DJSlot's Vegas Trip Report 9/26 - 9/30 The California
Few notes before continuing.....
There is a ton of pictures. You may have probably have seen all of these locations or not, hopefully there's a few you have not seen and you wish to see these places on your next trip. Pictures are from a mixture of a Galaxy S7, S8 and a Canon Rebel.
This blog is of course my own experiences. You may have had an awesome experience in some places that I might criticize or visa versa. My suggestion is, if you have not visited a place before, please check out the place yourself to draw up on your own conclusions.
I'll try to be brief and straight to the point. This might be a long read because of the pictures, so feel free to grab a drink, grab a smoke or use the bathroom before continuing.
This is my third trip to Las Vegas. This trip we (Wife & I) decided to bring my mother in law (Which will be known as MiL for the rest of this blog), in which she has never even flown before never mind being to Las Vegas. I'm just glad I could do this for her and make this a trip of a lifetime for her. Being it was her first time, this trip was packed with a ton of visiting here and there hence the pictures.
Tuesday 9/26
Wake up at 3am after rolling around in bed for several hours. Check email. Flight cancelled. WHAT?!?!!? I have not even sipped on my coffee yet to wake up as I am reading this email over and over. Alright, don't panic. Call Southwest.... oh yes you were re-routed to a different city and instead of landing in Las Vegas at 10:30, it'll be 10:55. Oh you didn't receive an email? Sorry. Click. Well if the coffee did not wake me up at this point, that email did. So away we go on the road by 3:45AM. Get to T.F. Greene by 4:20ish, parked at long term lot, shuttle bus whisks us to our terminal. Check in, get our tickets and we're all TSA PRE (SWEET) and we're sitting at our gate by 5ish. Plane takes off at 5:40 going to BWI (Baltimore).
Minor Bitch~ Why is it always a different terminal in which you have to run your ass to when there's a plane change? One would think that you would be in the same terminal with your carrier but no, it's get off your ass after flying for at least 1 1/2 hour, stretch your legs for perhaps 30 seconds and then speed walk to your next plane because the layover is only 45 minutes. Leave for STL.
Oh yes did I mention my 60 something MiL has never flown before? Love her with all my heart but I do giggle inside when we land and watch her reactions of freaking out. I can't help myself and I know she is only going to torture me for the next several days.
Land in STL and leave for LAS, luckily no plane change and we got to move up to the second row of the plane so we can leap off and do a little dance off the plane. I do try to contain myself while getting off because you know the people you are about to see are pretty bummed about leaving. We're not even off the hallway yet and my MiL was already taking pictures inside the terminal. I instantly knew what I was going to be in for.
Got a rental. Was not going to try out uber/lyft with MiL in tow. I'm also a Fastbreak member with Budget so I basically get to the Car Rental building, go downstairs, look at board and go to my spot and grab my car. Except... it didn't happen that way. Look at board and had to go to Window. Oh, I have a choice? Sonata or Altima. Well I already had a leased Sonata in the past so let me try something different for a change. Altima it is. Go to spot and check for damages/dings. Ummm missing plates. Go to an attendant and they say it's fine. The 6x8 DMV paperwork I have on the inside of the windshield is fine/legal. Sure. Off we go to the California.
Parking was a breeze at The Cal. I booked through Ipo Boast who is a host at the Main Street Casino which connects to the Cal. One slight problem was our rooms were literally at the end of this hall. MiL was across from us we can keep tabs/close to each other.
The infamous Buddha statue
The view from our room was not too shabby, we had a view of Fremont Side.
Next up was burning off some coupons from my American Casino Guide and the deal was to generate 250 Boyd Points and get a BOGO coupon for Main Street Buffet. 15 minutes later on a Buffalo Machine max bet, I have my points.
Off to the Buffet. As being one of the cheapest ones of Vegas, it wasn't too shabby. It was certainly better than Sam's Town. Service was ok. I would give it 2.5 out of 5 for buffets. Coffee was horrendous though I would skip that. With bellies full, off to the Strip.
First stop was Flamingo, cheapest to park here as well out of the several choices in that area. My first time here and wanted to check out the Wildlife Habitat.
Next up was Caesar's and the Shops. Grabbed a pair of Ray-Ban's from Sunglass Hut, couldn't help myself.
Ironically the Reflection Pool here at the Caesars shops is about twice the size of the pool at The Cal.
Next up the Bellagio. The Conversatory & Botanical Gardens.
The Chocolate Fountain which is my first time seeing.
And of course the Fountain in front of the Bellagio.
