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| One of the views of the strip from Loser's Palm's Penthouse Suite |
April's trip was all about meeting friends from the blonde4ever Vegas Message board. While all the message boards I frequent have meets in Vegas and one can certainly always find a group of people on one board or the other that will be in Vegas while we're there, the Blonde4ever Mega Meet II was special because we had a good size group going just for the purpose of meeting their online friends. It was also very special because one of the members Loser, had arranged for us to have the meet in his Palm's Penthouse Suite which was incredibly generous of him since he only flew in for the 1 day and night in order to provide this meeting space.
The Mega Meet 2 meet was also different in that we were doing two gambling events during the meet, one was polling our money for Mega Bucks and the other where we chipped in $40 a share for a high roller event playing some slots like Wolf Run in the Palms high limit room for $40 or more a push.
This trip I was going to Vegas solo for the meet, while my husband went to Seattle to visit his family a trip that had been postponed from February due to him getting sick. We arrived at San Jose airport to find my flight is delayed for about 20 minutes and husband’s Southwest flight to Seattle is delayed over a hour. Originally Randy was to leave first, but now he gets to see me off as his flight will leave last. I did hear later from hubby that his flight was smooth sailing while my flight was flying in bad weather the whole way and was a bit bumpy.
Landing at McCarran was fine. I was surprised that the taxi line was long since it was a Wednesday evening but glad for Las Vegas since the last few trips I’m seeing a lot more people and hopefully that means casinos, hotels and restaurants will start doing some more hiring again.
While in the cab, I called two friends from the Blonde4ever boards, VegasSun and her husband the Dermonator to let them know that I had finally arrived and was checking in. They were already in the Palazzo casino, playing the Mummy slot near the Sweet Surrender cupcake store and I imagine I walked right by them on my way to the suite after checking in. Once in the room I didn’t stay to unpack, just quickly changed my blouse and went downstairs to meet the first of many friends that had arrived in Vegas for the Mega Meet II.
VegasSun and Dermonator are a very cute couple and both are friendly and fun to be with. Even though they hadn’t much sleep, and were currently staying at Mandalay Bay they were sweet enough to meet me at Palazzo to pay for their participation in the High Roller and Mega Bucks slot events we were having on Saturday as they would be arriving late to the party.
We had a great chat for about a hour and then it was back to Mandalay Bay for them and it was time for me to see how my luck might go tonight.
A seat was open on Sex in the City slots so I grabbed it and almost immediately hit 2 bonuses at the same time, a first for me. Both bonuses ended up being the gift one that has free spins and I usually do well on it, but this time together they only paid a total of $60. After that I had a few more minor wins but nothing great as it slowly started to eat my cash. (sorry older photos on Twitter have disappeared due to glitch with best camera app).
http://bestc.am/iDnY I played on several other slots like the new Goldfish, "Race For The Gold" and this time I actually did get the random Race for the Gold bonus. Unfortunately it involves picking to see which fish wins the race and with my usual luck I selected the fish that pays the least. Personally I’m finding the pay offs on the Goldfish 2 and now "Race for the Gold" to be a lot less then the original Goldfish and I don’t consider the bonuses as much fun so I think from now on it’s the original game for only for me.
Luck was not happening for me at Palazzo so I wandered over to the Venetian and spotted the Wizard of Oz, Yellow Brick Road Game. I seldom get a bonus on this WOZ game but tonight I got one just as I was down to my last $3.20 push and I actually went to the end of the road to enter the Emerald City!
Unfortunately along the way you pick for the characters and well, you already know what a lousy picker I can be and each time I failed to get one of the characters. I ended up winning $451.20 anyway, a nice win considering I failed to gain any characters along the road.
During the next few hours, I had a nice Glinda bonus for $329.00
I also had a good Emerald City bonus for me, because remember I seldom do well on that bonus since I’m not good at picking emeralds and usually find the emerald city on the first pick.
Before I went to bed, I played SITC again and hit 2 bonuses again at once. Both bonuses ended up being the diamond ring boxes and those of you who play this slot know it’s very hard to make anything over $10 on that bonus.
I finally made Gold status at V&P that first evening but knew it was time to go to bed when I hit a bonus on Monopoly Jackpot Station and it paid zero! Of course it was also like 4am in the morning so that was a hint it was time for bed too.
Thursday, April 22nd
Woke up around 11am and weather is not looking good today. My room has a lousy view so I didn’t take any photos, but since I had requested as my first priority a quiet room since I didn’t care to hear music this time from Tao pool/beach, I can’t complain as the room was very quiet for all 4 nights.
Went to Grand Lux for my first meal of the day and had the Manhattan chopped salad with shrimp.
