Semi-Free Play-palooza, the trip to Las Vegas, Day seven

 

From White Owl Canyon

So, the plan was breakfast at 9:00 AM and get to White Owl Canyon at 10:00 AM.  Well, we were up around 9:00 AMish and we could see the runners going by for the Vegas Strong 5k/1mi.  There were some street closures, but they probably wouldn't have affected our trip.  But, we were still running late. (what else is new, right)?

Good luck to all of the runners!

We did make a reservation the previous night (they apparently only take reservations for breakfast).  Scott was around and asked to join us.  Even though it wasn't crowded, the issue is that there aren't many people working.  The hostess was also bussing tables, and I think there was only one server working.  I did start the day with a good breakfast (as typical Vegas breakfasts should be).

Farmhouse breakfast!

We had comps to use, and we used them!  We then headed off for White Owl Canyon, and we arrived there close to noon.

The start of the trail!

So, one thing Kip didn't realize was that the start of the trail was a bit of a scramble.  From the NPS page, "The Owl Canyon hike starts out with a 70-foot (21-meter) descent along an unmaintained path near the middle picnic shade structure".  The map says, "Steep 45 ft drop".  Kip was a wee bit nervous about the descent, but with encouragement from me and getting her confidence, she made the decent.  Once at the bottom, we kinda lost the trail and went up another hill.

I knew we should have made the left at Albuquerque!

So if I had read the NPS page, I would have known to follow the left path, which we finally figured out.  One strange thing I saw were all of the seashells.

Odd seeing seashells in the desert!

From the NPS page (if you didn't already go to the link I provided):

Once in the canyon, the steep sides provide a shaded area. Look closely for animal signs, including droppings from birds on the ledges above your head. The sculpted conglomerate rock provides convenient perches where owls have been seen nesting.

The narrow canyon opens just below Lakeshore Road where a culvert provides easy access under the road.  You may continue up the wash and pass through a second culvert. Return the same route you came. 

On the correct path now!

In the canyon.

Culvert One.

Second culvert.

Nearing the end.

This is the end!

A look into the valley.

A look back at the canyon.

Kip surveying.

The last scramble up!

It was still a bit warm, although not blazing hot.  I meant to take an extra bottle of water to leave in the car but I forgot.  I did have a large water bottle with me.  We also didn't realize that it was 2.2 miles out and back, we thought it was 2.2 miles out.  So I set a timer for us to go out for an hour and come back, but once we realized that it was only 1.1 miles out, we decided to make it to the end of the trail.  Still, we are not in peak form, so it was a bit tasking.  It was a fun hike, though, I'd do it again, but I'm not so sure Kip would want to take the scramble again.

Since we were down that way, we were going to do a bit of couponing in Henderson, but we were pretty tired, so we just at least decided to go to Emerald Island for lunch (using an LVA BOGO entree coupon).  We got there around 3:00 PM.  In addition to the restaurant comp, they had a promo where if you earned 100 points, you got to spin the Wheel of Cash to win up to $100.

We got cleaned up as best we could in the restroom, checked out the casino, got our slot cards and then were trying to figure out the wait for lunch.  There was a line and they were calling names, so I asked how long the wait was.  She said it wasn't too long, so I put in our name and we were deciding whether to start playing or not when we got called up.

The restaurant has a very diner feel to it   I got the steak and shrimp, I believe Kip got salmon.

I thought this was my salad, but it was Kip's, but I already took a picture of it.

My salad!

Steak and shrimp!

Yes, the portion was huge and yes, I didn't finish it all, but it was good and I'd probably come back here.

So, Emerald Island is apparently famous for being the "All Penny Casino".  Seems that almost all of the machines are penny machines.  And an interesting thing is that some (if not all) of the penny VP machines have a better paytable than the 25c+ machines.  But, you can play 100 pennies, so you can play a full pay machine for $1 a spin, or a lesser machine for $1.25 a spin.  We found some 1c Not So Ugly Deuces machine that had a progressive royal.  We didn't hit any natural royals, but I hit three dirty ones and Kip hit one.  I managed to be even, I'm not sure how Kip did.

So we earned our Wheel of Cash spins and went back to the slot club to get our vouchers.  We went to the wheel area where an attendant met us.  Kip gave the first spin and it around and around, and finally stopped on a space that said, "Spin Again".  The attendants were getting excited though, excited about another spin, we weren't sure what that was about.  But then the attendant removed the "Spin Again" label to reveal $100!  Kip won $100! Woohoo!  Now it was my turn, and that was a hard act to follow, and sure enough, I ended up winning $10.  But $110 between the two of us, that's pretty good!

Emerald Island is a cute, little casino, but very smoky!  That might be the one reason not to go back. . .

