Day 8 Sunday - February 5, 2012

So today we get up at 8:30, shower, finish packing and check out.
We leave our bags with the bellman while we have a quick breakfast and hit the tables for one last time before we have to head to the airport.
We played for about an hour and just about doubled our money so today in one short hour we were more productive than in some of our longer ventures but we had a great time as we always do and can't wait for our next adventure regardless of whether it be Vegas or elsewhere, here we come!!!!!!!
Dave cashes us in and I go call my Dad to wish his team (Giants) luck in the Superbowl although he knows that I don't really mean it. LOL.
I hope it is a good game for all to watch but I do hope the Pats win.
At the airport, I see our plane has just arrived so that's all for this trip.....Go Pats!!!!!!!

Link to my pictures

Day 7 Saturday - February 4, 2012

Today is to be our last full day in Vegas so we are ready to make it count. Head down to Dunks where we split a bagel for breakfast and get our day going.
By the way, just to clarify, it may sound like we are up early and going right away but we hardly ever woke much before 8:00 am and we were never out the door before 9:00, which in Vegas time is still early unless of course you are still up from the night before in which case, it is very, very late!!!!!
So, starting at the Fremont again we played for a little while and Dave cashed out just under and I was only even so far.
Next was Binion's which I thought did OK in yesterday but today they quickly took our money and almost asked for our shirts but we left before it was too late.
Dave's feeling a little anxious now because he hates to be down so early in the day but it's OK we still have plenty of our budget, we just have to slow down.
We try out the Las Vegas Club and I had (come on, say it with me....) a coupon for $5 slot play and one for a $5 match bet, plus signing up as a new member gave me an additional $5 slot play. Armed with my players card and a new attitude I hit the tables and after a few hands, I play my match bet and I win......yea!!!!! But it does not last and after a while I cash out just slightly down. Dave was playing as well and he was able to cash out slightly ahead so we are even for this place. But wait, I have some free slot play so I start to use it but I'm not getting much for it and overall I played two different machines for $5 each and cashed out a whopping $3.69 which I wanted to use in a different machine that didn't accept free play but it wouldn't accept my tickets. I try another machine, no go, one more...nope. What the heck is going on, the computers are down....."But I want my $3.69, it's mine and I want it!!!!!!!". Dave has to go to the cashier window and cash out my tickets for $3.69. If only the computers weren't down, I might have won enough to retire.....LOL!
Now it's time for lunch so we go the Courtyard Grille in Fitzgerald's for a couple of sandwiches and some wings. As with a lot of places downtown, it is good food for not too much money. Since we are here already, we decide to play and we cashed out even.
It's back to the Cortez were we did get to play for a while and only came out slightly down for this session.
Back in the room for a while to freshen up for dinner and I try to figure out how to record the damn Superbowl via Directv online but they don't make it that easy and I think I have it set but fingers crossed.....
OK so first some dinner, we ate at the Flame in El Cortez which is our third time now and it is always great. We started with oysters and while their shell size was pretty small the oysters themselves were plump and juicy. Dave got the prime rib, I got the filet and we split the garlic mashed potatoes. All was great as expected and I used my restaurant.com certificate here for $25 off.
We decided to go to the end of Fremont and started at Main Street Station where we played for a while but still came out slightly down so we moved on to the California where Dave broke even and I came out slightly ahead. Again I sat at a table with great people . There were these 5 guys from the west coast that all knew each other and they were so fun and funny and great to play with. I wish I could get tables like that all the time.
Moved on to the Las Vegas Club where I didn't play but Dave did and lost just a little.
Next we hit the Fremont where I played but Dave didn't and again I got to play for a while but only broke even.
It was now about 11:30 and we once again stopped in at the tables at EC before heading to bed but once again it was not too exciting and we came out slightly short here too.
Oh well, not a total bust of a day but not a money winner....time to pack a little and off to bed.

Day 6 Friday - February 3, 2012

Started off today with a good breakfast at Cafe Cortez, both filling and cheap! It turns out we would need most of this energy in order to find $5 tables and then be able to play and even come out a little ahead. This is how our day went:
Started at the El Cortez - Dave played bj while I played some free slot play in which I made enough money to then go and play bj and I came out $50 ahead.
Next was the Fremont in which I lost the $50 I won from EC and Dave came out even. Talk about easy come, easy go!
On to Binion's - they didn't have too many $5 bj tables so Dave didn't play and I cashed out slightly ahead.
We then moved on to the Four Queens in which I lost quick but Dave played for a while and cashed out even.
Took a break for lunch and ate at Fremont Mediterranean Cafe where we had a good lunch of a Chipotle Chicken wrap and a Gyro pita for about $15.
Ventured over to Fitzgerald's where Dave and I both lost quickly so we bee-lined out of there........UGH!!!
So, back to the Cortez where we each doubled on a small buy-in and felt a little better.
Back to the room to shower to get ready for dinner. We got ready early so we could go out and see if we could find the Celtics game on somewhere before we went to dinner. Stopped in at Tony Roma's at the Fremont where we had a couple of drinks and got them to put the game on for us. We saw most of the game before we had to leave for our 7:00 reservation at Triple George Grill on 3rd St. We of course got the Oysters which were really good and came with 8 instead of the usual 6. Dave got a half rack of ribs which he thought were good although he's had better, and I got the Shrimp George (or maybe it was the George Shrimp). Anyway, it was baked shrimp that rather than being stuffed with a bread stuffing was more like coated with a crab stuffing and I really enjoyed it.
Now that we are again adequately energized, we are ready to redeem ourselves and try and win a little of our early loses back.
First we start at the Fremont and while Dave cashed out even, I doubled my money. Plus we got to play here for quite a while on a table with great people and a great dealer.....I love tables like this!!!!!
Now down to the California in which we also played for a while but I lost and Dave doubled so together we were even.
Lastly back to EC where we played a bit before going back to the room. Dave cashed out even again and while I was still playing cards he hit $30 on a slot machine near the table where he only put in $5 so he cashed that out too. I cashed out ahead here too so for the day, we were ahead.
Time to quit while we are ahead so we head off to the room for the night..

