Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Summer of Birthdays Part Two-my birthday at Palazzo and Wynn-Summer Grazie Gift Show!

Part two of the Summer of Birthdays is about my birthday trip in July with my Mom and husband Randy. Mom came in from Fort Lauderdale and we both arrived on Thursday, July 10th and stayed at Palazzo for the first three nights. My husband Randy arrive on Saturday our last day at Palazzo before we switched to Wynn for the final two nights of the trip.

If you haven't read part one, Liz's birthday trip it's at this link:

http://www.lasvegasdaze.com/2014/08/summer-of-vegas-birthdays-trip-report.html

The cute graphic above was made by Sugar and posted on the Slot Fanatics message board for me.  I liked it so much I couldn't resist adding it to my trip report. Thanks Sugar!
To ensure I arrived before my Mom's flight I had to take a early morning flight out at 6:30am. Of course being me I arrived at the airport for my flight a bit earlier then I should have and ended up waiting with a few other people for the Southwest baggage counter to open up. Once I was checked in everything went smoothly and my flight was on time.
My Palazzo limo driver was waiting for me at baggage claim and I had arranged for Mom to be picked up by Presidential when her flight arrived a hour past mine so I was on my way to Palazzo immediately.

Normally VIP registration has my room ready and waiting but last trip I asked for a certain room number with Mom's room to connect to mine and while Mom's room was ready mine was not.  No worries I just checked in my luggage and played the slots for a bit.
A couple minor wins before Mom arrived on $5 Wheel of Fortune and $1 Quick Hit.
Mom sent me a text that she was on her way via her Presidential Sedan pick up so I decided to take a few minutes and go to the Venetian box office to pick up the comped tickets that Brian my host had arranged. Mom would be seeing Human Nature alone tonight since I had already seen it and wasn't ready to see them again. On Saturday both my husband and Mom would be going to see Panda which I had already enjoyed with Terri earlier this year. The seats they gave me at the box office were great as Mom had 2nd row center seats for Human Nature and for Panda they had front row seats!
After getting the tickets I went back to Palazzo to meet Mom at VIP services and since her room was ready we had both her luggage and mine delivered to her room. I ended up being able to check in to my connecting room a couple hours later. Below is the view we had from both rooms.
I waited for Mom to unpack and then we went for a early lunch at Delmonico's.  So early we were the first guests seated, LOL!
It was lobster week so we both ordered the special.
Service was fabulous at Delmonico's but then again we were their first customers and while other guests were arriving the restaurant wasn't full. The popovers this time weren't as good as usual so I only took a bite of mine while Mom ate only one. The pat of butter served with them was larger then the pop overs!
The Lobster Salad was fresh and we enjoyed it but it wasn't outstanding and I likely would order something else in the future if I'm there again during lobster week.
After lunch both Mom and I walked to Venetian from Delmonico's to play some slots while we waited for my room to be ready.
On my way to the Venetian High Limit room I saw Miss Kitty so had to stop and play it. I hit the bonus on Miss Kitty for a change fairly quickly which was nice, so took my win and ran!