We had to take Scott to the airport, so we told him we'd pick him up around 6:45 PM at the valet at The D.  We dropped him off at the airport and headed back to El Cortez for a little bit of play before headed back to Starboard Tack for dinner with Bob.  Back at The 'Tack, I got a Starboard Taquiri and a loco moco.

Starboard Taquiri!

Loco Moco!

I did need to fill up the car with gas, so GasBuddy found a "cheap" place for me to fill up at a Rebel station out on E. Bonanza.  It was $73.75 for 13.535 gallons ($5.449/gal)!  But, I did save $1.07 using my GasBuddy card.  I always remind myself not to complain about gas prices back home. . .

We got back to El Cortez and put in an hour or so more play in. . .

Semi-Free Play-palooza, the trip to Las Vegas, Day six

 

Plaza hot tub!

Well, we might be checking out of Plaza, but we're going to hit that hot tub!  We were up relatively early.  We still had to finish packing, take our bags to El Cortez, go to Aria to meet Lola for brunch at Salt & Ivy, do some play at Binion's, eat at Whiskey Liquor Up, drop Lola off at the airport, have dinner at Top of Binion's Steakhouse, and the late drinks at Velveteen Rabbit.

But first, the hot tub.  I told Kip we were going, so we went.  Alas, the fair skinned Kip wasn't prepared for the hot tub to be in direct sunlight, so she had to use a towel to keep from burning.  I did convince her that we could take our room-made mimosas in, even though the sign on the door said no outside food or drink.

The bundled up Kip enjoying her in-hot tub mimosa!

I said it would be relaxing, and it was.  We spent about half an hour there, dried off (pretty easy to do in the desert) and headed back up to the room to shower and head out.

The Document says we dropped our bags off at El Cortez, but I think we may have driven directly to Aria.  I do show "checking in" at Aria around 1:30 PM.  Salt & Ivy closes at 2:00 PM.  They also don't take reservations anymore, but fortunately Lola was already there and she procured a table for us and held it until we arrived.  The three of us ate here back in February 2021 and we really enjoyed it and since I had several hundred dollars in comps, I decided I'd treat us.

The very good smoked Old Fashioned.

The very average bacon and eggs.

We closed the place down (we were about the last people to leave), but it was an enjoyable meal.  Even though it was closing time, we never felt rushed to leave.

I had $210 slot dollars in my Mlife account, so I also got one of the $25 myKONAMI free play rewards.  I went to the main slot club desk (which had a fairly long line) and they loaded up the myKONAMI free play.  And once again, when I went to a machine, it didn't show up.  By this time, there was an even longer line.  So, I recall one time when I had issues with my free play, in the high limit area, an attendant was able to help me, so I went in there.  Sure enough, there was no line, and the person was able to take care of the problem (secret tip).

While I was getting that taken care of, Lola and Kip ordered drinks.  I played my free play on a $1 8/5 Bonus Poker machine.  While I didn't get anything going on the machine, I did end up cashing out for $215, so less the $15 seed money, that was +$200.  Better than nothing, eh?

We headed to El Cortez to get settled in and see what we were going to do, getting there close to 4:00 PM.  We put in a little play there for Kip, since we're there on her comp, and then we headed to Binion's for our meal/drinks at Whiskey Liquor Up at 5:00 PM.  And here's where things went south.

The comp issues that we had been experiencing at Four Queen's had gotten worse.  They were not accepting comps at the restaurants since the system was totally down.  I heard that it was spreading to the machines, although I didn't see them.  This was throwing a wrench in our steakhouse plans as well, since we were planning on using comps for that meal.

A command decision was made and instead of Whiskey Liquor Up, Lola, Kip, Bob, and I went to Starboard Tack.  Some got food, some got drinks, I didn't get anything because I wasn't sure if Binion's was still going to be an option after we dropped Lola off at the airport.

So Kip and I took Lola to the airport and while that was going on, Kip was in contact with Top of Binion's Steakhouse, they confirmed they could not accept comps so we cancelled our reservation.  Scott was supposed to join us and Kip contacted him to discuss alternatives, and it was decided that we all would be on our own for dinner.  It was now around 8:30 PM, and shockingly enough, places were closing around 9:00 PM.  We batted around a few ideas between us and finally decided just to go back to Starboard Tack (even though we were already planning on going there tomorrow).

So, knowing what the meal situation was, I ordered a drink and food at Starboard Tack.

Rob Roy (it was a special of the day)

Fried Chicken Fried Rice

It was all very good.  And, since we were close by, we went by Eureka to play some Multi-Strike.  Unfortunately, this session didn't go as well as before and we took a small loss.

We headed back to El Cortez for the night.  Which I will say, we were in one of the remodeled rooms and it looked pretty nice.  If they send me an offer, perhaps I'll take them up on it.

