Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: January 19, 2006 to January 23, 2006 Hotel Stayed At: Vegas Club, Luxor Report by: AgSweep <> From: A.V., MN

Arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday morning after an uneventful Northwest Airlines flight. Being the Vegas addict that I am I believe in flying in as early as I can in the morning so I can have all day in Mecca and then leaving as late as possible on the last day after an exhausting last day finishing up stuff or just sitting in front of my favorite slot machine saying a long goodbye.

This trip had an un-vegas like agenda so I will be mentioning some things that are certainly outside of the normal Vegas trip. My travel companion was my husband, DH, in message board lingo, and we were headed out to Vegas to visit our son, DS. DS is a Running Rebel. He lives with some fraternity brothers in Cowboy Bob’s house of The Buckaroo 500 fame. Trust me, you don’t want me to explain this further.

My DH is not particularly fond of Las Vegas and would have rather been going somewhere else…anywhere else.

In any case, our flight left the Twin Cities at 7:00 a.m. arriving in Vegas at 8:30 a.m. I love flying to Vegas cause it’s always a party with folks headed out on vacation. As usual when the flight crew welcomed us to Las Vegas the passengers cheered.

We had checked our bags because I HATE hauling my stuff through airports and figure if the airlines lose it I am not going anywhere so remote that I can’t buy more. The bags arrived at the carousel shortly after we did and we were off to the Dollar rent a car place. We had a deal for $18.00 day. I am not the world’s most sophisticated traveler and I just can’t seem to the get the hang of where you are supposed stand in line. We were standing in line in the terminal when one of the counter folks said if you had a confirmation number, which I already had clenched in my hot little fist, we should take the shuttle to the lot and get our contracts there. Okay dokey, there was 10 wasted minutes in line. Hopped the shuttle and got in line in the building in the lot. In short order we were headed out to the dude in the parking lot who would give us our car. I always get the absolute cheapest, smallest car possible because I prefer to throw money at the one arm bandits and could care less if we end up in a Hyundai. But in Vegas they never have any small cars so as usual we got whatever the next available car was and this time it turned out to be a Dodge Stratus.

Since the airlines have decided that feeding passengers is optional we were starving. We headed over to the Original Pancake House on Charleston for some breakfast. Needless to say pancakes were involved and they were darn good.

Having fortified ourselves we headed down Decatur to my DS’s house which is south of Tropicana kinda behind Mandalay Bay. It was everything you would think it would be with 7 20 year old young men living there and defies description. We took him grocery shopping to the Food for Less which is located on Las Vegas Boulevard by Bootleggers and then dropped him back off at his house.

The rental car was one of three cars in my name in Las Vegas, two of which were parked at my DS’s house and were cars I actually own. One of our missions was to unload the purple convertible while we were in Vegas. Luckily sitting on my DS’s front lawn among the abandoned furniture and empty beer kegs was a virgin yellow pages. We removed the pages with the “Cars for Cash” ads for later use and replaced the book in the plastic bag, carefully placing it back among the pizza boxes, beer cases….well you get the idea.

We headed downtown to check into the Vegas Club where we were staying for the first three nights. We drove right down Las Vegas Boulevard, which always makes me feel like I am King of the World. Check in was smooth and we were given a room in the South Tower on the 12th floor or so. We were supposed to have a king-size bed but when we opened the door it was two queens. Whatever. The room was typical Vegas Club, worn, but not too worn and clean. The tub in the bathroom had a wicked drip but luckily did not make any noise.

We had made arrangements with our DS to meet him at the UNLV bookstore for book buying so we hustled over there. After we were done purchasing textbooks we made arrangement to meet later for dinner and we headed over to the Doubledown, since we were in the area. The Doubledown saloon is on Harmon a block south of the Hard Rock on the East side of the road in a small strip mall. We got there around five o’clock and we were some of the only patrons. The beer were inexpensive and the atmosphere…..priceless. They have a great jukebox and the murals on the walls are fascinating. The bartender was very friendly despite the fact that we were clearly tourists out of our element. He might have just been bored. He told us that this was their quiet time of the day. The place apparently rocks between 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. I told my husband that I wanted to come back and see the 10:00 a.m. crowd. We did not try either signature drink, ass juice or the bacon martini, so we did not feel compelled to buy puke insurance. The bartender did show us the vodka bottle with the bacon in it that they use to make the martini’s with. Had we not been driving and meeting DS for dinner I might have considered it. Will put it on the list for next trip.

