It was time for a solo trip, my first solo for 3 nights. I was staying 2 nights at South Point at the far southern end of town and the last night at Rio on a freebie from the "fine folks" at Harrah's. This is a condensed version of a normal trip report due to waiting a few weeks to try to write it!
February 27
Rented a car from Hertz Local for $29 a day and there was little traffic or construction delays all the way up. Left Orange county at 10am and was at South Point before 2pm with a stop for lunch. No one at the check-in line and was at my room in minutes. 19th floor with a view east towards Henderson. The rest of the day consisted of a lot of Video Poker (hit a Royal early on!) a property map run to the Stratosphere, Sahara, LV Hilton and Riviera with a room service dinner thrown in.
February 28
This day would be once again heavy on the VP. It started out decent, no big wins or losses but turned ugly by the end of the night. I filled in the rest of the day with lounging by the pool, a nice nap which caused me to miss a LVA member meet. For food, it was a breakfast buffet at South Point which was pretty good, and dinner at the coffee shop. I tried to go to the Italian Restaurant but it was a 45 minute wait. I finished off the evening with a very good cannoli from the deli in the SP sports book. This place is a little gem tucked away off the main floor.
March 1
The day again started out very bad on the VP front. I have not only given back any wins but also a nice chunk of my cash as well. So goes it. I finished my stay at South Point with a room service breakfast and some pictures of the pool. I spoke with a host and she took care of all of my room charges plus the 1 night I was originally charged for.
Then it was over to the Rio to check in there. I was going to try to enjoy one last trip with a Diamond card before it expires. There was no wait at the Diamond check-in and I had a larger than usual room on the 27 floor of the newer tower facing north with a great strip view. I wanted to go to the Diamond lounge for a quick snack but it wasn't open yet. I said I was going to TRY to enjoy my Diamond card. Instead I just hit the coffee stand for a cup o' joe and some sort of pastry. I then went over to the strip for another map run hitting Monte Carlo, NYNY, MGM, the Trop and Excalibur.
After a Rio Buffet for dinner, which is still great as far as I am concerned, I drove out to Red Rock for a map and to play some free play I had on my card. On the way back to Rio, I stopped at the Palms for some VP which once again sucked money out of my wallet at an alarming pace. It was still kind of early but I went back to the Rio and ended up playing Keno for almost 3 hours! I went on a nice run and cashed out up over a hundred bucks. That never happens on Keno.
March 2
I woke up and went over to the Palms for one last run at the VP machines. It wasn't as bad as previous sessions but still a loser none the less. Back to the room to pack up and get another room service breakfast and check out. There was a little more traffic on the way home but no major problems and I did it in under 4 hours with no stops. Another trip sadly comes to an end...
Some Random Musings...
The South Point was pretty nice overall. The rooms are large and the TV was very nice. The furnishings are a bit Spartan but I don't really need those sort of things. The casino has a great selection of games and there is a decent array of food choices. There was a horse show going on while I was there, so the place was filled with cowboys. Not the accountant schmuck who wears his boots on the weekend, real cowboys with spurs and everything! It was an interesting crowd, a very polite group of people.
The Rio hotel itself is still great. The rooms are large, the restaurants are good and the location is great if you have a car. It is just the casino and its ownership that sucks. Here's to hoping that it gets sold to pay down all the debt Harrah's is taking on and someone will make the casino halfway decent again.
3 days was a little long for a solo trip. I actually considered skipping Rio and going home a day early, which has never happened before. Too much room service dining. I like to go out when I'm in Vegas and its just not that enticing doing it alone.
