Sorry, this is a little long..
It started out very civilized. We picked up my friend R and we were off to the airport. It was a great day very sunny, on February 17th, Tuesday. R and I were headed to Vegas for 3 nights. We were dropped off at the airport, check in was a breeze (Thank you Southwest), and we stopped at Gustavs in the Portland Airport for a bite to eat before getting on the plane. We boarded our flight and went to sit in the back row. I love to sit there and talk with the flight crew. We started chatting with the flight crew member in the back of the plane while everyone else was boarding. R mentioned that this was my birthday trip to Vegas. The crew member said that drinks were on him. Woo hoo, it was after 5pm somewhere, right? We gave him our order and started chatting some more. After the plane took off and the pilot said we could get up if we wanted, the crew member brought us our drinks. No one else had even ordered yet. He kept our glasses full the entire flight. It was a good thing the flight was only 2 hours long, we would have been in trouble if it was any longer. After the plane landed the crew member came up to me and presented me, with much flourish, a crown made of peanut packets and drink stirrers. From that moment on I was Princess Peanut. We gave him hugs and deplaned.
When we got to baggage claim our luggage was already there waiting for us, so we grabbed our bags, and hi-tailed it to the shuttle area. We bought a ticket on a downtown shuttle.
By the way, we were staying at the Four Queens downtown. I have been to Vegas a few times and in the past I have stayed at Caesar鈥檚, the Bellagio, MGM, the Red Rock, and the Monte Carlo. Last year we caught a cab downtown and stayed all day. We loved it. So this year we thought we would try staying downtown and we picked the Four Queens to be our headquarters.
The ticket for the shuttle was $8.00. It took about 35 minutes to get to the Four Queens. Right inside the door is the check in area. There was no one there; we went straight to the front of the line. Check in was a breeze, I asked for a South Tower room as high up as possible. I was given 1126, perfect. The room was not cleaned yet, but they let us put our luggage up in the closet. The room was nice and worked just fine. The bathroom was a little worn, but nice sized. There was only one sink, but that made for more counter space. The room had two queen beds, flat screen TV, desk, good sized closet, hair dryer, coffee maker, and safe. I was pleased with the room. I searched for deals for a few weeks before I found the Expedia FAN50 deal. On Expedia, Four Queens was normally $40.00 a night, but they had a free night special going on that brought our nightly rate to $26.00 a night. Then using FAN50 I had $50.00 taken off of the total so my nightly rate bottomed out at around $12.00 per night. Yea me!
After dropping our luggage off in the room, we went down to the casino to sign up for our player鈥檚 club cards. We each received a deck of cards in a metal case and vouchers for 2 for 1 entree at Magnolia Caf茅. After that we decided we were hungry and went to Magnolia Caf茅 to eat. There was a short line; I think it took about 5 minutes to be seated. R had a salad and I had breakfast again. The waitress was fast, friendly, and remembered everything we asked for. When we got done we walked out on the casino floor. I had been learning how to play craps. I knew the pass line bet, odds bed, and a few others. I was going to try out what I had learned. I went over to the table; it had a $5 min. So I waited until the roll was over and put a $20.00 out to get chips. I know that is not a lot, but I did not have a lot to spend on gambling. I made a $5 pass line bet, then came the roll. It was a 7, I made $5, and I was hooked!!! I played for a little while longer and won about $60. R was getting board so we left and walked over to Binions to get our picture taken with One Million Dollars! We signed up for the players club and got our coupons then went over and had our pictures taken. One million in person is kind of cool. We had to wait 30 mins for the picture so we looked around for my favorite slot, Super Jackpot Party. I love this game. It is all about the party. I love picking the presents. When Let鈥檚 Dance comes up I am in heaven! We found a couple of machines and I showed R how to play. She was hooked. We played for a little while, lost a couple of dollars, then went and picked up the pictures.