We met our DS at Bootleggers for dinner. We arrived at about 6:00, without reservations, and were told that there was a 20 minute wait but when my DS arrived we were seated right away. There were four of us. They bring a bottomless basket of little bread stick chunkies which were really good. DH had the mostacolli which was good, DS’s girlfriend had the spaghetti and meatballs which were good, DS had the Chicken Marsala which he did not like and DH tried and said tasted funky. I had the Maria’s special Calzone with their homemade sausage. I hit the food jackpot. Mine was great, I ordered a medium and it was bigger than my head. The frat boys loved the left-overs. Our bill was around $70.00, because none us had any alcohol.

The atmosphere was NY style Italian restaurant and the clientele was older and well dressed. Being the fanciful sort I could see why this was a hangout for Las Vegas businessmen, a place where deals are made. It had a great atmosphere and I would certainly eat there again and would recommend it to anyone.

The DS’s girlfriend works at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in the MGM. She had gotten free tickets to KA for that evening and offered them to us. I had something else in mind so we declined. (You might as well start shaking your head in disbelief now).

Instead, we headed over to Sound Trax at Palace Station. Now this was an experience that I know I will be unable to do justice to. It was open guitar night which is hosted by Shawn Eifferman. We had seen Shawn a couple of times when he was performing on the deck at Margaritaville a year or so ago. I had seen him on subsequent trips as well. He is an immensely talented musician and I would go out of my way anytime I am in Las Vegas to see him perform. In any case the club was mostly empty but there were a number of people sitting around with guitar cases. I had no clue what to expect. It was sort of like Karoke for guitar. They signed up on a list and each person got to do two songs. Sometimes they were solo and sometime others joined in on an impromptu basis. Some of the folks sent me looking for the cocktail waitress but some of the individuals and some of the jam sessions were amazing and more than made up for the others. We heard a rendition of “Satisfaction” and “Hey Joe” that I will not soon forget. Talent in whatever forum just has to be admired. I didn’t mind not going to KA at all.

We were tired and headed back downtown and to bed around 1 a.m.


We were up Midwest early the next morning. My DH ran down to the little coffee place and brought up coffee and a paper so we could get ready for the day at our leisure.

DH has only been to Vegas a couple of times and I have been lots. I love all of Vegas, new, old, glitzy, grubby, whatever, I love it.

I took DH to my favorite breakfast spot. The Diner in the Golden Gate. We love lunch counters so we were happy not to have to wait in line and bellied right up to the counter. He had eggs and bacon and I had the French toast. They were plentiful, tasty and cheap. Most importantly our coffee cups were always full. I learned about the breakfast in this spot from a local I met at a poker table on a different trip. He was a rather down on his luck “pro” but gave me some useful advice on good meal deals and which tournaments have the least vig.

After breakfast we headed off to my DS’s so that we could deal with the car issue. The car is a purple 1999 le baron convertible with a bad water pump and a top that is stuck down sometimes and sometimes not. After calling around we discovered that “Cash for Cars” means cash for cars built after 2001 and that replacing the water pump in a Le Baron means pulling the timing belt, making the part cheap and the labor expensive. Wisely I suggested that it was time for those of legal drinking to age to meander to the bar. We told DS we would see him later.

We headed to the Strip and parked in the Barbary Coast parking garage. We walked through the Barbary to see if Fat Elvis was playing but it was Friday and he does not perform on the weekends. We headed down the strip to Harrah’s and to the new Toby Keith “I love this Bar”. I had not yet been to a bar where the bartenders are “performers”. The ladies are comely and not wearing much. If you haven’t seen it you’ll just have to go cause I can’t describe it. Bottles fly, caps pop and step ladders are used to pour shots…..towers of shots. Everytime they get a $20.00 tip they blow whistles and those whistles are blowin’ all the time. We tried the nachos with chicken and they were very good, not soggy at all. (I hate soggy nachos). It was a fun place to while away a few hours, drink a little, watch the scenery….

Now as I mentioned earlier my DS is a running rebel. As odd as this may sound UNLV has a hockey team. YEP that’s right. It is their first year and they are having a good one. DS is one of the centers. They play their home games at the SOBE Ice Arena at the Fiesta Rancho. So believe it or not I went to Las Vegas in January to watch hockey, live hockey. We decided to head out to the Fiesta early just in case we had a hard time finding it. I am not quite sure how or why we ended up on Decatur heading north but we did. I think my thought process was that it was getting toward rush hour on Friday and that the Freeway may not be the place to be. In any case we were soon stopped dead in traffic headed north on Decatur. Listening to the radio it sounded as if there were traffic accidents on every possible road in all of Las Vegas. You think I jest.

