Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: October 20, 2009 to October 26, 2009 Hotel Stayed At: ORLEANS & MONTE CARLO Report by: KTINCA <> From: CALIFORNIA

Trip Report October 2009 Journey To The Land Of Old Folks

My Grandpa plays with me. When all the other old people stand around and talk, my Grandpa plays with me. When we go see my brothers or cousins play sports all the other old people sit and watch, but my Grandpa plays with me. We play on the jungle gym, go up the monkey bars, and down the slides. Sometimes Grandpa barely fits, but he plays with me. Sometimes we even go climb up a tree.

My Grandpa plays with me, but not this week. This week Grandma and Grandpa went to Las Vegas to meet other old people. I don’t know why they went to Las Vegas. Old people mostly just stand around and talk. We could have a lot more fun here.

I don’t know why Grandpa goes to Las Vegas, maybe he can splain it to you.

I’ll try Jon.

TUESDAY OCT. 20TH
Any time we can combine one of our Las Vegas trips with a new or exciting event we take advantage of the opportunity. This was one of those times. We were attending our first ever AARP convention. This trip was planned more than 6 months in advance, and we were really looking forward to it.

Our flight arrived a little before 11am, and was around 2/3rds full. We had passes A28 & A29. I mention this because we didn’t use early check-in. We did use it for our return flight, which was sold out, for convenience sake and that resulted in A22 & A23. So you can draw your own conclusions about the effectiveness.

Both airports were pretty quiet. But there was a cab line, unlike our previous 2 trips this year, which took about 10 minutes. We took this as a good sign.

By 11:30 we were checking in at Orleans. There was a short line, but none at Invited Guests. We were staying 3 nights on 2 separate offers. My wife had 2 nights comped, and then I had an offer for 1 free night. The desk clerk kindly arranged to put them together, and found a room that met my request: 21st floor, renovated room, no connecting door, and as far down the hall as possible. Room 2196 was ready.

We know what we are going to get at Orleans. A comfortable room, although not fancy. Our view from the room was the same as last trip; The Rio, Palms, Gold Coast and part of the strip. The only difference was that the bathroom window did not have a strip view this time. It doesn’t really matter to me, as I take my glasses off to shower and can’t really see a thing without them anyway.
The only small complaint I have with Orleans is that the last 3 times I have stayed there the fridge has been really old and noisy. Hopefully they will get some new ones soon.

As usual, we make no plans for the first day of our trip. The first thing I have to do is stop by the business center to drop off a letter. As we pass the theatre box office, we see a sign for a free show this evening. A lady with a table full of pictures tries to convince us to come to the show. It’s for a new LV entertainer named Perry Danos. According to her, part of Perry’s arrangement with Orleans called for 2 shows, free to hotel guests, before his run starts. In reality, these were preview performances for the press, and to be filmed and used for promotions. Why not? Free is free, and we have no plans. So we pick up tickets at the box office.

We have lunch at the café then my wife takes a short nap, and we piddle away our day. I check out the casino, but nothing has really changed since August. One note, my wife and I both played the Reel Em In machines, and even though I lost $20, and she played $40 for 30 minutes, there was not one common fishing trip the whole time. This was very different from her last trip.

Perry Danos. It isn’t often that we get to see a new performer in Las Vegas. Who knows, maybe he’ll be the next great LV entertainer. He’s certainly trying. The production was excellent, with a nice 8-piece band and 2 decent backup singers. You can tell that he has probably studied all those before him and is trying to maintain the tradition. My guess is that he’s trying to become the next Bobby Darrin.
He did a nice little tribute to Bobby Darrin, Bobby Vinton, Frank & Dean. And you certainly have to admire anyone who has the guts to take on Jackie Wilson with Lonely Teardrops. Jackie has nothing to worry about, but it was an interesting performance.
We did enjoy the show. And who knows maybe one day we’ll be able to say “We remember him when”.

After the show we didn’t want a heavy meal, so we went to Big Al’s Oyster Bar. We each had a bowl of chowder, and we shared an order of crab cakes. Chowder was good as usual, but we weren’t crazy about the crab cakes. But it was a nice light meal, and reasonable, with 2 Iced Teas the total cost was $31.

