Spring Break trip to California and Nevada! - Day One

Saturday, March 27

My original plan was to park at my office and take the Metro to Washington Reagan National Airport.  Unfortunately, the Metro didn't open until 7:00 AM and our flight was at 8:10 AM, so that wouldn't work.  I looked around at parking options, but a better option was to park/stay/fly at the Courtyard Arlington Crystal City/Reagan National Airport.  The rate for the night, plus the parking was $107.59, just a little bit more than parking alone.  Plus we didn't have to wake up hours earlier to get to the airport.  I booked a king with a sofabed and although the room was a bit cramped, it was fine.  We did have an issue trying to get dinner, since many places were closed due to COVID.  We did manage to find a place that delivered to the hotel, but there apparently was some sort of mix up, and it took quite a bit longer for us to receive our food.

We got up, and got ready to head to the airport.  We caught the shuttle over to the airport, which is right across the street, and got there around 6:45 AM.  All of us have TSA Pre-check so going through security was a breeze.  We had about 30 minutes to wait for our flight. . .

Ready to fly!

The "best" itinerary I could get into Orange County was a two-stop, no plane change flight that stopped in New Orleans and Denver.  The flight wasn't as bad as I thought and although we could have changed seats twice, we decided that we'd stay towards the back.

Always being safe!

Around 2:25 PM, we landed at SNA.

It's John Wayne!  Well, a statue. . .

Due to COVID, the car rental desks were closed, you had to go out to the parking garage to pick up your vehicle.  I booked my car from Dollar back on February 8 for $285.95, which seemed to be a pretty good rate.  So, with the cutbacks, the Hertz booth was service Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty, and unfortunately, they weren't honoring Dollar Express, so I had to wait in line.  I originally booked a compact, but asked for an upgrade, and he gave me an Altima, seemingly a mid-size.  It was a good thing I got the larger car, because our bags would have been pretty crammed in a smaller car. . .  That process probably took around half an hour.

So we're finally off to San Diego, which according to Google was around 88 miles (an hour and a half drive) to the Hilton San Diego Airport/Harbor Island, where we were staying.  Well, I didn't anticipate the weekend traffic!  Even though there are like 6-8 lanes on the highway, with one stop in Aliso Creek Rest Area (around 5:00 PM), we finally arrived at the hotel around 6:45 PM.  We were quickly checked in, although I wasn't able to get a room upgrade with my newly acquired Gold status, we did have a nice harborview room and could see the sunset:

The view from our balcony!

We let my nephew know we had finally arrived, and although we missed the sunset in the ocean, we did arrive before sunset.  Now we had to eat!  Now things were limited with COVID, and my daughter wanted seafood, specifically crab legs, but unfortunately, we weren't able to find that (?).  Stephen recommended Mitch's Seafood, which was close to the hotel.  We got there around 7:15 PM.  They got there a little before us and were in line, yes, there was quite a line!

We said our hellos, as we haven't seen them since Christmas a few years ago.  My grand-nephew was only around 10 months then and now he's walking and talking!  Tessandra really wanted to see him, since she is no longer the baby of the family.

I was totally unprepared for how chilly it was going to get at night.  I didn't have a jacket, and I don't think I had a long sleeve shirt or long pants!  I think we all managed to find food we enjoyed, I got the mixed seafood fryer basket:

Yummy fried seafood!

It was good to finally see family again!

We didn't stay out too late, as we planned on going to the zoo on Sunday, plus we had a long travel day!

 

Spring Break trip to California and Nevada! - Trip Planning

The sunset from my room at Hilton San Diego Airport/Harbor Island

The family was planning a trip to California to see my nephew and his family in San Diego in 2020.  Unfortunately, COVID changed those plans.  We were hopeful that we could make the trip in 2021, but even after a year, COVID was making this plan doubtful again.

Around December, Southwest had some great fares going to LAX.  A bit out of the way, but for $176.96 r/t per person, that was hard to pass up.  Apparently I should have waited two days, because the fare went down to $130.96 r/t per person!  We also had a decent itinerary.  Since it was Southwest, I rebooked and we got the flight credit.