A couple of shots around the Strip in this area which includes Paris and Cosmopolitan.
Alright back to the The California as we've been up since 3am EST and it's now 5ish here so 8ish now. As my wife and MiL go exploring, I go gambling. Nothing to write home about and they ran out of things to do quickly so off we eat at The Market to try this $9.99 Prime Rib Special.
Alright. I am impressed with this mammoth cut of prime rib I was served. The Good - Prime Rib was tasty, was definitely fatty as you can see. The rub it has was simply ok. The Bad - Even though they looked like potatoes, I was not sure if they tasted like potatoes. The Green Beans, yes, they definitely tasted like the frozen variety. The Au Jus was ok, can't really go wrong with it and they gave a side of horseradish as well. Salad bar also comes with it before hand and a Cherries over vanilla ice cream dessert comes afterwards. Verdict, Yes I would definitely get this again. More than likely stop here the next time I swing through downtown.
After dinner did some more gambling and finally retired after a long day. Some views from our rooms at nighttime. From our side.
From Mother in Law's side.
Wednesday 9/27 (Anniversary Day!)
Oh yeah it's 6 in the morning in Vegas as we're still stuck on EST Time. Grabbed some coffee from Lappert's and a glazed doughnut (It was included with the Large Coffee) Both were pretty good. Wife and MiL were up getting ready, I decided since it was nice and early we would go to the infamous Welcome to Las Vegas sign.
And sure enough, there was only one couple there and they were waiting for someone to take their picture, so that worked out perfectly.
Next Stop...Red Rock Canyon.
Baby Tarantula, which would freak me the ^&*% out if I ever saw one walking around here on the East Coast.
Tortoise and a Hare getting ready for the Big Race.
A couple of shots of the Canyon, could post a slew of pics but if you have not been here before, you should make this place a go to place on your next trip, place is simply breathtaking.
Panorama of the Canyon which will look off in the Blog but oh well.
Alright next stop, Silverton Casino. Wife and I did this place last year and since I have a BOGO coupon from ACG for the Buffet I figured I would use it. Buffet again was pretty good for early afternoon, service was good as well. 3.5 out of 5 imo. If you never visited Silverton, it is a nice property, they have a mini aquarium and a huge Bass Pro Shops. No luck on gambling here this time around. Some pictures of the aquarium.
Alright, next stop the Venetian for the Wax Museum, with a BOGO from ACG. Here's a few pictures.
Lorde looked the most realistic there IMO.
Me trying to dodge away from Miley.
Shot of the Gondolas from the Shoppes.
Up next, Casa Di Amore for our Anniversary dinner. Here's a link if you're interested. Click Here When I first chose this place everyone loved this place. Well..... The ambiance was nice. The live music was nice as well. And that's pretty much it. Our waitress completely sucked. As we were sitting there we wished we had a different server who was engaging his tables and having conversations with them. We had to remind our waitress to even bring bread to the table and of which we didn't even get olive oil with it along with everyone else so we had to ask for that as well.
So, 120 dollars later, I got a Veal Parm in which my Veal was completely flat and chewy, the Cheese on it was completely burnt. It also came with a side of spaghetti in which my noodles were still slightly submerged in water and not properly drained. My Wife got the ravioli with meat sauce and the sauce itself was well overcooked. The ravioli tasted a couple of days old, not fresh. My MiL got the lasagna in which too cheesy, not enough sauce, definitely dried out and was burnt again on top while warming it up to serve. Normally I don't bitch because I am in the food industry but when you're paying 30 to 40 dollars a plate for dinner it better be damn good. Nothing at the table was prepared fresh, all pre cooked bullshit. Even our app which was Prosciutto Mozzarella Crostini, was simply some bread, a slab of mozz, a third thin-sliced prosciutto with a couple strands of basil for garnish on top. 4 pieces of bread. Well anyways, would never go here again, biggest disappoint of the trip. Sorry for lack of pictures for proof, was too disgusted and it was dark in there as well.
Well back to the hotel....and to Fremont! We had to head over to 4 Queens and catch a show. Some pictures of Fremont and The Cal lit up.
My MiL is a huge Elvis fan so of course we had to bring her to an Elvis show so we chose Steve Connolly, Spirit of the King. Click here to check out his website
Have to admit he was pretty good considering the price we paid for the show.. (With a BOGO coupon from ACG) He sang good, he engaged the crowd, he was pretty much on point with his performance. At the end of the show he also did a meet and great with everyone who attended so you can grab pictures with him and get autographs. Here's some pictures....
