Not having been to our favorite city since July, I was starting to get the twitch that comes from Vegas withdrawal. Since Lisa didn't want to leave our puppy home alone just yet, it meant that I was going to get a fix, it was going to be solo. Wanting to stay somewhere different, I looked around for room deals. I was planning on a Saturday - Monday trip, so deals were limited. I also decided late to make this trip so that further reduced my choices. I ended up at the Orleans for a $139 for the 2 nights. My truck is starting to get a little long in the tooth so with a deal through my credit card company, I was able to get a full size (Grand AM) for $23.99 a day through the local Hertz and not put the miles on my truck.
November 6
I got a later start that I had originally planned and didn't get on the road until 6PM. It turns out, even on a Saturday, there is traffic on the 91 towards Riverside. There was several miles of bumper to bumper traffic that just absolutely killed my travel time. After finally making it up the mountain, the road opened up pretty well. There was very little traffic the rest of the way until making it into Las Vegas. It was after 10PM and the 15 was stopped from the beltway all the way through the strip. I didn't end up at the Orleans until almost 11PM. I never thought the trip would take nearly 5 hours on a Saturday night.
I quickly dropped my car at valet and proceeded to check-in with no wait. They were out of smoking rooms so I was given a non-smoking room in the new tower that was less than a week old. Unfortunately, their room key system was down and for the rest of the night, I would need someone to open my room for me. It wasn't that big of a deal as they were pretty fast about it. I unpacked relaxed for a few minutes before headed down to the casino. I checked out a few machines and found all of their 3/5 play Bonus Poker games were short pay crapola. They have a bank of full pay Multi-Strike machines but apparently these are very popular as they were all full and there was a wait! I played a little bit of single line poker then went to the coffee shop for some food. I had a breakfast sandwich that was pretty good and the service was fast. After eating, I went back over to the Multi-Strike machines, which now had a open seat. After playing MS a few times, I don't really think I care for it. For the amount of times that you make it to the 3rd or 4th level, you crap out far too often on the first line. I did get a bit of play for my money but soon enough my money was gone. I decided to just to call it a night at that point and went back to the room.
November 7
I woke up fairly early so I had some time to go over to the Palms for an early round of gambling before the Jets kicked off at 10AM. The Palms is definitely the VP mecca. Virtually every full pay game you could possibly imagine. I sat down at a 5 play machine and proceeded to make several large donations to the Maloof organization. After finally giving up, I headed back to the Orleans to catch the game. Not before violating my cardinal rule of sports betting and placing a bet for the Jets to win.
I got back to the Orleans with enough time to change rooms over to a smoking room. There was no problem and I quickly ran up to the old room, grabbed my stuff and went to the new room only to find out that room key doesn't work. I drag all my stuff back down to the front desk and they give me new keys. I run back up to the room as it is now kick off time and once again the keys don't work. I try to get a housekeeper to let me in but no dice, she suggests I call downstairs. Apparently they are still having all sort of problems with the key system and they will get someone to come up. After waiting for 10 or 15 minutes, someone arrives and lets me in. I have missed the first 10 minutes of the game! After 3 or 4 more attempts and more than an hour later, the maintenance guy eventually gets a working set of keys for me.
After watching the Jets lose to a weak Buffalo team just because I bet on them, I decide to head over to the strip to have lunch and pick up some property maps. I had planned on a big map excursion during this trip but unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard. I drove over to NY-NY and parked valet then went up to Nathan's Hot Dogs for some lunch, as I do on every trip to Vegas. It is one of the things I miss most about New York. After lunch, I walked over the Strip to MGM. After walking all the way to the check-in desk, I find out they are out of maps. I then proceed to make the circuit around the intersection. Next it was over to the Tropicana, then to Excalibur and back to NY-NY. After running this gauntlet, I come to realize that walkovers over the Strip apparently weren't designed with rain in mind. There was a 6 inch deep puddle in front of the entrance to MGM and rest of them weren't much better.
I thought about driving down towards Caesar's and Bellagio for a few more maps but just decided to go take a nap instead! I snoozed for a few hours then headed back over to the Palms to donate more money to them. I wasn't having terrible luck at the VP machines but I just couldn't hit anything decent to keep me playing. After taking a little more of a beating, I used my points for a dinner buffet. The Palms buffet is decent but certainly nothing spectacular. It was definitely worth the price of zero.
While eating, I pondered what to do next. It was raining fairly decently outside so I didn't want to drive much. I had heard they had made changes to the VP inventory at the Stardust and since I had only recently established myself there, I wanted to make sure the bank of 3/5 plays were still intact. Much to my delight, they still were. I decided to give them a little bit of play while I was there. I fed in a hundred and almost blew through it pretty quick when the machine started hitting. I was getting dealt full houses and straights and decent amount of regular quads then was dealt 3 Aces and pulling the 4th on 2 hand for a nice $200+ payout. After several fun filled hours, I eventually cashed out up a few hundred to ease my earlier pain at the Palms. While I am waiting for my hand pay, I feed in a few bucks into a nearby Keno machine. Keno is Lisa's favorite game so I did it in her honor. I hit a couple of small wins so I keep playing a little bit after I get my hand pay. Not too long in, I hit 4 out of 4 for $100. I decide to play a little longer and just as I am about to cash out, I hit another 4/4. Sweet! Not even really thinking about it, I hit deal again and on the very next game, with the same exact numbers, 4 out of 4 again! Not too shabby for a game I am always warning Lisa about! After cashing out my fine run at the Keno machine, I call it a night and head back over to the Orleans.
November 8
Since I am planning on leaving pretty early, I set the alarm to wake me up early once again. I would like to be on the road by 10AM so I can be home before rush hours starts in the LA area. I head over to the Stardust for one last run at the VP machine. Sadly, I am unable to recreate the magic of the previous evening but still manage to get quite a few hours of play without giving back too much more. I then get my cash back from the slot club booth as well as a comp for the breakfast buffet. The SD buffet is also nothing special but for breakfast they have a good selection and it is more than filling. I quickly run back to the Orleans to pack up and hit the road. I was unable to make the 10AM goal but was on my way by 11. There is virtually no traffic the whole way and aside from the sudden, massive nosebleed just before Primm, there weren't any problems. I pulled into the driveway at 2:45. It was a nice little solo trip although they are never long enough. I didn't feel as sad as I usually do when I leave knowing we will be back in 6 weeks.
Some Random Musings...
I was hoping that the new tower at the Orleans would be open so I could say that I stayed in it but honestly, I didn't even really notice the difference between the new and old rooms. I do like the layout of the rooms at the Orleans, with the sitting area and a cool little window that actually opens in the bathroom. Its nice to have a couch to sit on instead of just the bed. The problem with the room keys was a bit of a pain in the butt but nothing that was a vacation killer. The rain was an interesting addition to the trip. The Vegas valley does NOT handle it well as there was flooding everywhere. Mix that with some incredibly stupid people and it can be a lethal combination. I was funny watching people on the news doing the dumbest things then needing to be rescued! The countdown is now on for the annual pre-Xmas trip in December.