Afterwards we played a little video poker and then my wife wanted to try the Wizard of Oz machines again. So I sat down to keep her company, and I very quickly had a couple of nice visits from Glinda, and a Flying Monkey bonus of almost 6000 credits playing only one coin per line. Not being a slot player, it was then very easy for me to stop with my $50 profit.

So I ended the first day with a $30 profit on VP, and another $30 on slots.

WEDNESDAY OCT. 21ST
This was one of our 2 days to rest this trip, and we took advantage of it. We lounged around in the morning, and around 10:30 we took the shuttle to the strip. I dropped my wife off at Qua for her massage, and headed over to Bellagio. She’ll usually spend 3-4 hours at a nice spa, so this gives me the chance to play some poker.

Weekday afternoons my choice of games is somewhat limited, but after a wait I was able to get a seat in a $4-$8 game. It was pretty a typical group for Bellagio with a few toursists, but mostly locals that were fairly decent players. There was one new player, who played way to many hands, but was getting lucky enough not to get hurt. And he did keep things interesting.

I did have one interesting hand. I played pocket Jacks and then flopped the other two. No one made anything to justify any large action, but I did get a couple of callers. And of course Bellagio doesn’t have any high-hand bonuses.

Poker is my way to relax. My wife rejuvenates by lounging at a spa, and this is where I find my peace and quiet. I ended up playing 3-4 hours and making a profit of $111.

I pick her up at Caesars, and we walk over to TI to pick up our show tickets for Friday night. Then we head over to the Sands Convention Center to register and familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. There are already free shuttles that go to all the convention host hotels, so we take one to Bally’s. It was nice to know that there is another transportation option, and this way we could take the shuttle back to Orleans.

After a little rest we took the shuttle to Gold Coast for the evening. Most trips we spend one night at Gold Coast, enjoying the better gambling and dinner at the Cortez Room. Dinner at the Cortez Room was up to it’s usual standard, although it was certainly less crowded than normal, a sign of the times no doubt.
My wife had her usual Prime Rib, and this time I joined her. In August, when we were there last, she didn’t think to ask for fresh horseradish with her meal and the waiter didn’t suggest it. So she couldn’t figure out why her meal seemed different than usual. Then at the very end, when the table next to us was brought horseradish she realized why. She was determined that this would not happen again, lol. So remember, if you have Prime Rib at the Cortez Room you must now request the fresh horseradish, or they will only bring the horseradish sauce.
The Cortez Room is still one of the best values in town. 2 Iced Teas $5, 2 Queen Prime Rib $28, 1 side fresh asparagus $5, total with tax $41.08.

We went to play some Pai Gow Poker, but to our surprise all of the tables were $10. Usually they have at least two $5 tables. It made no sense. $10 tables at Gold Coast and $5 tables at Orleans! So we played video poker instead.

This visit I was on a mission. I have read a number of times in the last year that Gold Coast still had a few 9/6 JOB machines on the floor, but I had never been able to find them. The only 9/6 machines I could find were those at the center bar. Earlier in the year I read they were near the Keno Lounge. And then later I read they were near the sports book. But I could never find them.
I checked all the machines, and again I couldn’t find any. Then my DW said “Check THESE machines.” I said “No those are Deuces Wild machines.” But I checked anyway.

EUREKA! 9/6 JOB. It never occurred to me to look for JOB on a deuces machine, lol. And as a reward the machine granted me three 4OAK’s in an hour and a $62 profit.

Then it was over to the WOZ machines so my wife could have some fun. I put in my $20, and after a short time get a $55 Flying Monkey Bonus, and cash out ahead $63. Absolutely amazing! Maybe I should quit fooling around with poker and become a professional slot player.
We really do enjoy our evenings at Gold Coast.

Thursday Oct. 22nd
The alarm went off at 7am. The alarm woke us at 7am. We woke to the alarm at 7am.
No matter how I write that sentence, it just doesn’t seem right. The whole concept of even having an alarm clock in Las Vegas is just totally foreign to me.

But we wanted to make sure that we were in time for the opening show of the convention, and knew it would be a mob scene. And we were right. The “line” to get in the convention theatre was 15 people wide and wound around the 2nd floor. It literally took almost 20 minutes to get everyone seated after the doors opened.

