My plan to journal Vegas a little every day, did not, of course, work out. I think I last wrote on Wednesday and now we are heading home. I will post about the end of our fantastic vacation!
I think I’ll work backwards because it will be easier. It is 7:38 a.m. and we are on the airplane. We love and hate taking this flight. It is great to have a direct flight to Duluth, and it is great to be home by noon – it is torture to get up at 3:40 a.m. to be ready to leave the hotel at 4:30. This morning, though, went as smoothly as it could go. We woke up to my alarm and I hopped in the shower. By the time I was done Kevin was up and we called Hockey Girl and Swedish Girl to get them up and moving. We got All Other Sports Boy up and got ready and finished packing (we had done most of our packing yesterday). We were out the door by 4:20 and getting SG at her room. We were in the lobby right on schedule – 4:30 a.m. Curling Man went to get the car while we checked out. We paid for most of our room with our winnings! Only one charge that didn’t belong to us made it onto our room bill – a charge from the private (topless) beach bar – Curling Man swears it wasn’t him.
After a stop at the gas station we dropped off the rental car, took the shuttle to the airport and were pleasantly surprised to see no line at the Allegiant Counter. We got our seats, checked our two bags and headed for security. Travelling on Easter Sunday morning is a good thing – lines at security were also small. We got through there with no delays. We found our gate, bought some food and I got a new book. While everyone was eating, I took $10 over to the slot machines. I started with video poker, but I wasn’t feeling the love so when I was a couple bucks ahead I went over to the Wheel of Fortune slots. I had never played this slot, but it is my friend’s favorite. It had not been kind to her this trip, but in her honor, I decided to play it. On my second spin, I hit the bonus. I made $56 and cashed out. It was sweet!
It’s amazing how awake and chipper everyone was this a.m. after a long and tiring day yesterday. We were up fairly early yesterday. HG, SG and I went down to get breakfast at the Red, White and Blue Café (our regular morning haunt). This morning we FINALLY got there early enough to get the Krispy Crème donuts that HG has been dying to have. She got a donut and a croissant (a new favorite treat she discovered this vacation). We got chocolate covered glazed donuts for AOSP. We also got a fruit bowl (in an effort to make sure everyone eats something nutritious for their first meal of the day). Then we went to Starbucks to get my chai and CM’s coffee. SG went to the cafe by the lobby, I think it’s called Orchids, to get a tea and an apple bran muffin. We went upstairs to eat and plan our day. We also did a little bit or packing because we knew we would be tired when we got home tonight.
SG really wanted to see the Stratoshpere and maybe do a ride and even though my Mother lived there for a short time, none of us had ever been there, so we went there. We got on the freeway and it was an easy trip. We parked and made our way through the casino (which CM noted had $5 craps tables) to the tower ticket booth. AOSB and CM did not want to go up. HG, SG and I did. Only SG was brave enough to consider going on any rides. Turns out it’s a much better deal if you decide to go on the rides before you go up, so she committed to do one – but she didn’t have to decide which one until she was up here.
The Stratospehere is the tallest building West of the Mississippi (yes, taller then the IDS building much to CM’s dismay). The.inside observation deck was on the 108th floor. Not surprisingly the view from there was extraordinary. We wandered around and took many photos. The outside observation deck is one floor up, and it was surprisingly sunny and warm out there. From that deck you could see all of the rides. There are three rides on top of the Stratosphere: Insanity, the Big Shot and the Extreme. The scariest by far was the Extreme – on which you sit in a roller coaster type car and roll backwards and forwards, looking like you are going to roll right off the track and plunge down over a thousand feet. I couldn’t even watch it. The Insanity also has you hanging over the edge of the building – this time spinning. The Big Shot is the highest thrill ride anywhere – at 1400+ feet above the ground. It is a ride that shoots you straight up into the air and bounces you up and down. Although it is the highest, it looks the least scary because at least there is a solid surface at the bottom of the ride. I couldn’t go on that one either because I can’t handle the up and down movement. After watching all of the rides, SG decided to try the Big Shot. I was glad. She loved it! In fact when she was done someone gave her some extra tickets they had so she did it again. She still had one more ticket and she tried and tried to get HG to go on it too and she came very close, but didn’t do it. She says if CM ever goes with her she’ll go on it. When we went downstairs, SG gave her last ride ticket away to a happy young couple.
We connected with AOSB and CM to eat lunch. We wanted to make sure to eat early enough to make sure we were going to be hungry for our planned dinner at Planet Hollywood before our show that evening. AOSB and CM had spent their time wandering around the shopping area at the Stratosphere. There was a great magic shop they spent a lot of time in. We had wanted to eat in a 50s-style diner, but the line was too long, so we decided just to find the food court. SG had a salad from a pizza place and the rest of us ate at McDs. For dessert the kids all had a little Ben and Jerry’s treat.