Well, things change with COVID, and in January, I received an e-mail that our itinerary changed, and not in a favorable way.  We went from arriving at 6:20 PM to 10:10 PM, the return flight remained the same.  Another thing was that at the time, arrivals into LAX and nearby airports required a 14 day quarantine, which wouldn't be helpful for our trip.  With the change in itinerary, if you don't like it, you can change to nearby airports without a fee.  This was great, as there are several airports in my area (DCA, IAD, and BWI) and around Los Angeles (LAX, BUR, LGB, ONT, and SNA).  In addition to this, ONT and SNA didn't have a quarantine requirement.  Orange County/Santa Ana seemed the best option, so I made the change to fly there from DCA.  We took a meandering flight out, with stops in New Orleans and Denver, but we didn't have to change planes.  Our flight back had a connection in DAL (before it was just a stop in AUS, no plane change).

We still had to deal with hotel bookings and rental cars, with the rental car being the biggest concern, given the supply issue.  And not only were we going from Santa Ana to San Diego, we were going to drive to Las Vegas for four nights.  I booked two nights in San Diego at the Hilton San Diego Airport/Harbor Island, then we drove to Las Vegas, with two nights at Flamingo and two nights at Delano.  We then drove back to Santa Ana and stayed at the Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport, conveniently right across the street from the airport.

We basically had one full day to spend with my nephew's family, in hindsight, we probably should have planned one more day, but we still had fun.  And Las Vegas was fun, as always, well, for the most part.

Socially Distanced Trip to Las Vegas, February 24 to March 2 - Day Seven

So, not much to write for today, we're leaving town.

I have to put a picture here, so it looks nice:

Although Kip and I arrived at different times, we are flying back together.  We gas up the car and get to the rental center around 7:00 AM.  7:15 AM, we're at the Southwest counter and I'm checking in a bag.  Plenty of time for our 8:45 AM departure.

We landed at PHL around 6:00 PM.  At 6:45 PM I'm picking up my car at Colonial Parking and I drive Kip to Bob's place, where she parked her car for the trip.  We talk about our trip with Bob for a while, and then we have to head home, we both have long drives ahead of us.

We were hungry though, so we decided to stop at Iron Hill Brewery, which is near where Bob lives, but they stopped serving food by the time we got there.  We ended up at a nearby Applebee's.  We reviewed the trip, a pretty profitable one, and we had fun.  Other than the long, grueling session on the last day, we had a pretty good balance of play and other things.  Although we told ourselves we weren't going to have sessions like that, I've already written about my recent trip where, due to some promotions, we did  have one long play session.  Our other sessions were a bit easier (at least it seemed that way).  Trip planning always seem to be a work in progress, especially when the number of people increases.  Working a schedule with four people is pretty easy, especially when two of those people are not necessarily tied with the other people's plans.

I had to pull over for a stop on the way home, so I didn't arrive home until around 2:00 AM.  Whew!

***********

FLIGHTS:

Kip used points to purchase my plane ticket, and I paid her a fair market value for those points (thanks, Kip!).

HOTELS:

I booked three nights at Hotel Apache and four nights at Golden Gate in one of their mini-suites.  Hotel Apache doesn't charge a resort fee and Golden Gate doesn't for comped rooms.

FOOD AND DRINK:

02/24:

Dinner:  Wendy's - $8.97

Drinks:  Frankie's Tiki - $24.00

02/25:

Breakfast:  Binion's Cafe, Binon's - comp

Drinks:  Golden Tiki - $40.64 (AH paid)

Dinner:  Bugsy & Meyer's - $193

Snack:  Binion's Deli - comp ($8.93)

02/26:

Brunch:  Salt & Ivy, Aria - Kip comp

Dinner:  Chicago Brewing Company, Four Queens - mostly comped ($41.50)

Snack:  Din Tai Fung, Aria - AH comp

02/27:

Breakfast:  Magnolia's, Four Queens - Scott comp

Lunch:  Magnolia's, Four Queens - Scott comp

Dinner:  Hugo's Cellar, Four Queens - Harv/Scott comp ($289.36)

Drinks:  Legacy Club, Circa - comp ($39, for Scott and my drink)

02/28:

Breakfast:  Magnolia's, Four Queens - Scott comp ($34.94)

Dinner:  Andiamo, The D - comps ($306.55)

Drink:  Prohibition Bar, Golden Gate - comp ($35)

03/01:

Dinner:  Barry's Downtown Prime - comp ($268.77)

GAMING

Play went really well.  Even though Kip and I didn't hit any royal flushes, I did hit around $700 in straight flushes, so that's almost a royal (or three and a half nickel ones)!

