October 2019 Trip Report - Including the Golden Gate Original 10, Lake Mead Railroad Trail, and Whiskey Licker Upper
My usual disclaimer:
My reports concentrate on people, places and things we encounter on our trips. Although I play a lot, especially video poker, my view is that details of royal flush near misses (which are very common btw), ordinary four of a kinds, etc, are not noteworthy enough to be documented in a trip report. If I did that, this report would be probably over 50 pages. As such I don't post much on my play and do not post pictures of hands. If those things are important to you, it's probably best to skip reading this report.
Unlike the trend of people looking to make income off others viewing their trip reporting, I receive no financial benefit for posting this report, just like 99.9% of us! My reports, however, are my property and not to be copied to other websites.
FYI - Clicking on any pic brings up a full size version which allows you to scroll through all pics.
Four Queens Visit
I made it to the Four Queens. The first item on my checklist was ticked off within 5 minutes of my arrival, as Bette Davis Eyes was heard as the second song of my visit! Done! Link to my prior report section containing my Bette Davis Eyes challenge. => Link to the Bette Davis Eyes challenge from my last trip report.
The second item of my checklist was also checked off withing 5 minutes of my arrival, as I hit four Aces in Double Bonus video poker! Next, two minutes later, I pulled a rare straight flush! Then, two minutes later, I was dealt four 7's. Not a bad first 10 minutes of the day! Not complaining, but that night, I ended up cashing out for about the amount of credits that I had after those first 10 minutes. And, as I will discuss later, this was my only significant winning day.
About an hour later I hit Aces again, this time having the "pleasure" of hearing commentary from a person sitting a few machines away who was not playing. "Oh, you lost out on that one!" "Excuse me?", I replied. "Yes, you had the kicker on that hand, so you would have gotten more than double that payout if you were playing the right game". It was so nice of him to lecture me with his "expertise", yet, no "congratulations"? No, "nice hand"? This is what you have to say? Criticizing my choice of game? "Really"? I said. "So if you see four deuces on my screen, then I should have played that hand on deuces wild? And if you see four Jacks on my screen, I should have played that hand on Super Double Bonus, right"? This seemed to quiet him down.
Although I had a pretty good day at the machines, I was hoping for it to be even better.
Later, in the afternoon, I stopped at the Chicago Brewing Company there, figuring I'd play a bit at the bar and have an appetizer. I was surprised to see every seat taken, and later I found out that Wasilla was one of those at the bar at at that time.
For the first time, we ditched our usual Hugo's meal that evening, and instead used comps to eat at Binion's Steakhouse for the first time. It was my favorite meal of the trip!
We had some nice table-side views!
Historic Hoover Dam Railroad Trail Side Trip
I had this idea that since you pretty much have to return on the same path back that you took out, that using bikes would make the hike back quicker and less potentially boring. There are several vendors that charge $100 and up to rental a bike for a day, delivering it to you at the location of your choice, but my research found that the Hoover Dam Lodge Hotel rented bikes for $60 a day, and they had direct access to the trail right on site!
The downside was that the path from the hotel to the trail was pretty steep, making the bikes close to useless on the steep sandy loose parts of the path. Once on the trail, the views were excellent!
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| 2 or 3 of the tunnels had these container units placed at the end to protect hikers from possible falling rocks from above. |
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| The roof inside a tunnel |
We reached this point where either you turn back to head home, or continue through a more hilly/sandy section of the trail the leads to the Hoover Dam visitors center. We chose to go the distance. The issue was that the trail from this point was more hilly, and more sandy, which meant that bikes for long sections were a hindrance rather than an advantage to travel the trail.
The worst part was that when we reached the entrance to the Hoover Dam Visitors center area, there were signs posted that bikes were not permitted beyond the entrance. Had we known this, we would have either brought bike locks to lock the bikes to the bike rack at that point, or not even taken this part of the trail. So, after reaching what we hoped would bring us up to see Hoover Dam, we had to return back on the trail. It was not hot, but at this point it was a bit over 80 degrees, and dragging the bikes in the sandy/hilly parts was more than a bit of a pain. Then, at the very end, we had to return up the steepest part, the path that leads back to the Hoover Dam Lodge. This meant that this trip was unexpectedly a lot more strenuous than advertised, as a hike with only 11 feet of elevation change!