After eating I played some Goldfish and other slots and no luck on anything. Tried the Dukes of Hazard slot machine and had a small win but that was the high point so far of this day.
My friends RJ and Marty were in town until Saturday and Marty has a buddy that just arrived so the 2 men are going out together on the town and RJ is joining me. RJ arrives about 4pm but we don’t stay long at V&P since the slots aren’t hitting for her either, instead we go to Caesar’s palace because tonight I have a meet with a few of the members of the Vegas Rex private forum, at the Seahorse lounge at 6pm and then dinner with them at 7:30pm at Mirage’s Onda restaurant.
Arriving at Caesar’s, RJ spots a favorite $1 Sphinx machine she likes so we sit down and play side by side. I did hit one bonus on it, but my losing streak is continuing and RJ also doesn’t do well on this slot. I continue to lose and after donating $200 to Caesar’s I stop. RJ’s luck though take a turn for the better and she starts hitting bonus after bonus on Tiger Realm, hot hot super spin.
http://bestc.am/vuKAfter RJ cashes out her winnings it’s around the time to meet the Rexfest folks for drinks so we wander over there. This is my first time attending any Rexfest meets though I have met a couple people that are members of both Blonde4ever and the private board at Vegasrex in the past.
I like the Seahorse lounge it’s cool and I really enjoyed meeting KarenTn, Texas Cajun, Drich, Gette, Blueboar, Disco Stu and the Cl2marine’s. Kydds who is a member like me of both the Rex board and Blonde4ever started texting me around this time, saying funny things about Blueboard, so I passed my phone to BB and I now have a exchange of funny messages on my Iphone from those two. Photo below is Texas Cajun and RJ.
KarenTN paid for a round of drinks for all of us, which was really exceptionally generous since she was out of work at the time.
There’s a story from a past Rex Fest meet about the group having drinks at Seahorse lounge and one of the guys accidentally almost setting their server on fire and we had the same pretty server this time. At first our server didn’t seem too friendly so I’m thinking oops, she remembers some of our group from last time. I couldn’t have been more wrong, as when she got around to taking Texas Cajun’s drink order he reminded her about what happened last year and she immediately started laughing and was all smiles after that. In fact she suggests we get pineapple shots, so Cajun immediately pays for a round for the table and next thing I know I’m doing my first shot of my life. It was a very over sized shot glass too!
After the shots Texas Cajun and our server do a reenactment of what happened last year.
The pineapple shot by the way was delicious but I’m a light weight drinker so even though it’s 30 minutes before our dinner reservation I tell our group I need to eat because I’m feeling woozy. I did get some good natured teasing but we headed out via the forum shops and walked to Mirage after saying our good byes to the CL2Marines (very sweet couple) who had already eaten dinner.
Onda is an Italian restaurant that has good food at a very reasonable price if you order off their pre-fix menu which is currently $39.95. I ended up ordering a glass of Riesling and had the Romaine, Endive and Radicchio salad with marinated beets and caramelized walnuts. I forgot to take a photo of this, but have a few photos I took of my entrée and a couple desserts, but it was dark in there and they didn’t come out very well. A lot of us, including me ordered the seared Monkfish and Maine Lobster with artichoke, mushrooms and beet greens and this was fabulous! RJ ordered the sautéed chicken with caramelized pumpkin, sweet garlic and lima beans in a chardonnay sauce and said it was just okay.
For dessert I ordered the Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake which was excellent but the stand out dessert looked to be Karen’s Pear Frangipan Crostada.
I really enjoyed talking and learning more about everyone at dinner. After dinner RJ who had a cold and whose meds were getting to her went back to Palazzo for a bit with me before returning to the Gold Nugget where she was staying, while the rest of the RexFest group went low rolling at the Stratosphere.
After midnight on Thursday I played Goldfish, Kitty Glitter and Wolf Run and my losses slowed down quite a bit but still no big wins. I ended up going to bed around 3am tonight.
Friday the 23rd.
Woke up and after getting ready went down to play some Sex in the City, which I had some luck on but nothing huge. Ate lunch at Grand Lux and of course had the usual salad.
Tonight I’m meeting Socalgirl and Ilvegaslover from Blonde4ever and we are going to Rosemary’s for dinner. In the meantime I’m playing lots of slots and thanks to a series of small wins staying even today. While it’s always more fun to have some big hits, I’m happy enough just getting a lot of play and breaking even.
After changing my clothes around 5pm it’s time to walk over to Wynn where Socalgirl is picking us up around 6:30pm at the Tower Valet area. While I met Socalgirl last year around Thanksgiving this is the first time I’ve met Ilvegaslover and I liked her immediately.