Socially Distanced Trip to Las Vegas, February 24 to March 2 - Day Six

We had a little bit of play to finish up at The D, so Kip and I headed back over there (Scott was staying there).  We got there around 8:15 AM, and I only needed 164 points to get to 1,000.  That would be almost two hours of play, plus we had to redeem the earned free play.  Things went well for me, I think we had a small profit (I don't seem to have those numbers with me).

So, when we started play yesterday, the royal was at around $1,148, it was now at $1,505!  We were supposed to take a break for lunch, but the gamblers in us decided to head over to Golden Gate to do our play (and hopefully no one would hit it during our travel!).

We get there and no one has hit the royal.  Things are still going well for me:

Another straight flush, and it's a pretty good one!

Then, around 1:30 PM, someone I know hit the royal:

Scott continues the trend of hitting a royal when I'm around. . .

Yeah, I wish I hit it, but at least someone who was with us putting in the time building up the royal got it.  Apparently I just hit other straight flushes:

Yeah, I hit a lot of straight flushes this trip. . .

Our planned play at Golden Gate was 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and then we had 7:00 PM dinner reservations at Barry's Downtown Prime.  We took a little break (since we didn't have one at all chasing the royal) and then headed across the street to Circa.

It was our first time there, and it was pretty nice.

One of the booths

View of the restaurant.

Bread!

Lobster Bisque.

French fries!

Rib cap!

Everything I had was good.  It was Kip's birthday, so there was a little dessert celebration:

Happy birthday, Kip!

I noticed quite a few children running around and was wondering about that, since the hotel is 21+.  I looked it up, and Barry had it in his agreement that families with children would be allowed in his restaurant.  Apparently the party has to be escorted to the restaurant (and I imagine escorted off the property).

*I had to add something about our experience.  I had $150 in monthly comps to use at Circa/Golden Gate/The D, but when they took my card at Barry's, they said I didn't have any monthly comps available.  I told them that wasn't right, but they said they couldn't do anything about it, I needed to go to the slot desk to straighten it out.  We were going to use all of Kip and my comps, since Scott was going to be here for a few more days.

We went to the slot club and explained the situation, and the supervisor said she would look into it.  We weren't going to hang out there until she figured it out (she would have to go down and talk with the cashier at Barrys), so I gave her my cell phone number and she would call me when it was straightened out.

Kip, Scott, and I headed back to The D, and a while later, she called and said she got it fixed.  Scott and I gave our cards and she was able to take my comps and credit Scott's back.  It was a little inconvenient, but at least it was fixed.  She couldn't give us an explanation why Barry's couldn't see my comps.

I got a photo of Vegas Vickie before we headed out:

We redeemed our free play back at Golden Gate and tallied up.  We both had really good sessions, all of those straight flushes for me added up, and Kip had a small win on her play.  Add our bonus free play and monthly free play and we were up almost $500 each!

Socially Distanced Trip to Las Vegas, February 24 to March 2 - Day Five

We had breakfast scheduled at 9:00 AM, but I didn't get going until late and arrived there around 9:45 AM.  Kip slept in, so it was just Scott and I for breakfast at Magnolia's.  I got hash and eggs this time.

Hash browns with hash. . .

We get over to The D and the Vue Bar for the start of two days of play.  Always a grueling task to do 1,000 points at both properties over two days.  We do this to maximize the coupons, but in the future, I probably won't look to do the max.

A mimosa at his happy place!

We are looking to do most of our play before dinner at Andiamo at 7:00 PM.  Things apparently went well.

A nice straight flush!

Aces with a useless kicker. . .

I hit 16 quads and a straight flush, Kip hit 14 quads and a straight flush, and Scott hit an astounding 23 quads and two straight flushes!

We had a 7:00 PM reservation at Andiamo, and we're just across the casino from it.  Always enjoy my meals here (and really enjoyable on comps!).

Lobster Bisque!

