[misterKeno]

Hi everyone... i'll share my trip with you. Hope i can provide some info using my memory, and sore feet.


Sun 7/16:

I load stuff into the back of my truck and secure it with tie-downs, etc, etc. Got as much stuff loaded in as i could. It's sunday afternoon & i have been up since about 530am. I ended up going to my brother in laws to do some landscaping and fence building... then we stopped around noon (when it got hot out). So, now it's 930pm & i have the last nook & crannie TAKEN with a box or a small item. I lay down, but cant sleep... i get online and do some more checking for online ads for rooms for rent. I make some final notes, and that is that.

Mon 7/17:

It is now 12:40 am & my friend Steve arrives. We throw my suitcase and his duffle bag in the back & soon we are rolling from N. Calif. We make several stops along the way... mostly for me. See, steve cannot drive a vehicle with manual transmission... so it's all ON ME. Sigh. The stops are for stretching my legs & also to open my eyes... it felt as if i was going to fall asleep once we hit Bakersfield. Gosh!! We could have made it into town on 2 tanks, but i decided for three stops @ $20 a piece. Once again a chance to get out and stretch and WAKE UP. Our only food intake along the 520 mile stretch was an almond joy & an order of potato wedges from jack in the box 24-hour drive thru.


We stop in Primm for a quick lookzie, but i tell Steve to go in and do his bathroom break, i'll circle the block and be back out in front in 7 minutes. I really couldnt afford to park the truck anywhere. Even with tie-downs, your items are wide open to possible theft.


We're back on the road & arrive in mecca @ about 9:50am. I jotted down the address of a public storage facility that wasnt too far off-strip. It has a/c (instead of swamp coolers) so the clerk mentioned that was a PLUS. Signed for a 10x10 unit & got my padlock and Steve and I began to unload stuff. It was hot even at this hour. I have a metal filing cabinet that i had to get out of the back of the truck & place on a handcart to wheel in ................. But, that sucker got SOO hot i had to put on a pair of work gloves to handle it. This was at 10:25am.


Finally, the truck is empty & we're getting better gas mileage now. Steve and i agree on lunch at the GOLD COAST buffet. I find a good parking spot & we go in. I decide to try a roll of the dice for the heck of it. Won $14 in two minutes & i cash in the little chips & we go eat. It was now 11:10 & there was no line at all. The buffet was $8.02 with tax per person.


Steve must not have been too hungry. Either it's that.. or i'm a robust eater, he he he. I guess it's just me. Well, given the fact that i've been living on peanut butter sandwiches and twinkies for the last 5 weeks. Steve had chicken, corn, some chinese stir-fry, shrimp (the white & pink kind..uncooked...for dipping in cocktail sauce), and one other dish before he ended it with soft-serve ice cream. I dont like seafood myself, so i described the shrimp as best i could. Myself... i had the orange chicken, which was incredible.. just the right amount of crunch. It was very fresh and tangy. Was probably better than panda express (if you know that that is. Next i had a chile relleno, an enchilada, and made my own caesar salad. The salad arrangement was once again top-notch. I went back for ravioli & a few slices of pizza before calling it quits on the hot food. Their pizza is still really good. And, the cook constantly took pizza AWAY from the serving section if it looked like it had been there more than 10 min... always fresh. Finished with (what else) a slice of cheesecake. Their cheesecake is served cold & sliced in front of you. Really good.


We sat there for a few minutes finishing our sodas and looking at our watches. Steve wondered if we should head to the Stardust. I said we could, but there's no guarantee they'll give us the room early. But, we drove over there anyhow. We went Flamingo over the 15 & left on the Strip. Traffic was moderate.


It was 1pm & we arrived, i let steve out at the main entrance with a case of soda and our luggage. I went and self-parked it out back. It was certainly warm out now. I caught my breath as i finally made it inside. Mind you, it was only a 170 foot walk.


We checked in & the clerk said "do you want a high or low floor". I opted for a high floor. We ended up on the 19th floor. But, was DOWN THE HALL A BIT i tell ya. So, more walking. We had a strip view...well sort of. We could see Wynn and the Frontier and a few others. No big deal. The room was nothing special. I'll give you a run-down of things i noticed and experienced.