I’ve always read in trip reports how good Rosemary’s restaurant is and the reports don’t lie, they have good service, reasonable prices for an upscale restaurant, and excellent food. I ended up ordering their prix fix which is $55 per person and gives you a choice of any 3 items off their menu.
I ordered the BBQ Shrimp with Maytag blue cheese slaw for an appetizer, the seared scallops with parsnip potato puree with apple cider beurre sauce and a garnish of crispy prosciuttuo and parsnip strips for a entrée (Sandy also ordered this entrée) and for dessert the goat cheese cheesecake with scotch caramel sauce.
Socalgirl had the brick chicken with wild mushrooms, cous cous, pea shoots in a Dijonaisee Sauce. It didn’t look like the traditional flattened brick chicken, but she said it was delicious.
I was having too good a time to remember to take many photos, but I did get a few. Rosemary’s starts off with bread which was 2 rolls, one with chocolate and drat can’t recall the other but they were really delicious as I normally don’t eat bread and I ate both those rolls! There was also a little amuse which was fantastic at the end of the meal they presented us with a delectable assortment of 3 tiny candy like desserts for each of us. One was like fudge, another peanut butter and I forget what the 3rd was. All of us were too full to try them, but we did have them boxed and Ilvegaslover brought them to Saturday’s Mega Meet so hopefully they were sampled there.
After our wonderful dinner which Socalgirl treated us too it was back to Wynn to try to win. We went briefly to Ilvegaslover's tower suite where she gifted me with a lucky crane.Not a great photo of it because I'm afraid it got bent during the evening by my cell phone. The cranes are very cute!
After leaving the suite and before trying out luck it was time to visit a tradition that Socalgirl and Ilvegaslover have and that’s to make a offering to the Buddha Statues near Wynn tower registration. Judging by the offerings already in place, it’s a tradition that many others also follow.
After that we went briefly to the VIP lounge which is lovely.
Socalgirl had some initial luck on a new Cleopatra tile game. I had a brief fling with a Indian theme slot but then started to lose. Ilvegaslover was playing Secrets of the Forest and the forest decided to keep its secrets or at least her money. After that we sat down at a poker progressive and I believe I was playing double bonus poker when I hit my first 4OAK for $250.00. The machine continued to give me some additional wins so that I ended up cashing out more or less even due to as mentioned earlier slot losses. We went on to play Steve’s mega bucks and while I’ve never down well with that machine, I did end up getting some spins as did Ilvegaslover. I think poker and Steve’s mega bucks started Socalgirl on a little losing streak that ate up her Cleopatra wins. I spotted a Monopoly Jackpot Station and we played side by side on these machines with Ilvegaslover hitting a very nice bonus on the party train.
After losing about $200 at Wynn and I said my goodnights to my friends and walked back to Palazzo.
It was time for some sparkle, for lucky glitter so I thought of Kitty Glitter and went over stuck a hundred in the machine and without thinking about it hit 300 credits. I did this a couple more times and each one was a small win, hit it a 3rd time and just then realized that someone had my penny machine set to 5 cents a spin and I was betting $15 a push! As I went oh crap to myself, the bonus hit and then I went oh wow! It was a first for me to make a mistake like that and profit from it to the tune of $725.00 which would end up this trip being my largest win. Just after I hit that I received a text from Socalgirl that said as she was leaving Wynn she hit for $400 on Queen Isabella, so a late evening win for two of us felt good! So was it the offering to Buddha or the lucky crane or both that made this a happy accident?
After my Kitty Glitter win it was a blur of slot play. I ended up going to bed a couple hundred up for the day, but since I had played and had fun for about 4 more hours, it was a good run. I really can’t ask for more then that as we do play for entertainment not due to a belief we will become wealthy and retire on our slot play. Certainly this trip was giving me more fun for my money then the end of February trip where I just couldn’t win and the real pay off was meeting all the wonderful people so far with the biggest highlight coming up at Mega Meet II!
Saturday the 24th.
I went to bed late and didn’t get to sleep until around 5am. I intended to sleep in late to be perky for the Mega Meet 2. Instead I wake up around 10am see a text that the brunch at Bouchon is still scheduled with the Rexfest group and I’m going to be late since it starts at 10:30am. I made it there around 10:45 and felt bad because they wouldn’t seat our group until all were there and everyone had to wait for me.
Brunch group was Gette, Karen, Texas Cajun, Disco Stu and his buddy who had literally just gotten off a plane about a hour before. I had a very enjoyable brunch, food was great, service was good and the group was lively especially considering that none of us had likely had more then a few hours sleep. I especially enjoyed hearing about their adventures at the Stratosphere and what they call the Elvis Suite at the Rivera, the one with the wrap around outside balcony.
