I wish I would have thought of that snappy post title a bit earlier!
Happy good morning Las Vegas! Today will be my last full day here. I need to finish visiting every casino on the Strip. I need to gamble. I need to get some photos of the Mirage atrium without a million people in the way.
And the casino.
When we last left off, I had just had my biggest win of any Vegas trip. I went to my room for a break. But not for long because I have a ticket for Mystere, right next door at Treasure Island. I took some pretty photos on my walk over.
This morning, I wake up at Fremont Hotel for the last time and get in some last morning Cleopatra Keno. Before heading out, I take a penny and throw it to see if it lands on heads (this means I will win) or tails (this means I will lose.) IT. FUCKING. LANDS. ON. THE. SIDE. UP. AGAINST. THE. ARMOIRE.
YOU
MOTHER
FUCKER.
I stop at Dunkin Donuts, intending to pay for my coffee in all change because I cannot handle how many pounds of it I am accumulating. I unzip the change compartment and drop my wallet. There is so much change on the floor. There is more change on the floor than there is at the bottom of Lake Bellagio. I am so mad. I pick up everything that is on heads, leaving behind who knows how much money, and pay for my drink and storm away SO MAD.
I start playing and I doubled a few $5 bills on Cleopatra Keno. I went to visit my new bestie Double Double Bonus video poker machine and she gives me four of a kind sevens.
My sunlight alarm clock failed me today. I slept until 9:00 am, even with the blinds completely open in the desert.
I am still at Fremont hotel, tonight will be my last night here before I move to the Strip.
I got up and got dressed. Then something tragic happened. My lucky penny from yesterday fell onto the floor and landed on tails. Oh hell no. I took a bunch of pennies out of my wallet and threw those around and picked up the ones that landed on heads. The floor now has many pennies on tails scattered about and walking in my room means looking out for landmines.
I should also mention my current first world problem. This is a problem that every person who plays slots, while being comped, faces. Loose change. I probably have about thirteen dollars in loose change on me by now. All those times you cash out at an odd number really add up. Since I am using cash for nothing, all my meals are comped, I am basically only able to get rid of $.33 every time I buy a Dunkin Donuts large iced coffee. I cannot keep up with the growing change. Even with my quarters out of my bag, set aside to play Sigma Derby, my bag is getting heavier and heavier with all this change.
I started my day playing Cleopatra Keno on a machine I have never played on before. All my normal Keno machines near the lobby are full so I had to seek out newer, funner machines. This one hated being a Keno machine and had no problems letting me know this. So I switched her to Double Double Bonus video poker and she rewarded me kindly.
Once again, I went to bed in Vegas with the blinds open so that the sun was my alarm clock. I am still at Fremont hotel. This morning I lingered around my room for awhile to delay my scheduled degeneracy. I was out by 9:30.
I stopped at the Cleopatra Keno machines near the lobby. These machines are a mere 43 steps from the room elevators. Super convenient for me.
I lost $10 before winning $55. I cashed out with $53.
Breakfast was at Binions today, using comps. Once I was done eating, I continued on my quest to play a minimum of $20 in every Downtown casino. For all the time I spend down here, it sure has been a long time since I have darkened the doors of Golden Nugget and Golden Gate. Maybe I just don’t like gold?
My first stop though, was Plaza. I have a free play coupon and I want to win big with it. The gambling gods denied me my wish.
I went to sleep last night in my Four Queens suite, with the drapes open on purpose so I would be woken up by the sun. I love looking out the window first thing in the morning and wondering what is going to happen to me out there today.
Today’s goal is to play at Four Queens and get them to love me. I am not sure if I succeeded, but I sure could not win a damned thing. I started with a $10 free play coupon and lost that. Then kept going.
Sometimes you put in money and you play. And then other times, you put in money and it just vanishes and you do not even get to play. This was one of those latter mornings. It is so frustrating. My coffee didn’t even reach a temperature where I could take a sip without burning my mouth and already I am halfway through today’s budget.
Finally, a win.
So I ended my last full day’s recap with a cliffhanger. Was I going to fly home or was I going to stay?
Come on, you KNOW I stayed.