We meandered our way over to Mermaids to get an order of deep fried Oreos. Oh, the greasy goodness of a squishy Oreo with powdered sugar and chocolate sprinkles. Be still my heart! No really it stopped for a second after I finished my half of the order. MMM鈥MM...Good! We had to go back to the Four Queens as we had to change to go out that night. R is a blues singer in Portland and the Bunkhouse Saloon on 11th was having a jam with the house band that night. So we went back and changed, then caught a cab to the Bunkhouse. The Bunkhouse is a great bar with a front area that has big comfy chairs, a side area with tables and chairs and the back area which is the bar. In the front by the door was the stage for the band. When we got there we got some drinks, R had a beer and I had a cocktail and the total for both drinks was $6. My kind of place! The band started coming in, so R went and introduced herself. The other singers would get a chance in the second set. The band started playing their first set. They were very good. All of a sudden I started smelling smoke. I did not think much of it as everyone was smoking in the bar. It was kind of strong, but Oregon just prohibited smoking in bars so I thought I was not used to smoke anymore. Nope, not it! There was a fire that started in a garbage can behind me. The flames started coming out of the can and everyone ran to put it out! Hot time in Vegas tonight! After the fire excitement was over R sang two songs with the band. Everyone loved her. We stayed and drank with the band. R let the band know that it was officially my birthday since it was way after midnight. So the bar sang happy birthday to me. We had to leave after that as it was almost 3pm. We caught a cab back to the Four Queens. We decided to walk around a bit more. We went over to the Fremont. We found two Super Jackpot Party machines next to each other and started to play. Mine must have been tired as it did nothing! R鈥檚 machine was hitting like crazy. She kept saying that she was going to get off of the machine so I could go to bed. I told her if I was going to bed it was going to be alone as she needed to stay with the machine. She put $5 in the machine. I left her after she hit $90. She came back to the room at 430pm with $55. She still a pretty good return on her investment. We both fell into our beds, exhausted.
I woke up at 9am and could not go back to sleep. Sleep was for when we were at home not in Las Vegas! R woke up at 10am. We were out of the room by 1130ish. We are a little slow in the morning. We went back over to Binions coffee shop for breakfast. We were armed with a 2 for 1 coupon and we were dangerous. I had the ham and eggs and R had pancakes. The ham was as big as the plate and delicious. We could not finish our meals they were too big. Oh well, off to get a cab to the strip to see what kind of trouble we could find.
We took a cab to Mandalay Bay. R was in awe. She loved the huge aquarium in the lobby. We walked to the House of Blues and then went to Red Square. Red Square is one of my favorite bars. I love the old Soviet theme, the ice bar, and the cold room with the old Soviet coats and hats. It was closed, I was bummed. We decided to take the tram to the Luxor. The tram took minutes to get to the Luxor. It is pretty cool there. We wandered around looking at the art and things. We lost a little money in the slots, but had fun doing it. We went to go get back on the tram to go to the Excalibur. We had to stop because R had decided anytime she saw people trying to take a picture; she was going to ask them if they would like her to take the picture so everyone could be in the shot. I think she was looking for good karma by helping out with the pictures. It couldn鈥檛 hurt! We stopped to help a family take a picture in front of the doors to go into the casino. Then we stopped to take a picture for a couple of girls in front of the sphinx. We got on the tram and we were off to Excalibur. A minute or two later and we were there. We walked around Excalibur for a little while, we did not see anything we really wanted to do. All of a sudden R decided she was hungry and needed to eat right then. I looked over and saw Dick鈥檚 Last Resort, so we decided to eat there. We walked in and sat at the bar. The bartender was a short, little, skinny girl. She had everyone at the bar terrified of her. I know it is an act, but it really seemed like she got way too much enjoyment bossing, embarrassing, and harassing the people at the bar. It was too fun! She refused to sell R just coffee. She did not want to see my license as she could see I was way too old. We were too slow to order. We had so many faults I was not sure if she was going to bring our order. She brought it out, we had the fried shrimpies, with our drinks and we had a great time talking to our fellow bar people. With our shrimpies were gone, we started to get our wanderlust back. We paid our bill and we were on our way to the MGM. Opps, we got sidetracked to NYNY. We played a little slots at NYNY, bought a post card or two and walked across the walkway to MGM. We saw the Lion habitat. R was mesmerized for a little while watching the big animals. We went out of MGM and started walking the strip. We went into Planet Hollywood, checked out the Bellagio fountains, and watched the Mirage Volcano. The Volcano is pretty cool. We watched from across the street and it was still great. After that we went into Casino Royale to play craps. It was packed in Casino Royale. R went to go find Super Jackpot Party and left me at the Craps table. It was totally full, but when the guys found out a girl wanted to play they made room. I started to win a little bit. After a little while it was my turn to roll the dice. The guys went crazy when I said I had never rolled before. Craps Virgin and it was still my birthday! I started rolling and almost 45 minutes later my turn was finally up! The table was going wild. I think the guys won a ton of money. It was a blast and I won a couple hundred dollars.
