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Day 1 I get a newsletter from Southwest in my e-mail letting me know of sales and special deals that they are offering. Usually when I check them they are "not available" for the times or dates that I want ... BUT when I checked in April for an August date I found a pretty good deal. I told Joe about it and he said two of my favorite words ... "Book it"!! We flew round trip from Jacksonville to Las Vegas for $522. I found a $59 rate at Bally's on their website, but I really wanted to stay somewhere different. Joe likes playing at Caesars Palace, so I called to see what kind of deal I could get there. I went through the slot club, and got a $59 room rate plus a $50 food credit to one of their "fine" restaurants. This really surprised me because we haven't played there very much in the past. The flight out of Jacksonville was at 8:00 a.m., so we decided to stay at a hotel near the airport the night before. We gave the Red Roof Inn a try. They were the cheapest ($29 with a coupon) at the airport exit. The room was clean, but small and worn. It was going to make us appreciate whatever we ended up with at Caesars! The shuttle bus was pulling into the long term parking lot just as we were parking the car. Check-in was fairly fast, but we stopped to get some caffeine before getting our boarding passes, so we didn't get to sit together for the first leg of our trip. We had a layover in Memphis, and this time we got our boarding passes early! I had enough time to enjoy a Bloody Mary at the airport bar. It came with a funky little plastic thing hooked to the glass that held a tiny bottle of Tabasco and a beef stick. I thought that was pretty neat ... Okay, so it doesn't take much to amuse me! From Memphis to Las Vegas we sat in some really weird seats. It was in the back of the plane, and there were three seats turned around backwards facing three other seats. It kind of put you in a more social situation with your fellow travelers than the regular seats. Luckily, we were seated with two other couples who were just as nice as they could be. We had a good time chit-chatting, and it made the flight seem shorter. We decided to try the check-in at the airport while we were waiting for the luggage. There was no line at all! I was determined to try the $20 tip. I had it folded and sticking out from under my credit card. I told the woman that I lived in a po-dunk little town, and I wanted to be able to look out of the window and be dazzled. She started going back and forth checking the computer and the hotel map. All of a sudden she stopped ... double checked ... and said "Oh, wow!" I thought "Oh, wow" sounded promising. She then got on the phone to check with the hotel to make sure she wouldn't get in trouble for giving us this room. With permission granted, we were given our room keys and info about the food comp. When I tried to give her the $20, she wouldn't take it! I thought that the check-in at the airport was a great service, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it. One of the couples from the plane used the airport check-in for their room at Bally's, and we ended up getting our luggage at about the same time ... so we decided to ride together in a Las Vegas Limo. When we went out of the baggage claim area the first LVL employee we came to was a gal in skin tight pants and tube top. She directed us to a shuttle bus. This girl was obviously more interested in how she looked than how she acted! "Customer service" was not a phrase she seemed to be familiar with, so we tried the lady at the booth. We were told that we could take the shuttle bus or rent a limo for an hour. We paid for our ride, and went to talk to a man who seemed to be in charge. FINALLY we were set up with a limo to shuttle us! The driver was great! He started joking around with us the minute he got out to help with our luggage. LVL is obviously trying to get out of the limo shuttle thing, so we'll probably just catch a cab next time. It's a shame, though. I really have enjoyed using that company in the past. We got to our room a little after noon, and it was a WOW room!!!! It was a suite in the Palace Tower - room 1928. The room had his & hers bathrooms connected by a built-for-two walk thru shower that had GREAT water pressure. It had a huge jacuzzi tub, and a ton of neat little amenities. It had a big closet with a safe and an ironing board & iron. There was a little bar area with a mini fridge. The room had a king sized bed and a nice sitting area with a desk, chair, and sofa. We turned the sofa around so we could enjoy the view out of the window, and what a view it was! The room overlooked the pool area, the Bellagio lake, and down the strip. It was WONDERFUL!!!! We decided to spend time checking out Caesars, and not hit the strip until Tuesday. We went to the pool area which is amazing! There are three pool areas. The Temple Pool is the round one with the statue in the middle. The Neptune Pool is very large and surrounded by columns. (This is the pool where we spent most of our time.) AND ... The Venus Pool which is the one that is European (top optional). We did in fact see a number of gals working on their tans while we were there. I decided to just use a self-tanner and keep my strap line! There is a sign directing you to the Venus Pool, if that is your thing. We saw a number of men joking with their wives whenever we walked by