 6:00 a.m. We waited in the valet area, but nobody seemed to be around. I asked at the front desk if they had valets working, and they said yes, but they are probably just getting a car for someone. We waited another 10 minutes and Mario walked over to the valet office, which we hadn’t noticed before actually had a window in the door. The two valets were sleeping soundly.



We drove down Las Vegas Boulevard, on our way to Terribles. The neon lights seemed particularly colorful as we made our way down the Strip that morning. We had breakfast at the Bougainvillea Café, ending our trip as we began it. We were plenty early enough for their late night breakfast specials, which in total cost us less than $6, plus tip. Nothing was greasy, and we enjoyed our breakfast very much. The waiter said he was comping us our coffees because he thought it took him too long to take our order.



Our Southwest flight to LAX was scheduled for 7:30. We dropped off our car at the Dollar lot around 6:00. Again we were the only customers there. The attendant gave me our receipt, and we had the shuttle to the airport all to ourselves. We used the curbside luggage check-in, and were through security and at our departure gate by 6:15. The plane arrived on time, and we even took-off a few minutes early. At LAX there were line-ups to check-in, line-ups to get into the passenger-only area, and line-ups at security. We had plenty of time before we caught our flight home, so this was not a problem. Especially so, since our flight home ended up being delayed by an hour.



Do you find for the next week after you get home from a trip, you’re saying things like – “can you believe that last week at this time we were at the Rio”?



If you actually managed to get through this trip report, then thanks for taking the time to read it. We’re hoping to get back to Las Vegas in June. I can’t wait!

Marg in Calgary <> - Calgary, AB Canada    2258

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