The food at Bouchon is yummy though the beignets that Texas Cajun ordered certainly weren’t traditional. They were served with 2 dipping sauces, one was nutella and the other a raspberry sauce.
Gette ordered a cheese pastry that looked fabulous and I heard tasted the same.
The chicken and waffles that Keith ordered.
White sausage and eggs that were Karen’s choice.
I had the special which was eggs, shrimp, mushrooms, spinach in a delectable cheese sauce.
I hated saying good bye to the RexFest group as I knew I wouldn’t see them again this trip and they are a blast to be with. I will certainly try to make one of their future meets when next time hopefully my husband can join in too.
As I’m walking out to do a couple hours of gambling before it’s time to get ready for Mega Meet II, I have a text from Socalgirl that Ilvegaslover tried to reach me. I’m such a flake that the previous evening I gave her my home phone number instead of my cell so when she tried to reach me to treat me to brunch at Wynn and for me to cheer her on during her morning tournament play, of course she could only leave messages for me on what she came to realize was my home phone. Disgusted with myself for making such a silly mistake I walk back to Kitty Glitter hoping it can lift my spirits and I did hit a bonus again for around $147.00 on a $3 bet.
Last couple trips the $5 Wheel of Fortune slot at Palazzo hasn’t liked me. I decided to give it one more chance and I was lucky enough to hit a spin about my 4th push in for $250.00.
It’s now getting time to go collect my stuff for the meet, so going back to the room I load up with my gift to Bonnie who is the creator of the Blonde4ever Vegas message board for her birthday, my gift for the exchange some of us were having and all the paperwork for the High Roller Event. While in the room Ilvegaslover and I finally get a hold of each other, meaning I wake her up from a attempted nap and since she can’t get back to sleep at that point she is going to walk over to Palazzo and we will share a taxi to the Meet.
I have 30 minutes to kill before leaving for the meet, so packages in hand I go down to Goldfish near the player’s desk at Palazzo and sit at the center machine that has the Stampede game next to it. The lady next to me is playing a bonus and is winning big money due to playing max bet. I do the same and then both of us are off and running on a streak of bonuses that neither one of us could believe. I have never hit so many bonuses in such a short time on Goldfish! If I was a better picker I likely would have recovered all my losses before I left for the Meet, as it was I’m now up a few hundred for the day and ashamed to admit that I seriously thought about being late for the Meet until this running streak ran itself out. I give myself a mental kick in the head and don’t give into gambling fever when the main reason for this trip was the Mega Meet II and I’m not going to miss a minute of it!
I tear myself away from Goldfish and go sit in the spot where I’m meeting Ilvegaslover and 3 minutes later she is coming down the escalator and we’re in a taxi going to The Palms.
We arrived at The Palms and walked toward what we thought was the meeting place to go up to the suite, the VIP check in. We never made it because we ran into part of our group that included Bonnie, Socalgirl, Dewey, Kiddo, Tania, V, Hayley, Jack, Peath, and her sister in law, Irisheyes and her husband Al and a few other members of Blonde4ever. Of course we’re all introducing ourselves and chatting away and it’s been 10 minutes or so and no Loser yet to take us up to his suite, plus Claire sent a text and said they would be there in a sec and we didn’t see her. Well, turns out we were standing in the wrong location and a few minutes later Loser finds our group and takes us to the correct meeting location where everyone else is already standing around chatting.
After happy hellos we head up to the Penthouse suite via the 2 elevators and arrive at a beautiful room with entry way, living room, bar, pantry, 2 huge bathrooms and a large bedroom.
It was already set up with drinks, snack and Bonnie's birthday cake and I imagine that was due to the labor of Loser, Tania, V and Socalgirl.
Almost immediately upon our arrival most of our attendees came up to Socalgirl and me and paid their money for the Mega Bucks and High Limit slot events. We had forms for them to sign and everyone was very cooperative.
It was then a happy hour of socializing with the friends already mentioned plus BigE, Can2do, MikeZona, Ratfink and wife, and Homersimpson while more members arrived such as Vegas Sun, Dermonator, Breanna , George, Garygirls and her husband and last RickfromBC. I sure hope I didn’t forget to mention anyone and if there’s any regret I have at all during such a fantastic fun event, it’s that I didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone as much as I would have liked.
Sometime during all this socializing Loser's lovely host had our pizza's delivered and they were delish. After pizza it was time for Bonnie's speech.