the sign. They were checking room keys at the entrance to the pool area the entire time we were there, and I saw a number of people turned away. The drink service was pretty good except for one time Joe had to hunt down the cocktail waitress to get his water. The frozen margaritas were tart and yummy! The Paul Mitchell System people were having a conference at Caesars that week, and I made a mental note to spend a few extra minutes with the curling iron! Those folks had it going on with the hair thing! Just a funny side note - Once when I was heading up to the room, the elevator opened and out walks this lady with a head under her arm. It took me a second to realize it was a dummy that she was going to use for a demonstration. She caught my look, and we both had a good chuckle about it! We played a little bit of slots that night. The only thing that I had any fun with was a slingo machine in the area near the Forum Shops. We had the worst time trying to get machines to take our bills at Caesars. I lost track of how many machines that I tried to play, but couldn't get the bill accepter to work. We split some nachos from the La Piazza Food Court. I thought this was a pretty handy place to grab a bite to eat. The had Mexican, a grill, ice cream, Chinese, a salad bar, pizza, and more. You just get a tray - pick what you want - and pay on your way out. There is a lounge area in front of it with plenty of tables and chairs. We never had to wait in line here, and the food isn't bad. Just don't go there expecting some gourmet meal or romantic atmosphere, and you won't be disappointed. We didn't make our fortune that night, but tomorrow could be the day!!! Day 2 We got up bright and early for Vegas, and (after working on the hair a bit more than usual in case I ran into the Paul Mitchell System people) we headed over to the Barbary Coast to have the Midnight Teaser in the Victorian Room for breakfast. We both had the sausage and egg breakfast, and we used a 2-for-1 coupon that I had ordered from billhere. Our bill came up to around $5. It was a great deal! After breakfast we played slots at BC a bit. I wasn't having much luck on the Nevada Nickel machine that I was playing, so I went to look for Joe. I was kind of surprised to find him playing a Wheel of Fortune multi-line machine. He has never played the multi-line machines very much, but this trip was going to change all that! He put in a $5. He hadn't been playing long, and he had over 1000 credits! When he went to point to the credits to show me the amount, he accidentally hit the cash out button. He didn't realize it had a touch screen. Of course, the machine jammed and an employee had to come over to help. He was a very nice man, and we enjoyed meeting him. We decided to take a cab downtown. The cabby took us down the interstate, and the trip costs us around $12. We played a few minutes at Binions and then headed down the street to the Las Vegas Club. Joe got settled at a quarter roulette table, and I wandered around some checking out different casinos. I was kind of surprised that not all of the casinos downtown have slot clubs and some aren't opened 24 hours a day. We ate the buffet at the Golden Nugget for lunch. I had printed a 2-for-1 coupon off of their website so it only cost us round $7. The service was great! I've eaten at buffets with more selection, but the food was really good. While we were in the Golden Nugget, I witnessed an "Only in Vegas" sighting. Outside of the bathrooms there were two armed guards with a sequestered jury. I'm guessing that they had taken them to eat lunch at the Nugget. It was a pretty weird sight in a casino. We took another cab back to Caesars. The cost was also around $12, but this cabby - Alan - took us back down the strip. This guy was so funny! He told us some great cabby stories. I've decided to make a special page on my website just for them! Joe decided to go to the pool, and I went exploring. I hit Harrah's, Imperial Palace, O'Shea's, the Flamingo, and Barbary Coast. The Flamingo had added a snack bar with outside seating since our last trip. I didn't try anything there, but it looked nice. I found a 9/6 VP machine at the bar at Barbary Coast, and I played it a while. I was going to play Joe's WOF machine, but someone else was on it, and must have been winning! I met up with Joe at the pool for my daily frozen margarita! Yum!!! We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We got there at 5:30, and I expected to have to wait ... but we were seated on the patio right away. Joe had the Navajo Sandwich, and I had the Seared Pork Tenderloin. Both of them were great, and way more than we could eat! Service was A+. We enjoyed our view of the aquarium & the people watching there. After dinner we sat by the aquarium for a closer look. During the last part of the show a set of legs came down on the back side of where the show was. Makes you wonder how much of those shows are mechanical and how much are controlled by employees from underneath. Pretty cool. I told you earlier that it doesn't take much to amuse me! We played a few slots in Caesars before calling it a night. Joe had fun on this Tabasco reel slot. I love the music on that game! I won a little on a Wheel of Fortune reel slot. It let me spin on the bonus round a bunch of times, but I would only hit the very lowest amounts. It was still fun! Maybe I'll win my fortune tomorrow! Day 3 We got up early again