Post Mortem Xmas 2017

Well Xmas trip is done and did. Came through more or less unscathed from the longest trip of my Vegas career.

Flight in all fine, got in a little late but not badly. Had a long walk out from the gate but made it over to Mirage and out drinking by about 10:30. Mirage check in painless, room was fine, good sized and relatively modern aside from the very small and very 90's bathroom. Other than that though it was a fine place for a one-night stay. Unremarkable view.

Made my way out and across the street to the Dorsey where shots and cocktails ensued, was fairly slow and the DJ was not my jam so I took off and over to the new Rosina at Palazzo. Very small place, small bar and maybe 4 tables. The same staff as the Dorsey crew so it was comfy and familiar. Was getting a bit tired and it was 1-ish so I jumped back over to Mirage and grabbed a not good eggs Benedict thing from the Pantry in there before heading up to the room and promptly left my jacket behind.

Got a decent night's sleep and retrieved the jacket after an hour of dicking with Mirage security, then headed over to check in at Caesars. Checked into a nice, big room with a full couch and thought "this is great", only to realize the in-room AC unit was knocking loudly. Had to gather my stuff, head back down and get a different. smaller room. Bummer. Room was still nice though, the newly reno'd Palace Deluxe rooms. Had the above view. Decent. Palace tower is a haul from the lobby/strip but I figured out how to get in and out after a few false starts. It was a good place to spend the following 5 nights.

Finally headed out after 1p to start the real Vegas trip, made my way over to Cosmo for the Chandelier - learned one of my favorite bartenders has quit, bummer again. Still hung out for a bit then hit Vesper for another couple. Lost the one and only hundie of the day in slots there, went across the street to have a quick lunch (chicken strips!) at Twin Peaks then made my way back to Caesars where I spent the rest of the day basically. Hit the Otheroom again in the Forum Shops (dead, place won't be there when I'm back in April).

Broke some news I heard there to my favorite Vegas blog (Vital Vegas) that Fizz, the snazzy champagne bar, was going to be closing. Hit that, left after one then went to the decent Gordon Ramsey pub for a few and on to Vista, Monte Cristo, Alto bars. Was slowing down by that point so I hit the food court in Caesars for a couple slices of pizza and hit the rack.

Another good night's sleep, was feeling good for the get up and get ready and cab to Town Square for the movie date. Had a sphincter clenching cab ride with a horrid driver but got there early enough to have a beer and shot at the Irish pub place in there next to the theater. Theater was maybe a quarter full, saw The Last Jedi. it was...good? Not sure yet need to see it again.

Lucked out and caught a cab at the entrance to TS and made my way back to the MB/Delano. Had a drink at Franklin, not much going on there so went over to House of Blues to have a quick snack and beer and had some really pretty great popcorn shrimp. A good thing as it would turn out. I had the intention of going up to Skyfall for my usual pilgrimage but was foiled as they were closed a night longer than they were supposed to be. Headed up to Foundation Room instead and had a glass of wine and shot with the personable bartenders up there. Like that place - maybe more so than Skyfall.

Then jammed over to Excalibur for what was supposed to be the big meal at Camelot steakhouse...they were CLOSED. Despite allowing me to make a reservation. I was pissed. Just hung out for a bit in the bar outside the Thunder Down Under room with the personable tender there, then wandered back over to the MB Shoppes for Ri Ra and the 1923 bars there. Was getting pretty faded for lack of food at this point, I know I caught a cab back over to Venetian to hit Dorsey and Rosina again but don't really remember it. Rest of the night - blackout.

Saturday - yet another good night's sleep. Think it was 11a before I was out of bed. Started walking north, crowds pretty crazy for Xmas week and pretty Chinese or Indi/Paki. Was going to use my coupon at Senor Frog's at TI but there was no room on the bar so just kept walking...all the way to Wynn/Encore. Got my Red card there, sat in a posh bar for a bit, played a hundie in the slots. Don't really feel comfortable in that place, maybe just too damn posh and stuffy for me. Dead vibe.

So walked across to Venetian, had a shrimp cocktail at Public House. Hit Dorsey again but nothing going on, tried to go to Rockhouse but they were closed every time I tried to go in on the whole trip. Kept walking down toward my show time at Flamingo, stopped at the Linq and had one at AmeriCan and got more chicken strips (cuisine!) at Yard House in there. Finally made my way to Flamingo, jumped into Carlos and Charlie's for a shot then saw the Piff the Magic Dragon show. Really good, very funny and entertaining.

After show headed up to Cosmo, had a drink at 2nd floor Chandy, a couple with Dan at Vesper then made the Dorsey/Rosina run again. There was a horrid old man in Rosina who wouldn't leave me alone so I got out of there and headed back to the room at Caesars, had one at Alto and Vista but was done so finally got, yes, MORE chicken strips in the food court and hit the sack.

Not a great night's sleep Sat night, woke up Sunday morning hitting the wall a bit. did the Cosmo Chandy thing again, won a hundy in the slots, lost a hundy in the slots, tried to head back to the room for a nap but as I got there I started getting my second wind so it was back down and into Monte Cristo to watch a little football, saw a bit of the Niner game (Jimmy G!) but got chased out of there by bad service and loud drunken Cowboys fans so it was over to Vista for a quick one before the reservation at Old Homestead. Had the filet and a couple glasses of red, nothing to write home about.

Then it was off to TI for the Mystere show. Got a players card in there to try to maybe sneak a comp for the next trip, threw in a hundy and lost it. Wasn't doing much gambling early in the trip and certainly wasn't winning anything. Saw Mystere, was very meh. Some cool circus tricks but LOVE is miles better, even Ka. Made yet another Dorsey/Rosina run, was just not feeling it at this point though so headed back to hit a couple bars at Caesars before having some terrible gyro thing at Halal Guys (never again) and off to bed.