Our group also had some gifts for Bonnie for her birthday among them were a gorgeous crystal butterfly necklace, a TITO that was in a frame and signed by the group, a Vegas theme tote bag and Vegas theme wine charms.
After Bonnie’s very touching speech, and her birthday gifts, it was time for the gift exchange. The theme for the gift exchanged was to gift something that was related to where you live. What a riot that was to see what we all brought. Bonnie started off the fun when she selected V’s gift which was a giant Sombrero!
It’s my turn next and I selected the blue Chinese take out looking package which contained Kiddo’s handmade and hand painted chocolate flowers in a ceramic flower pot. Absolutely a work of art as you can see from these photos. I confess after taking the last of the photos today I ate one and it tasted even better then it looks, if that’s even possible.
Kiddo’s gift ended up being buckeye candy from Jack since he currently lives in Ohio (I understand he is moving to Virginia soon).
Jack selected a envelope that was Steve’s gift and it was a TITO for The Palms.
Loser’s gift I believe was maple candy from Bonnie.
Since Bonnie had the first choice Socalgirl was up next and selected Peath’s gift which was I believe Seattle’s best coffee and chocolate coffee spoons, YUM!
Breanna was next but I can’t remember what gift this was, other then I think it was from Lynn’s SIL Robbie.
Robbie selected a gift I believe that was Irisheyes and it had a T-shirt from Trump Taj Mahal and another item in it. Irish Eyes selected Socalgirl's gift which was lots of fake money and a terrific Vegas themed photo frame.
There was one gift left and this turned out to be a bit of a glitch because it was Tania’s gift and she was the only one left that hadn’t picked. I think next year we need a different system of the gift exchange to avoid this! Kiddo at this point nicely stepped in and gave Tania her buckeye chocolates from the gift exchange and received in exchange the cute items you will see in one of the following photos.
IrishEyes and Al
Drum roll please….it’s time for the Bonnie's birthdaycake……
Yes, it was just as delicious as it looks!
Couple more shots:
Sorry I only have a couple Iphone photos of the High Limit Slot Event as my Iphone lost connectivity at this point and later battery died. I’m know that Hayleysmsmom has photos up for the event and perhaps others will have some too.
Socalgril and I left the Penthouse before the rest of the group to turn our money into larger bills at the cashier (which had a long line) and then to put them in a machine to get a TITO for each for our events.
The group in the Penthouse that was going to participate soon joined us with just a few missing since some that had to go off to catch shows and other activities.
The High Roller Slot Event was first up and we had 34 participants in it and I inserted a TITO for $1360.00 into the Wolf Run machine that Loser had selected and we had Jack’s player’s card in the machine as he was the person who would claim the jackpot if we had one, since according to The Palms there can be only one, claimer that is, not jackpot.
We did our pushes in order of our High Roller Event list and I did the first push with nada results, Loser followed with the same result, then Kiddo and so forth down our list. Since I was busy trying to take some photos with my Iphone and track and announce the order of the list while keeping things moving, it’s sort of a blur at this point.
http://bestc.am/WByWolf Run can run cold for quite a while and I forget the complete list of who had our first small wins, though I remember that Julie (Can2do), Tania, and RickfromBC had some luck. We were back to repeating the list and starting to lose our High Roller bankroll when Kiddo hit a Wolf Run bonus and how all of us starting screaming when she hit that. Wolf Run bonuses can be as volatile as any and sometimes pay very little but this one had some good hits and I believe we were back up with slightly more then we had inserted in the machine. Kiddo is one funny lady and she had her lucky crane from ilvegaslover dancing on that Wolf Run screen before she pushed the button each time and for the bonus it did its magic.
After that the unlucky ones among us started to pass our turns to the lucky ones like Kiddo, Tania, Julie, Rick, Bonnie, and it seemed like we would start getting low and then hit something to bring us back up close to our original bankroll. I think Socalgirl remarked later that if she had been playing alone with her own money in that Wolf Run it would have been gone 5 minutes in but we were lasting a long time and had gone through the list over and over like perpetual motion.
http://bestc.am/N5ANRThe High Roller Event was starting to take a long time with the big win looking doubtful and it was decided by the group that we would move to the Coyote Moon machine next to Wolf Run. We did that and basically had the same result minus the bonus round, we would lose money, then have some wins and basically hover around the $1360.00 bankroll amount. After a while of this the group decided to try Secrets of the Forest, with little luck.
As a side note, a couple of our group was playing machines with their own bankrolls during our High Roller Event and I believe BigE in VA hit a party bonus on Jackpot party, and Loser was also playing a machine at times, but I’m not sure if they ended up ahead or not.
