Annual lowbrow trip report - 2024 version
August 9th, 2024 at 3:04:19 PM
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Normally I do this in mid-late June, but this year, I went to Vegas after attending the Gen Con gaming convention in Indianapolis in early August. At least with Indianapolis, I can get a nonstop to Vegas with Southwest.
Anyway, after getting a really good rate at the Paris (just under $90/night, including all fees and taxes), I arrived on Monday 8/5 at about 2:30. While the line to see humans for checking in was quite long, the line for the machine-based checkins was empty. It turned out there was a reason for that; unless I wanted to pay an extra fee, checkins started at 3:00, although the machine did say that it would email me when my room was ready, which it did...at 3:15, when the automated checkin line was now about 30 minutes long. I checked in, then went to get dinner at La Creperie, only to discover that Bobby Flay Burgers is there now, so I kept walking to the Horseshoe and ate a Brisket Mac & Cheese at Guy Fieri's Sportstown. Nightlife on this trip was kept to a minimum, as I wanted to watch NBC's primetime Olympics coverage.
On Tuesday, I headed out to Durango (yes, on the buses) to add to my chip collection. (I also added to my dice collection, but the only place I saw that sold them, at least from the casinos where I don't already have them, was the Bonanza gift shop on Sahara.) I went to Irv's Burgers for lunch, where I got what I call the Chili Cheesectomy - a chili cheeseburger, chili cheese dog, and chili cheese fries - and while it was Bursting with Chili Cheeseimilitude and Crammed to the Very Brim with Chili Cheeseiliciousness, the chili was bland, and there was just too much of it on the fries. I also dropped $20 on VP while waiting for the burger place to switch to its lunch/dinner menu.
I then went to the Pinball Hall of Fame, which, unfortunately, really is as much a shadow of its former self as others have claimed; just about all of the older games are out of order, and I am assuming what little staff there is is concentrating on keeping the newer games running. Having discovered that I have something like $400 in MGM Rewards credit, I decided to use some of it at Eataly; it turns out that, as with Caesars Rewards, using MGM points is as simple as flashing my player's card like a credit card. I had some meatballs and finished it off with gelato.
Wednesday was my downtown day; I had lunch at Freedom Beat, the cafe at Downtown Grand, where I had my usual pot roast sandwich and fries. I broke even on VP, then went off to the Mob Museum. On my way back to the south Strip, I realized that the Deuce buses fill up a lot earlier than they used to (I had noticed this the previous day as well, starting as far south as the Welcome to Las Vegas sign); the intense heat on those days may have had something to do with it. Not wanting my $600 in Caesar's credits to go to waste, I had dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill at Caesar's Palace, where I had the 3-course dinner - onion ale soup (with cheese and Welsh rarebit), beef Wellington ("of course"), and sticky toffee pudding. While I doubt I would have had it if I would have had to pay full price (something like $85, plus drink), it was excellent.
On Thursday, it was still too hot to do much traveling, especially on the buses, so I pretty much polled the south Strip, with a lowbrow lunch of a couple of Auntie Anne's Pretzel Dogs and a bottle of Powerade Zero. Before dinner, I headed to the Paris casino, where I found a $15 craps game, so I played 15 pass and 30/40/50 odds. It started out bad with a six followed by a seven out costing me $65 after the first two rolls, but after getting about $150 down, a run of points left me $50 ahead when I cashed out, which meant I ended up with a $30 net profit from gambling. It probably should have been more, but I didn't pull the trigger on USA men's basketball being over +200 to win at the start of the fourth quarter against Serbia. I was considering using some more of my Caesar's points at Bacchanal, but decided it was too hot, so I went to the "food hall" (read: food court - in fact, the sign there still says food court, even though the signs that point to it say food hall) at the Horseshoe and got some spaghetti & meatballs from Sbarro and a pint of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's.
Something else: while the Paris's cafe - Cafe Americano - does accept Caesar's Rewards points, they charge double when you do use them, unlike pretty much everywhere else that takes them.
Speaking of finding things, I saw what may be the first shot in a casino war; TI was advertising 3-2 blackjack on all of its shoe-dealt games. Later, I thought I saw a TV ad that not only advertised 3-2 on all games, but S17 as well; it turns out that I did - the sportsbook was showing a San Francisco Giants game with the Giants' regional sports network feed, and it was a local commercial for Cache Creek.