This was one of the shows I really wanted to see, and turned out to be one of the highlights of the convention for me. After a few welcoming speeches, there was an hour-long discussion on “The Golden Age of Television”. The panel members were John Amos, George Takei, Penny Marshall and Garry Marshall. The moderator was Denise Richardson. It was very insightful and full of interesting stories and memories.

The rest of the day, and also Friday & Saturday, there were numerous overlapping sessions and features. So we had to plan in advance to make sure we saw those that we found most interesting.

Our next feature was a talk by Doris Roberts. She was very funny, regaling us with stories from her many years in show business, and the various people she knew.

After that we watched a movie hosted by Martin Landau who played the lead, and this was followed by a question and answer session. The name of the movie is “Lovely, Still” and it co-stars Ellen Burstyn. It was fantastic! The movie has not been released yet, and is only playing at Film Festivals right now. But when it comes out, you have to see this movie. No shooting or special effects, just a movie for mature adults. We will pay to see it again.

Our final session of the day was an appearance by Magic Johnson, and of course this was quite crowded. He spoke of basketball and business in the inner cities. He is a very outgoing individual, and spent a lot of time talking with the audience and posing for pictures during his talk and Q&A period. And he was a big hit.

Magic finished at 6pm and we had concert tickets for 7:30. With the exception of a muffin with coffee before we left in the morning, we hadn’t eaten all day. We considered the food court, but decided to try and see if we could squeeze in Grand Lux. Good decision, after a 15-20 minute wait we just had enough time to rush through a meal. And I finally got to try the Short Rib & Grilled Cheese Sandwich that others have raved about. I was a little surprised because I was expecting mostly grilled cheese with a little meat, and it’s actually mostly meat with a little cheese. But it was still good and I do recommend it.

The concert tonight was Gloria Estefan, and when we purchased the tickets months in advance we thought this was a strange choice for AARP. It was interesting to say the least. Most of the attendees were over 60, and I’m pretty sure many people bought tickets that weren’t probably familiar with her music. And the results were decidedly mixed. During the show there was a pretty steady stream leaving the theatre. But there were also quite a few people standing around the stage cheering and jumping around, and even some dancing in the aisles.
Gloria’s show is very high energy, and as far as I could tell she put on a good performance. I was not a fan of her music before the show, and this didn’t do anything to change that. But it was a fun evening.

It was 10pm by the time we got back to our hotel. And after all the walking and the long day, we truly felt like old folks who belonged in AARP. So we grabbed coffee and dessert and headed up to the room to plan the next day’s adventure.

For those keeping score, no gambling at all today.

Friday Oct. 23rd
My wife and I had different agendas this morning. She was going to the convention to attend a few sessions that didn’t interest me, and I was going to make our hotel switch. We had breakfast again at the café. We enjoy the Orleans Café as an economical coffee shop, and think it’s a very good value.

She then left for her 9:30 session, which was a panel discussion with Peter Greenberg, Martina Navratilova and Gail Sheehy. She was especially interested in Gail Sheehy, as she had read a number of her books. After that she attended a session with Dr. Susan Love, and then spent some time visiting the different exhibits.

In the meantime, I gave Orleans a little VP play. I felt kind of bad that we gave them hardly any play at all while we were there on a comp. Of course I played the best machines I could find, the one bank of four 9/5 JOB machines on the floor. These machines are the 2nd bank heading down the aisle towards the slot tournament section and the WOZ machines to the right of the poker room. Nothing exciting, and I donated $17.

I took the shuttle to the strip and walked to Monte Carlo, getting there around 10:30am. We were looking forward to staying at Monte Carlo again. It used to be our favorite hotel in that price range, but we hadn’t been there since construction began next door in 2006.

I knew that room choice might be limited checking in on Friday morning of a busy weekend, but I didn’t want to wait until later. There weren’t many in line at registration, so I approached a clerk who was obviously new and had a manager assisting her. I introduced myself, gave her my ID and a $20 tip, explaining that when it came to room choice I was kind of a PIA, and I appreciated her help. I also requested a quiet non-smoking room, on the south end of the hotel, preferably an upper floor, without a connecting door. After looking a few minutes the supervisor gently pushed her aside and started checking for options. “We have a couple of rooms ready, but they have pool views and might not be quiet enough for you. Let me find something else. There’s one on the 16th floor that’s being cleaned now, let me see if there’s anything a little higher. We have a room on the 23rd floor ready if you don’t mind two queen beds?” “That will be all right, Thank you.” “I see you require a fridge, let me call and have one sent up.”