Day 5 Thursday - February 2, 2012

One of the best things about staying downtown is the Dunkin Donuts that is located in the Fremont Casino. So we start this morning with a coffee and croissant sandwich. Since it is already a bit after  9:00am we decide to play some bj at the Fremont before we have to trek up to the road for our tour of the Neon Boneyard Museum (more on that later). We don't do too badly here this morning and I think we cashed out about $25 up.
After this we walked the mile or so up the road to the Neon Boneyard Museum. For those that don't know, the "museum" is really just an outside storage area where they have many of the old neon signs from Vegas. It's not just about the casinos either, there are plenty that were just from businesses as well. They have a few projects going on, one for the downtown area I believe, one for the boulevard to erect some of the restored pieces and one for the museum location itself in which they will have a visitors center and be able to allow people to visit randomly. Currently you can only visit via appointments made in advance. It was a very interesting tour even though because the sizes and amounts of signs they have you could not really properly view all of them completely. Still I would recommend it to anyone interested in some of the history of Vegas.
Once the tour was complete we headed back to the downtown area and visited some of the outlining casinos that we had not previously been to including Gold Spike which is a small place (no bj tables open here at the time), California which had a nice casino in which we played some bj and came out even, Main Street Station which was also a really nice casino but we didn't do as good on the tables here so we left before we lost too much. Overall between the 2 that we played at we pretty much broke even.
By now it was almost 3:00 and we decided on a late lunch at Magnolias inside the Four Queens. We had a 2 for 1 coupon and Dave got the Muffaletta sandwich and I got the Spicy Chicken sandwich but we shared and both were good and filling and with the coupon was only just over $14 which by the way was less than what we paid for our breakfast at dunks.
Next we decided to go check out the Plaza Casino and while it was really nice and recently renovated, our luck here was limited and we didn't stay for too long.
We headed back to the El Cortez but the tables were not being good to us here either so we grabbed a couple of free beers from the bar (you guessed it, coupons) and headed back tot he room to chill out, watch some hoops and plot our strategy for the night.
After a little down time we head out again at about 8:30 and think that we would never be heading out anywhere at home at 8:30 at night.....we're such old foggies, but not in Vegas! So first we head down to Binion's grab a couple seats at some bj tables and quickly learn that this is not the place to play tonight so we stop the bleeding, cash out and head over to Four Queens. Dave and I end up at the same table which is usually disastrous for us but we get to play for about an hour and half with a great dealer named Linda and while we cashed out a little short, we had a great time.
Next we went and looked in the Golden Nugget and decided to have a drink at the Rush lounge. After a couple of $9 Margaritas we decided to call it a night.

Day 4 Wednesday - February 1, 2012

First let me say that I forgot to mention yesterday that we went to the observation deck at the Eiffel Tower @ Paris casino. It was a bit daunting and I was a little freaked out but the view is really amazing if you don't look down.
Anyway, on to today. This is the day we transfer to downtown. For us, downtown is our preference because it is more relaxed, hangout, gamble a bit but on the strip it is go, go, go.....
A quick taxi ride to the El Cortez and even though it is early, we are able to get into our room right away. We are booked in the Cabana rooms which are across the street and even though the phrase "Cabana" might suggest something huge and relaxing it is a bit the opposite. The rooms are smaller but they are clean and cheap and we don't spend enough time in our rooms to need anything big.
We grab some lunch in the Cafe which is always gold and inexpensive but even more so today because I had a 2 for 1 meal coupon. I have to admit, Vegas is the only place where I actually use coupons on a regular basis.
After lunch we decide to stay at the EC and play some bj. We sit at different tables and we each are doing pretty good and are up a bit. Not sure if it is left over from yesterday's illness but I am pretty tired so I go to take a nap while Dave hangs out and plays some more. He finishes up about $50 up and keeps the chips for now as we'll be playing here again over the weekend.
For the evening we head to Fremont St. and basically just casino hop and try a bunch of different tables. We mostly did OK and I did best at Binion's where I started with $50 and cashed out at $125, not bad for just over an hours work. Of course later I didn't do so well at the Las Vegas Club and lost $60 within half an hour...UGH.
Overall we were only $25 down from our daily budget and we got to play all day so in my book that is a win.
Hopefully the rest of my entries will be a bit more exciting but again, we don't do much downtown so we'll see........