Anyway, after getting a really good rate at the Paris (just under $90/night, including all fees and taxes), I arrived on Monday 8/5 at about 2:30. While the line to see humans for checking in was quite long, the line for the machine-based checkins was empty. It turned out there was a reason for that; unless I wanted to pay an extra fee, checkins started at 3:00, although the machine did say that it would email me when my room was ready, which it did...at 3:15, when the automated checkin line was now about 30 minutes long. I checked in, then went to get dinner at La Creperie, only to discover that Bobby Flay Burgers is there now, so I kept walking to the Horseshoe and ate a Brisket Mac & Cheese at Guy Fieri's Sportstown. Nightlife on this trip was kept to a minimum, as I wanted to watch NBC's primetime Olympics coverage.
On Tuesday, I headed out to Durango (yes, on the buses) to add to my chip collection. (I also added to my dice collection, but the only place I saw that sold them, at least from the casinos where I don't already have them, was the Bonanza gift shop on Sahara.) I went to Irv's Burgers for lunch, where I got what I call the Chili Cheesectomy - a chili cheeseburger, chili cheese dog, and chili cheese fries - and while it was Bursting with Chili Cheeseimilitude and Crammed to the Very Brim with Chili Cheeseiliciousness, the chili was bland, and there was just too much of it on the fries. I also dropped $20 on VP while waiting for the burger place to switch to its lunch/dinner menu.
I then went to the Pinball Hall of Fame, which, unfortunately, really is as much a shadow of its former self as others have claimed; just about all of the older games are out of order, and I am assuming what little staff there is is concentrating on keeping the newer games running. Having discovered that I have something like $400 in MGM Rewards credit, I decided to use some of it at Eataly; it turns out that, as with Caesars Rewards, using MGM points is as simple as flashing my player's card like a credit card. I had some meatballs and finished it off with gelato.
Wednesday was my downtown day; I had lunch at Freedom Beat, the cafe at Downtown Grand, where I had my usual pot roast sandwich and fries. I broke even on VP, then went off to the Mob Museum. On my way back to the south Strip, I realized that the Deuce buses fill up a lot earlier than they used to (I had noticed this the previous day as well, starting as far south as the Welcome to Las Vegas sign); the intense heat on those days may have had something to do with it. Not wanting my $600 in Caesar's credits to go to waste, I had dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill at Caesar's Palace, where I had the 3-course dinner - onion ale soup (with cheese and Welsh rarebit), beef Wellington ("of course"), and sticky toffee pudding. While I doubt I would have had it if I would have had to pay full price (something like $85, plus drink), it was excellent.
On Thursday, it was still too hot to do much traveling, especially on the buses, so I pretty much polled the south Strip, with a lowbrow lunch of a couple of Auntie Anne's Pretzel Dogs and a bottle of Powerade Zero. Before dinner, I headed to the Paris casino, where I found a $15 craps game, so I played 15 pass and 30/40/50 odds. It started out bad with a six followed by a seven out costing me $65 after the first two rolls, but after getting about $150 down, a run of points left me $50 ahead when I cashed out, which meant I ended up with a $30 net profit from gambling. It probably should have been more, but I didn't pull the trigger on USA men's basketball being over +200 to win at the start of the fourth quarter against Serbia. I was considering using some more of my Caesar's points at Bacchanal, but decided it was too hot, so I went to the "food hall" (read: food court - in fact, the sign there still says food court, even though the signs that point to it say food hall) at the Horseshoe and got some spaghetti & meatballs from Sbarro and a pint of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's.
Something else: while the Paris's cafe - Cafe Americano - does accept Caesar's Rewards points, they charge double when you do use them, unlike pretty much everywhere else that takes them.
Speaking of finding things, I saw what may be the first shot in a casino war; TI was advertising 3-2 blackjack on all of its shoe-dealt games. Later, I thought I saw a TV ad that not only advertised 3-2 on all games, but S17 as well; it turns out that I did - the sportsbook was showing a San Francisco Giants game with the Giants' regional sports network feed, and it was a local commercial for Cache Creek.