We decided to keep on walking to Circus Circus. We passed all sorts of construction. It was so funny, when we were walking past the Wynn I commented to R on how perfect the lawn seemed. It was dark out, but you could see that it was cut perfect. R jumped the little fence to point out to me that the lawn was fake! I could not believe it. I touched it myself and it did not feel real. We got to Circus Circus and went inside. There is a very funky smell in Circus Circus. We walked around a little bit, but I did not like the smell so we left. All I could think about while in Circus Circus was some of the scenes in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and how utterly scary Circus Circus was. We walked down to the Sahara, past more construction. We then, caught a cab back to the Four Queens. At the Four Queens we decided to use our other 2 for 1 coupon at Magnolia Caf茅. There was no line so we were seated right away. R had the Prime Rib Special and I had Lasagna. Both dishes were very good. We had a different waitress at this meal, but she was just as nice, friendly, and efficient as our last waitress at the Magnolia Caf茅. After we were finished we made our way down to the Golden Nugget. R鈥檚 bass player knows the guys in the Frankie Moreno band and R was supposed to meet them after their show at the Nugget. So we watched the show. Both the show and the audience were great! The girls in the audience were hysterical, throwing themselves at Frankie, buying drinks for him, tipping him, and dancing for him. The band was really good also. Frankie puts on a great show. R talked with them after the show for just a few minutes, because Frankie and his band were leaving for the airport to go on tour with Air Supply. R went back to the room. I decided to go to the Fremont and play some craps. I played for a little while, but it was a bad table, no one was winning. It was 330am, so I went back to the room and went to sleep.
On a side note, there were times when R and I were out on Fremont St going between the casinos between 12am 鈥?4am. Every time I was out on Fremont St during those times I always saw numerous security guards. I also saw police. I also saw many homeless or other types of people in corners, around kiosks, and on side streets. We were very cautious and had no problem.
We both woke at 10am on our last full day in Las Vegas. R wanted to be lazy and watch TV for a little while so we were slow to get ready to go out. We did not get out until 145pm. We decided to go to the Main Street Casino. We walked down one of the side streets until we came to the California. We went in and wandered around. There did not seem to be a lot going on so we searched for the bridge over to the Main Street Casino. We found it after we went upstairs. On the way is the Aloha Specialty Restaurant. I had heard really good things about it and wanted to try the food. I made a mental note where it was. I could not have it right then, because I had promised R we would have the buffet at Main Street. When we got to the Main Street Casino we went to the player鈥檚 club area to sign up. On the way to Main Street Casino we stopped at the O2 bar and got our Fremont Street Coupon Sheet with the 2 for 1 buffet. We got all signed up, and got our cards and buffet voucher. We stopped and played the slots for a little while. R won, I lost, no big deal, we had a ton of fun. Did I mention that we started drinking at the Four Queens and had been getting drinks our whole way over? We needed to eat. It was not too busy at the buffet, but everything was still fresh and hot. I loved the chicken noodle soup. After lunch we went out to the craps table and tried our luck. It was bad. I lost $60 and off we went. We headed back to Fremont St. We decided two things on the way back. 1. We were going to have Steak and Lobster for dinner, and 2. we wanted to go back to the Mermaid. So we stopped at the mermaid. I sat down at a Super Jackpot Party slot, R was next to me on a Lobster game, and there was an older couple next to her on the next two games. The older couple was from Minnesota, they were about 60ish, it was their last night also, and the lady had been partying hard. We all started winning a little at the same time, so we all started making some noise. We were having a great time, the waitress, her name was Ling Ling was keeping our glasses full, and we had tons of beads. Life was great鈥?and then guess what happened? The lady started getting sick in the bathroom. Her husband asked us to help her out, so he could get her back to their room at the Golden Nugget. We went into the bathroom, she could not stand, she was so sick. She finally got everything under control and we had to help her husband get her back to their room. I guess we did not have to help, but I would hope a Good Samaritan would help me if I had to carry a 180 pound wet noodle back to my room. I am sure we looked like Las Vegas. We got them to their room and decided to go back to ours to clean up. We then headed back to the California to the Pasta Pirate and had our Steak and Lobster for $14.99. It was perfect for the price. We had great service, and we would definitely go back. We were going back to the Bunkhouse to meet up with D, a friend of Rs.