and ate breakfast at the Barbary Coast with a coupon. I love getting out & about that early. You beat the crowds and catch some funny sights. Seeing people out jogging passing folks who are just getting in from a late night of partying is just so ... Vegas! Joe won some more on his WOF game. The same Barbary Coast employee that we talked to yesterday came over to help when the hopper needed filling. We talked a bit more, and then he gave us a coupon for a free dinner for two at the Victorian Room! Guess where we're eating tonight! Then we headed down the strip. We started playing at Bally's. I played some machines that looked like they were coinless, but when I went to cash out I got change. I wonder what's up with that? We played a little at Paris and went on the Aladdin. I walked through the Desert Passage, but nothing was open yet. The shopping area looks nice, but I didn't really see anything that would make me want to come back. The Forum Shops are just too handy this trip. I met Joe at the VP bar and played a little there. We walked down to MGM & more VP for me. We went over to NYNY. They had the Statue of Liberty dressed up in a Yankees jersey to celebrate the opening of the ESPN Zone. I read in some guide that the shirt weighed 290lbs! I won a little on a WOF machine & got a tacky hat for signing up for a slot card. My little guy loves it! We went to the Monte Carlo Brew Pub for lunch. This place is great. I always try to make it here at least once during a trip. I got the bucket of steamed clams and split the calamari with Joe. He ordered the fried fish. I had the Roulette Sampler. This is a fav of mine. You get a small glass of each brew served on a poker chip tray. Following is a list of the regular brews they have and a description from their menu (with my own note added at the end) for those who are interested: High Roller Red - "an exceptionally smooth, full-bodied amber ale. The caramel and toffee notes are established by a select blend of domestic and imported malt barley. The complex malt character is balanced by the fruity tones of our house yeast" Alcohol content - 5.0% Jules' opinion -This one is a little bitter. I liked it, but it's one that I wouldn't order unless I was in the mood for it. Las Vegas Lites - "Monte Carlo's lightest offering in color and body. A delicate pale ale that delivers smooth flavor with a crisp, clean, and dry finish. Thoroughly refreshing and satisfying" Alcohol content - 3.2% Jules' opinion - Your basic smooth lite beer. Save some change for the machines and order a Miller Lite. Silver State Stout - "a dry, yet surprisingly smooth version of a traditional Irish Stout. A complex blend of six types of barley and oatmeal create a complex flavor profile and rich mouth-feel" Alcohol content - 4.0% Jules' opinion - This one is the darkest, but very smooth. Winner's Wheat - "an unfiltered American-style wheat ale. This emerging classic contains a mixture of malted wheat and barley providing an extremely quenching ale that is light and refreshing" Alcohol content - 4.6% Jules' opinion - This one is tart & served with a lemon wedge. It'd be good with seafood. Jackpot Pale - "a hearty golden copper colored ale with a pleasing hop aroma and flavor. The recipe was traditionally created to produce a beer strong enough to withstand journeys from the UK to India. The result is an assertive, full-bodied beer with an enjoyable crisp hop bitterness" Alcohol content - 5.6% Jules' opinion - "Strong enough" are the key words in this description. Watch out 'cause this one will get you loopy in a hurry! Then I accomplished one of my goals for this trip. I bet on a horse! I have always wanted to do this, but I've felt a little intimidated since I was clueless about what to do. I walked up to the counter at the sports book in the Monte Carlo. There were two guys working, and they were not busy at all. I told them that I had never bet on a horse, and I needed a little help. One guy was just a jerk. He must have had too much to do to be worried about a newbie like me, but the other guy was nice about it. I think I amused him. Anyhooo ... I picked Ellis Park - Race 8 - horse #2 (Mount Everest) to show. I played a few slots and went back to the sports book to watch the race. It was really exciting, and when my horse was in the lead I whooped & hollered a little. Joe told me to calm down, but I was having fun!!!! My horse ended up coming in 2nd, and I happily waited in line to collect my winnings from grumpy man himself! hehehehe..... We left the MC from a side entrance and ended up wandering around the service entrances a bit before we made our way to the strip. Okay - So we were a little bit turned around, but we did it without being run over by a delivery truck. Joe was not impressed with my navigational efforts! We walked through Bellagio, and saw a game I had never seen before. It's a dice game called Sic Bo. I thought it looked pretty interesting, but Casino Player has it listed as one of the worst bets in a casino. On the way back to Caesars we saw another great "Only in Vegas" sight - a beautiful bride walking down the strip. She had a lovely formal dress hitched up so the bottom wouldn't get dirty, and she was wearing hot pink flip-flops! Ya' gotta love Vegas!!! After my afternoon frozen margarita by the pool, we went over to the Flamingo to play some slots. I could only seem to find the money sucking variety there so I ended up playing