Room 23308. It was in the back of the building with a mountain view, which is fine with us. We don’t stay in rooms with 2 beds very often, and the king room probably has a sofa or at least a chair, which this room didn’t. It also only had one nightstand in between the 2 beds, instead of one on each side. This meant less light in the room. It had an older small TV and armoire. There wasn’t anything wrong with the room, but it was a step down from Orleans IMO.

I waited about 10 minutes for the fridge but it hadn’t arrived, so I left to shuttle back to Orleans and pick up our bags. I now have 3 rolling bags plus a bag full of convention junk, so I need some help. So I call the bell desk. But it’s now almost 11:30 on Friday and of course they are busy. So I wait almost 20 minutes and have to call again. Yes, I’m on the list and someone should be on the way up. Finally after over ½ hour a bellman comes, and it’s another 15 minutes until the bags are in a cab. Good thing I wasn’t rushing to the airport. Unfortunately, another case of not having enough employees to do the job, a fact of life in today’s Las Vegas. I will have to remember this about Orleans.

Get the bags up to the room and find there’s no fridge. So now I have to make another call, and wait another 15 minutes for the fridge. I’m not overly impressed with Monte Carlo at this moment. Especially because I want to be at the Convention Center at 2pm for the only session that interests me all day. I call my wife and tell her to go in and get seats and I will join her as fast as I can. Fortunately I get a good cab driver one that knows the quickest off-strip route and earns $20 on a $12 fare, so I make it right on time.

The session sponsored by Michelin (who also gave us the 2009 Michelin Las Vegas guide) was a conversation with Chef Anthony Amoroso, executive chef for Michael Mina in Las Vegas and newly appointed chef at Seablue in Atlantic City. My wife and I are not huge foodies but this did interest us, and it was different hearing things from his perspective. He’s not really a very refined speaker, especially compared to some of the other celebrities we saw, but the Q&A went well.

After his speech it was announced that 9 autographed copies of Michael Mina’s cook- book were being given away to those that had a special marking in their Michelin Guide. My wife had #3, so she was a winner! So we met Chef Amoroso afterwards and he also autographed her copy.

There wasn’t anything else that we really wanted to see this afternoon, so we spent some time wandering the exhibit hall, picking up a few more pins and more assorted junk.
Around 4:30 we headed out to catch a cab. There were only four people in front of us, but no cabs.

While we are waiting in line my wife checks her phone for messages. She has a message from TI that our 9pm show starring LeAnn Rimes has been cancelled. I don’t know how many shows I’ve seen in Las Vegas, just that the word hundred is included. But this is the first time I can recall having one cancelled the day of the show. I guess you could say I was due, but it still left us with a free night. And in all honesty, we still had 3 shows in 6 nights this trip, so we weren’t all that disappointed.

In front of us in the cab line was Gail Sheehy. So my wife thanked her for her presentation and a brief conversation took place. She was staying at Wynn and waiting for a cab. I tried to explain that she could really walk to Wynn. But she had heard that it was complicated and she would have to cross a busy street. I mentioned that there was an overhead walkway, but others disagreed so I didn’t push it. So she ended up waiting over ½ an hour to take a cab pretty much across the street.

Why did we all have to wait over 30 minutes for a cab? Because none of them stopped at the convention center between 4:30 and a little after 5pm. The excuses: Shift change, concert at Thomas Mack, lunchtime. Did it really matter?
So after 15 minutes or so of seeing cabs drive by and none of them stopping, my wife took out her phone and started calling numbers on the side of the cabs. Telling the dispatchers that we had a line of more than 50 people and needed some cabs. Did it really help? Maybe not, but the people in line around us were impressed that someone was at least trying to do something, lol.

We had no dinner plans so we decided to try the Pub. Of course the last time we were there it was still the Brewpub. If anything it now has more TV screens and is more of a sportsbar, although they do have live entertainment later at night. We both had burgers, and I had a margarita and my wife had one of the adult milkshakes called The Wake Up Call, made with Bailey’s, Kahlua, and a chocolate liqueur. She absolutely loved it. And we both really liked the sweet potato fries. Total cost $56 and perfect for a Friday night.