---> The beds were WAY too springy. I swore they were like a pogo stick. Once you sat down or layed down you'd get a springy action that lasted 6 seconds. The sheets on my bed had two top sheets. (not a fitted sheet and a top sheet), lol. Soooo, my lower sheet got all switch-a-roo'd quickly, lol. Carpet was okay. The windows didnt open, sigh. The a/c worked 'fair'. More about that later (brace yourself). Our toilet 'ran' meaning you'd need a double-double jiggle of the handle b4 it would stop 'running'. The shower/tub was good, and water pressure was good. The t.v. was 17".. maybe smaller, but a disappointment nonetheless. Oh, and the pillows, just not right. The room had a safe, you'd just pull the key out and keep it (and return it when done). TINY safe. <---


It's now about 3:30pm and we just relaxed for a while. I tried taking a nap, but no luck. I was really exhausted. I decided to go downstairs for an hour & try my luck. Back upstairs and i had lost $15, oh well. Steve was asleep, but the door shutting woke him, lol.


We watched some local news & pondered dinner. Also at this time i figured i would make some phone calls about ROOMS.. as the persons i were to meet with had 9 to 5 jobs... not only that, i didnt want to be out in the heat at 4 or 5 or 6. So, it turned out that i only made one phone call that night... and was going to make tuesday the day for searching, etc.


It's now 4:25... and Steve says he's hungry. I asked him why he didnt eat more at the buffet. He shrugs his shoulders. I knew i had wanted to eat the ELLIS ISLAND steak special while i was in town, so we agreed on that. We went out the backdoor near the sportsbook & walked to the truck. It was HOT out... i think it was about 107. But the skies were gray. We went up the strip and made a few turns and got to ELLIS ISLAND. I have never been there before. But, was able to find a parking spot closer than any other to the front door. Woohoo! Went in and circled the place. Saw the metro pizza, saw the bar-b-que stuff, the FUN PIT. That's the name of their table games area:

roulette 1
BJ 6
'tub' craps 1

We were seated right away. The waiter was good & was hustling like heck to take care of people. We each got the 4.95 special, and root beers. I wanted to see what the hype was about their home-made rootbeer. I'll be honest, it was okay. It seemed a bit too 'malty', but oh well. Steve had salad, says it was good. I had soup (chicken something), it was good. Then our steaks arrived. My gosh!! I didnt know the steak was this big. I was really thinking it was a little-thing. It was indeed a 10-ounce 'filet cut' Top Sirloin. Cooked a perfect medium. Came with baked tater, and green beans. Folks, this was an outstanding steak. And when you're done eating... there arent any parts of the steak left behind from 'cutting around'. It was all edible OUTSTANDING steak. This meal would have been $30 on the strip.


We took our cut-out matchplays to the booth, got out cards, then headed to the pit to play BJ for $5. We both lost. Oh well. We played some VP and slots for about 40 min. On the way out i got a slice of the METRO pizza. It was good (just not great). At least now i can say i had it. Of note, the bar-b-que area was now crowded. And the wait for a table at the RESTAURANT was 25 minutes.


Back out to the truck. It's still light out. It's still hot out. We drove over to Wynn on account of neither of us have seen it. An hour later, we 'saw it' and we left. What can i say.. the place is nice.. but they go a bit overboard with having a lambroughini for sale right as you come out of the self-park garage. The mix of folks in the casino were about:

25% people who belong there & could afford it
75% people who just wanted to look around & try one hand of BJ (b4 leaving)

I guess you can estimate what group i was in. I did one bet at craps before losing. The guy next to me had about $44,000.00 in chips in front of him. Oh well. Their sports book is pretty nice. Also, i did the WALKTHRU of the buffet. It was about 8:45pm and the wait was enormous to get in. Anyhoo, the food looked pretty good. Well, it should for thirty clams a person. Maybe it's me, but i'm happy with the gold coast buffet. Besides, the GC buffet... the seating isnt cramped at all.


Back to the truck and its cooling down slightly now. The skies are partly gray now. We head to the FSE downtown... i figure Steve has never seen it in his life & this will be his chance, plus we have transportation instead of a $15 cab ride. We get there & steve looks out the window and says 'eh, doesnt look like much'. I tell him you have to wait til the top of the hour and the canopy lights up, etc, etc. He was wanting to get back to home base. Sigh.


