Friday, September 15, 2023

Las Vegas Trip Report - 08.30-09.05.2023 - The one with rain and B-52's

We basically went to the MN State Fair, went home and packed up and headed to Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend. A whirlwind end of summer time! I have zero memories of the flight, so I assume everything was on time and as usual. 
We checked in at Paris, thank goodness for status matching to Caesars Diamond status from the Wyndham credit card or else we would have been in line for ages. 

The room at Paris was totally fine. 

After checking in we wandered around at Paris playing video poker at Claude's bar and some assorted slots. Got a couple quads, so not a bad start. 

Thursday morning we had breakfast at Cosmo at Wicked Spoon. Not bad as usual and even better at a buy one get one price as a players club benefit. 
My Cosmo free play was a win.... 
We went downtown to use some free play and use a few coupons. We had lunch at 8 East.

We stopped at El Cortez and DT Grand to redeem some free play. John decided to play in a blackjack tournament at DT Grand. He made it to the third round, while I played video poker at the bar. 
Some sort of sushi snack at 777 pub at Main Street Station. No quads to be had at Main Street today. 
We went back to Cosmo and played at the sports book bar. We had a late dinner/snack at the Cosmo food court or food hall or whatever it is called. I had Tekka Bar once more. 
Friday morning we had reservations at Mon Ami Gabi. We even got seated on the patio outside. 

We went over to Bellagio. On MyVegas free play at Bellagio, nice line win. No wins on free play at  Park MGM. I got a quad (7's) on free play at Aria. 
Conservatory at Bellagio

We had intended to go to the pool, but it rained off and on most of the day. We had lunch at Javier's at Aria. It was expensive, but quite good.

We used a MyVegas comp for free drinks at the Aria lobby bar. I do love when they give you snacks with the expensive drinks though. 
We went over to Palms to play blackjack and some slots. 
We went back to Paris to change for dinner, walked over to Cosmo for dinner at Beauty and Essex. I think we just grabbed a table in the bar. The tomato soup starter is above.
hamachi crudo
french dip and onion rings
I think we called it a night shortly after dinner. The next day was cloudy and rainy again! Crazy weather. 
Saturday morning we had breakfast at The Henry at Cosmo.  
short rib benedict
We played at Paris and Horseshoe casinos for awhile after breakfast, packed up our stuff and ubered downtown. We checked into El Cortez. It was fully comped from a fall mailer. They put us in an upgraded room, a tower premium suite. It had a separate living room and bedroom. 






The room was nice, but the pillows were not great and there was a lot of noise from the street. We were only on the third floor. Higher up maybe would have been a bit quieter. 

We had lunch at American Coney at The D. We played at Vue bar awhile. Then went to Main Street, where I got aces with a kicker. YAY!! 
pouring rain!!
Dinner was at Pizza Rock. I started with an espresso martini. 

margarita pizza
After dinner we went back to El Cortez and played more before heading to bed. 
Sunday morning we went to Magnolia's at Four Queens for breakfast. Excellent as always. 
We played in the casino most of the morning. 
We had lunch at Eureka. The burgers were tasty and they were mostly free since we had tons of food comps from El Cortez. 

John had more free pay at Palms so we went over there to play and bit and then had a snack at La Popular CDMX. Pretty good overall. We just sat at the bar. 

tuna tostadas and ceviche is below
Next, we went to the Mirage to use some free play, played at the Venetian a bit, the new sports bar is nice and has decent video poker. And I got a couple quads, which is always nice. 
We had bought tickets awhile back to see the B-52's at Venetian Theater. It was a very fun show with everyone dancing the whole time. It was billed as their last round of shows ever, but they've since added more dates. Of course! 


Monday morning we wet to Saginaw's at Circa. Both of our breakfast sandwiches were fine.
After breakfast I went over to the North Premium Outlets to shop a bit. 
We played at El Cortez awhile and had lunch at Siegel's. The food was pretty good and totally comped except for tip. 

Huge win on buffalo at Golden Nugget! I just kept playing and kept winning. 
We did some free play at Circa, I used it to play Ultimate x and I won $160. I played blackjack and finished up a bit. Then we went to Golden Gate and I had a great hand where I split 8's 4 times, doubled twice and won the whole thing for $90 win in one hand. 
We checked out the new outdoor bar at Plaza. It was pretty hot under all those lights. And even though there are slots in the bar top, their comp system is strange. I just paid for a drink and did not play. 
We stopped at Chart House for a little late dinner and called it a night. 

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Magnolia's once more, packed up, checked out and headed to the airport. 
One last hurrah at the airport. Hey, you have to try sometimes! Especially since it seems like people always win the jackpot at the airport. 

I had one of the best trips I've had in a long time. I didn't hit the ATM once and I left with more cash than I started with. Total win! We used so many food comps and managed to win a bit on free play as well.


DDB Quad Report
                                                    Melissa      John
Aces w/Kicker                                1              2
Aces                                              1              4
Premium quad w/kicker                 2              0
Premium quad                               3               3
Regular quads                                17             8

Vegas trip count: 
Melissa: 46
John: 41