Vegas bound. Any ideas?

When's the weekend out of town?

Are we going to get an update?

 

Actually leaving for Panama City Beach on Sunday morning. Bout a 9-10 hour drive from just south of Louisville. Missing the huge (200+ people) family reunion for it.

Will be out of the office for five days (Sunday-Thursday) and won't have to use a single vacation hour. Since I worked six days last week with overtime, Labor Day was my only day off. Company changed rule that if a holiday is your only day off of the week AND you have overtime the other days, you get to take another paid day off within 60 days.

So it should work out like this (our work week runs Saturday-Friday): Saturday office, Sunday paid day off from Labor Day, Monday paid personal day, Tuesday paid personal day, Wednesday paid personal day, Thursday off (driving back from Florida) and Friday work.

Depending on how many hours I work Saturday and Friday, Wednesday could turn into a regular day off and I could keep that last paid personal day for later.

Gotta really nice one-bedroom condo with kitchen (although doubt we'll need little more than a fridge to keep drinks cold and the microwave. Oh, the toaster ... for my waffles). Plans are to eat breakfast (she usually skips breakfast but with me being diabetic, my blood sugar tends to fall to dangerously low levels) and lunch in the room and then splurge on dinner at non-chain restaurants (except for maybe Margaritaville on the beach).

Don't have any plans for the half day after we arrive on Sunday.

On Monday, we're doing the the trainer for a day at Gulf World from 9-3. Get to see sea lions and seals and a walrus and get in the water and swim with the dolphins. $250 per person (including lunch, shirt, admission to the park and photo with dolphin), but most swim-with-the-dolphins in the PCB area are $125 anyway.

Plus, due to something else -- bad at the time, good in the long run (my truck got hit in early August and I'm just now getting the insurance money) -- I was able to come into the $500 to cover the Gulf World stuff. Score.

That Monday night, I think we're doing the pro photog on the beach thing. You know, white shirts/polos. Khaki shorts...Not my idea.

Tuesday we're leaving for nearby Seaside (where "The Truman Show" was filmed) to check out the sites. Getting a two-hour sandcastle lesson from a professional sandcastle builder (who has been featured on Travel Channel SandMasters). Be done with all that by 3. Leaves rest of afternoon/evening for whatever.

No plans for Wednesday. Right now, weather looking 84+ and sunny. Probably a long day by beach/pool.

Come back Thursday (Sept. 19), but we can check out at noon if we want.

Originally looked at Great Smoky Mountains, but we've taken three trips there in last eight months (two nights in November, one night in April and then took a half-day trip last month in which we got to Gatlinburg by 2, stayed til 7:30 and were home by midnight). Wife said if she was doing a vacation in the summer, she wanted a beach. So PCB it is.

As far as our personal life, she is NOT pregnant yet, but we have plans for a child by next year. Don't know if the house we are currently in will be big enough, but I have 2 acres that I own that I can build on if we choose too. And a $200K-$300K budget in Kentucky goes a long way when you own the land, already have water hookup and your father is the county building inspector.

Although I work the following Saturday, wife is still off. Blake Shelton (her favorite country artist; she likes Maroon 5 for pop/rock) is at Rupp Arena that night. I bought tickets for the wife and a female coworker of hers to go). Did the same thing last month when Tracy Lawrence was at the local park and the wife sat fourth row (I had to work).

Wife had two entertainment goals this year: Swim with a dolphin and see Blake Shelton concert.

I was able to knock both of them out in a six-day span.

 

Check the roof of your truck before you leave

 

Ahh. So you read my last report.

That truck will be in the shop. I got hit last month and just now getting the insurance check. But part of the insurance money is paying for the Gulf World-dolphins stuff, so not all bad. Plus, truck was still drivable and I wasn't injured in the least bit.

Leaving truck with wife's dad (who knows the guy fixing it). Truck will be done by the Thursday we get back.

So I wasn't injured, get it fixed, didn't have to worry about borrowing a car or renting a car and the insurance money helped defray the cost of the "no work vacation hours used" vacation.

I'll take that.

 

Trip report.

Got in to Vegas around 11 a.m. Thursday. Told the cab driver to take the cheapest route possible. He said that was the expressway now since they had some construction. I don't know why I believed this. So that sucked. Good news is, we got to check into our hotel around 12. No fees for early check in, unlike Caesars. Tried the $20 trick but that didn't work. Second time I have tried and failed there. It did work once at the PH Towers.

Ended up visiting Hash House A Go Go for lunch. Happy it is still there even though the construction has changed Imperial Palace. The inside of the casino is now tolerable. Also, they have this Kahunaville mini-casino connected to Flamingo. It is cheesy at best but not trashy like O'Shea's was. But, luckily Casino Royale is still a shit show with $1 beers. Actually, we had 2 for 1 coupons so they 50 cents. (Those were the only beers we paid for all weekend).