The beds.

The chairs right next to the bed.

The shower area.

The shower.

This room had lots of seating.  The two chairs next to the bed, another chair and table, a desk chair, and a make up chair.

Semi-Free Play-palooza, the trip to Las Vegas, Day five

I put this photo here because it's what's going to show up with the link. . .

So we've hit the midway point of the trip.  Kip and I needed to have a laundry day and this was to be the day.  I did have Plaza play to do, so we decided that Kip would go do laundry while I played.  I was going to drop her off at the laundromat, but she said she could walk.

She was going to take the laundry with us to breakfast at Magnolia's, but decided she'd just go back to Plaza.  Scott asked if we were still doing breakfast at Magnolia's and we said yes, so he joined us (we met him on Fremont outside of Circa on the way).  It was 9:00 AM planned breakfast time, but there might have been a wait, as my breakfast photo was time stamped at 9:40 AM.

Steak and eggs because we were burning comps!

Kip and I headed back to Plaza, she took the laundry to Busy Bee a few blocks past El Cortez.  She was going to leave things there, since she was checking in there today.  She had a few fiascos at the laundromat (soap dispenser wasn't working, so she had to go to Walgreen's, then the water wasn't running in the machine).  Meanwhile, my play started off well.

I started off on Bonus Deluxe to try to get a head start, which I did.  I then switched to Jacks or Better to try to maintain, and for a while I was.

Probably what added to my downfall is that when I was up around $600, I bumped up to $2 and then dropped back down to $1 when I went down to $500.  Unfortunately, I never hit any $2 quads.

Also unfortunately, I wasn't playing a game that would make these aces pay better!  But I got my points in and cashed out "up" $100 (but I did have $175 in free play to start).

Our local friend, Jim, was coming by to meet us for lunch at Pop Up Pizza, so I went over by the place and tried a Kenny Rogers slot.  I got some free spins, then I got the bonus, that was around the time Jim showed up.  The first bonus hand I got was a full house.  I asked him if I should keep it, he said yes, but I decided to gamble.  I then got jacks or better, then three-of-a-kind, and then this:

Spoiler alert, the only royal flush I hit this trip. . .

I still had one offer to go!  I cashed out up $80.90 and ordered our pizza and also got Jim a drink and we headed up to the room.

The pizza!

It's Jim!

We ate and talked in the suite.  I had scheduled some pool time, but once again, we'd have to skip that.  We had a 4:15 PM reservation at Golden Tiki, and we had to pick up Lola at Aria.  So we bid Jim adieu.

Before we left, we still had our $25 match plays to use.  We decided not to halve them and bet them separately on roulette.  Unfortunately this time we lost both.  Sadness.

Scott met us at the South Tower elevators around 3:30 PM and we headed to Aria.  We picked up Lola and headed over to GT, I was a bit late, but Bob was already there and I had everyone get out while I parked.  I believe I ended up getting a pretty good spot.  The main reason we go to Golden Tiki is the Boozy Dole Whips at the discounted happy hour price, so yummy!

Dole Whip with dark rum!

Interior shots.

Interior shots.

Interior shots.

Scott, Kip and I needed to head back to El Cortez to catch the All Casino Action livestream at 7:00 PM, so we dropped Lola off at Aria and headed to El Cortez.  We then had an 8:15 PM reservation at Oscar's to use up the $150 in comps I had with my room offer.

We caught the live stream but unfortunately nothing exciting happened, which I guess happens more often than not.

Behind the scenes of All Casino Action!

Kip and I headed to Plaza and Scott was going to meet us there.  It didn't take us long to get seated and Scott arrived so we ordered.  I got lobster bisque (of course), and we ordered broccolini for the table and I got the New York strip.  Everything was very good.

Lobster bisque!

Bread and butter.

Broccolini.

New York Strip!

I knew we were going to go over the $150, so I charged it to the room and see if my host would take off the charges.  If she didn't, I'd let people know what the cost was (it was all comped).

We had planned on going to Jammyland after dinner for drinks.  Originally to celebrate Kip and I having a car because originally we were only going to have a car from Thu to Mon, but I ended up being able to rent a car for the entire trip.  We still decided to celebrate!  Bob asked if we were still going and we said we were and he said he'd meet us there.

Outside Jammyland.

Bangarang!

The Bangarang is a take on an Old Fashioned, Ridgemont 1792 & Old Forester Bourbons, Lost Spirits Creme de Cerise, Peychaud's Bitters.

Kip with a Jammyland colada!

Bob arrived and ordered a few drink as well.  I may have had just the one, since I was driving.  Kip and I had to pack to move to El Cortez, so we headed back to Plaza.