VP at the bar near the check-in. We went to the Barbary Coast for our comped dinner in the Victorian Room. We had quite a wait for a table, so we played some more Wheel of Fortune multi-line machines. I had a coupon for $5 from their fun book, and I put that in the machine. I ended up taking out $50! Not too bad considering that I was playing with their money!!! We ended up with the worst table in the restaurant. It's around the corner next to the kitchen door. It was not much of a romantic atmosphere, but we got to see first hand how hard the staff there works. Man! They REALLY hustle!!! The meal was pretty good. We both had a steak, baked potato, and salad. No room for desert! Just a few more slots before calling it a night. Well ... I still haven't hit a jackpot. It'd be nice to be able to retire early, but I really want to at least win enough to get Joe a riding lawnmower. Maybe tomorrow .... Day 4 When I woke up I took stock of the gambling situation so far. I had pretty much broken even on VP, but otherwise there seemed to be very little luck on my side. Just a couple of hits on some slots and my horse. It was time for desperate measures. Something HAD to change if Joe was going to get that riding lawn mower. That was when I saw them sitting with the rest of my jewelry ... the tacky, but oh so lucky dice earrings. Yes ... I spent the entire rest of the day sporting those cheap looking dangly things. They even seemed to work a little. We decided to eat breakfast at Cafe Lago in Caesars. (BTW - It was a great hair day - No fear of the Paul Mitchell System folks today!) Cafe Lago a really pretty restaurant. It's light and airy and sophisticated. It overlooks the pool which gets an automatic two thumbs up from me! We decided to get the buffet which was around $13. It's a little pricey, but it offered all of my favorites without the crowds. Service was wonderful!!! We played some at the Mirage. I won a little on a Jeopardy game. This was the first time I had played this, and I thought the bonus rounds were fun! We took the tram to Treasure Island, and stopped to get gifts for the kiddies. They had some good sales, and I actually found bargains in a casino gift shop! I think it's the earrings ... I won a little at the VP bar and had some yummy Bloody Mary's. We wandered over to the Venetian to try our luck there. I lost a couple of dollars playing VP, but I had the BEST Bloody Mary's of the trip, and the bartender was a real cutie-pa-tootie!!! Still ahead for the day!!! Things are looking better!!! We decided to take a cab to the Sahara. The Venetian employee at the cab stand was dressed just like the gondola guys, and he even sang for us! He had a great voice! We played $1 roulette at the Sahara. The dealer was friendly and very talkative. I now know all I need to know about desert landscaping, and could this man hit my numbers! I was having fun!!! At one point I set aside enough chips to make sure that I had doubled my money, and I played with the rest. Let me take a moment to tell you how I play roulette. I like to play 2, 4, 6, & 8. All four of these numbers make up my birth date, wedding date, the number of great kids that I have, and the number of people in my family. They are significant to me, and that is what I want to play. I don't really need some guy standing behind me pointing out that I could have won on the last two rolls if I had played the corners! Jeez!!! Anyhow ... I doubled my money and Joe came close, so we took our winnings and headed out for lunch. We were going to eat at the Holy Cow, but they were closed for remodeling. I even had my coupon for a free brew printed out and ready to go. Oh, well ... It's a story too long to write, but we ended up getting a ride to Mandalay Bay from a really nice fireman who works for the City of Las Vegas - What a great guy!!! Something funny happened while we were walking into Mandalay Bay. We ran into a couple who were taking each others pictures. The guy was this HUGE body builder & his gal was holding the camera. We asked them if they wanted us to take their picture together. The girl said sure - handed Joe the camera - and then started to take off her clothes! Luckily she stopped when she got down to her bikini. I don't think Joe could have taken much more! I was just standing there trying to keep a straight face! It was too funny!!! Mandalay is a beautiful casino, and I was glad we made the trip. I spent a few minutes finding a machine that I wanted to play, and settled on a Little Green Men game. I played long enough to get into both of the bonus rounds. This is a fun game! I didn't hit a big one, but I walked out with more money than I had walking in. We took a cab back to Caesars. Joe headed to the pool, and I headed for the strip. I won on a WOF machine at Casino Royale. These were the first coinless machines that I came across. I thought that I would feel a little detached from my money, but it didn't effect my play at all. I found them to be very handy. Casino Royal still has really cold cheap bottled beer at the bar. Yum! I walked down to Harrah's and listened to Infusion at the Carnival Court for a while. I've yet to walk by and hear a band I didn't like playing at this place! I headed back to Caesars with a new cap for Joe. On the way through the casino I decided to take my winnings from Casino Royale & try to hit Megabucks. Okay ... So I have to go back to work next week ... We decided