So we drive back to the Stardust & self park & are back in the room. I decide to go downstairs and check out the dice table just one more time... i was going to return to the room within 25 minutes (i said). I would not see Steve for the next 4 hours. I am playing craps and have a rollercoaster ride of many proportions.


Within the next 35 minutes i go from a $15 buy-in
to $73
to $8
to $194
to $100
to $305
to $140

then, right there in the hear of the casino, everyone hears a boom. Yes fromt he MIDDLE OF the casino you can hear the 'bass' of the thunder outside. The lights in the casino flicker. They do this 4 times in the next 15 minutes. Three of the times when the dice were released from someone's hand, lol. People are coming in and saying how its raining & there's a light-show going on outside with the sky. Yikes, i think to myself. Well the dice table is down to 3 players, then suddenly ALL the lights go out in the casino!!!! The temp-lights come on 4 seconds later. Then soon enough, the regular lights come back on. Meanwhile, anyone who's playing a machine--has their screen reading 'call attendant'. So you see tons of people just staring @ their screen. Anyhow, before i left the dice table i worked my dough to $25 & gave up. My legs were tired of standing. Also, i was sweating pretty well, as the a/c in the casino went out 40 min earlier.


I begin to walk back towards the elevators, i look outside near the valet area & the streets were indeed soaked. I couldnt get near the elevators. They werent working. This part of the lobby was WARM. No a/c at all, and the lites kept flickering. I had been up a great deal of hours now & was in need of a shower and some a/c ASAP. Well i sat down on a slot-chair 50 feet short of the elvators & listened above for announcements "The Stardust is currently trying to remedy blah blah". I lower my head and lift it up & then realize i dozed off for 14 minutes in what I THOUGHT WAS a blink of my eye. My feet feel like they're on fire so i take off my tennis shoes.


I see steve.. in the lobby and he tells me everything upstairs is without power... it even took them 90 minutes to get the emergency hallway lights to come on upstairs he says. Finally, people are getting on the elvator, but some are deciding NOT TO get on the elevator. There is a security guard saying "you may go up to your room, but there is NO POWER up there. Meaning your a/c wont work. So they hand us these green glow sticks that you break in 1/2 and they let you have THAT AMOUNT of light in your hotel room. So we went up and drew the drapes and just sat there. Hotter than friggin hell. It took until 315am before the power finally came back on. Bad bad bad nite. On top of it.... i hadnt been to sleep in what seemed like 17 weeks. Sigh.


We cancelled our wake up call, and finally fell asleep.


Tues 7/18:

I wake up at 'some hour'. I'm not sure really cause the alarm clock is blinking 12:00. I call downstairs and she says it's "12:21pm sir". So, that was that. Plus the sun thru the curtains was fairly bright. We watched the news and got the forecast which was going to be 109 for the day. Sigh. I made some phone calls & was going to meet with several persons that day. I told steve we'd be on our own til dinner. So, i ventured towards GC for their buffet (what else). Heck, for $8.02.. it cant be beat. I had more of what i had the day before... except this time i went hog-wild on the stuffed shells, lol. But, i didnt load up overboard. At least not to my standards, lol.


Met up with a few people and decided on a room to rent. Fella said to just come back in Aug with 1st/last/dep $. So that was that. I was glad that 'that' was now over. Plus my first 1/2 of stuff/personal items was in storage now in LV..... and if i dont get it out of there by aug 16, i owe them a PILE OF $$ cause the first month for $1, well.......... you know it just lasts........ for ONE MONTH.


I decided to drive from Mandy Bay all the way up to Stardust for the fun of it. And that took 80 minutes (including a stop at LUV IT frozen custard) before turning around to come back to Stardust. This place LUV IT frozen custard is supposedly an institution. Been there since 1970. It's at Oakey & the strip... in the parking lot of the old Olympic Garden strip club. Or, in the shadow of the Strat Tower. It's not ice cream. It's not soft serve. It's not yogurt. It's frozen custard... basically a rich smooth dessert. So i opted for a double.. a scoop each of strawberry and orange. They have featured flavors each day. The texture was really good, but i'll have to admit the flavor was REALLY MILD. Maybe that's how it's supposed to be. Oh well.