If we were to do this again, then if taking bikes I would take a bike lock with us, or opt to just hike just the railroad tunnel portion of the trail and back, by foot.
The next group of pictures is from the "Boneyard" near the Hoover Dam end of the trail.
My damn "lucky" Pig!
My prior reports this year, with epilogues, highlight my ridiculous good luck since receiving my lucky jeweled pig for the Chinese New Year promotion. https://deamonlv.blogspot.com/2019/06/ https://deamonlv.blogspot.com/2019/02/ Well, I wish there were instructions with the pig informing me that her good luck only lasts 6 months, as since then, my luck has been as bad now as it was good before! I had a bad day in Atlantic City last month, followed by this painful trip of daily losses, having only one winning day, and one close to break even day. Zero royal flushes were hit!
I had several discussions with my pig, trying to figure out why her magic suddenly vanished, but it seemed to do no good. We are now not on very good speaking terms! I am willing to discuss reconciliation, but she is going to have to change her ways first!
Whiskey Licker Upper at Binion's
We visited the new Whiskey Licker Upper at Binion's. Loving the historic side of Las Vegas, I was most interested in seeing the section of the former Mint casino's signage which is visible on the stairway leading up to the bar.
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| The red steel is part of the old Mint casino signage, which is still hidden behind parts of Binion's facade. |
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| There is glass above the seating areas, allowing views up as well as out! |
Happy Hour Pizza at the Grotto - Golden Nugget
We had our traditional happy hour pizza at the Grotto, paid with comps. It has a very thin crust which makes it a good lunch for two. Sad to learn that they are moving the Grotto to the Carson Tower area, and a Saltgrass steakhouse will be in this prime space next year.
Also at the Golden Nugget, they have put in two of the newer, raised, non IGT VP/slot machines at two of the bars, trying them out just like Main Street Station is doing. My source says they are having technical issues with compatibility, but personally, I would think they will get those bugs worked out.
More LV History - "Golden Gate Original 10"
I double booked a room a Golden Gate for one night. I was planning on getting a Fremont Street facing room, to be able to observe the insanity, and hear what it sounds like inside those rooms when the music starts at night. Check in was fun. I specifically asked for a FSE facing room. The check in attendant asked me three times in three different ways if I was sure I wanted that location! "There is a lot of vibration in those rooms". "Are you sure you are okay with the potential noise?".
After she was sure of my preference, she looked and looked, and found that there were no FSE facing rooms available! "That never happens", she said! I had a good laugh hearing that! So, I just received what I thought was an ordinary inside facing room, which I did. But, it was on the second floor, which meant it was near the "Original 10 Rooms" from 1906, when the Golden Gate had only two floors! I've never seen any discussion of the existence of these rooms anywhere before! What is good is that they have several signs and markings in that area informing customers of the history. The text in my pictures here isn't so clear due to the poor lighting in the hallway. The room I received wasn't as bad as I expected, although there is simply no excuse for the condition of the black chair in the room, historic hotel or not!
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| Line on wall designating the Original 1906 section of the hotel from the first expansion, years later. |
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| Not very obvious from this picture, but this old door is only about 3 feet wide, and was probably the normal door width in 1906. |
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| "Historic" chair? |
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| "View" from the my room. FYI, this room is marketed to HVAC workers as the "fantasy room". |
And finally, this key is alone reason to book a room here!
Best looking emergency vehicle that I've seen!
Overcomped offer
I had a ridiculous M-Life offer, considering I rarely play at an M-Life Las Vegas property. I have a theory that they based this offer on some non Las Vegas play of mine. I maximized the offer by booking a "two bedroom suite" at the Luxor, which I learned in advance, was really a one bedroom suite with an adjoining regular room. In addition it came with some very generous freeplay and resort credit to cover some food.
One of my restaurant choices was to eat at Charlie Palmer Steak in the Four Seasons. They have a great prix fixe meal deal there. But, a day in advance I checked and found that they will only allow room charges for guests in the Delano or Mandalay Bay, so we cancelled our reservations there.