I now had a chance to check out the Monte Carlo casino. OMG what a disappointment! All of the JOB is 7/5 making them unplayable. There are 2 Pai Gow Poker tables ($10) and for some reason they only have 5 seats each. They don’t have WOZ, or any of my wife’s favorite slot machines. There’s nothing for us to play here!
So we sit down at a penny WOF and rest for around 20 minutes, and naturally I end up winning $32, and we call it a night.

That’s it: Total gambling for the day, 1 slot machine +$32.

One other comment about Monte Carlo: They must have the smallest pillows in Las Vegas, they’re literally half the size of normal pillows. But we still manage to sleep.

Saturday Oct. 24th
Breakfast this morning at the Café Monte Carlo. This is very nice, a vast improvement over the previous coffee shop which used to scream out CHEAP. Nicely decorated, with better menu selections, and a pleasing place for breakfast. Of course it is a little more expensive. I had a Belgian waffle and bacon and she had ham & eggs (excellent) and with coffee the check was $30.59. But unlike the cheaper coffee shop, this was worth the price. I would rank it just below Raffles as a coffee shop.

The session this morning was a conversation between Maya Angelou and Norman Lear. Norman Lear was the lifetime honoree this year, and I looked forward to this with great anticipation. My wife had seen Maya Angelou previously and realized that she was having some health problems, but she managed to hold up her end of the conversation. And Norman Lear was everything I expected, full of memories from a very influential and often controversial career.

Next we attended a talk by Gail Sheehy, on her experiences and on the somewhat new and limited option of Palliative Care.

From there we rushed to one of the more popular features of the day “Dancing With The Stars.” The performers for this were 2 celebrities who had participated, Steve Guttenberg and Jane Seymour, and 2 of the professional dancers (who happen to be married) Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunskaya. Because we do not watch the show we didn’t know the dancers, but Jonathan was very charming and acted as MC doing a very good job. He also danced with Jane and later with Anna.

Of course we knew Steve, and as you would expect his monologue segment was very funny. And he did a credible job dancing with Anna.

Jane is absolutely beautiful it’s hard to believe she is my age (58). And please note I didn’t say “for her age.” Obviously, she’s taken a lot batter care of herself than I have. Of course she had a lot more to start with. In my defense, it appears that drugs and alcohol weren’t the preservatives we thought they were in the 60’s & 70’s.
I’m not qualified to judge the quality of the dancing, but we found many of the behind the scenes insights interesting. For instance; the dancers rehearse to recorded music, which is chosen for them, but the first time they actually hear it live (with different pace and timing) is when they’re on stage competing.
All of the participants were personable and the audience really loved the performances.

The next session was in less than an hour in the same hall, so we just moved to better seats and waited. We weren’t the only ones with the same idea as the area remained ¼ full and all the best seats were taken before anyone else came by 30 minutes later.

Conversations ensued, and we shared some of our Las Vegas information with others and they told us of other AARP conventions. Including one older couple sitting a couple of rows in front of us, who told us of their meeting at one of these conventions 9 years ago, Of course my wife thought this was incredibly cute.

The last session of the convention was a talk by Al Roker. I don’t watch the Today show but my wife does while getting ready in the morning. But of course I knew who he was, and frankly wasn’t expecting much. But I was pleasantly surprised. He was really quite funny. He gave a talk about his family and his weight loss for about 30 minutes. Then he took a few questions but cut this short for some reason. So we got out a little before 5pm.

Our concert wasn’t until 7:30, so I figured we had time to enjoy a real dinner. Instead of Grand Lux I thought we would try Bouchon. Even though it was a busy Saturday night I was hoping we were early enough to sneak in without a reservation. It worked out perfect, as they filled up quickly after 6pm.

It was a beautiful early evening and we dined outside by the fountain. During dinner we got to see the lights go on, and one wedding party come by for pictures. It was a beautiful setting. Service was very good and we had just enough time for our meal. My wife started with the Onion Soup, and I had the special salad of the evening, with bacon & bacon vinaigrette that was incredible. She had the fresh Halibut and I had the Duck Breast. I was shocked at the size of my portion, but of course managed to finish. Overall it was a very nice experience. Frisee (salad) $15, Onion Soup $9.75, Duck Breast $34.50, Halibut $45, 2 Iced Tea $7, 2 Coffee $7.90. Total with tax $128.80.