Which meant that instead of going to bed after dinner last night, I stayed out and went nutso again! I lost everything I had from this trip’s first lucky streak earlier in the day too. YAYAYAYAY.
I went to bed at around 3:00 am and woke up at 7:00 am to give it another go.
I started with breakfast at California’s coffee shop. My notes say “I am already fucking hostile today. Oh merry fucking Christmas. I gave Buddha $.08 on my way here. I’ve got a little bit of time left to ruin my life.” Aren’t I a joy in the morning?
Waaaaaaahhhhhhh! Don’t you hate waking up in Las Vegas knowing it is your last full day here? Like seriously, the worst. You begin thinking of all the things you wanted to do and didn’t get to. You start regretting your bad choices, your degenerate ways. Sigh.
I woke up cloaked in self loathing at California hotel at 6:00 am and was out by 7:30 am.
First stop, Dunkin Donuts for iced coffee. Second stop, the video poker machine that dealt me Aces yesterday. The screen is messed up and I cannot get it to change over to quarters. Fuck it, it is my last day. I will play $.50.
YAY.
Then I moved to nickel Ultimate X. Got some decent hits here, including everyone’s favorite, Aces with a Kicker. Continue reading
Despite how insanely comfortable my bed was here at Green Valley Ranch, I was wide awake at 4:00 am. Well I am in Las Vegas. Let’s…go gamble?
I stop for coffee at The Grand Cafe. Meaning I ordered coffee, realized I didn’t put any cash in my wallet, and had to walk away to go back to my room which is a million miles away. Halfway there I realized hurr durr, I own both credit cards AND I have comps on my Stations card. I get that taken care of, sit down at a machine and HURR DURR HI I HAVE NO CASH ON ME.
Back to the room, back to the casino.
I decide to play Buffalo. I can never say enough how much I love these games. I am playing one of the ones with the super sized screen. I get one bonus symbol, then a second, then a guy walks by and smacks my machine yelling “GET IT! GET IT! GET IT!” and I do! And I win zero! Oh.
I keep playing and get another bonus. This time I win $118. WOO!
I go back up to my room, it is only 5:30. I pack my stuff and lay down for an hour. Then it is back out for breakfast. I get a buffet, free from MyVegas. My goal is to catch the 9:00 shuttle to the airport, so I can catch the WAX bus to downtown. I am moving to my last hotel of this trip today, California. I am very anxious to get down there because I want to be there NOW.
Let me tell you guys something. I do not know how I got this lucky. But my shuttle from Green Valley Ranch pulled into Zero Level at the airport, just as the WAX was pulling up. I was in my room at California by 10:00. That is right. I left Green Valley Ranch on a shuttle at 9:00 am, took a bus downtown and was checked in, and inside my room, only one hour later. It was a Christmas-Eve-Eve miracle.
California has remodeled a bunch of their rooms, but I am given an old one. I don’t care because I love this hotel and would happily accept any room here. Except that one where the roof leaked onto my bed and soaked it.
On my way out, I stop to rub Buddha’s belly. I tell him all about how I was in his birth country earlier this year. He just laughed at me.
The beds at Red Rock are so comfortable. I had my longest night’s sleep here. I could have slept many more hours, but I need to eat and skedaddle as I am in Las Vegas and I have plans today.
First stop, Player’s Club to get my free MyVegas buffet loaded. The line for the buffet was so long. It is every time I come here. It honestly is no wonder they discontinued their relationship with MyVegas. Quite frankly, they don’t need it.
I play around a bit but I am short on time as I need to be on the 11:00 shuttle. When I originally planned this trip, I was going to take the airport shuttle to the airport, and switch over to the Green Valley Ranch airport shuttle, as I am staying there tonight. However this changed slightly when I decided to get my hair done. I am overdue for a Keratin treatment and my roots are insanely imitating what they looked like back in the 80’s.
Since I have been traveling so much, I didn’t have time to get this done before I left home. I don’t really have time to get it done when I get back home. So why not get it done in Vegas? I will either be curbing a gambling loss, or preserving a win by being out of a casino for a few hours. Right?