Day 2 Monday - January 30, 2012

We woke up at about 7:30 which I thought was a little early considering the time difference and how late we were up last night, but we got up, showered and headed down stairs for a small, quick breakfast at the hotel.
Today we went to some of the casinos that are just off the strip so we hopped on the shuttle from Harrah's to the Rio. We played some slots here and broke about even. I found a video black jack for $5 so I played that a while which helped us to break even.
From here we walked to the Palms. I had bought a coupon online to get $50 in slot play coupons for $25 to join their players club. We did get to play for a while but only came out with about $25 from that (which really means I lost $25 in the deal).
Then we walked over to the Gold Coast. Dave was over playing slots so we found some $5 black jack tables and settled in. Dave and I started off at the same table which is never good and today was no different. Dave had to go find another table and he was having a bad time right off the bat and stopped playing a little. Then he sat at the table next to me that had a "Lucky Lucky" side bet and between his 2 cards and the dealers up card he got a suited 6,7,8 which paid him $200 on a $2 bet. You should have seen how that lifted his spirits. While we don't normally mind if we lose what we budgeted, we like to be able to play for a while on what we have and it was looking pretty bleak for Dave since I still had at least another hour to play, so that hit kept him going and we cashed out ahead from here.
Shuttled back to Bill's, went up to out room, grabbed our coats and headed out for the night.
We went to Pink's and Dave had a chilli dog while I had the Planet Hollywood dog which was really a sausage with mushrooms, onions and cheese. It was good, messy and I'm sure, definitely not good for us.
We were a bit early for the Beatleshow so we stopped and had a drink before heading over there. Since we had a coupon for half off we got the VIP seating and were in the third row. The show lasted just over an hour and was pretty good. The guys sounded (and tried to look) just like the Beatles and they did a good job. The kid that played John was really good and his performance of Imagine was really well done.
After the show we decided to head to the Bellagio. We went into the Conservatory which was all decked out for Chinese New Year and it looked amazing. We then set off to find the $5 black jack tables that I read about. Well we only found 2 of them and both were wheelchair accessible tables which meant they only allowed 4 other players to play while keeping 2 slots open for wheelchairs. One table had an opening so Dave and I tag-teamed for a while but it was a continuous shuffle machine which I do not like so we cashed out $10 up and then went outside to see the fountain show which was great as usual.
The rest of the night we bounced between Bill's and O'Sheas and lucky with Dave's big winning earlier today, we ended the night slightly ahead of what we started with.

Day 3 Tuesday - January 31, 2012

This morning's breakfast was at Hash House A Go Go at the Imperial Palace. We have been before and liked their food so here we are again. Dave got a standard 2 eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast. I got the Grilled French Toast which included 3 of the biggest pieces of bread I have seen. I mean each piece was almost as big as my head!!!! We'll I ate my way through almost 2 pieces but after that I was done.
I had an appointment for a massage at the spa so Dave played some black jack while I did that. I was a little leery of how this would be as the IP isn't considered to be one of the best properties but the spa area was nice and clean and in the short time I was there, several people were in cleaning and such in the spa. The spa area has a steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, showers and all the amenities you could need. I received a 50 minute massage from Jarvis who helped with my sore leg muscles from all the walking we had been doing. He did a great job and a shower after the massage just made me feel so great and relaxed.
I didn't have much else planned for the afternoon so Dave and I tried a little bit more on some black jack tables but weren't getting anywhere with that so we went to Margaritaville and got some drinks and apps since we had plans for dinner later. We had the wings and the boiled shrimp and the shrimp were so good that we got more. We split another margarita since they were strong and it was still the afternoon. After this we decided that we head to the room and take a nap. Well, after lying down for a while, my stomach was upset and I was not feeling well at all. After getting up a few times to get sick, I was finally able to fall asleep but by then it was getting later and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make our reservation but Dave was able to call and change it to 8:00 and I was able to get a little sleep and I felt so much better after that. I can't say if it was food or booze but luckily I was able to get over it in just a couple of hours and it didn't ruin our night.
Our reservations were at Jaleo in the Cosmopolitan. As we were heading that way we got to see another Bellagio fountains show which was different from the previous night.  Jaleo is a Spanish tapas restaurant and they have several good looking dishes but we kept it reasonable for us and we got Oysters in gin and tonic, creamy ham croquettes, king crab with a fine diced mix of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers, spicy chorizio wrapped in potatoes and fried, tasty grilled shrimp and garlic and olive oil ice cream with grapefruit. YUM, it was all very good. Dave didn't care too much for the grapefruit but he liked all the rest.
Again we spent the rest of the night jumping around bj tables between a few places but tonight was clearly not our night and it was first day so far that we spent all of our budget and had none at the end of the night. Oh well, ce la vie!!!!!!
Tomorrow we are headed downtown for the rest of our stay and this where we hopefully spend more time playing bj since the tables are better and cheaper down there for us.