Apologies in advance now that I’m finally wrapping it all up for Las Vegas 2011. Other cool stories happened to us and I’ve been losing my ongoing war with insomnia (since at least 2008, maybe earlier) recently. Trust me, it’s no fun waking up around 3 AM, unable to sleep and the clock is staring you in the face, reminding you about how the whole ‘getting ready for work’ process will beginning in a couple hours. At least when I was on vacation, I didn’t need to sweat it and the Pacific zone put this problem around 1 AM; let’s hear a round of cheers for Tahiti Village’s hot tub being open 24 hours!
Alas, our last fun-filled day was upon us but we really made the most of it. I squeezed in my daily two-mile run, a follow-up at the jacuzzi (fancy word for hot tub) to iron out the kinks and off we went to New York New York to pick up the winnings, thank you Dallas Mavericks! Here’s a little trivia or what if. Last vacation, I placed my traditional futures bet on the Flyers to win the Cup. The MGM sports books printed the odds for both the NHL and NBA on the same sheet then. I held on to it mainly to see how accurately the casinos can be, especially in light of their 300-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes for 2005-06. Seems the Mavs were an unlikely yet not impossible candidate. Had you bet on them to go all the way, it would’ve paid 23-to-1. Pretty good when you see the Heat’s 9-2 which is almost as weak as 4-1 or 3-1.
Flush and giddy over 20 smackers (10 for me, 10 for Jose), we set out for Orleans. Actually, Somara wanted to stay put since NYNY had video poker machines with Jacks or better (a dying breed we’ve noticed). She didn’t assert herself enough for me to notice. Hence there’s was a brief, uncomfortable spat in the car. Not to worry, there’s a happy ending coming.
Orleans proved to be a total bust. You’d think the pit boss would open a second craps table with how busy it was. I decided to pitch a Station casino. We had a good experience with Boulder up north, there must be a branch near the Strip. With Somara’s navigation skills via an iPhone, we quickly found Palace Station. In many ways I think the Station casinos have a core template to follow when they’re constructed.
Either way, Palace Station proved to be a good joint decision. There were video poker games Somara liked and I found a hot craps table. It’s always awesome to wrap up with a big fat win, the shooter nailed point with a hard eight. I gave him five bucks as a thank you for hitting it plus he made me additional dough through a couple sixes. Thanks to those lessons from the day before, I felt more confident when I was communicating to the dealers…during the moments I got a word in. Chips were flying everywhere so I prefer to wait my turn, I don’t want to confuse the staff. Once the money is on the table, there’s an understood contract. Here, Palace proved why I am looking forward to returning. I forgot my money on six, a new shooter hit it, the dealer gave me the seven for it and the original wager afterwards. I was impressed. I always thought it was caveat emptor if you don’t pay attention or the chips remained ‘in action’ until the round was over. The dealer’s name was noted in my iPhone, I included him along with several others when I wrote Station Casinos a laudatory e-mail. Oh, below is how well I did.
We took a quick lunch break. Had a conversation with a nice gentleman from Dallas who was headed home that evening. We kept the meal pretty light because our dinner plans were going to involve the new (2009) buffet at M.
While Somara returned to scratch her video poker itch, I investigated the Louie Anderson Theater. Seems he has a semi-permanent gig which I think is the genius of Las Vegas: have the fans come to you intentionally (Prince, Elvis, Penn & Teller) or stumble upon you (quite a list). Louie isn’t quite the famous celebrity he was in the Eighties but I usually enjoyed his stand-up routine, the cartoon he had on Fox in the Nineties was clever and hosting a game-show (Family Feud) may draw snickers yet it pays the bills. Nothing wrong with earning a base income so you can tour or do cameos during the off weeks; game shows usually tape two-weeks’ worth of shows in two days, look carefully at the returning contestants’ wardrobes. What blew my mind was that he had a short-lived sitcom on CBS around 1995-6. Many comedians do unless they play the whacky neighbor (David Leisure, Michael Richards) or co-worker (Ellen DeGeneres, Andy Kaufman). Louie’s has the great distinction of having Paul Feig (created Freaks & Geeks, directs stuff for Judd Apatow and was Mr. Poole in Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Laura Innes (ER, numerous dramas) and Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad ). I am seriously considering tickets the next time we come out, maybe I can meet Louie. Like me, he has a slideshow gallery showing all the cool people he’s met in his career. I would love to add him to my collection.
The marquee to Louie's theater. I peeked inside, it's nice about the size of Austin's own Cap City Comedy Club.
The doors to his theater and his trademarked smile. Nice to see another great Minnesotan continuing to make people laugh and not in Branson.
Elated by the overall experience, we predictably recuperated at the timeshare until it was time to drive have dinner at M. This relatively new casino is so far south on Las Vegas Boulevard, it’s practically in Henderson. We decided to scope it out for the buffet due to the scuttlebutt saying it was on par with Bellagio. Overall the place resembled Planet Hollywood in its decor (colors, lack of tacky theme). As for the food, I rather enjoyed it, especially when I saw how the alcohol (wine, beer) was included. Somara is more particular which meant Bellagio remains the winner and we will be returning there next year. Somara did try out her new-found craps skills after I saw Boston win game six. How did she do? I think she ended in the red. I broke even which was fine, there wasn’t much happening with the table (four players, us included). We both agreed to return, our list is growing larger and larger, we’re never going to get to squeeze Fremont in.
All gambling concluded that evening with our traditional roulette bet on 27…lost which means pretty little. I usually joke with Somara on how it’s just an omen about how easily we’ll come into money for the next year. Historically it’s never been true but I would love to win back the near-equivalent of a plane ticket.
This pretty concludes our latest journey to Lost Wages. Day Eight always entails checking out by 10 AM, saying goodbye to the staff, telling them we hope to see them next year and sitting around the airport for several hours. Vegas knows how to get people through the TSA bullshit quickly, the wait for security was easily 10 minutes. Leaving blows. Not only is the vacation pretty over, the takeoff is rough; the plane shakes throughout the process of attaining 10,000 feet.
We did make it back to Austin in one piece, three cheers for Southwest. Our cats were overjoyed while guarded in their reactions. By bedtime, they were sure it was us.
Are we ‘cured’ for a while? I think so. I tallied up the expenses since it was the first vacation we’ve had to put on the credit card in a few years (the vacation slush fund got depleted by a Stars’ season ticket emergency) but I’m not worried, my forecasts have it paid off by my birthday. The more exciting part is how we can definitely return every year courtesy of our new deed.
Remember the date in 2013! Somara and I will be returning come hell or highwater to have a renewal on our 10th anniversary. Checking ahead in the calendar, July 27 will be a Saturday, a great day for a wedding!
Gambling Report (Finale):
- Video Poker: Somara 4, Steve 0 ($65, $0), Somara is the official winner of the Maggi Republic’s Fourth Poker Invitational.
- Somara: -$34
- Steve: -$84 (Half of what I lost last year, I like this trend. Going to shoot for this being a green number next time!)