So if you're on Vegas and you were on the fence on checking this guy out, please do, worth it. Back to the hotel and to bed.
Thursday 9/28
Alright, time to get up and get ready for another place I was looking forward to on this trip, the Omelet House!!!! Been dying to get back here ever since I stopped in last year.
If you're an omelet lover, this place is a must to stop at while in Vegas. There's 3 locations, this one is the one in Boulder. Omelet House
Some Food Porn
Alright, now that our bellies are full, off to our first stop, Ethel M Chocolate Factory & Cactus Garden.
Overall a quick time killer, see one time deal. Everything is overpriced and overrated imo. However, got a Chocolate Cappuccino to go and that, was probably the best Cappuccino I ever had. My wife got me a peanut butter chocolate bar and I was not impressed by any means. Besides stopping here for Ethel M, there's a Cactus Garden attached to the property. They were in transition of hanging up Christmas lights. Here's some pictures.
Again, a good time killer, probably would not mind swinging by here during the holidays to see it lit up at nighttime.
Next stop, the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. Mostly because the MiL has never been here, we personally stopped here on our first trip to Las Vegas several years ago. My only regret was lack of pictures. Another one of those once you see it you're good places.
For my Patriots friends out there since I live in Patriot Country.
Several changes since we've been there, I guess they help you park now and card slap you with a contest to enter for a free show. There's a mini mall which is owned by Rick and Co. which is on the other side of the parking lot, seemed to have eateries and what have you. Essentially it's more commercialized to make money off of their fame. Alright off to our next stop which is the Gamblers General Store.
Nothing fancy here, Just like to stop in and check it out. Ton of books, casino chips, old glass faces of slot machines, casino knick knacks, they do have past used casino cards from Casinos in the area, they do have specialty Bicycle Cards in which I picked up a few different packs. A good time killer and I would suggest checking it out. There's another store across the way from it which will go on my bucket list on my next trip. Off to our next stop.....
Here's a few pics of Las Vegas Club getting demolished.
Fremont Street, Got to love it.
Off to the Container Park.
Fire Shooting Mantis except he was not shooting anything at the time.
El Cortez Casino in the background.
Personally I thought it would be a bit bigger. I understand that at nighttime it closes to kids and adults have free reign over the playground. Probably would of been more exciting then and we would have seen the Mantis shooting fire from its antennas. We did stop at Kappa Toys and the nerd in me grabbed a Pixel Heart Coffee Cup. If I ever get bored at nighttime in the future while in Vegas I might think about swinging through here. Link for Toy Store
We did swing through El Cortez on the way back to Fremont, nothing to write home about, did not see a huge selection of slot machines that I would play so I would probably not stop by here in the future.
Off to White Castle!!!! I know silly, people should not swing through a place that they have at home except, there isn't any in Rhode Island. Besides this place literal opened here 6 days ago so it was a must stop in to take some pictures.
Yes, the burgers still tasted the same as they did when I lived in NY. Only difference is that this was an open kitchen where I am used to paying through a bullet proof window. The crew working were doing a good job IMO since they only went live 6 days ago. The line moved pretty quickly and we got our food right away. It was not busy with people either so your trip may vary. If I ever stayed downtown again I would definitely stop in for a quick meal.
We decided to split up so I can do some gambling, I went over to The D and my Wife and MiL went over to the Neonopolis. Had a few hits on this one particular slot.
I finally got the bonus on a Buffalo Grand Machine for about 150 but I've must of played at least 10 different Buffalo Machines to this point and I was just excited to even get the bonus.
Sadly, The Neonopolis was a huge bust, I should of researched it more before sending my Wife over, I guess half the place is closed down inside and looked 'creepy' as my wife would put it. People essentially just use the parking lot which they only charge 6 dollars for the day. So keep that in mind if you ever visit Fremont and need a place to park.
Back to The Cal. We cut through Binions and caught a picture of the Million Dollars in there.
As much as I hated it, I personally was not having any luck here at The Cal, so I decided to go to Harrah's for 2 reasons, one to gamble and two, to park. We were ultimately going to The Mirage and found it easier to just park at Harrah's. Btw, I am not a huge Total Rewards fan here in Vegas because of my trip to Caesars awhile back. Glad I decided to gamble here though, got my biggest hit of the entire trip.
Hit that cashed out. Absolutely love these machines. Left and walked over to the Mirage. Got nailed by like 5 porn slappers, 2 drink slappers and a bogo dinner slapper. Friend at work wanted the cards so I sort of just left it be hand slapped.