I got on my celphone & told steve to be outside the main entrance in 15 min & i'd pick him up & we'd go somewhere. The heat was brutal. Picked him up and we headed to the Mirage. We were just going to hang out at the sportsbook, etc, etc.... as each of us was getting limited on funds. We went in and noticed the changes that were made. The bacarrat bar is now gone... and some lounge is now very close to REGISTRATION, cant remember it's name. There were subtle changes thruout. Oh well. I remarked at the fools eating those silly sandwiches @ the Carnegie Deli. Steve played some VP, lost $3. We then decided to go to Caesar's (afterall the moving sidewalks are RIGHT THERE when you leave the tiger habitiat)... uh, wrong.


We go out the glass doors and the mirage moving sidewalk is broken, so we walk the 70 yards... then, the moving sidewalk that takes you to the forum shops is no longer there. Guess i dont get to LV enough. You enter some 'area' of the Forum Shops (the area with the spiral escalators) and such. Then, THAT leads to the orig. Forum Shops. I take two breaks along the way to just sit down as my feet hurt a bit. Only looked at a few shops, etc, etc. I was very thirsty, but actually didnt get a thing to drink until i was back @ the truck (which would be 90 min later). Steve played a slot machine w.o.f., got nothing. I was going to get a free drink @ Ceasar's ( i hoped ) by just putting $20 in bartop vp & getting it & walking. But i swear, i couldnt find ANY BAR AT CEASAR'S with vp. They had none that i could find. Damn.


We hung out at the sportsbook at Ceasar's then decided to walk back (the same way). On the way out, we noticed a watch store in the Forum Shops. Huge store !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had ALL the top brands of watches under one roof. Tons of good looking salesgirls too. None of the stuff had prices on it. But i saw a padduck phillipe watch that i fancied. Not sure if i spelled that right. Soon enough we were back to the Mirage & back to the parking garage. All i really wanted to do was hit a 7-11 or something and get a tall soda. (( isnt that sad, i'm in a casino & didnt get a beverage of any sort, sigh!!! )) And, i'll tell ya, i get light-headed when i'm dehydrated.


Well, not it's around 6:15pm & steve would like to get dinner underway. He suggests Ellis Island or perhaps use the coupons we got for the Stardust Free Buffet. I tell him no for the Stardust Buffet (as i had done a walkthru the day before -- it looked SAD !!!!). So, i warned him that there may be a wait @ the E.I. -- he thinks there is little chance of that because it's a weekday. I just mutter under my breath and we go over there. Sixty minute wait is quoted to me by the cutest hostess in LV. So i tell him & he cant believe it. I tell him they'll call our # when the table is ready & we can hang out in the casino. Well, steve gets bored within 4 minutes & wants to just give up and go somewhere else. Sigh. Double Sigh.


Luckily enough, our parking space was spectacular so it's not that much of a walk out to the truck. I havent had anything to drink (water, etc) in 4 hours & i'm pissed that i didnt get a bottled water from the bar or even Metro Pizza. Oh well.


e decide on the GC Buffet. Will have been my 3rd meal there in the last 24 hours. His 2nd. Can you believe this?? But, we do it anyway. I drop him @ the main door of the GC, i self park & feeling a bit dizzy. I go inside and up to a bar and in an ELEVATED voice ask for ice water while the bartender was making someone ELSE'S drink, lol. I needed water!!!!! I drank it instantly & found steve @ the buffet entrance. No wait at all. Dinner buffet was $24.?? for 2 people. Steve payed for it. Everything was again great... the variety was slightly different, but still great. Steve loaded up quite a bit. Myself, i think it was going overboard having more than one buffet a day. I toned it down quite a bit. I did, however, notice this custom pasta station that i guess no one took advantage of. You get a plate and load up whatever veggies you want & then a guy will make you a pasta plate.... linguini, spaghetti, fetucinne, etc, then your choice of sauce & he dumps in the veggies to a RED HOT frying pan, takes like 2 minutes. So i got linguine with a pesto sauce... was awfully good. But, the chef made me a plate that was jumbo, oh well. I hate 1/2. LOL.