to use our $50 food credit at Hyakumi - A Japanese restaurant in Caesars. We had the miso soup, asparagus, and California rolls. I had the salmon teriyaki served with potato salad (I thought that was kind of strange) and a green salad. Joe had the tempura. Everything was WONDERFUL, and the service was GREAT! The bill came to around $75. Joe opted for a fork, but I decided to plunge ahead with the chopsticks. A Japanese couple were seated next to us, and I caught them giving me a very strange look. I didn't understand why until their asparagus came, and they proceeded to pick it up with their fingers and eat it! I'm just so suave!! We saw a crowd by a roulette table, and stopped to see what was going on. This guy was betting $1000 every spin!!! He would scatter all of his chips in big stacks every time. If he lost, the dealer would just slide over another $1000 in chips. This man lost the cost of our entire trip in just a few minutes!!!! We went back over to the Barbary Coast to play some more WOF & won again!!!! This place has been good to us! We decided to take a cab over to the Polo Towers to check out the lounge on the 19th floor. They had live entertainment there, but no one was paying too much attention to them. Everyone there was focused on one thing - the view! It was amazing!!! If you need a calm, laid-back place to enjoy Vegas, this is it! Just make sure you bring your camera! I played a little more WOF reels at Caesars before calling it a night, and left the machine ahead. I haven't hit any big jackpots today, but I have won almost everywhere that I have played. My tacky lucky dice earrings have done their job, and I promise to wear them ALL the time on my next gambling trip! Day 5 Time to go home ... At this point we were exhausted! I don't see how people can come out here for two weeks. I think I would literally walk myself to death! We ate breakfast at Cafe Lago again. We opted for a big breakfast because we were flying Southwest, and we knew it would be a long time before we had a real meal. Check out was smooth. There was no problem with the credit for the meal last night, and the power surcharge didn't show up on our bill. The Park Place press release said that the $3 a day would be charged to people who made their reservations after June something, and we had made ours in April. This surprised me a little. I assumed that it would be on the bill anyway. I had planned to contest it ... but had changed my mind when we were upgraded to a suite. There was no line at all at the desk. We took a cab to the airport. It was fast and handy. We will probably use cabs to get to and from the airport from now on. We like to stay mid-strip, and the fare was $9. That's only $1 more than a shuttle for the convenience of traveling alone & not having to wait in a line. I know there are cheaper ways of getting from point A to point B in Las Vegas, but we decided that the convenience of cab travel outweighed the cost. If you stay near the casinos, the wait for a cab isn't usually too long. The cabbies that we had were friendly, and I ended up with enough funny cabby stories that I'm thinking of adding a page just for them on my website. We got to the Southwest counter an hour before boarding, and found that they had already started handing out boarding passes. This is the first counter we had found that would do that. Good for early birds ... but we ended up in the third seating group. Things weren't looking good for sitting together. About half the way back through the airplane I noticed a stewardess sitting in a seat making room for people to pass. I asked her if they were any seats together left. She smiled and said "Sure ... these two are." We ended up sitting in the emergency row with lots of great leg room! I want to take just a minute to give my thoughts on Southwest. I would like them to assign seats, and I agree that part is a big hassle ... BUT ... We had GREAT service. All of our flights were on time or early. The trips were smooth. The stewardesses were friendly & prompt. When we were getting on our last leg, a stewardess from the first leg of our trip recognized me and asked how my vacation had been. I thought that was pretty nice. We even had a pilot leaving Las Vegas that was a hoot! This guy was really funny! I liked staying at Caesars, but it was always so crowded. There were plenty of machines and tables to choose from, but just walking around was difficult. I guess Caesars gets in a large foot crowd because of the Forum Shops. And Lord knows ... When you get in Caesars, you have to wander around a while before you can find your way out! I enjoyed playing at the Barbary Coast. The employees were ALL so friendly and helpful. I don't know if we would ever stay there, though. We both like to get away and take a break at the pool. I've heard that you can use the pool at the Flamingo or take a shuttle to other coast properties, but I'm not big on wandering around in my bathing suite. I don't want to have to go much farther than the bottom of the elevator. All in all it was a great trip, but I learned something. Don't gamble without the lucky dice earrings! So ... If you ever run across a redhead with tacky dice earrings playing slots, sitting at the VP bar, or playing low-limit roulette, stop to say HI! It'll either be me ... or someone who will think you are very strange! Good Luck & Take Care!
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