For dinner, my girlfriend and I went to the Aria Buffet. It was free with our MyVegas Rewards. Very worth it. Meal would have been $70 if we hadn't had it comped. All you can eat crab legs, pretty good sushi and a bunch of other stuff. Better than the PH buffet and the Paris Buffet. Better than the lunch at Bellagio and much quieter too. It is on the top floor so I think it gets forgotten a bit. Not a mad house like Paris.

After dinner we used another reward. Did the dueling pianos at the Monte Carlo Pub. We got 3 hours of well drinks and it was pretty good except the bar lady kept messing up my drink. I asked for a whiskey and seven and she kept giving me a vodka and seven. I eventually switched bar tenders and the guy felt bad so he gave me Jack Daniels and 7 all night. By that time the waitress was just bringing us new drinks every five minutes. We ran up a $200 bar tab and it was all comped.

Next day we went back to Aria for lunch. Had it comped again. That saved us about $50. Buffet was about 70% the same, which sort of sucked. But they did have the good stuff again: hot and cold crab legs, oysters, jumbo shrimp, and carving stations with pork shoulder, prime rib and glazed ham. #FAT.

While in a meat-induced coma, we played a lot of video blackjack. If you play $1 hands at Aria you get free drinks. If you play 75 cent hands at Planet Hollywood you get free drinks. If you sit at a slot machine and talk on the phone at Monte Carlo they will give you a free drink. We tipped $1-2 every time and found we could have had a steady stream of booze all day. Problem was, we were losing all those hands. Still, a much different experience than when I went with my buddy's. We never seemed to get free drinks maybe we looked like we had too much.

Friday night, I proposed to my girlfriend. It was cool. She had no idea. She said yes (which was even cooler). Then we went to dinner at D Vino - using a $50 dinning credit we got from Expedia. Really liked the place. Ended up getting a large pizza for $12 which is nice at a fancy restaurant in Vegas. Wine selection was good and the dinner was good except it was too close to the gaming floor. All we could hear was the music blaring from Ignite lounge. Not really a big deal, but this was supposed to be a special dinner (so special I used a dinning credit). However, when you put a ring on it, you can do no wrong - or at least for a bit.

After dinner it was Cirque De Soliel at the Mirage. It was Beatles themed and pretty cool. It was my first time doing a Vegas show. Very impressive. But also too hot in the theater (too much wine)? We had tickets in the 300 level, first row and they were great. Don't think you have to spring for the great tickets - these free tickets through Expedia were just fine.

Next morning was awesome because football started at 9 a.m. (love being on West coast time). Picked Michigan to cover and sat through an excruciating 48 minutes of football. Thankfully, Oregon and Bama covered. Also, we used another comp at the Pub. Another $50 dinning credit from MyVegas. It was almost too much money to spend. We shared nachos, had two rounds of beers and some sliders. But since we checked in on Foursquare, the beers and the sliders were 2 for 1. Ended up using the last $13 or so on one single vodka RedBull. This makes me wonder, what is in Vodka RedBull - is it made of golden gasoline? Certainly tastes like it. But its Vegas - must stay awake.

After lunch it was back to the sports book making more bets. I am not that much of a degenerate so my handful of $5 teasers and $10 straight bets still got me a free drink ticket every time I got to the window. I think one time I bet $25 on Mayweather and they gave me one. Not bad. At the Monte Carlo, all you have to do is ask. And they serve good beers too: Stella, Dos Equis and even some local craft beers. Also, they was seating throughout the day. Good seats were taken early but we sat on the couch a bit and watched some games and it wasn't too crowded.

After that we went over to the Paris. The fiance liked the girlfriend being painted like a sky. I liked that I had comps from a previous work trip to Paris. We ate at the Burger Brasserie for free even though our bill was like $30 and they said we only had $15 in comps. Caesars has been known to do this before even outside of Vegas. One time a buddy and I ordered about $50 worth of room service when we had a comped room. They never charged us. +1 for Caesars Entertainment.

BTW, if you need a good place to eat at Paris, try the burger joint. I've been there three times now and it has always been great. Never packed either. It opens up to the common area between Bally's and Paris though which sucked since there was a god damn Mariachi band playing loud as hell like ten feet from my table. Also, GET OFF MY LAWN.

Side note on the band: it was Mexican Independence Day plus the Mayweather/Canelo fight. Never seen so many Mexican people in my life. Not even in Mexico. Not lying. This was a huge cultural/social event and every Mexican person was proud as hell to sport red "Canelo" headbands. Unfortunately for them, headbands do not win boxing matches.

While Mayweather was winning us money, we went to the Chateau Nightclub at Paris. Awesome place that is indoor outdoor. My fiance new a girl who new a guy who got us on the guest list. I had to pay $10 to get in, but she was free and had an open vodka bar for two hours. This means she also became my drink runner for two hours as I piggybacked on her open vodka bar.