We arrived at the rink early and played a few slots killing some time. Fiesta Rancho seemed like a nice local’s casino, not too small and not very smoky. There were long lines waiting to cash paychecks, as this was a Friday. It got closer to game time so we wandered over to the rink. It is a very nice newer rink with a very nice small pro shop. Face off had to be pushed back half an hour because no one could get to the rink because of all the traffic accidents.

UNLV was playing Northern Arizona and DS scored the first goal with a beautiful tip taking the biscuit top shelf. I got to yell and cheer just like any proud parent. (Read that obnoxious hockey mom). UNLV won the game handily and we met DS and bought him dinner at the Panda Express in the Fiesta Rancho.

We said our good-byes and DH and I headed back downtown. We parked the car and wandered out to the Freemont Street Canopy to see the light show. It was chilly and the show did not seem to be forthcoming so we stood just inside Binions waiting for the show and playing the penny slots. It still didn’t happen so we headed back to the Vegas Club and sat down at the machines right by the door to wait for the outdoor lights on the casinos to dim.

In walking around outside we had noticed the neon cowboy. My DH said doesn’t his arm move? Stumped, me the Vegas aficionado, stumped. DARN. Later I discovered that yes his arm used to move.

In any case, back to the Vegas Club, we sat down at the penny machines by the door and my DH put $1.00 in the frog prince, turns to me and says “Now how do I do this?” Playing a slot machine is not nuclear physics. Exasperated, I said “push 15 lines and then press one per line”. “Like this?” he says and executes the instructions. The reels spin and unbelievably five wilds form a perfect V across the screen. The screen quickly changes to the magic book bonus round. My mind is still back on what I thought I saw. I walk him through the bonus round and he wins 400 credits. (remember we are talking pennies) and the screen flashes back to the original pull and there they are, five wilds on the pay line. The machine says, player wins 10,400 credits. “Dear god” I said, “you won $100”. “I did?” he said. “Yeah” I said. And then he did what someone would do who does not particularly like Las Vegas and what exemplifies all that is wrong in the world today, including TITO, astro-turf, the designated hitter and the scary Burger King commercials. He didn’t even take one more spin he simply hit cash out, waited for his ticket, grabbed it, and said, “I’m going to the cashiers cage I’ll be right back”. No gee I wonder if it will hit again, or I must be lucky tonight what else can I hit, just cash out and walk away. Hard to believe we have been married for 25 years.

By the time he got back it was mere seconds before the lights dimmed and we hurried outside to catch the light show. I still love the lights but I miss the rockin’ music. After the show we were tired so we headed to bed.

Last edited by AgSweep on Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:05 pm; edited 2 times in total

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AgSweep
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Joined: Jan 14, 2005
Posts: 41

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:46 pm Post subject: Re: Vegas Club/Luxor trip report super long, Part II

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Got up Saturday morning had some lovely coffee fetched by my better half and a gander at the newspaper. The window in our room faced Main Street and DH commented that there sure were a lot of trains. I find the sound of trains soothing but I could sleep through a nuclear bomb. It might bother some.

We had made arrangements with the AutoTech Service Center on Tropicana to make some minor repairs on the other car I own in Vegas the van my DS drives. We headed over to DS’s house to grab the van and drop it off. We were very impressed with the service that we got from these folks we felt that they gave us fairly priced service and honest estimates. The work was done when they said it would be. I have also had work done at the Ted Wiens Firestone by the Stratosphere in the past and thought they did a good job. (An oil change and a tire repair). After dropping the car off we swung back by DS’s and took him out to breakfast at the IHOP on Decatur. Typical IHOP fare nothing remarkable.

After the IHOP we head to the Dollar store across the street, biggest dollar store I have ever been in. We don’t buy much but while standing in Iine we do find a lost child who we turned over to the cashier.

Dropped him back off after breakfast and headed to the Orleans to wait for the car repairs to be finished. Played some video poker at one of the bars (can’t remember which one) and the bartender sweetly turned on the Avalanche game for me. No remarkable wins at Video poker but we did leave up. Picked up the car dropped it off at DS’s and headed back downtown for bit. Walked up and down Freemont street and meandered through Metropolis. A good thought that just didn’t quite pan out funded with public funds.