Gambled for a little bit at The Mirage and ended up 100 dollars up on video slot quick hit machine. Main reason we were at the Mirage was to see The Beatles LOVE. Even snagged a selfie with a performer and an empty stage.
Not the best photo of me but a rare shot of one of the main performers.
We also had decent seats as well, we were about 7 rows back next to one of the entrance ways to the stage.
One of the best shows I have ever seen while in Las Vegas. If you ever visit Las Vegas, I would highly recommend seeing this show. Probably second best to Le Reve IMO, because of the fact Le Reve flowed better and performed in/over/with water. My 2 minor complaints about LOVE is no photography (Trust me, they actually look for people taking pictures) and there is a ton of stuff going on. I felt like I could only really focus at times on a handful of performers instead of the entire show going on around them. Overall a fantastic show and would definitely watch it again.
After the show we had to run to the front of the Mirage to catch the Volcano.
Back the California for a late dinner. Decided to go to the Market again. Big mistake. Even though we were perhaps the third party to go in on the line, it literally took about a half hour to get seated then another half hour to get our food. I did have a good sausage omelet though. (I know breakfast for dinner but I am like that) Basically we got done eating dinner around 11pm Vegas time. Off to gamble now by myself as my wife and MiL retire upstairs. And again no luck. I did find myself on yet again another Quick Hits machine in which I was up and down for a good hour so I was able to rack up some points. Off to bed I go.
Friday 9/29
Crap, now I am on Vegas time as I am getting up at 9am. Off to the Main street Buffet for Breakfast. Decent line but it moved pretty quickly. Typical setup, even included an omelet station. All food was pretty good, nice cheap buffet breakfast 3.5 out of 5. Coffee was even better this time around. Today was our slow down day as it's the last day of our trip. It was time to explore the other side of the strip.
First stop was MGM. Yes I took a picture of the TV on the bathroom faucet because I have not seen this before. It ranks right up there with Gas Stations with TV's on the pumps.
Since I barely got any gambling in, I decided to leave the ladies so they can do some shopping and I can find some slots. They decided to exit out and go to the M&M's Store.
I ended up finding a 9 line dollar quick hits and played some decent money through them, hopefully it'll trigger some offers through MGM. No bigs hits and it slowly drained me so I left to catch up with the ladies. We ended up meeting at the Coco Cola Store down the Blvd from M&M's. Several shots of the corner there.
Yes I had to capture the shot with the carts on the roller coaster being upside down. (NYNY)
Excalibur
Hooters
Instead of crossing we decided to go back to the car at MGM and move ourselves to the parking lot at Excalibur (First time here). One would assume the parking lot was at least connected to the Casino, but it's not.
Property was not too shabby, at least it has a Starbucks in it. Cute theme to it, easy to navigate around. Next stop was NYNY (Again my first time here) and went to the Hershey's Shop.
Shot from the pedestrian bridge they are working on between NYNY and Excalibur.
Hershey's Chocolate Statue.
Alright, we exit NYNY, head back to Excalibur and hop on the Tram which takes up to Mandalay Bay and of which we hop on another Tram and we back track to Luxor. First time being here as well with some pictures.
The Ladies and I split up again, they headed over to the Mandalay Shops and I left to gamble. Here's a quick hit on a quarters machines, quick 100 dollars.
Overall, Luxor is ok. Very quiet compared to other casinos I've been in and it was a Friday!!! I thought about staying here in the past but after playing here and quickly running out of machines that I liked I'm glad I never did. The Ladies decided to go to the Shark Reef at Mandalay so I slowly made my way there. The Guinness shop was pretty cool, if they had a certain sweatshirt my size I would of bought one. Pete Rose was in one of the memorabilia shops but I was all set with paying 100 dollars to meet and greet the guy for a signed baseball. He wouldn't even bother to look up to even say Hello to anyone. (I guess for picture reasons) The guy next to him must of been an agent as he was more lively. Isn't Pete Rose still banned from baseball from betting on it and he's in Vegas?
Well Anyways back onto the Tram from Mandalay Bay and back to Excalibur to the car and back to the Cal.
Since Casa Di Amore was a complete failure, I wanted to redeem myself so I decided to select another place on the fly and it was Capo's. Capo's website
A true Speakeasy restaurant, definitely needed reservations to get in. Service was top notch. Revisited my Veal Dinner and this time is was on point, Veal was tender like it should be and certainly thicker. Pasta was cooked perfectly. MiL got the chicken alfredo and she claimed it might of been of the best pasta dishes she's ever had. Wife got the Chicken Carbonara and she loved it. If any complaints, the portion of Chicken on both dishes were slightly lacking but easily enough for the ladies. Very dark inside and once it starts getting busy, it'll get a little smoky from cooking as it has a slightly open partial kitchen. I would definitely eat here again and if you ever get the chance you should check this place out.