R and I grabbed a cab back to the Bunkhouse. The band was just setting up, so we grabbed a drink and sat down in the big comfy chairs to listen to the music and wait for D. D finally got there, we moved to the table area so all of us could sit and talk. We talked for a little while, and then R and D decide we needed to go to a karaoke club. I have no idea where we went, D drove. We ended up somewhere in Vegas singing karaoke till all hours of the night. We got back to the hotel around 4am. We fell into bed and tried not to remember we had to be up by 630am to make our early flight. I know I am going to be hurting soon.
We were able to get up, get dressed, pack our things, check out from the hotel, and catch a cab to make our way back to the airport by 745am. I don鈥檛 remember most of that, but I do remember the cab ride to the airport. It was the worst cab ride I have every had. The driver went way too fast, zooming in and out of traffic, stopping fast, creeping up almost hitting people. It was horrible until I told him if he did not knock it off I was going to throw up all over him. He was the best driver for the next few minutes it took to get to the airport. The line to check in was not too long; it only took about 30 minutes. There was hardly a line for security, so we zipped right to the gate. I fell asleep waiting to board the plane. I fell asleep on the plane. I fell asleep on the drive back home. When I finally got home, I curled up in bed, fell asleep, and had wild Las Vegas dreams.
TR February 17-20 Four Queens, the Bunkhouse, and the StripGreat trip report, really enjoyed it! Will be going to Vegas in April and staying at the GN for 2 nites. Never seen down town before and after reading your TR I%26#39;m looking forward to it.
Thanks for sharing.....
TR February 17-20 Four Queens, the Bunkhouse, and the StripGreat TR, I had used the Fan50 offer back in Dec for the 4Q. You both packed a lot in to a weekend. Congrats on the Virgin roll on craps. I guess it really is true. It happened to one of our group back in Dec too.
Thanks for sharing!
Really enjoyed your TR, sounds like u girls had a great time!
cheers
shirl%26#39;
Well done!
';It started out very civilized.'; LOL Excellent choice of words to begin a Vegas trip report!!!
Great experience on Southwest...the crew member really helped to get your trip off to a nice start.
I think you win the top prize for the most fun and variety ever crammed into 3 nights in Vegas. I needed a rest after reading it.....lol.
We%26#39;ll have to check out the Frankie Moreno band...that%26#39;s one thing that we seem to miss out on when we go to Vegas....a good live band. Do they always play at the GN?
Nice of the two of you to help the husband get his drunk wife to the room....
How you managed to wake up by 6:30 am, after having gone to bed at 4:00 am, is amazing...you must have had a wake up call from the desk.
Thanks for sharing your trip! I%26#39;m pooped (lol).
great TR! you really creammed in alot into three days!
and it%26#39;s great to see/hear what other ppl do while in vegas. You guys are clearly about the music, and i%26#39;m glad you were able to enjoy so much of it in LV!
Very nice report. I agree with your comments about Frankie Moreno. He puts on a great show. I always make a point to visit them at the Nuggett or when they play at the Strat. I also agree with your comments on the Bunkhouse. I normally make that 1 of my stops on every trip I take to Vegas. Glad you had a good time.
Very good TR seem you had a great time Princess Peanut and the Southwest crew made you feel like a Queen good 4 u.
Thanks all! I had a great time. We went to relax and have fun. Didnt get into too much trouble and still made it back with some money. It was great. Cant wait until my next trip.
I loved your TR. This is why I love downtown so much. Sounds like you 2 had a blast.
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