NY Strip, Oscar style!

Coconut dream cake and cappuccino!

We all got drinks, appetizers, meals, desserts, and coffee and we were still around $100/pp ($306.55 total).  We had $360 in comps, so we were covered!  $20 each for tip, and we're done!

We head to Golden Gate to start our play there, getting there around 9:00 PM.  I still had around $40 in comps to spend before midnight, so I asked the bartender at Prohibition Bar what I could get for that.  He through out a few things and I decided that it had been a long time since I had some Johnnie Walker Blue.

Pretty smooth stuff!

He told me I still had comps left and offered me two bottles of Fiji water.  I asked Kip if she wanted them (since I knew she liked them), but she said she was okay.  I left those comps on the table!

We hit the machines around 9:30 PM.  Things went pretty well for me:

A straight flush!

And another straight flush!

I also hit six bonus quads (no aces), 13 quads overall, with the two straight flushes, and cashed out up around $425!  Kip hit nine quads and two straight flushes.  Scott "only" hit seven quads (including aces ones and three other bonus ones), plus a straight flush.  He'll probably make up for that later. . .

Socially Distanced Trip to Las Vegas, February 24 to March 2 - Day Four

Scott arrived last night, and we all were playing at Four Queens, so we met for breakfast at Magnolia's.  I think there was some sort of comment made on one of Kip's photos regarding bacon (since she's a vegetarian).  Therefore, every chance I get, I like to highlight the fact that she has bacon on her plate:

Bacon!

We had a 2-1 coupon for breakfast, so we got the same thing!

Queen's Breakfast (which apparently isn't on the menu anymore)

So we're doing the same 1,000 points at Four Queens as we did at Binion's, except we're playing 9/6 Jacks instead of 8/5 Bonus.  Our play went okay, it looks like I had a win after four hours of play.  Kip hit 11 quads and I hit 10.  Scott "only" hit seven, but he also hit a jack-high straight flush.  There was also a high probability that he was playing double double.

So close. . .

We weren't having dinner until around 8:30 PM, so we decided to have a late lunch back at Magnolia's (since Scott had a bunch of comps that he earned when he did a promo last June).  I got a prime rib dip, quite tasty.

Not a "French" dip. . .

According to my notes, we went to Binion's afterwards, I guess to hang out with Scott while he did his play there.  I remember Kip and I playing Hexbreaker because we thought it looked like a good play.  We got a line hit for around $90-some and cashed out at $78.50, without hitting the bonus.

We took a little break and then it was time for dinner at Hugo's!  Kip and I had to go pick up AH at Aria, so we had over there, pick her up, and head back downtown.  It's always a nice presentation there.

The bread.

The salad.

The lemon sorbet palate cleanser.

Surf and turf aux poive

The complimentary desserts.

Kip and I drop AH back off at Aria and head back downtown.  We had 12:30 AM reservations at Legacy Club.  I had heard that they were pretty strict about their dress code.  Kip had some footwear that were sandal-like, and they said she needed other shoes.  Most places seem to be more lenient regarding women's ware, but not here.  Kip said that was fine and Scott and I should just go, so he and I went up.

Not many choices in this elevator. . .

They have quite the (pricey) booze selection, and I decided to get something I haven't tried before:

Interesting top shelf liquor. . .

The main reason (I guess) you come here is the views, and they are pretty nice.

A view towards the Strip.

The full moon!

Seating areas and fire pits.

Seating area and fire pit.

Pioneers of Las Vegas.

Pioneers of Las Vegas.

The gold bar display.

It was a nice place.  I understand that now you need to make a deposit to reserve a spot, and they use that as credit on your drinks.  I don't know if they give that back to you if you just use comps.  I'm not sure I'd p-p-pay actual money to go back though.

Since I was here, I stopped at the sports book area:

I played some VP there and a cocktail waitress came by and asked me if I wanted a drink.  I hadn't noticed, but a drink ticket had come out of the machine I was playing.  I didn't know that was a thing there.  I wasn't planning on playing very long, then I hit this:

$190 profit for about 10 minutes of work. . .

I head back to Golden Gate and I believe Kip was already in bed (unless she was out on the casino floor).  I uploaded some photos before heading to bed, probably around 3:00 AM. . .