Stopped in at the Nugget and played some more video poker at the bar in the front while watching some tennis, oh and drinking some beer. I tried to get DH to go to the brewpub at the Four Queens but he balked when he saw the cigar bar part. At some point I realized that I needed to eat something before heading out to Fiesta Rancho for tonight’s game. I knew the perfect spot. “Roll on in here” I said to DH. We wandered into the Golden Gate for some 99-cent shrimp cocktails. I had the shrimp but DH decided to try what the guy in front of him ordered. A hot dog with (are you sitting down?) relish, mustard, sauerkraut and chili. That 25 years seem amazing to you yet? Now football was on and I was receiving some gentle pressure to find a big screen TV. We wandered over to Main Street station and the brewpub there. We watched the game and the beer was lovely as usual and the bartenders attentive. I got the munchies and ordered the garlic cheese bread. If you have never had it here it is wonderful and comes about the size of pizza.

Before leaving for the rink we both had to visit the restroom we did that at the restroom located by the hotel desk. When I met my husband outside the bathroom I asked him if he had seen the Berlin wall? He looked at me like I had just received a message from another planet and said “HUH?” Spacing my words out slowly and talking as through I were talking to a two year old I repeated myself “DID….YOU….SEE….A….PIECE….OF….THE…..BERLIN…WALL”? Clearly not knowing quite how to respond he went for the simple “No”.
“Huh” I humph. As we are walking out of the casino I see another set of restrooms, I point and demand “Go in there and see if it is in there”. Sometimes it is easier just to go with flow, you know what I mean? After shooting me the “Whatever” look he goes into the bathroom and emerges a few moments later. “Did you see it?” I demand. “Well” he says “There is a plaque”. Satisfied we wander off to find the car.

UNLV creams Northern Arizona again and we take DS out to dinner at the Lonestar Steakhouse on Decatur. DS has the ribs and says they were very good. DH has a steak which he also says was very good. I had the barbecued shrimp which I liked a lot as well. It was typical chain steakhouse prices. We say our good-byes and head back downtown. We get lost and end up driving through an interesting neighborhood (Read doors locked, windows up). We arrive safely back at the Las Vegas Club and pour ourselves into bed.

Sunday morning and we are checking out and moving to the Luxor. We check out without a problem and drop the bags off in the car. We head over to my other favorite breakfast spot in downtown the coffee shop in Binions. DH wonders how I find these places? I proudly say that I read a Las Vegas bulletin board and get a lot of my information there.

DH has a bagel and I have bacon and eggs, hash browns and toast. Great as usual and the service was lovely. Before we leave downtown we head over to the four queens. I had noticed that there was a half price ticket booth at the four queens and I wanted to get show tickets for the evening. It was just opening when we got there and there were some folks ahead of us. It was a little bit of a wait. I got two half-price tickets for the Rat Pack at the Greek Isles.

We get in the car and head out to Red Rock Canyon. It is straight out Charleston just past Summerlin. Summerlin appears to be mostly gated communities. Red Rock is just past the last gated community. Red Rock is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. There is a seventeen mile scenic drive through the area and lots of hiking trails. We had not allotted time to hike but will on our next trip. We did the drive and stopped at the visitor center. The scenery was spectacular especially to someone from Minnesota. As we were leaving the park DH said “Doggone it I didn’t get to see any burrows, I really wanted to see some burrows” and continued to grumble about it as we headed into town on Charleston. “I bet there really aren’t any burrows….” BLAH BLAH BLAH. Just before we got to the first wall I saw a bunch of cars pulled over to the right. I have been to Yellowstone and I know what this means. “PULL OVER” I yell. He skillfully obeys making sure we are not killed in the process. There sure enough in the drainage ditch not 100 yards from the wall where the houses begin is a herd of burrows. Pictures were taken and satisfaction was had. Off to the Luxor to check in. We take 215 to the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard. The map from Dollar shows it as being finished. It is not but it does go through.

We check in at the Luxor and I am too chicken to try the $20.00 trick. We are given a room on one of the lower floors and it the furthest possible room from the inclinator. We have a view of the sphinx out front. I wanted to stay at the Luxor because I have always wanted to ride the inclinator and you need a room key to do so. The room is worn, more so if possible than the Vegas Club. The carpet is stained as is the bed spread. The curtains do not completely cover the window so the sun woke us up the next morning. The bathroom, however, is much nicer than the Vegas Club. In case anyone wants to know the pool at the Luxor is not open in the winter.

Also I signed up for an internet special and was supposed to get buy one get free tickets to the rides, the Imax, the spa and a two for one buffet. We were given no coupons at all. I would have called to complain but we were not really planning on using any of the coupons anyway so I just didn’t bother. Given the Luxor’s location and condition of the property it is not high on my list of places to stay anyway.

