Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: January 13, 2005 to January 16, 2005 Hotel Stayed At: Orleans Report by: Lawrence <> From: Kansas

Day 1

Flew Allegiant from Wichita, 1:30 on Thursday. My wife J and I met our friends P & S at the airport. It's noticable that Allegiant took a couple of rows of seats out to give us more legroom. Much appreciated! Airport and baggage were fine. Taxi ride from the airport was a little over $10 + tip.

Orleans checkin at 3pm was easy. The line was only about 10 people long.

With our package with the airline our room was about $32 per night.
The room was brand new on the 16th floor and was very nice. Large washroom and separate shower/bath & toilet cubicle. Sitting area in the king room. Our AC/heat unit made a vibrating noise once but I fixed it by putting a book on top of it.

We grabbed the shuttle to Gold Coast and headed acroos to the Palms for supper. Gardunos is pretty great. S probably had the best meal of a Red chile and steak soup. My combo was good too.

We lost some money on Video Poker, Wheel of Fortune, and Pai Gow Poker. I was impressed by the Sports Book and the Cocktail Chicks. (That's not sexist is it?) Grabbed a taxi to the Venetian.

We started working on our goal to walk our feet off. Sightsaw and window shopped. Looked at the cool gondolas and murals. Walked to TI and stood at the edge of the crowd for the Sirens show **Yawn**
We lasted about three minutes and headed for the casino. Wheel of Fortune and Video Blackjack. I was ready to play some blackjack but wasn't going to touch the 6:5 tables and wasn't ready for $15 dollars yet. The ladies were happy at Video Blackjack so I paced around and finally sat down and lost 4 $15 dollar hands in a row plus one double down. TI had the best cocktails though. Strong Scotch & water and big-ol' olives in the bloody marys. Ladies won a little on WOF.
Wandered around at the Mirage. Found a nice table and won $50ish at blackjack. Went to our favorite casino, the Barbary Coast. J took us all to her favorite Wheel of Fortune machines and she won a little but S won about $125 right away. I played a little blackjack and pai gow poker. If you haven't played pai gow, try it. It's sort of slow unless you're like my wife and I and enjoy visiting with your compadres (big word of the day). Late. Tired. Take shuttle to the Orleans. Can't find any good tables open there.

Day Two

Get in Gear at the Orleans Buffet. Six bucks and pretty darn good. Closes at 10:30, don't be late. Mexican Eggs Benedict and chorizo. Sweet potato pancakes. Chocolate cake.

Shuttle to BC and walk through lots of casinos. Shop at Aladdin and Paris. Paris pulls off the cutesy stuff the best in my opinion. Back to the BC for more winning. Slowly. I'm happy with Blackjack while the others have settled in at the bar with VPoker and Big Fat Elvis leaning on the stage. By the time I get over there I'm way behind. P is taking care of the ladies and winning at VPoker. We have fun.
Go back, change clothes and taxi to MGM and our reservations at Emerils. Great mojitos, nectar of the Cuban gods. Famous BBQ shrimp is not as wonderful as the original at Pascales on Canal St. in New Orleans. Salmon with andouille and stuff was WONDERFUL. Stuffed, we walked to NY<NY, and wandered around till all hours of the night. Went up the Eiffel tower. That's OK.

DAY THREE

P & S wanted to walk around the North end of the Strip. J didn't want to walk. We'd been to LV a lot more than P & S. We shuttled to the BC intending to eat lunch at NYNY. Stopped at BC for the Wheel J won $125 and settled in at a fun Pai gow table. When I look for a table game, I check out the attitude of the dealer and the players. I'm looking for fun. I play to have a good time. When I win I have fun and when I'm having fun I win .....sometimes.

J was a leatherbutt. She got up for the bathroom and for a hot dog.
I played then moved then played craps then came back. J stayed with it. A whole pile of bloody marys and beers and scotches later we left for Bellagio buffet. Ate lots of sushi, venison, crab legs, beef wellington, kobe beef, sushi, chocolate, sushi & iced tea. Walked around the Bellagio admiring pretty people then headed for downtown and the commoners.

Golden Nugget was shoulder-to-shoulder but fun and it was time for the Horseshoe. It's still dark and smoky like casinos are meant to be. P & S found some winning machines and I found a mean pai gow then a much nicer Blackjack table and won back a little. We all wandered from machine to machine for a while. It got late. We got a two hour nap before heading for the airport. 60 degrees at Las Vegas and 9 degrees at Wichita.

We didn't get rich but we had fun.







Lawrence <> - Kansas    2268

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