Back to The Cal. Nothing really to report here, gambled for a bit longer and hit the sack.
Saturday 9/30 Heading home.
Got up around 8ish and we went downstairs for one final meal before we departed. Again went to the Market and arguably had the best service there of all 3 trips there. Our waitress seemed like she has been there for years and knew what she was doing. They have a mini buffet for breakfast so I went with that. No sausage though, was looking forward to that. Oh Well.
The long walk to check out. Saw the host beforehand. Our Room was free to begin with and she knocked off the price of Fri and Sat nights off of the MiL's rooms and she was under my name. I billed my room all food from the main street buffet and the Market and that was all covered with a 200 dollar food offer I had prior. So I just had to pay for 2 nights of one room, tues/weds, not too shabby.
Back to the airport with my rental in which I have a true hate relationship with. Budget quickly checked in my car and emailed me a receipt. (Thank-You). Off to the airport and we got the most chattiest shuttle bus driver on the planet. He was humorous at times of which I needed since we're going home.
Checked in bags, got boarding passes, again, TSA PRE (SWEET) and at our gate massively early again. I guess it's better to be early than late for your flight. Except, our flight was delayed, they found a scratch on our plane. I'm thinking to myself how does one get a scratch on the plane?!?!? The more I think about it, I think one of the luggage guys hit the plane with the conveyor belt to load baggage. The reason why I think that because they fixed the plane and loaded the passengers on but our bags were still on the tarmac. Well instead of having a 2 hour layover in MDW (Chicago) we now have to get off our plane and run over to our connecting flight back to PVD. And again, different terminals. Well Anyways, we made it back home and I have a few final thoughts on everything.
Get the American Casino Guide before your trip. I got mine a month prior so it was half off the price because it was so late in the year. A ton of valuable coupons in there for you to save money. You basically make up the price in the book with the money you saved on the coupons. Click here to get your own book
Southwest, for the love of GOD, why do you make connecting flights in different terminals? At least keep it in the same terminal, would not even care if it was B4 to B29, as least you're in the same terminal.
Thank you Starbucks on the dozen of coffees I drank which were all extremely good. (No Dunkin')
When choosing the rental I should of went with the Sonata. The Nissan Altima base model is horrendous with acceleration and using the highway at least 4 times a day you need something quicker to navigate the highway. Does it get it up in speed? Sure if you have a book nearby and don't mind the wait. Overall it did exactly what I needed it for. Very noisy in accelerating as well.
I was reading up on Trip Advisor how people felt like they were out of place while staying at the California. I took it as a grain of salt. However, yes there's a huge Hawaiian Clientele here, including people who work here. Most people felt they were alienated here but we did not feel that way at all, they're just not chatty people and when you do engage, all have been extremely friendly and sometimes quite funny.
I personally would not stay at The California again. Rooms were nice with the renovations, staff was friendly and the food options were eh, ok. Problem was, I couldn't hit on anything there and trust me I played on everything. There was a few people hitting on the Flaming 7's Dollar Machines but that was about it. Even dabbled over at the Main Street and still nothing. Both Casinos were extremely smoky especially the Main Street if you're not a fan of smoke.
We hit a ton of places on this trip, we did not hit Circus Circus or Wynn which was on the Bucket List of things to do.
I definitely want to check out Circus Circus and Treasure Island in the future.
I started this blog late last night and wrapping it up nearly 16 hours later. I've been distracted with the tragedy that has transpired in Las Vegas and considered my family and I lucky. We were on the Tram on Friday with people were talking/going to the event and we were catching them setting up that afternoon. Funny how if nothing transpired I would of never thought about them again but now I find myself hoping they made out ok.
I never really dedicated anything to anybody but I would like to take the time to dedicate this blog posting to the people who were lost and also hurt in the shooting of the Las Vegas Country Music Festival. This act of violence is never going to deter me from going to Vegas, and acts of terrorism has never deterred me from visiting my hometown NYC or visiting Boston. Las Vegas is about getting away and having a good time and forgetting responsibilities for a period of time. What has happened can happen anywhere and it should never deter anyone from going to Las Vegas and having a good time.
Well, if you made it to this final paragraph I am impressed you got through all my ramblings. Hopefully you enjoyed my trip report and I have given you new ideas for your next trip or I hyped you up more for your next trip.
Thanks Las Vegas,
DJ