Our final machine that we ended up on, was I believe Top Dollar or something similar to it and the group did get lucky to get a couple bonuses on it, but we were still around the same amount of money or a bit less which I noticed we were at the $10 denomination and we could have been at $25. The machine either took 2 to 4 credits I was a bit far back at this point and couldn’t see that detail, but I shouted out why didn’t we move to the $25 denomination and go for a big win to end our event, so we changed to that amount and after that couldn’t get a bonus. I think we might have doubled our money instead of losing it if we had been at the higher amount to start with but who knows, it’s possible that in that case we would never have hit even one bonus. We did last a long time in the High Limit Room on that $1360.00 and had a few thrills especially during that Wolf Run bonus.
To all that participated, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. To our absent participants, sorry we didn’t win and you didn’t get to see the action first hand.
After the High Limit Event lost its bankroll, we moved over to MegaBucks. Socalgirl started the group out from her list and I did one push for myself and then my husband (who was absent but participating) and decided my luck was out and declined to do any more pushes, letting others take them. I spent the rest of the time socializing with Breanna, George, Kiddo and others until the event ended. Since I was doing more socializing then paying attention to the Mega Bucks event at that point I don't have any details on it other then the final result was a loss.
Before we went our separate ways for the evening most of us went back to the High Limit room, some ordering drinks and we were waiting for them and it was at this time we saw a man sit down at Secrets to the Forest and hit a bonus round that seemed to be paying him well. Before we left the High Limit Room for the second time, RickfromBC put a $100 in a reel machine that was a $100 denomination and had VegasSun push the button. I saw (2) 7’s come up on the center pay line and then the third was just below the center line. Darn, that would have paid a huge amount if it had hit, what a finish that would have been.
After the events and goodbyes, Loser took Bonnie, Hayley, Ilvegaslover, Socalgirl and myself (evoni on the boards) back up to the suite to get some stuff we had left there, and then had a hard time getting rid of us! Just kidding we did eventually leave in about 15 minutes.
Socalgirl was nice enough to drive me and ilvegaslover back to our hotels.
Socalgirl parked at Palazzo and came in with me to gamble for a bit and she immediately hit 2 good sizable wins. While Socalgirl was there I went on a losing streak and grumbled enough to get reminded that I needed to change my attitude missy. Well, when you’re right, you’re right and later after she had gone home and I walked over to the Venetian, had a soft drink in the Gold Lounge, my attitude improved and my luck did change. No big wins, but I ended up about $100 ahead for the day.
I returned to my room about 2:30am and just then realized that while I had remembered to take away Kiddo's gift of fantastic hand painted chocolates, I had left my black leather binder somewhere and it had all our real names in it. While I didn't care about the binder I didn't want to leave our names around so I sent a text to Socalgirl to ask if I left it in her car. Socalgirl was already in bed so she said she would check for me in the morning. It then occurs to me that perhaps I left it in Loser's penthouse so I call his cell thinking he's only in town for 1 night no doubt he's going to stay up all night and gamble. Oops, woke him up, he's very gracious about it and will let me know if he finds it in the morning.
Around 7am I get a text from Loser who is on his way to the airport and did find the binder, so all is well with that and he has left it at the security desk at the Palms.
After talking to Loser in the morning about my black binder, I sent Terri a text that it was at Palm’s security and she offered to drive me there after ate at the Jasmine Fountain Brunch. I also told her that I felt like I had a hang over and couldn’t understand it as I didn’t have one drink with alcohol in it the previous day. Terri’s reply back was “It’s called no sleep”. Oh yeah, right, sleep, I seem to have forgotten to get much.
I forgot to mention the previous evening after Terri had left and I had a attitude and luck change, that after I left the Gold Lounge, I sat down at a VP machine near there and thought I might as well try a bit more VP this trip and I hit a 4OAK of 10’s for $250.00
Back to Sunday, I got ready for the brunch, packed, went down to the host desk where they took off a few room charges and was given a card for a new host. This made me think that since my previous host was laid off that the one that wrote to me about it might no longer be with them too.
After checking my luggage I had one hour before our brunch group was to meet at 10:45 so I went off to the Bellagio Kiosk that I know of not far from Jasmine to print out my Southwest boarding pass to discover they had removed it and now one had to either go to the business office or to a kiosk where you had to pay so I decided to just print it out at the airport.
Deciding it was time to try my luck at Bellagio, I found my favorite Hitchcock machines, but while they gave me a couple minor bonuses I was losing. Losses continued with Monopoly Go Planet, where it seemed my money was more go go since the planet bonus neglected to make an appearance.
