Yup, we snuck away for a Vegas vacation to celebrate Paula’s birthday. It’s been a whole year since we’ve visited our deposits in Vegas and thought we were way overdue for a visit – and to possibly withdraw some of our previous deposits.
I kept a little journal so here’s the recap:
Tuesday, 1/11/11 Approx: 10:48 PM
Sitting in row 44 getting ready for take-off. Paula is messing with her inflatable First Class Sleeper by Tavelon. Me, I’m just happy these seats have “wings” on the headrest. We’re on Hawaiian Air’s Airbus A330 headed for Vegas, Baby!
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Wednesday, 1/12/11 Approx: 4:41 AM
Touched down under clear skies in Las Vegas. The flight was pretty turbulent at one point – just after I started eating my turkey sandwich. I had just poured my Ginger ale into the cup of ice when the turbulence began. I abandoned my sandwich and decided to hold the cup in one hand and the can of Ginger ale in the other. Not on the serving tray, but suspended in mid-air as we were bouncing not just up and down but side to side too! Even hit a few “air pockets” where the plane dropped a bit. As my two hands were bouncing in rhythm in front of me, Paula said it looked like I was conducting a symphony.
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Wednesday 1/12/11 Appox. 6:08 AM
After we got our rental car, it was time for breakfast at IHOP. But instead of going to the usual IHOP on Maryland Parkway, we decided to try the one in the row of eateries fronting the Las Vegas Outlet mall – aka Belz. I had the ham & egg melt sandwich.
The main reason we always go to IHOP is because they leave a carafe full with coffee right on the table. No need to flag down the wait-help for more coffee – just pour to your heart’s content.
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Wednesday, 1/12/11 Approx. 7:18 AM
Trader Joe’s in Henderson to stock up on water and snacks.
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Wednesday, 1/12/11 Approx 1:24 PM
We checked into The California Hotel at about 9:30 AM. Got the comp’d rooms, no problem – but no meal coupons. After taking about a 3 hour nap (while Paula checked out the casino for a bit), we headed back down to the casino to play some – just to get warmed up and get friendly with the machines.
We stopped by the slot hostess desk to visit Carrie Ciudadano and thank her for scoring us the rooms. She asked how everything was going and we explained that we had a problem with the meal coupons – that we didn’t have any. A quick call to the front desk and we had our meals taken care of.
Carrie is the best!
*When you play at The Cal, Main Street Station, or The Fremont, be sure to sign up for a Boyd’s B-Connected card and use it every time you play. The points that accumulate comes in real handy for getting comp’d rooms, meals, and even cash.
Later we headed out to the Premium Outlet mall – aka Downtown mall – for some shopping. Since this was our first pass, it was more of a “browsing” trip rather than a “buying” trip. Shopaholics know never to buy at the first place you go to. Much like eating at a buffet, it pays to scope out all the different stations (malls) first, then go back and pick and choose what you want.
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Thursday, 1/13/11 Approx: 7:24 PM
Earlier in the day, we drove out to Primm for some shopping. As usual, I tried my luck at the casino that’s attached to the mall. And as usual, I broke even – which I consider a good thing! Paula bought a few things. Me, I left empty handed.
As we were heading back, an unusual sight was that the dry lake bed wasn’t dry. First time we’ve seen it filled with water. Must’ve been from the heavy snow that happened around New Year’s time.
Driving back, nature was calling so it was a quick stop at South Point hotel and casino. Plus, we had to try our luck on the Hot-Rod poker machines. Not much luck this time…
By now it was around 5:00 PM and since we hadn’t eaten since a late breakfast, it was time for our obligatory visit to In-N-Out burger. We headed out for Henderson. Me, I had the Double-Double (animal style) while Paula opted for a regular burger (protein style). Fries – extra crispy.
What was funny was that a few tables away from us – there was this Chinese couple eating their burgers. After they were done, I saw the guy go back up to the counter and order a burger without the bun. He must’ve seen Paula eating her Protein Style burger with lettuce in place of the bun. At first the counter girl didn’t know what he was asking for until he mentioned the lettuce instead of the bun. Then she said “Oh, Protein style!”. Just like Jamba Juice, INO also has a secret menu.
After our meal, we headed to Belz to walk off our burgers and do some (more) shopping. This time I did buy myself a few shirts that I need for work.