Monday...Xmas day. Another not great sleeping night but out of the room around 10a to pick up my ticket at PH for the show later in the evening. Glad I did as the line was ridonk later in the day. Stopped into Nacho Daddy outside PH for some bad service (overworked) but very good buffalo chicken nachos (hey at least it wasn't chicken strips). Went to Cosmo, lost another hundred, made my way down to Rock and Reilly to watch the Dubs game in peace. Bars fairly slow now after the weekend - fine.

Made my way back north to start getting in position for the show at 5:30p. Had a not good massage at PH in one of those mall kiosk things, then hit Blondie's for a couple drinks. Had one more at the bar outside the theater then saw the Beatleshow Orchestra show. The players were great, George and Paul were spitting images of the guys. John was about 20 years too old for the young Beatles part but looked good for the later Beatles part. Music was great, almost a little too long TBH but well worth the $30.

Went back over to Cosmo after the show, hit 2 levels of Chandelier bar then made my way to STK, sat at the bar and had the excellent filet there. Used Identity points so got the meal for the price of a tip, thanks Cosmo! Then worked back over to Caesars. Was pretty tired out and hitting the wall, eyes were barely open, I had one last shot at Alto bar, fought off a couple "spend money on us" scammer girls and did the pizza and bed thing, pretty early, think I just cracked midnight. Xmas over.

Got decent sleep on the last night at Caesars. Room was totally quiet and comfortable, very nice place to stay and I was sad to leave it for...the Monte Carlo. Thought for a second about shining on it and just bolting out of town on whatever plane was available but talked myself out of it, packed my shit and jumped in the cab down to MC.

Man, the MC/Park/whatever the fuck they're calling it is a bloody mess right now. Casino mostly walled off, what there is inside is confusing and sad, exterior being torn down, Diablo's gone etc. It's just not a working resort right now, they should have just shut it down and completed all the construction in a few months rather than leave it open and horrid while slowly finishing it. It's a mess.

Got there and did the mobile check in then while waiting had a Guinness and a snack at NFI in NYNY. Always glad to stop in there over the holidays, it's like an old pal now. Got the email to check in, got the keys, made my way up to the new Park room. It's not much of an upgrade over the old MC. Bathroom is still tiny (though well done), walls still paper thin and room is basically just a fresh coat of paint and some boring furniture. No way they should think they can charge high end prices for those rooms.

Anyway, dropped the shit off for the 3rd time on the trip, out the door, back over to NYNY to use the $50 credit to Times Square bar. Boring, bad service, no one else in there so just had a few and blew out and down to Dick's at Excalibur. Had a couple, always fun in there, left my monogrammed dollar over the bar then started making my way to have what I thought would be myVegas lunch at Rice and Company (compensation for Camelot being closed) but the Mlife line was forever long all day at Luxor so couldn't use it at all all day. Fugg.

Went over to Ri Ra instead and had---chicken strips! It was a chicken strip trip. These were really good though. Kept on going south to the Franklin then finally made it up to Skyfall as must be done. Very dead in there so just had a couple and made my way over via cab to Cosmo and Clique. It was dead in there as well but got slightly better service this time so stuck around for a couple. They do make really good cocktails. Jumped out of there and decided to throw what would probably be the last $100 in the slots, just had been having no luck but finally hit $200 on an Orange is the New Black machine (why was I playing it?) so I now had about $1400 left in the wallet for the total trip.

It was a warm night (weather was great for the whole trip, really only needed the jacket the first night), so rambled down to Rock and Reilly again. Some really horrible drunken customers were in there so I made my way south stopping at the Tap bar in MGM. Not much going on, just had a beer and a shot and moseyed. Was starting to wear down at this point after 6 days, made my way up to Hard Rock bar for some reason for a blue foo-foo drink (why?) then decided this trip was pretty much toast. This whole day felt pretty weird, like it was part of another trip. Can't put my finger on it, maybe I was just Vegas'd out by this point. I never really got much of a head of steam going.

I hit Bruxie in the Park for a chicken and waffle sandwich (not good) and headed up to the room. Watched a little CNN and hit the rack, was probably only 11p but I was DONE.

Fly out day was horrid as always. Had a very up and down, in and out sleep night, probably only a few hours of REM. Flight wasn't until 4p so I bought late check out and lounged in bed watching a no news day on CNN. Man daytime TV is a fucking wasteland. Finally jammed everything in the backpack and got to the airport way too early as usual, had a terrible turkey burger in the PGA grill in there (food was mostly a fail on this trip) and waited out the inevitable hour flight delay on Frontier to finally make it back to SFO around 6:30p. Jumped on the shuttle, got to my car, drove home and back in the hobbit hole around 8p.

SO, this trip. Pretty much everything went as planned aside from the myVegas stuff. Saw all the shows, all were worth it aside from maybe Mystere but at least they all kept me from being too untethered in town, for that long a trip I needed something to keep me from spending the whole thing in a bar which I would have otherwise. All in all it was fun and I am already looking forward to the next trip in April so it must have been basically OK. No big fuck Vegas hangover this time. Came back with $1100 so money wasn't bad at all for that long a trip, though I honestly didn't gamble much.

So yep...April. Kinda getting my SF legs back under me now, looking forward to some Saturdays out here then in a month or so I can start the hype train for my birthday trip. With the tax refund coming it should be a relatively painless save - just need to hope for a comp SOMEWHERE to cover the first night in town or I'll figure something out here in the next month or so. No rush - I have almost 4 months.