HotBlonde's Blog
My Vegas Trip July 2011
Well it was requested by another forum member that I write about my latest trip to Vegas. Although I don't have anything fun and exciting to share, I figured I could find some things to talk about.I arrived in Vegas Sunday evening, July 10th. I stayed the first night there at The Cosmopolitan. Nice place, from what I saw, but I did not hit the casino there or gamble. I attended a party there and it had a really nice view of the Strip. There was a blackjack-like tournament going on at the party and at the end I ended up winning a bottle of champagne for winning second place. I wasn't even supposed to be in the final round but a couple of people bowed out early and I ended up filling the spot. This was the first time I had ever even played in a tournament.
I did hit up their gym the next morning. Super, super nice. They charge $15 a day but they really had a state-of-the-art gym that was really cool.
After leaving there on Monday I headed over to the MGM Grand where I was told I qualified for 3 complimentary nights. Not bad. I was only planning on staying there 2 more nights but since they gave me another night complimentary I thought, oh, what the hell!
Checked in to a regular "deluxe" room is what I think they call it. Decent room.
I began the gamble. I usually play only blackjack, double deck, if possible, where the dealer stands on soft 17. If not I'll do a 6 deck but only if the dealer stands on soft 17.
Took a break and hit their "cardio room" there. Put in close to a good hour of cardio. They informed me if I wanted to use their weight room I would have to pay $15 a day. I opted just to use their cardio room since it was free. An average amount of machines and a decent view.
I decided to go and see a show. I bought a ticket to "Fantasy" at the Luxor for $38.50 from one of those Half Price Show Tickets booths. I really enjoyed the show! I'm not a lesbian in any way but I do have to say that I thought the show was pretty sexy and the girls actually turned me on. Really good show with a guy who comes out to do comic relief, and he was really, really good. I definitely recommend this show!
I got out of the show around 10:30pm. Now I'm usually one to go to sleep around 10pm, and this was my plan for this trip as well. In bed at 10pm, get up at 6am. Well, when you mix Vegas with alcohol and lots of gambling selections......
I ended up staying up until 6:30am in the morning! There goes my schedule! I hit up Coyote Ugly and after a drink or 2 got up on stage and was dancing up there with the other girls! Fun but scary as they have staff standing around the bar making sure you don't accidentally step off and fall. Super fun.
Then I basically stayed at New York New York and played blackjack and craps. I got pretty tipsy and don't remember if I played a little at the MGM before going to sleep. I do know that I won $1900 at that point and I was super happy!
The next day I was pretty hung over and decided to recover by the pool. The lazy river was fun and I think I floated around it 3 times. Then I got a nice big pina colada and some grub and just vegged over by the Production pool (I think that's what it is called).
Came in, cleaned up and hit the Strip. Took a picture with a very close look-a-like Captain Jack Sparrow on the sidewalk. Walked over to Monte Carlo to play a little blackjack.
Before I hit up the tables I noticed they had an Ice Bar there, where the whole bar is frozen. Minus 5 Degrees Ice Bar. I just bought the $15 package where they just give you a parka and boots to wear.To be honest with you I think this place was a rip off. It's a minimum of $15 just to get in there and all it buys you is admission. Although it was cool to be in a bar where everything except the floor and ceiling is made out of ice, it was a lot smaller inside than I had thought it would be. I was also disappointed cuz I thought that, it being a bar, I would be sitting up at the bar on some frozen stool. That was not the case. There was a side area that had a lounge area where you could sit and have your drink. The drinks are $10 each and not included in the price of admission. The glass you drink it out of is bit made out of glass at all but ice. It's kinda cool and when I was drinking my second drink I started gnawing on and eating the glass itself.
Not much to this place and after a drink or two it's like, "okay, not much left to see or do in here." Another big down part to this was the fact that you're not allowed to take pictures inside and they actually make you lock up your cell phones and cameras before you enter. They have a staff photographer who takes your picture but they sell them back to you at $20 each. What a rip-off!
