Destination: Las Vegas
Start date of trip: July 16 to the 24th 2005
Traveling companions: My husband Mario and son Mike
Goal of trip: FUN! And showing Mike the sights

Day 1

I had promised my son that I would take him to Vegas as soon as I came into a little money that I was inheriting. In spite of my husband’s declarations that only CRAZY people go to Vegas in July, I went ahead and booked…. Saturday and Sunday night at the Golden Nugget, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights at the Mirage, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at MGM Grand. I figured my 17 year old would get a good look at least 3 different areas that way. Of course it would turn out to be record-breaking temperatures this week and so we experienced the first 117 F day we have ever had in our lives. But oh well……hot or not…I was going to have fun!

We flew out of Detroit on America West at about 7 AM and landed in Vegas around 9 AM. Taxi to Golden Nugget cost $30 with a $5 tip. (Too much, I know, but WHO CARES…I AM IN VEGAS AGAIN!!!) Can’t check-in to the Nugget so early so we went and had breakfast and came back at 11AM. Received a very nice standard room in the South Tower. We took our son for a bit of a walk around the shops downtown and bought some cheap pop and beer. ( A bottle of Diet Coke cost $1.39 downtown and $2.25 in Mirage’s gift shop and $3.00 in Mirage’s vending machine!) Went back to check out the Nugget’s pool. Very hot…very crowded. The water in the pool needs ice cubes or something. Coming from Canada, swimming in water that warm is like swimming in pee. It was not very refreshing…so we gave up after a short while and went back to the room and cleaned up. At check-in the Nugget gave us a book of coupons which included a 2 for 1 dinner/lunch buffet and a 2 for 1 breakfast buffet. We used the dinner buffet one and found it to be very tasty and a good value…even without the coupon. Walked down to the Plaza to take in the Larry G. Jones show from 6 to 7. You get in for the price of an (over-priced) drink. An entertaining way to spend an hour. He is very good. My husband went back to the room and my son and I spent most of the night walking in circles under the canopy, taking in the light shows and bands and street performers. Also shared a football of beer with him and he was quite impressed with the entire Fremont atmosphere and the fact that no one seems to care about how he was drinking underage! I attempted to gamble for a while after he went to bed but I couldn’t get anything going with the Nugget slots so I called it a night. (more…)

Unfortunately my trip did not start off as planned. My trip was supposed to be from 7/13-7/20, but on Monday night my grandmother died. Although my grandmother was in the hospital she was supposed to make a complete recovery.

I was devastated and wanted to cancel the trip but my family pushed me to still go (Gram loved casinos). My best friend and I decided to changed the dates and still go.

We got to Las Vegas 11pm on Thursday (BTW-MGM were great in adjusting my reservation with no charges). From the time we got the luggage 15 minutes later we were in the room. I really like MGM. All the staff was so friendly. We had to wait to get the safe unlocked but it didn’t take long.

We went down just to play some slots and have a drink. I won $250 on Elvis. This report has a lot of slot playing in, I guess I need to zone by myself. We played until 2:30 and then crashed.

Friday-

We stayed around MGM, NYNY, MC, Luxor area. we picked-up or ESPN zone certificates and played some slots and VP. We gave up on Luxor and Mandalay Bay. we had comps we wanted to use and the One Club people were very rude. We used some of the comps on the Mandalay Bay buffet. We hung around MGM for most of the night. (more…)