I went over to Sex in the City slots but they were busy, then I went to Goldfish, set down put my money in and was startled by Tania and V who were sitting side by side and I hadn’t noticed them when I was getting ready to sit myself down. What a well matched couple Tania and V are, so friendly and always having fun. When I saw V at the MegaMeet II he always had the largest smile on his face and this morning was the same, cheerful man. Tania was having a bit of luck on Goldfish and I started out with a redfish bonus that I thought might indicate I would too, but it soon turned to losses so I said a temporary goodbye to Tania who was also going to the brunch.
I decided to make my way to Fireball where I ran into Socalgirl so we both played that briefly and lost. Socalgirl then went to a slot and I sat near her and played Pirate’s Bay where I did hit a bonus and then basically complained it didn’t pay enough, <hanging head>. I tried life of luxury but that slot decided I didn’t need a luxurious life, so we were walking toward Hitchcock and Gold slots again when we saw Hayley, Bonnie, Lynn (Peath), Robbie (Peath’s SIL), Tania and Kiddo all there with a few of them playing.
A few minutes later we were in line in front of Jasmine and shortly after that they opened up and gave us a lovely table in the front window. The fountains immediately started up as we were getting settled and 5 minutes later they started up again with a new song. I was sitting between Robbie and Peath and both are so nice. I really have to get to Seattle one of these days and when I do I’ll be sure to contact Peath and get together. Peath had been giving out some gifts during the Meet and today and mine was a cute pink box with a couple pairs of lovely pearl earrings.
While this was my second time at the Jasmine brunch it was just as great as the first time and for some of us the champagne flowed freely. During brunch we also had a toast to Bonnie since today was her actual birthday. The food was delicious, the fountains delightful, the company wonderful and the ambience perfect.
After brunch we all exchanged hugs and said our farewells.
Before we left I took this photo of the bathroom sink area at Jasmine. Why? Because there are some members on Blonde4ever who like seeing photos of the ladies room in various strip locations.
It was now time for Socalgirl to take me to The Palms. For those of us who had given Loser our Palms player card numbers his host had envelopes for us with their new player cards. Of course I had packed mine up, (drat) so Terri stood in line for me at the player’s card desk while I walked about 20 feet away to the security desk.
I was the only person at the security desk which is one of those that sit up way high so you can’t see the guard desk at all and they can look down upon you. The guard was taking a phone call and getting frustrated with whoever he was talking to and soon I was also frustrated as the call went on for some time and he wouldn’t even glance my way. I walked back to Socalgirl as she was nearing the front of the line and started fussing where the man in front of her said don’t let it get your Mojo down. Yes folks, there’s a trend this trip and it’s my attitude needs improving. I got my player’s card and also asked about the coupon book, but they wouldn’t give me one as you had to have received it by mail.
Socalgirl and I then walked over to the security desk and he was still on that phone call! After a few minutes he finally got off and I told him that there should be a black binder there for me that a Penthouse Suite guest of theirs had left it for me early morning. Security guard then consults his computer screen and can’t find it. I repeat that it should be there at his desk, he says he just got on shift and it’s not, we go back and forth for about 5 or more minutes so I call Loser who is now home. Loser confirms that I’m at the correct security desk and that he left it there with my name. I ask him to tell the security guard that but the guard says he is not allowed to talk to Loser (really, weird rule that), when just after he says that he turns to his right looking down on his desk and guess what, right next to him is my black binder with my name on it. I thank Loser, say goodbye and then fill out the paperwork for my binder. Let’s hope that nothing serious goes down at The Palms when this security guard is on duty because Mr. Observant, he’s not!
We’re then off to play a few slots at The Palms and Socalgirl goes over Wizard of Oz, Yellow Brick Road while I decide to play the original WOZ. Glinda visits me for a win of over $200.00. I cash out and run over to Terri who didn’t have any luck with Yellow Brick Road. We then wander around and I spot Sex in the City but it’s full, oh wait, there’s 2 Queen Rock Slots nearby. While Terri goes off to play Secrets of the Forest, I decide to give the Queen Slots another try as I had found them at NYNY back in February on my trip with Mom and they had eaten $200 without one bonus. I’m happy to say The Palm Queen slots were more generous and did give me some play including a bonus.
When Queens went cold I tried a seat that just opened up on Sex in the City but couldn’t do any thing there. I then went and played Secrets of the Forest near Socalgril and had a few wins there. The Palms treated me much better then Bellagio as I ended up breaking even there. We’ll see if my hour or so play there generates any offers as I used to get them in the past but since I hadn’t play there for about 3 years they had stopped.
Socalgirl then drove me to Aria since I wanted to play the Airplane slots there and was originally going to park and join me for a bit, but parking is not fun at CityCenter and she got frustrated and ended up dropping me off and going home. I don’t blame her for being upset with their parking situation as it seems negative reports about it are correct.
