After having a great trip a few weeks back with Lisa and winning a few bucks, I headed back to town with my Mom this time. It was quickie mission, only a day and half long. She got an offer from Rio for a free room for her and another for a friend so we took them up on it.
July 6
I picked up Mom at her house and we were on the road by 9AM. We wanted to get an early start to avoid as much of the desert heat as possible. We made decent time all the way to Barstow, where we stopped for breakfast at the Famous Quigley's Restaurant. We quickly scarfed our food and got back on the road. Not far past Baker, there was an accident on the other side of the road that slowed us down for about 10 minutes but that was nothing compared to the south bound side. It was stopped from Primm all the way through the mountains. It had to be at least 30 or 40 miles! Anyone who drives back to So Cal on any Sunday morning is insane but to try it during a long weekend is just suicide! We pulled into the Rio a little after 1PM.
Check-in was pretty quick and we were given rooms in the older, Ipanema Tower. The room was a standard Rio room but lacked the window to the shower! Even though it was only on the 4th floor, I had a nice view of the Palms. After unpacking and relaxing for a while, we met downstairs. Although I am not longer a big Rio fan and it gets a fair share of abuse for the quality of the casino, there are quite a few variations of 8/5 Bonus Poker there, which is my game of choice. They have a bank that is progressive, which is where most of my play took place. We both played for about an hour then went over to Toscano's Deli for a snack. One thing that Rio does do exceptionally well is desserts. After downing a quick bite, we wandered around to check out the changes that have taken place there recently. This is where we got our first experience with the "Bevertainers!" We were hardly impressed. They had an extremely nice group of waitresses that they unceremoniously canned and their replacements are nothing stunning. If you are going to fire loyal employees, at least replace them with top notch talent! Afterwards, we drove over to the Aladdin because Mom hasn't seen it and who knows how long it will last. No wonder they are broke. It took us almost 20 minutes to make the left off the strip on to Harmon and once you get in there, it is utterly confusing. We walked around, caught the indoor thunder storm then headed back to the Rio. We both retired to our rooms to get ready to go downtown. We headed over to the Main Street Station because I have wanted to try their buffet for quite a while. We weren't quite yet hungry so we played for a little while before hitting the buffet. It was as good as billed. There was an excellent variety and everything was quite good. The dessert bar could have been a bit better but all in all, an excellent choice when downtown. We then headed over to the Palms to use some coupons and play a little more. I gave the $10 free play coupon to Mom and I used the 3x points one. The bank of progressive FPDW was pretty much empty, which was surprising. I got a decent amount of play but eventually lost my initial investment. Mom found a nickel slot that was treating her well and she cashed out a winner, never even using her own money. It was already getting late so we headed back to the Rio. We both played for a little while, then called it an evening.
July 7
Mom and I went down to Toscano's for breakfast then played a little short pay (of course!) Spin Poker. It a great game for a change of pace to regular VP. I cash out up $15 on a $5 investment! Afterwards, we went over to the Stardust for their daily slot tournament but when we got there, they told us they no longer have it. Bummed about the slot tourny, we swung over to the Worlds Largest Gift Shop for the obligatory stop to pick us some trinkets. It was then back to Rio for a little more gambling. I knew it was going to be a late night so I wanted to get a little sleep so we both went back to our rooms for a little while. After waking and showering, we went back downtown because we saw that Main St. Station has a daily slot tournament. We were shooting for the last round at 3:00 so if one of got lucky, we would only have to wait until 4 for the finals. We hit traffic and got there a 3:05 and missed it! Damn! Mom really wanted to do a tournament this trip and we got rebuffed on both attempts but in the end, I think I was more disappointed than she was about it. We went back to the Rio for once last trip to the casino. I sat down at the same bank of Prog 8/5 I had been playing on my machine was hitting quads at a decent clip. After an hour and a half or so and 5 quads including 4 Aces, I cashed out up a nice amount. It almost covered the losses for the entire trip. After cashing out, we packed up our things and left Rio. We stopped at Luxor on the way out of town for dinner at Nathan's Hot Dogs. This is another must do for me on each trip to Vegas. They are the best Dogs around and they don't have any in California, unfortunately. We were on the road by 6:30 and after dropping off Mom, I was home by 11PM.
Some Random Musings...
It was a fun trip to go with just Mom and myself. We had a great time but was of course, too short! My dislike for the Harrah's Corp and their policies aside, the Rio is still a great place to stay. They have a bewildering amount of restaurants, the rooms are great (even without the mini window!) and it location is great when you have a car. The new Total Gold program is essentially the old Total Gold program with countdown on the machine. They are still tight with the food comps. $3330 = $10 in food but they don't charge room offers against your account anymore. I did find it humorous that a round a golf at Rio Secco costs over $60k a day in play. Are they high??? It remains to be seen what the bounce back cash amounts to. While the changes to the slot club certainly wouldn't make me consider making Rio my primary casino again, as long as they have my game of choice and are giving up free rooms, it certainly a place to keep in the rotation despite the owners.