We hike to the inclinator and head down to the bar to watch football. I meet a lovely lawyer from Houston and we chat up a storm. DH watches the game and wins $100.00 playing V.P. I will say that although we are not playing full pay machines I have memorized the appropriate strategy (bought Bob Dancer’s program and cards a few years ago) so we do play at our best advantage. We arranged to meet DS at Ellis Island before the show. DH and I get there first and have a beer at the bar. We have had the steak special but this time I wanted to try the barbecue. The bartender hears that this is the plan and says you need to go sign up for the slot club. It’s been a beery kind of day and I can’t quite remember all the reasoning but DH takes the advice to heart and runs over and signs up for the slot club. The area where they serve the barbecue is quite small. In the summer there is seating on the patio but in the winter there is only the little area inside, maybe 10 or 12 tables. The Barbecue area is by the Metro Pizza, I am not sure if it has a name. We put our name in, wait a bit and get seated.. I had the combo ½ chicken and a slab of ribs. It comes with baked beans, coleslaw, french fries, corn on the cob and two big slices of garlic bread done on the grill. DH had the same and DS had the ribs which came with all the same trimmings only two big slabs of ribs. They cook the stuff out on the patio in big drum barbecues. It always smells heavenly and that is exactly how it tastes. Finger lickin’ good. The only thing that was not good was the corn, big deal. I handed the waiter our slot club card and he brought the bill. The total bill for the three of us was $32.00 with tip. Again no alcohol but we each had sodas.

We said goodnight to DS and headed over the Greek Isles for our show. We were a few minutes late due to the wait for a table at Ellis Island. The person seating us was very kind and sat us down near the front although the show had already started. We paid $24.00 each for our tickets which was about the perfect price for the show that we saw. It was schmaltzy, corny and extremely entertaining. It reflected a time gone by. The performers were above average singers and the gentleman playing Sinatra had quite the voice. I love the music and I thought the jokes were funny. When the lights came up my DH noted that we had brought the average age in the room down by quite a bit. If you can remember seeing Dean and Sammy on T.V. or Joey Bishop host the tonight show you would enjoy this show. If you enjoy the old Vegas style you would enjoy this show. But if you are young and you don’t have a clue as to what the Rat Pack was and have never heard Frank Sinatra sing you might not like it.

After the show we looked around the Greek Isles for the two seconds that it took. It was karoke night in the lounge and it looked the folks there were having some fun. After looking around DH said, “Well I can see why you don’t stay here”. I’m cheap but not that cheap.

We headed back to the Luxor and to bed.

It’s Monday morning and we are leaving. I hate leaving Las Vegas. DH wanders out and walks the two miles necessary to track down some coffee and brings it back to the room. I declare that if I have the ability to be bumped from or flight I intend to do so. DH grunts. We check out using the express checkout through the TV.

We head down the strip to the Peppermill for breakfast. DH has pancakes and I have the French toast. I think the Peppermill is expensive even though they do give you a lot of food. I return for the atmosphere and the mimosas.

In reading the paper we see that Fry’s has jump drives on sale. There is a brand new Fry’s on Las Vegas Boulevard, south where 215 hits it. It is huge. The parking lot is under the flight path for McCarran. The planes are low enough so that you can count the rivets. I love to watch planes and would have happily sat in the parking lot just watching the planes. Well, maybe if I had a cooler of beer. Fry’s was out of the sale jump drives. We make arrangements to meet DS at the In an Out burger on Tropicana and Industrial for lunch before he has to go to class and we have to go to the airport. We get to the In and Out early, park and listen to the new CD we bought at Fry’s. Time passes slowly in the In an Out parking lot. We speculate as to whether the lady in the camisole top eating lunch with the businessmen is a hooker. Finally we call DS and get his order and go in and buy the food. While we are in line DS calls and says “Have you looked out the window?” No……. Semi and car have had an argument in the intersection. DS cannot get to the In and Out Burger no matter what. We make arrangements to meet at a gas station on Koval closer to campus and exchange food. We have to make a right on industrial and fail to find a way to cross 15 until Spring Valley. We make our way across Las Vegas Boulevard and head down Koval. Meet DS give him his free lunch and say our good-byes. We fill up the rental car at the gas station but still have time to kill.

We head to the Hard Rock and make a couple of circuits of the casino. It is pretty dead on a Monday. Then we head over to UNLV and walk around the campus. We went to the Lied Library. If you want a truly lovely view of the strip go to the top floor. One of the best views in town. Before the Wynn opened DS said that they lit up the Wynn sign and at night it looked like it was floating in air.

It was time to go to the airport. We dropped off the car without incident and our flight on America West was not over booked so I had to come home.

A very atypical trip for me as usually I gamble a lot and play poker all night long. But DH said he had fun and even asked when we were going again. That’s what I like to hear.


AgSweep <> - A.V., MN    2859

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