Tonight’s concert was Faith Hill. While I like some of her music, I wasn’t what you would call a fan. And I wasn’t sure I was up to 90 minutes, but she did put on a good show. The audience was a lot more familiar and appreciative of her music than Gloria’s, and no one left this concert early.

I would be interested in knowing who’s idea it was for Faith to release “Piece of My Heart” as a single. For me this was almost sacrilegious. I don’t think any song in my generation was more closely associated with one performer, and I don’t recall anyone else ever making the attempt. But I have to admit she did a fantastic job with it at the concert, and the crowd was really appreciative. She was a big hit, and even though I really went to this concert for my wife, I’m glad we didn’t miss it.

Back to the hotel, and here is where we probably would have played VP or maybe a slot machine for an hour. But because of the bad paytables and lack of a WOZ machine, we called it a night.
Another day with no gambling at all.

Sunday October 25th
Our last full day, and it was a planned day of rest. We slept in late and then had a leisurely breakfast at the Café. We had the same waitress and the same nice experience.

My wife then went to spend the afternoon at the pool in the sun. It wasn’t really warm enough to swim, maybe the mid-70s and there was a breeze, but there were others enjoying the sun. But this wasn’t the same Monte Carlo pool we were used to. It was a smaller area, with too many chairs too close together. The music is too loud, and being surrounded by City Center there isn’t much sun. But she did spend a few hours there.

I walked over to Bellagio for some poker and to watch some of the football games. And after a wait I was able to get a seat in a new $4-$8 game. I didn’t really get much to play, so I mostly watched the football games. I did lose one of those hands that you remember, when I was dealt pocket Jacks and a player called two raises to draw to a small inside straight and drew it on the river. I was behind most of the game but won a nice pot when I played 10’s, flopped a set and got some decent action. I ended up playing 3 hours, watched the afternoon games and making a small profit of $42. As I mentioned this is my idea of a relaxing afternoon.

My wife found an un-cashed voucher from Orleans in her purse, so we headed there for the evening. She still hasn’t been to Prime Rib Loft, but we really didn’t feel like anything that heavy so we decided to go to Don Miguels instead. With the exception of the occasional lunch at Border Grill when we stay at Mandalay Bay we never eat Mexican food in Las Vegas. Where we live 1/3 of all the eating establishments are Mexican, which matches our population, so we have plenty of choices at home, and we avail ourselves frequently. So we really haven’t been to any of the Mexican restaurants in the hotels.
Don Miguels has always been highly thought of on the LV boards so we thought we would give it a try. In all honesty we weren’t that impressed. She had chicken enchiladas and I had Tequila shrimp. They weren’t anything special. The margarita for only $4.25 (not bad for Las Vegas) was all right, but again nothing special. We won’t rush back. But remember we don’t really have anything to compare it with in Las Vegas, so maybe it deserves the praise it gets in the LV forums.

We finally had a chance to play a little. So we played some VP, I hit a couple of 4OAKS and made a profit. Then we went to a Pai Gow Poker table and got blasted, along with everyone else at the table. You could see it happening, so you just sit there and bet $5 and wait for it to end---but it didn’t. I really only lost $50, but it seemed a lot worse. Because, I never seemed to win a hand but I did get enough good cards to push some of the time. Eventually you just get tired of never winning and decide to leave.

So we went to see the wizard and both had some luck. I had some little wins and cashed out a winner. And she hit a lot of bonus rounds, including what might be the all time low Emerald City Bonus. She picked “visit the emerald city” with her 1st pick and won a total of 35 credits on the round. But later she got a good flying monkey bonus and a very nice visit from Glinda, so she ended up $62 ahead.

And on that note we bid Orleans adieu and called it a night.

Monday Oct. 26th
We slept in, as we didn’t have to leave for the airport until almost noon. Then my wife had the mammoth task of packing. We had so much junk from the convention (I’m sorry make that priceless memorabilia) that I thought we might have to ship some home. But after a little sorting, a little disposal, and some incredible organization she managed to get everything into 3 checked bags and 2 tote bags to carry on.

We were going to try the buffet this morning but the line was a little long. My wife probably would have preferred it, but I have a problem when it comes to waiting in line to eat at a mediocre buffet. So it was back to the café for breakfast. I had the smoked salmon and she had a beautiful fruit plate and cottage cheese. Probably the same thing we both would have had at the buffet anyway.