We sat in the casino and did some people watching. I wanted to play the final session of Bingo just to say that i did. I was up in the Bingo hall the day before just looking around between sessions & it's a comfortable room. Looks like mostly seniors, but oh well. And, you can play for like $6 (higher for higher payouts). So, it didnt seem too bad of a deal. Steven wanted to get back to the Stardust... so we hung out only another 25 minutes before heading back. The weather finally cooled off a bit.


We pooled together $5 a piece on an over/under baseball wager that juuuuust missed, sigh. I guess that's how it goes. Sooo, we were back at the Stardust & in the room before too long.


I double checked out sports bet @ the Stardust sportsbook just in case. I dont see what the attraction is about the Stardust sportsbook... it seems big and old and 'fair'. Nothing else great about it. I guess it's where the opening line COMES FROM. But, that doesnt do anything for the bettor. Ordinary chairs to boot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Wynn Sports Book is nice!


We iced down sodas & watched some t.v. -- i must have fell asleep cause i cant remember a thing after that.


Wed July 19:

I slept slightly better.. and was awake at 845am. Got up and packed everything & showered & was ready to be leaving after breakfast. We still had our free buffet coupons for the Dust, so we figured we'd use them. I wasnt expecting much for their breakfast buffet. And, i'll tell ya what....... it WASNT MUCH of anything.... in fact, it looked sad. Steve had one plate of food, i had 2 pieces of bacon, and a dougnut. The end. Their warming trays were of ENORMOUS SIZE. The food looked to be leftovers i kid you not. The eggs were made from a powder. You could have gotten nearly 275 servings of eggs from this one warming tray it was so big and the matterhorn HEIGHT of the eggs in it was just ewwwwwww. Now, i dont eat eggs, but i can tell what they are supposed to look like when cooked fresh (as i did so for my mother). The other stations marked for example "southwest" and "chinese" were just VACANT, with no food on them. Now i know this is just breakfast............ but most other LV buffets at least put SOMETHING out for each 'area'. Then, they had french toast in a warming tray. It was cold. Even with the supposedly heated syrup it was still COLD. And the walk from the buffet to our table was 11 feet. COLD food. The orange juice was warm. I'm not kidding you. There were only about 9 people in there eating. I can see why now.


It's about 10:50 am and we should be hitting the road soon. We grab out bags & checkout & head to the truck. I want 'something' to nibble on b4 leaving town. So i......... can you believe this........... i say 'screw it, i'm going to E.I. for a steak Steve.. so if you want to wait in the casino for me you can". I figured what the heck, it's a DAMN GOOD steak & it's 24/7.... so we're in & out in 24 minutes. Cooked PERFECTLY.


It's 11:25 & we're on I-15 headed out of LV... warm weather, but lite traffic.. actually lite traffic all the way back to Calif. We stop @ Primm @ Whiskey Pete's to use the restroom. Steve and i each play a nickel slot for 45 minutes with a $2 buy-in. Not too bad. Come to think of it... neither of us either experienced or witnessed a big slot-winner that trip.


Got back home at about 11pm. And, well that's about it.


Observations:

Stardust Hotel... i can see why the employees & the owners just dont 'care' anymore. It's coming down. That's about it. There were noticeable repairs that could have been made here/there, but were just intentionally overlooked. None of the staff were rude, but on the other hand--no one went out of their way for you.

E.I. ... if you havent gone, you need to. They're serving a steak that would truely rival the quality of ANYTHING you'd find on the strip for $50/person. The dining room isnt luxurious & there's anything from dirty blue-collared folks to dressed up people.. but it's a great place. Worth the wait & worth the mis-cues by waiters doing the best they can.

G.C. ... i ate the buffet there too much this trip. Then again, i'm not complaining. I like the casino. The bowling center looks neat & clean.. and one day i'll try the bingo.

Wynn ... i cant afford you.

Water ... i just wish each hotel would have iced down water bottles @ each of their entrances, you could grab one on the way in/out. I can totally see how folks have died of dehydration the past 2 months there.

Thanks for reading... comments & questions welcomed.

mK