Vegas 10-19 thru 10-24

[shadowman]

Way to go. Hopefully, the first of many successful ventures.

[MikeA]

MFP
So glad that the trip turned out so good for you!  23 casinos?  Wow!  I think that beats any of my escapades over such a short time <LOL>
We just got back in town today.  Hmmm, lets see, I hit 5 casinos in Laughlin, 7 on Fremont in Vegas, 5 in the outlying area around Vegas.  That's 17.  I'm wondering what I did with all my extra time...waste it?  <LOL>
I actually pretty much broke even on Video Poker thanks to a really good session at South Point where I met up with and shared a session with Shadowman.  I think I had a total of four quads accumulated over the play of an initial 100 credit buy-in and no rebuys!  One was an 800 credit quad 3's with a 4 kicker on DDB 10/6.  The other three were 250 credit hits.  I cashed out with 800 credits and that win broke me even for VP this trip.  I didn't play a lot of VP.  Just couldn't find any machines anywhere except for Southpoint that appealed to me.
Blackjack cleaned my clock on the first day badly.  But after that, I either won just a little or lost a little to net a break even trip EXCEPT for that first day.  I never did make up for that loss.
The only really bad thing about the trip though was not the first day BJ loss.  No more than 15 minutes out of the rental car terminal, we were rear ended by a young man who just wasn't paying attention to what he was doing.  He got a ticket for inattentative driving and driving too close.  Fortunately, because of the thoroughness of the Vegas Motorcycle Cop who worked the case, his insurance company assumed full responsibility for the accident and guaranteed libility.  The SUV we'd rented was barely damaged so we didn't even take it back for another vehicle.  The kids Mercedes was pretty well crunched though.  Both headlights busted, Hood crumpled and the front fender was bent back under his car.  The front end of the Mercedes must have been low enough that it went under the rear end of the Toyoty RAV4 we were driving.  It didn't even slow us up when we turned the car in on the way to the airport.  It's a good thing too as we'd only allowed a half hour for the hassle we were expecting at the rental car terminal and our rental company (Alamo).  When we got to the airport, we discovered that we were mistaken about the time of our flight.  It was to leave 30 minutes earlier than we thought!  We made it to the gate to catch our flight with only 20 minutes to spare!
Hotel wise....we had a horrible room at Harrah's in Laughlin.  Tiny room.  The only thing going for it was a good view of the river.  The wind was funneling down the Colorado at 40 to 45mph with gusts well over 50.  It was miserable to be outside in.  I say that and I'm from KANSAS where I've played golf in steady 30 mph winds with some pretty high gusts, but I don't recalled sustained 40mph+ winds here in Kansas!
We stayed at 4-Queens on Fremont in Vegas.  The room was huge!  It wasn't a suite, but it could have been made into one.  That bathroom was rather small but the rest was very large.  I have some pics of the hotel and other things of interest to us including some shots of the recently renovated east end of Fremont Street in an album on my Photo Site:
 
 
 
 
 

[EDC1977]

Outstanding MFP! sounds like a sucessful anniversario trip to me! I don't recall ever seeing that many casinos in one day but I have done my share of sightseeing. Hope to get a peek at Aliante Station and yet completed M resort next trip out. I don't foresee CityCenter or Echelon Place opening for at least 2010. Glad you had a good time. Thats what it's all about. Congratulations again!

[marie meijer]

Mike and MikeA Thanks for the interesting trip reports! MFP 23 casinos in one trip should be a record! Were there any you would especially like to return to play VP? Any good shows to recommend? We were confident you would want to return to Sin City ASAP! MikeA We enjoyed your photos. Sorry about that accident and glad it was not worse! We have no complaints about Laughlin or Harrah's. We never get downtown other than to experience the light show twice, so it's nice to get your slant and pix. So glad you both had a great trip!

[MikeA]

I probably should have noted on the title page of the album that if you left click on any of the images, It blows the image up to full size (1024x768 I believe).  Another left click on that image will return you to the navigation frame.
 
A lot of folks have asked me about my comments concerning walking down to El Cortez from the last casino (Fitzgerald's) that is under the canopy.  The Tez is around 3 blocks (normal length blocks, not like "blocks" on the Strip!) further East on Fremont.  There are two pictures in the album that show how mich better lit the street is down "that way".  There are a lot more peds making that walk now in the earlier evening and a lot fewer of the homeless lining the street.  They really are trying to clean that part of Fremont up.
 
You'd have to decide for yourself whether you'd like the Tez.  My wife and I do like it though you'll have a hard time finding a smokier casino.  You will normally not find "pretty people" there like you do on the Strip and that you see playing around on Fremont under the canopy.  Most of the poeple at the Tez are going to be locals in the lower income brackets. 
 
The attraction of the Tez for me is Blackjack.  They quite simply have the very best Blackjack table rules I've found in both double deck and single deck varieties.  And if you like good food, Roberta's is one of the best places in Las Vegas to grab a prime rib.

[MFP]

We really enjoyed The Mirage & plan on staying there again. The majority of winning was @ MGM properties. Wanted to see show's, but never did. Our next trip we are going to take the much more relaxed approach. No regrets at all..We arrived @ DTW around 1:00am 10.25 got home around 2:30am slept till 12:30pm 10.25 reminised about our AWESOME experience & watched MSU thump UM ... Only had (1)bad day (10.22.08) but still had some bankroll left @ the end of the day. I know everyone has there comfort zone, but we had a great experience w/ MGM.

[faygo]

watched MSU thump UM ... 
That makes everything right with the world.
 

[marie meijer]

[QUOTE=MFP] watched MSU thump UM ... 
That makes everything right with the world.
 
[/QUOTE] YOU got that right! What an upset. THAT was SO amazing! GO GREEN!

[MFP]

I catch alot of CRAP for being a SPARTY..Never been  a U of M Fan. I do think Rich Rod is the right man though. Dantonio is the REAL DEAL..

[EDC1977]

Mike, I was going to throw in my two cents worth saying"all goes according to whether or not you're a Spartan fan" but ya already beat me to it. Not 100% sure about Rich Rod but we'll give him time. Glad you kids enjoyed " the real deal!"