We had 30 minutes to kill so we headed to the corner with the video WOF. The last time we were here my wife watched a lady playing a triple 7 machine that was making so much noise that it was disturbing those around her. It just kept ringing every 2 or 3 spins, and my wife watched enviously. Well that machine was now open, so she swooped down like a vulture that’s spotted its prey.
While I got some play for my $20 on WOF, she was doing well on her machine. Finally after my money was gone I went to watch, trying to nudge her to leave. She was playing 9 lines, max coins (10). I turned my head and she said “Look at this” The machine had started to ring up credits. On the top line she had star-7, triple, star-7, triple, bar. And one click down was the last star-7. She missed the $17,000 progressive by one click!

After a little sophisticated math we figured she won 9000 credits. Do you have any idea how long it takes to ring up 9000 credits one at a time? She had time enough to play another machine, making a small profit there. I want to leave and the stupid machine just keeps ringing. But she did get to leave Las Vegas a winner.

Random Thoughts and Opinions

We really enjoyed the AARP convention and may go to another in the future at different venue. But it also convinced me that I never want to go to a work-related convention in Las Vegas. It’s just not the same as going to LV for pleasure or to rest.

Celebrity sightings: In addition to those we saw or met at the convention, we also saw Susan Boyle at the airport.

And we shared an elevator with Oliver McCall at Orleans the morning before his fight, although we didn’t know who he was at the time. We were staying on the 21st floor and he was on the 20th. It was obvious he was a fighter. My wife found it a little funny that he was listening to a CD player in this day of Ipods. So she asked him what he was listening to, thinking maybe it was something to inspire him. “Al Green. I listen to him when I work out.” After we got out and were walking towards the casino we came to a poster for the fight and my wife exclaimed “That’s him!” I read later that he won his fight.

My wife also swears that she saw Alice Cooper in the casino. I’m not so sure about this one as we didn’t get a close look, but he was playing there that weekend.

We didn’t rent a car, and I’m glad I didn’t. I just couldn’t get what I considered a decent price. It’s really more convenient without one. And it really doesn’t matter if you are staying at Monte Carlo or Orleans. We used the shuttle a few times, but also took plenty of cabs. You can take an awful lot of cabs in Las Vegas for the $200 the rental car would have cost. And they drop you right where you want to go. At the convention center door instead of some self-parking garage a good hike away. Same thing at the casinos.

We won’t be staying at Monte Carlo again anytime soon. The pool isn’t the oasis it used to be, too many chairs and not enough sun. And MGM feels that all their hotel pools should be aimed to attract 23 yr olds with music blasting. While we don’t mind staying at a nice hotel with bad gambling conditions, this hotel isn’t that nice. It is nice to be able to play a little VP at the end of the night or if I wake up early in the morning.

Orleans, on the other hand, feels a little more comfortable every time we stay there. We do enjoy the luxury hotels with all their amenities, and will still stay at these for some of our trips. But we are leaning more towards staying off-strip instead of at some of the mediocre strip hotels.

I’m sure you noticed that gambling wasn’t much of a factor this trip. I left home with $1400 and returned with $1300. This means we won a few hundred, as we did spend a couple of hundred for cabs and there was one meal at Grand Lux, and morning coffees and a few drinks, etc. And what’s really funny is that I played more slot machines than on any other trip. Which isn’t saying much as my usual play is about $40 per week, lol.

We timed the weather pretty well. We had one slightly windy day when we arrived, and the ride home was a little bumpy as the big windstorm was coming in as we left. So temperatures were pretty normal, in the mid to high 70s for our trip.

It’s obvious that business in Las Vegas has picked up slightly the last couple of months, although we do realize that we picked a busy weekend. But it’s still nowhere near back to normal. There were some obvious signs of understaffing and belt-tightening.
But it’s Las Vegas. Most of the people you meet are friendly and having a good time.

This was the last visit for us this year. We had one trip just to relax in luxury and lay by the pool. Another off-strip for a VP Tournament, and mostly just to get away. And this trip which was full of activity. Every visit to Las Vegas is different. Maybe that’s what we like about it.

Las Vegas is too cold for us in Winter, but there is always another Spring.
Thanks for reading.

KTINCA <> - CALIFORNIA    4577

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