After the Stratosphere we decided to try to head back to South Point Casino to go bowling (we had tried the night before and there was a tournament going on so the kids couldn’t bowl). We figured it would be fun for the kids to bowl while we did a little gambling at a casino that had $5 craps and cards. Although our previous night’s disappointment should have taught us a lesson, we didn’t call ahead and it turned out that there once again was a tournament going on and no open bowling. They suggested the Sunset Station Casino or the Gold Coast Casino. When I called the Sunset Station, they also did not have open bowling so Gold Coast it was. At least we were familiar with that casino since we had gambled there before when we stayed at the Rio – in fact it’s where we learned to play craps. I called and they did have open bowling, so off we went.
We got there and got the kids established. CM and I went downstairs to gamble. We started out with 3 card poker. We each had one good hand, but mostly it was bad, so we left the table down just a little bit to check out craps. The table we went to was pretty cold. I left after just a few rollers. CM stayed and things turned around. I went to a Black Jack table. The cards weren’t great there, but the group playing was a lot of fun, so I had a good time piddling away my $50. I left with about $10 in my pocket when SG called and said they were done. The craps table was hot and it looked like CM was up quite a bit (I saw many, many green chips in front of him when I went over to tell him I was going upstairs). Kids had bowled 2 games. HG won the 1st one and AOSB won the 2nd, but of course SG was the only one bowling without bumpers. I collected everyone, gave them a little bit of money for the arcade and went back down. I went to a video poker machine to kill some time waiting for him to be done. The poker machine was kinder to me than the tables had been and I made back a very little bit of my money. CM had recouped his $ at craps and in fact had reportedly been up about $250 at one point, but he did not walk away when he should have, so he ended up only up about $65. Overall we were down at that casino, but we had fun.
We decided to head back to the casino for a bit to change and freshen up for the evening. We had gotten tickets at Tix4Tonight the day before for Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo. We also had purchased coupons for dinner at Planet Hollywood. The woman at the ticket place had recommended Planet Hollywood because “they didn’t need reservations” and “they were close to our show.” What a bunch of baloney! We left our hotel about 4:40 p.m. and I remembered that I needed to turn our vouchers in for actual tickets at the box office. CM dropped off SG and me at the Monte Carlo. We easily found the box office and got our tickets. Then we headed down the Strip to Ceasar’s Palace. CM and the kids had driven directly there and we were going to meet them at the restaurant. I don’t know what that ticket lady was thinking. Ceasar’s Palace is quite the hike from Monte Carlo. SG and I walked as fast as we comfortably could and it took us at least 15 minutes – if we’d have had the kids it would have been twice that. We did get to go through a portion of the Bellagio which was lovely, but I couldn’t believe that she had recommended a restaurant so far away. Just as we were getting into the casino at Ceasar’s, CM called me and told me that they weren’t seating anyone at Planet Hollywood without a reservation until 7:30 p.m.!! I was livid! Now I had spent $15 for coupons I would never use and I knew I would have hungry and crabby kids. Ceasar’s Palace was an absolute madhouse, so after I gave away my 50% off coupon to a grateful Mom standing in line for PH, we left to find dinner. Since Monte Carlo was so far away I told CM we should drive. We went to pick up the car to head over. The Strip was really busy, and I told CM I knew there had to be a back route behind the casinos. He was skeptical, but as we were leaving I saw a sign for Frank Sinatra Dr. I had remembered that we had been on that road behind our hotel when we had come home in a cab the night before, so I told him I thought it would work. We took a chance and it was SLICK! We got to Monte Carlo within 5 minutes. We opted to valet park so we could make sure to get to dinner quickly. We decided for the sake of time to do the buffet, which was actually quite nice. I am annoyed that the buffets in Vegas that charge adult prices for my 11 year-olds, but in this case it was okay, because she only charged us for 4 people. Normally I would be honest and pay for the 5th, but since I knew HG and AOSB would never eat an adult portion (and neither would SG for that matter), I felt it was justified. The buffet was actually quite good and everyone was happy when we left to walk across the casino to the Lance Burton Theatre. We did not have great seats, but the theater is small enough that we could see pretty well. Magic/comedy acts are not my favorite, but CM and the kids love them, and I have to admit that he was pretty good. Afterwards we went to the magic shop and the kids got a DVD and a magic trick. I told them they now owe me a magic show. I think AOSB could be pretty good at magic if he put some effort into it as he’s a natural performer.
After the show we went back to the hotel. We got the kids settled into the room and we went downstairs for one last shot at the casino. CM really wanted to play craps but the minimum bet at the tables in Mandalay Bay was $15 so he went over to the Luxor to play some craps. He didn’t do too well, finishing up down a couple hundred. He came back and played some video poker and recouped a bit, still ending up down for the session. I also played some video poker, but I did not do well. I left the machine down about $40 and went to find the DaVinci Diamonds slot that I had been wanting to play for a couple of days since I noticed it. I am so glad I did – it was awesome! I just kept winning and I ended up ahead about $150 for the night. SG wanted her picture taken at a slot machine so we connected so I could take it before we went up for the night.
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