Afterwards when I was changing out of my winter attire, I noticed that they had posted a picture of me up on the screen. I snapped a picture of it with my cell phone but was quickly scolded by one of the staff and told that I was not allowed to take pictures of the pictures. All in all it was cool to check out the place but I don't think I'd do it again.
There was a karaoke contest going on at one of the restaurants over there at the Monte Carlo. I tried to sign up but the host didn't make any sense so I just left, frustrated. I played at a table there for a little while. I was totally beat up from my late night of drinking and gambling from the night before that I headed back to the MGM to gamble a little more there before hitting the hay.
Wednesday I headed over to The Mirage to gamble a bit before catching the 7pm show of Mystere next door at Treasure Island. I have to say that although I thought some of the comedic portions were funny and the acrobats and gymnasts were completely impressive, this was not my favorite Vegas show. Not bad, just not my favorite.
I gambled a little more at The Mirage and then a little more at the MGM before going to sleep.
I checked out Thursday morning and was happy I got to have a lot of my food comped from my stay. I left there and went and met up with The Wizard to view his license plates collection display. While he was setting up I was able to find and puruse a copy of his book there. I've had it on my Amazon wishlist for a while but hadn't purchased it yet. Mike and I chatted for a short bit then I was off to the Bellagio to gamble a little bit more. Even though I had checked out of my hotel room already and could've started heading back home (it's a 4 hour drive back home to where I live on LA), I always find it incredibly hard to leave Vegas. I just love it so much there!!
So I headed over to the Bellagio and played for a while there and then ate at the Noodles restaurant. Left the Bellagio to go hit up Mandalay Bay.
I tried hitting up a happy hour or two there but all the happy hours seemed to end at 6pm. I had a snack at Ri Ra the Irish bar there and did an oyster shooter at "rm Seafood restaturant". Oh, and I met the Dos Equis guy! (Well, sort of!)
I gambled a bit before deciding to finally hit the road. Although I had won $1900 toward the beginning of my trip I was down a whole lot. I decided to put all that was left of my chips on my last hand (gutsy, I know) and I ended up getting dealt a blackjack. After finally cashing out I calculated that I was down $400 total for the trip. The Wizard had suggested that I should've stopped while I was ahead $1900 but what fun is Vegas if you're just sitting around for a couple more days and not gambling? So even though it went from $1900 in winnings to a $400 loss I still had fun. And although I lost money on this trip, I was super stoked that I finally played enough to earn my Tier III Gold MLife Player's Card!
I left and was attempting to drive the 4 hours back home but was exhausted and ended up crashing the night at Gold Strike. I had even considered playing a bit there but when I looked up The Wizard's Blackjack Survey online I could not find any info on the place there. I was too tired to go searching through all the tables so I literally went upstairs and slept for 12 hours.
On my way home (finally!) I hit up Peggy Sue's 50's diner in Barstow (the hometown of my mentor and favorite author of Byron Katie). I think I've seen signs for them on other trips to and from Vegas but never stopped by. Even though I'm not into antiques and collectibles, it was pretty cool there and my waitress was super nice.
When I paid my check and was about to leave I noticed they had a big blown-up version of a newpaper article from last year reporting that someone had bought a $12 million winning lottery ticket there. I was about to leave when I turned around and decided to drop $3 on tonight's (Saturday night's) Super Lotto Plus. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed cuz maybe this trip will have ended up a lot better than I thought!!
Comments
Very informative blog. It sounds like you had a blast. I think the take home point is that Vegas has so much more to offer than just the gambling, and that's why it should always be able to succeed. Your experience can not be duplicated at your (or my) local casino.
Thanks for the report! I was going to write about this myself later, but I have some of my license plate collection on display at the Sahara West library (corner of Sahara and Grand Canyon). I'm going back tomorrow to fill up a third showcase. HB was kind enough to show up as I was setting things up. I tried to impress her with my extensive knowledge about license plates, but think I bored her within three minutes, thus the reason for hunting down my book.