Open vodka bar turned into drunk games of video blackjack at Planet Hollywood followed by more nachos (if you give a moose a muffin, he's going to want guacamole). Somehow the nachos were comped. They told us we had used them all earlier, yet the food was free. I guess the key is losing those 75 cent hands.

Next morning was rough as I had 1.5 hangovers. One from Saturday night and .5 leftover from Friday. Since I am 27, I have two day hangovers now. I assume 30 and 40 will suck and possibly kill me. Anyway, football in the morning = sensory overload. Also, betting on football was excruciating - thank you Saints for screwing everything up always. Additionally, San Francisco you are a tire fire. I hate you almost as much as ND - who only beats Purdue by just enough each year to remain relevant in the polls. Just one year I would like them to go 0-3 against the Big Ten. It will never happen because Purdue hates America, just like Angry Purdue God hates the ACLs of Purdue QBS.

The good news though - more comps. We had two left. Used one for lunch at the Monte Carlo Buffet. It was alright and they had crab legs but not much else to get excited about. No free champagne anymore either. Aria was better. After that it was time for more bad football bets - I can't believe my fiance sat with me as I bet on football. Probably had something to do with the free nachos and Stella she was getting all weekend (seriously hit the lottery with this one).

We made our way to the Cosmo - still the coolest place around. Then got our last free comp, a free pizza and 6-16 ounce beers from the pool. Ended up getting drunk in the room (fine by me) and then losing $100 in blackjack (not so fine by me). And that was pretty much the end of the trip. A bit disappointed we didn't make it to foundation room at Mandalay Bay or the night swim at XS at Wynn but I guess I just can't hang anymore.

In the end, we lost about $300 gambling but only spent $5 on drinks all weekend and only paid for food in the airport. Show tickets and dueling pianos were free and club cover only cost $10. Lots of free booze, nachos and pizza later and I would say it wasn't a bad way to get engaged.

(P.S. they redid the Tropicana and it is amazing considering what it used to be. I had zero expectations for the place but was impressed with their upgrades on the gaming floor. I call this the Paul Blart factor. When you have such a low expectation for something and it ends up being mediocre, you get impressed. I assume this is why the new Linkin Park song will be good.

(P.P.S. Not a lot of people handing out things on the strip this weekend. Where did they go? Also remodeling the New York New York and construction is a bit loud. Stay away maybe? MGM was rockin all weekend. Didn't even dare stop by during fight night. Didn't want to get trampled and end up under a blackjack table.

 

My annual vegas trip to watch football with the guys is coming up. Deciding to go off strip to Red Rock. Anyone ever been there?

I haven't read this whole thread. Are there physical limitations to Central KY Kid having sex w his wife?

 

I didn't read anything about waffles in mustangj17's post.

He did Vegas all wrong.

 

Yeah, the waffle content was extremely low in his long post.

 

I have no idea where most people stay when visiting Las Vegas, but please be advised that on the 31st floor, a gold-plated door won't keep out the Lord's burning rain .

 

I stayed in one of the remodeled rooms at MGM recently and thought it was fine. I'm going to book there again when I go back. Been bouncing around since Stardust closed.

 

When I'm eating nachos there is little room for waffles. Best nachos are still, sadly at Margaritaville.

 

Heading back to Vegas for the 3rd time in the past year (this is the second time for work). The place is starting to wear on me, but maybe only because I only get $45 per day to eat. I'm staying at the Paris which isn't too bad, but I have to room with someone which sucks. I arrive on a Saturday afternoon and the work doesn't actually start until Monday. I just have to be there as a formality.

So I have all day Saturday to kill and most of Sunday. Not really sure what to do. Lots of gambling is out of the question because I don't want to lose money during a work trip. Don't want to hang at the pool and get drunk since there will be co-workers and clients there.

Any suggestions? I'm considering taking the monorail somewhere, or jumping on a shuttle and going to the casinos I've never seen. I've never been to Mandalay Bay, Rio, the Palms, Sahara, Stratosphere or Circus Circus. I don't think I want to go to Stratosphere or Circus Circus.

I've only been to old Vegas once but it might be worth another visit to play low-stakes craps with good odds. Is there anything new in Old Vegas? I have not heard good things about the D Casino and I have already seen the Golden Nuggett, 4 Queens, Fitzgerald's etc.

The one good part about going for work is that I can usually get access to some open bars and free meals from our vendors. That means I can blow my $45 on one meal. Any suggestions for that one? Considering the Caesars Buffet as I have never eaten there, or maybe a return trip to Aria for some seafood or the Bellagio. Never eaten at the Venetian/Palazzo, Wynn/Encore, or Palms buffets if they even have them? I'm assuming every casino has them.

So what would you do in Vegas if you were traveling alone?

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