Below are pictures from this Luxor suite, with nice views of Excalibur!
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| View from bed which allows you to get the current time from the Excalibur clock in the tower! |
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| View from bedroom window with T-Mobile Arena on left, Excalibur on right. |
Sure all of this was nice, but what also left an impression was the rats nest of TV boxes, wires, and power strips stuck on the wall near the side of the bedroom TV, shown below. Don't give them credit, as at most 1/3rd of this mess is hidden behind by the right side of the monitor if you were looking straight on. They didn't even try to make it look presentable!
Cheap SOB execs at the M Resort
If you ever eat at the M buffet, you might notice some changes, over time, in the video screens that line the upper wall.
For years, the entire upper wall was filled with working video screens. But now, due to age, some of the screens have stopped working. Instead of getting replacements, the current owner's management has directed the staff to move the dead screens together, into sections. Once there were enough dead screens to cover a suitable area, they covered one section with an advertising banner. Now there are so many dead screens that they have another similar sized area of dead screens to work with! This is consistent with the current mentality of many other casino management staffs!
The cheap SOB execs at Caesars Resorts strike again!
We visited the Laural (Diamond) Lounge at Ceasars, lining up just before the 4pm opening, as our normal practice, but this time we found a change. They no longer serve hot food at 4pm, but instead cut a half hour out of the hot food serving times to start at 4:30pm! What this meant is that around 4:25pm, there was a sub-line of people, waiting along the wall, waiting just before the first station of the buffet, in advance of the hot food being served. Great, now a line to get in at 4pm, and another line later if you want hot food! To rub salt in the wound, today's dishes were greasy, unappealing, near cold, soggy fried chicken, and mashed potatoes. Talk about pinching pennies! There was even one woman on the line telling others how even the Harrah's Laughlin lounge has better food choices (formerly the lowest in the Caesars Resorts Lounge food chain). In addition, even the cold areas of the buffet were missing some of the usual items like flat breads, etc. It is stunning that Caesars Resorts would do this with their most prestigious property! Trouble is that I know in 2-3 years, we will look back at this being the "good old days" as lounge menu's/access will probably get even worse!
ABA - Another Boyd Annoyance
I went to get my parking validated at Boyd downtown, wanting to get it done early, so I didn't forget later. I was told that when parking is validated for free parking, you have only 15 minutes to use the validated pass, or it becomes invalid. Even half an hour would be sick, but 15 minutes? We are supposed to plan our exits from their hotels so that validation is the last thing we do? "I can't talk now, I have to run. I just got my parking validated!"
Favorite Moments and Misc:
Our favorite current waiter, James' quote to the table of four women, all having the same early bird lamb special, as he brought the tray of four lamb entrees to the table. "Okay, who gets the lamb here?"
Once in a while, someone nearby asks for advice on how to play a VP hand. I did so on one hand, and then shortly after that I noticed they were about to hold two high cards over a 3 card single inside straight flush. I noted to them that the straight flush draw was the better play. That advice was taken, and amazingly, they hit a straight flush. Not only that, but the payout at the time was over 400 coins! It's nice when things work out like that once in a while!
Observed two ladies at a lounge having glasses of wine while they each consumed a power granola bar that they brought with them.
In the next game, game 6, with the Astros having bases loaded with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th, leading 4-2, the in game odds for a Yankees win in that game jumped to 12 to 1. I had an idea that the Yankees weren't going to go out quietly, so I was very seriously thinking of betting on the Yankees at that moment, but felt that the odds weren't high enough, as there was about a 1 in 4 chance, of the Astros getting a hit that would drive in 2 more runs. Anyway, I observed as after the Astros made the third out, the odds dropped to 8 to 1. When the Yankees got the first runner on base in the top of the 9th, it dropped to 6 to 1. Then, a home run tied the game, and I started to kick myself for not making the bet. Of course the Astros won it in the bottom of the 9th, so I was then happy with my do nothing approach. ...... UPDATE: I input the situational game data in a website that gives the odds of winning mid game, and the theoretical odds for the Yankees winning when in the bottom of the 8th, bases loaded, 2 out, were almost 20 to 1, making the 12 to 1 odds a huge vig for the house!
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