Thanks for that the warning that the -5 bar is a jip. I've been tempted to try it, but now know better.
I wasn't bored at all. Just chatting with you is always good fun for me. And it was great to see your extensive collection. I just feel bad that I forgot to take pictures of you and your license plates. My bad. Post a blog on it with pics when you get a chance.
>I usually play only blackjack, double deck, if possible, where the dealer stands on soft 17.
> If not I'll do a 6 deck but only if the dealer stands on soft 17.
I imagine this is a selection you've made based on a fairly low house edge. Now it is clear that you had a great deal of fun on your trip and made quite a few whimsical decisions as to your destinations and activities, but I wonder if your disrupted schedule and alcohol consumption eroded any fine low house edge selections that you made. After all, if you can recall having been to one casino but can't recall if you played there or not, I would suggest that you had been having a great deal of fun.
I've noted that a good many women in Las Vegas seem to gamble that first night and some don't even realize that when they go up to their room to "turn in for the night" its already daytime.
Overall their vacations are a blast and they do keep their wits about them but such disruptions in sleep schedules and alcohol intake schedules must surely erode player skills to some degree, though it appears you did fairly well overall.
As for stopping at $1900, I hear that a lot. You should have stopped at 600 or 1000 or 1900. Easy to do except you only know how high you might have got after the fact. This is another thread here on inspirational movies. Do you saw the original " The Producers"
with Zero Mostel in a theater, like I did? OOOPs that was in 1968, forget I asked, Anyway Zero is at the bottom of existence. In a dumpy office chasing a little old lady around the room, romancing her to get funds for a new stage play. And I mean little old lady, she would make Betty White look young. His suit is threadbare, the office is cluttered, his face says how low can I go? Then he passes a window glances out and see a Cadillac pull up, a rich male leave it with a knock out blonde on his arm. Obviously a man at the top of the heap. I expected Zero to either throw a typewriter out the window at them or face the camera and show a look of absolute disgust at himself. He did neither, He opened up the window and shouted out something so profound I have never forgot it.
Before I reveal, let me say forget about the $1900 up and congratulations on $400 spent on a great memory,
And to quote Max Bialystock: That's it, baby, when you've got it, flaunt it, flaunt it!
Thanks for doing the ice bar so I don't have to now.
I've been in a couple of the fitness rooms in Vegas Hotels and they always seem well run and nice havens from the rest of the madness... surprised they'd charge on top of the resort fee to get into the weights room though. Wow.
>surprised they'd charge on top of the resort fee to get into the weights room though...
I think there may have been a misunderstanding on that charge.
There are two fitness centers, each on the 14th floor.
My understanding is that if you are registered at the hotel, you get charged a resort fee and if you merely go to the front desk you are charged 15.00. The Cosmopolitan seems to have maintained its reputation earned the first week it opened for the left hand not knowing what the rind hand was doing.
congratulations on getting your gold mlife card! i don't know if you earned all or most of the points needed on this trip alone, but if you lost just $400 to get it that's not bad.
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Great blog!
I wonder if the Ice Bar would have been more fun if you were there with friends.
I also wonder if you found out the "No cameras" policy before or after you paid to go in. That would have been when I turned around.
Nice write up and I can relate to this:
"The Wizard had suggested that I should've stopped while I was ahead $1900 but what fun is Vegas if you're just sitting around for a couple more days and not gambling? "
WTF are you going to do with yourself for two days? You might as well go for one day, play your ass off and go home the next. If you win, great, if you lose, oh well, save up for next time.
Alan, 1 day in Vegas for me = an impossibility.
I love Vegas so much it would be impossible for me to go just for a day and feel sufficed. To have to tear myself away from Vegas makes me think of pulling a young child away from their mother when she needs to leave and go to work. Not a pretty sight.