We got back to The Cal at about 9:00 – just in time for dinner. And late night gambling.
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Friday, 1/14/11 Happy Birthday, Paula!
After a late breakfast and before heading out, Paula and I tried our luck on the $1 Treasure Chest poker machine. We each put in $20 and in about 45 minutes later, we cashed out with $200 each. Shopping money. This was a nice start for Paula’s special day.
We drove out to Burlington Coat factory on Sahara and spent an hour or so in the store. Then we headed over to Meadow’s mall. Paula took a look at the Macy’s store there while I sat outside on these comfortable high-back leather chairs. I was just beginning to nod off when Paula returned and said there wasn’t anything that caught her fancy. I told her that I was tired so she said she’d walk around the mall while I rested some. I remember looking at my watch and it was 3:25.
So Paula wandered around the mall as my eyes got heavy and my head was slowly slipping to the side. Next thing you know, I feel a tap on my knee and thought Paula had returned. Instead, it was a female mall security person. She asked if I was alright and I assured her that I was. She said she was just checking to make sure I was breathing and that I could continue sleeping if I wanted to. I thanked her for checking up on me – but being kinda embarrassed, I was wide awake now. I looked at my watch and it was about 3:50. I was out for almost 30 minutes?! Sure didn’t feel like it.
Talk about “Make A”. Paula returned about 5 minutes later and we had a good laugh when I told her what just happened.
After that, we headed back to the Downtown outlet mall. I bought shoes. No cologne on this trip – just shoes.
Then it was back to the hotel to meet up with Paula’s parents for a birthday dinner to celebrate Paula’s birthday. Her parents had a complementary dinner for them at the Main Street buffet. We tried to get one too, but we didn’t play enough at Main Street, but I was able to use my accumulated points to get us complementary dinners. See, it pays to use your Boyd card when you play and B-Connected. 
l
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Saturday, 1/15/11
Last day of our vacation. We took Paula’s mom to the Downtown outlet for some shopping. The place was packed! First time I saw it so crowed. The North end parking garage was full! Paula and her mom did some shopping while I mostly sat around and people watched. It’s pretty cool to see folks from all over the world speaking different languages. And I was playing this game of locating the Hawaii folks. Not hard to find. I don’t quite know what it is about them, but you can usually spot Hawaii people right off the bat. It it because they’re the only ones wearing shorts in 60 degree weather? No, I don’t think that’s it. I think it has to do with their demeanor. Just laid-back looking and relaxed.
Then it was off to Trader Joe’s for one last omiyage stop. It’s not like the old days where you could just stock up on things. Nowadays, you have to remember the 50 lbs. weight limit on luggage. Upon arrival, our bag weighted 35 lbs. so we knew we could bring back 15 lbs. more of stuff. We decided to pass on the heavier nuts and brought back more lighter things – like cookies. Plus, we had to take into consideration the clothes and shoes and stuff we bought.
Since we were catching the 9:00 AM flight home, we decided to stay up all night so we could sleep on the plane. The hardest part about doing that is making our last few gambling dollars last throughout the morning. The 25¢ Treasure Chest poker usually helps us kill a couple/few hours on our last $40 or so. In fact, this time it helped me recoup some of my losses. Not much, but a little bit.
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Sunday, 1/16/11 Approx. 6:00 AM
Packed up, checked out, filled up the car with gas and headed to the car rental return and airport. Once we were boarded and in the air, I nodded off for a few, but was trying to stay awake so I don’t miss the meal. After the meal was served, I felt pretty awake and thought I might not be able to sleep on this return flight.
And the next thing you know, I’m hearing the announcement that we’ll be landing in Honolulu in about 30 minutes. Ha! So much for being wide awake. LOL
So that was pretty much our Las Vegas jaunt in a nutshell. Oh, how was the gambling you ask? Well, we took up x amount of cash, expecting it to last the first couple of days and planned to take out a marker for the remainder of the trip. But we were able to make it though without taking out a marker so all in all, I’d say it was an okay trip. Yeah, we didn’t come home winners, but neither did we come home losing all that we had budgeted for.
We played video poker, video keno, and even the slots. Some nights were up nights, some nights were down nights – but we had fun. And by the end of the trip, I was ready to come home. And Paula was happy to spend her birthday at the Happiest Place on Earth (for MLCers).