Desert Diamond Tucson Nogales Hwy

Wife just informed me that we will be in Tucson for 9 days late July Early Aug. Any info on the Desert Diamond would be appreciated.
She will be busy 9-5 everyday but I have nothing. Any good day trips? Aug is not the time of year I would have picked but what can you do.

Welcome to the low desert in summer. Be prepared to melt.

Quote: teddys

Welcome to the low desert in summer. Be prepared to melt.

Should I bring a sweater?

No, you'll be sweating just fine without one.

I'm guessing it's not that popular of a destination!

There are a couple DD casinos out there. I have been to 2 of them. They arent very big compared to casinos I have been to in CA/NV. As with most Indian casinos they dont have live craps, one had a video craps that was $1 and was fun for what it was. Roulette was either video or the automated wheel and ball/video type. Only table games I could tell was BJ, there might have been 3 card poker or something, but really I was looking for Pai Gow and couldnt find it, only remember seeing BJ tables and variants of it.

The hotel rooms are very nice, as is the general cleanliness and upkeep. I would stay there again for sure.

My wifes granny lives right near one, and we just went, if you have any other specific questions I'll do my best to answer them for you.

Check out Casino del Sol/Casino of the Sun.

Quote: Wavy70

Any good day trips?

Trip? You mean leave air conditioning?

Quote: FleaStiff

Trip? You mean leave air conditioning?

Did you see air conditioning is listed as like number 5 of the greatest inventions of all time? On some lists its number one, as far as having an overall impact on humanity worldwide. I remember visiting relatives as a kid, in W Virginia in July. At night I laid there drowned in sweat from the humidity, getting eaten alive by mosquitos. That describes my dad's life as a young man. And most of the worlds as far back as you can go..

I must have missed this post back when you originally made it. Anyway, I can't give you any real infos on the casino. I've been there, but there's just not much to say about it. It's Arizona, and it's an Indian casino, so remember that there is no craps or roulette. You may be able to find video craps or video roulette, but not sure if they have them or not. Table games are usually limited to blackjack, three-card poker, let it ride, paigow poker, and sometimes I see tha texas hold'em game, not sure if the exact name of it. You'll find lots of slots. As low as penny slots. I think the highest is probably $5 slots. And bingo. Indians love bingo.

Day trips. Well, I'm not sure what to tell you on that, because of the fires that are going on in the state right now. For one, who knows if the fires will still be burning by the time it gets to be August. For two, there may be more or different fires going on at that time. However, if the places are open, you can consider things like:
1. Mount Lemmon. Not really much to see or do, but some nice hiking, and some nice views of Tucson from way up there. If you're a picnic kind of person, going up there before sunset and eating a nice picnic dinner while watching the sunset is beautiful.

2. Kartchner Caverns. About an hour or so drive from Tucson, maybe less. If I recall correctly, it's a wet cavern, and you can't touch anything. But it's pretty. They make comments about how you should make a reservation for a tour, but the one time I went there on a whim, we got in with no problems. But we were just driving around and didn't much care if we made it in or not.

3. Colossal Cave. This is closer to Tucson. It's a smaller cave, not neary as big as Kartchner, but still a fun thing to check out, especially if the bats are active.

4. Sabino Canyon. This is a nice hiking destination, and on the outskirts of Tucson. Being as you are coming in August, you'll only want to do hiking if you are getting up early in the morning. Basically, you'll want to be done hiking by the time it's 10am or so, and if you're not used to the heat out here, maybe even by 9am. It's not uncommon to get to these hiking places around 5am and see tons of people already there.

5. There are various other hiking places, although I just can't think of any off the top of my head. I used to live in Tucson, but didn't really generate a love for hiking until I moved to Phoenix.

6. About 2 1/2 hours from Tucson is Chiricahua National Monument. I personally find it beautiful there, and a nice place to have a lunch picnic. I've driven there from Phoenix (it's 4 hours from here) and done lunch there because it is that nice. Very scenic and some nice hikes. You could also stop by Fort Bowie which is close by if you want to see an old western fort.

7. Other than hiking, you can take day trips to places like Tombstone, to see the gunfighters. You can go to mining towns like Benson and Douglas.

8. You could to to Patagonia Lake, but it's really kind of a subpar lake. Not very exciting. (At least, not to me.)

9. If you like wine drinking, there are wineries all around Sonoita (about an hours from Tucson). I'm not a wine drinker, but I've see that they have wine tastings in that area. That's something you'd want to call about first. Although driving through that area is pretty as well.

10. I really tried to come up with a number 10, but can't think of anything else off the top of my head. :)

Thanks for the info all.

Since I will have days free I have been looking up day trips and the like. So thanks for the tips Konceptum. But between the heat and wildfires lots of options are closed.

Stink. Thanks. I was wondering how bad the VP pay tables are. VPFree only has "Nothing Good" as the rating. So no need to get Granny to search the machines unless she is a Singer student then I will look her up!

To balance it out I told my wife we will go hiking on Mt Washington NH this January.

I went there this weekend.

DD has surprisingly good BJ rules: 6D, S17, RSA and LS on all tables, including $5 and $10 tables. Play up to 3 spots at the minimum. I also saw a three deck game, but it wasn't open. I played 3 spots of $10 and lost $565 (ugh). The one on Nogales Highway is nicer than the one in Sahuarita. (But that one has kind of cool architecture). No sales tax on food, for whatever that's worth.

Casino del Sol in southwest Tucson is nice, kind of like Sunset Station. They are the only casino with good video poker: 9/6 JOB, 99.73% Deuces, and 99.94% Super Aces. They're in a bank of six machines with 3/5 line play at $.05 to $.50. Fun to jump around games and denominations. I played Super Aces at 3x$.20 and hit the aces twice. Rare to be sure. (Gave all of the second hit back, though -- crazy variance, and addictive as hell). They will give you $10 in freeplay if you sign up for a players card. Their table games are not as good as DD.

You should go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Old Tucson Studios, and Mt. Lemmon if you want to cool off. There is a really nice town called Summerhaven at the top of the mountain. (It is indeed a summer haven). Sabino Canyon is a really nice hike if you can stand the heat. San Xavier del Bac is a really nice representative mission kind of on the way to the south Desert Diamond.

There is Nogales if you want to check for yourself if those Mexican crime statistics are true. :)

Eat a Mexican meal somewhere.

I think you will have fun. I like Tucson. I think there are more things to do there than Phoenix.

Desert Diamond has GREAT rules of blackjack for the area. Stand Soft 17, surrender allowed, re-split aces up to 3 times, and so on. House edge is something like .27.

Had a fun time at the DD almost a month ago. Got home a few days before Irene and still living off my generator. Will post a review in a few.
I know a lot of you missed me.