Aria was very crowded. So crowded in fact I only got asked by a server for a drink once and on previous visits cocktail service was excellent. Since I had champagne at the brunch I ended up declining even though my opinion is they currently have the best free drinks on the strip.
I found airplane and had some small wins, but no bonus. Switched to a different machine that I had seen a lady hit the bonus on and more of the same. Found Airplane on the other side and hit the bonus 4 times! When you get that bonus you have a choice to make. The correct choice is the passenger bonus the wrong choice is credits and pitiful they are as on a max bet they are usually $4.00 or $6.00. I really hate this and plan on talking to WMS about it again in their forum.
For those of you who aren’t aware there is a slot forum called the Player’s forum where you can talk about slots in general not just WMS but WMS runs the message base. Periodically they have surveys and if you fill them out you are put in a drawing for money. Both Bonnie and I in the past have won $100.00 from those surveys. Here’s the URL if you are interested in participating. To get access to their forum you have to click on the link to do that and sometimes it can take them a while to process it. If they haven’t given you access within a week email them and ask for it because that’s what I did.
For those of you who aren’t aware there is a slot forum called the Player’s forum where you can talk about slots in general not just WMS but WMS runs the message base. Periodically they have surveys and if you fill them out you are put in a drawing for money. Both Bonnie and I in the past have won $100.00 from those surveys. Here’s the URL if you are interested in participating. To get access to their forum you have to click on the link to do that and sometimes it can take them a while to process it. If they haven’t given you access within a week email them and ask for it because that’s what I did.
Currently I’m also planning on telling them I don’t consider Goldfish2 or Race for the Gold improvements on the original Goldfish and not just because I think the pay tables are off, but because most of the bonuses when you get them are just not that much fun, in my opinion.
After Airplane at Aria went cold on me, I went to their SITC slots, they have 2 different banks of them and I had to wait. Would have been better if I hadn’t waited because I could not hit a bonus and only lost.
I tried Maltese dogs which is Kitty Glitter with dogs, and did hit a bonus but for only about a $50 pay out.
I tried a gem tile machine that was new to me and had one large screen and then 3 screens to the side. If you got wilds on the big screen they would also jump them over to the other 3 screens but mine never seemed to pay off.
After donating a couple hundred to Aria, I took the tram back to Bellagio where I had already donated a few hundred, but intended only to collect my luggage and head to the airport when to my excitement I spotted Ruby Slippers! I was hoping to try this new Wizard of the Oz slot and was happy to find it. I made a slight mistake when I hit max bet because once again it’s a 5 cent machine, but this time my mistake did not have a happy outcome. Switching to 50 credits, I quickly lost $100.00.
Putting another $100 in I had just sent out a tweet saying I wasn’t hitting anything and down to my last few dollars when it finally hit a ruby slipper bonus which is similar to a Glinda in the original, but it only gave me a win of about $3.
Collecting my luggage, I went off to the airport, printed my boarding pass, checked the luggage and found that my flight was delayed. Normally I don’t play slots at the airport. This time I decided to fool around with the Twilight Zone slots which have never done much for me when I’ve tried them at Venetian so I went with a 45 cent bet. Well, I just hit bonus after bonus, until the ladies to the left of me tried to educate me that I should be playing max bet. To pacify them I switched to max bet which I think is only $1.75 and soon no more bonuses. I stopped however when I was back to my original hundred and read a book until it was time to depart. Flight back was completely booked but we landed safely and Randy was there waiting for me.
Yesterday I heard from both the Venetian and Bellagio. Bellagio once again reminded by my losses that I’m usually a loser decided to invite me to the Slots in the City tournament in a couple weeks. I had seen that on their schedule over a month ago and wondered why I wasn’t invited and was a bit miffed because the theme sounded fun. Unfortunately for Bellagio they won’t be getting my money because I leave on May 20th for the Wheel of Fortune slot tournament and I won’t switch because they are giving me $1000.00 of free play upfront and a bird in hand and all that.
The phone call from the Venetian was the host who had emailed me over a month ago about my former host being laid off. I suspect that the host that helped me on Sunday and gave me her card sent up some sort of red flag because she wanted Randy and I to know she was our host and if I would stop booking my offers via marketing she could offer me more. Hmmmm, too late for Wheel of Fortune tournament but I’ll consider doing that for my birthday this summer.
I had a great time this trip. I didn’t win, didn’t break even, but did come home with more then half my bankroll. The trip however was the BEST because I had so much fun with everyone I met, thanks for the lovely Memories!
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