I had quite a nice run on the $1 Quick Hit slots in Venetian's High Limit room!
After my wins on $1 Quick Hit my room was ready so I walked back to Palazzo to unpack. While unpacking I heard from my UK friend Trish (Lantana on Trip Advisor) that she was still in Vegas for tonight and tomorrow at Wynn.  I was so excited to have a chance to see her again as it had been over a year since our last visit together!
We met up in the Palazzo Platinum Lounge and had a nice long chat catching up with each other.
After our chat in the lounge we went out to play some slots but nothing great to report other then some fun with the new Beetlejuice slot.
Mom and I were having a early dinner at db Brasserie since she was on east coast time still so we went to dinner while Trish decided to play slots for a bit at Venetian as she was still full from having a late lunch.
As requested db Brasserie gave us a booth and I found their service to be excellent!
I asked our server for a drink recommendation and he suggested the Smokey Bandit with JalapeƱo infused mescal! It was love at first sip!
The bread tonight was the only low note, it was cold and not very good.
The rest of the meal we enjoyed and I will return to eat here again. Below is our side of Haricot Verts with garlic.
Mom and I both ordered the Butter Poached Halibut which was cooked perfectly.
I seem to have taken photos of the drink and dessert menus but not the entrees, LOL!
Trish joined us at the end of the meal and had a taste of our desserts which were fabulous!
Grand Mariner Souffle so light, so delicious!
Below the dessert our server recommended, Le President! Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse Tart with coffee Chantilly, so yummy!
After dinner Mom had to immediately go to the theatre nearby to be seated for Human Nature and Trish left to return to Wynn. I played a few slots without much luck while I waited to meet up with friends Kevin and Judy!
I had been exchanging texts with Kevin (Kydds) earlier this morning while him and his wife Judy  were enjoying their vacation condo in St. George, Utah, before heading back home in a couple days. Before I knew it they had decided to drive to Vegas for one night of fun and were meeting up with me for drinks while Mom saw Human Nature!
Had a great time catching up with Judy and Kevin that evening!
After Kevin and Judy returned to their hotel and Mom saw Human Nature which she absolutely loved and said she could see again on a future trip, we played some slots.
Had some fun but no big wins!
After about a hour Mom was tired and went up to bed but I continued to gamble.
Before I retired I found a $5 slot that I hadn't noticed before in the Venetian High Limit room and I decided to give it a try and shocker hit the bonus with 2 wheel spins my first spin!
Good thing I hit the bonus on the first spin because it only paid $300 on a $15 bet!
Next morning I slept in while Mom got up earlier and had pastry and coffee in the Platinum VIP room  while waiting for me.
I finally got up and dressed in time for our lunch at Postrio with Lori and Mark! Mom and I had met Lori and Mark last year around Thanksgiving when we lunched with them and other friends at Buddy V's Restaurant so it was great to have another trip at the same time and catch up with them.
We sat outside so we could hear and see the Venetian performers during our lunch.
Mom ordered the salmon salad which I thought about getting and on hindsight wish I had.
Mark had the burger and fries and Lori the pizza below.
Everyone enjoyed their food but me. I got adventurous and ordered the Pork Milanese with Arugula Salad. The Arugula Salad part was great but the pork was dried out a bit and I didn't care for the breading. I think this was just me ordering wrong for my personal tastes, likely others who enjoy fried pork would love this entree.
After lunch we went to the Palazzo Platinum lounge with Lori and Mark for a drink and chat which would also be the last time we saw them for this trip. Until next time Lori and Mark!
After we left the Platinum Lounge Mom and I headed to the original Goldfish slots which I love.
I had a nice run of luck on Goldfish but Mom not so much!
If you want to see a video of some of my wins on Goldfish this trip, click on the link below:

http://youtu.be/il5k-d7qf4k?list=UUIDCCsnYzkXWxuSTGNCycxw

After Goldfish, Mom and I walked to Venetian to play slots. I started out with one of my favorites, Hangover and I should have had Mom play this slot because later in the trip at Wynn it became her favorite when she played it for the first time.
I really want to like Titanic but while my Mom had some brief luck with it my best bonus again wasn't so great as you can see above.
We played a few more slots that afternoon with varying degrees of luck until it was time to go to our early dinner at Table 10 at Palazzo since tonight Mom and I were going to Vegas Nocturne at Cosmopolitan.
Mom and I ate together at Table 10 last year and enjoyed it and since they currently offer a bargain price four course tasting menu for $45.00 we were happy to return.
Since our dinner was at 5pm we also got there in time for happy hour and I found a new spicy drink to love called Mango and Spice and during happy hour only $6!
Four course summer taste of Table 10 menu above along with regular dinner menu, and their lunch menu below.
I had the Caesar Salad which was fine but had more dressing on it then I personally like.
Mom's Boston Lettuce Salad was also good but again had a bit more dressing on it then she prefers.
We both ordered and loved Emeril's New Orleans BBQ Shrimp with a Rosemary Biscuit.
Mom's Peach Roasted Chicken with mushrooms and a savory bread pudding below was nice.
My skirt steak was great, very flavorful and cooked perfectly.
For dessert Mom ordered the Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake which is also gluten free.
I had to go with my favorite Emeril's dessert, the fabulous Banana Creme Pie!
After dinner we caught a taxi for Cosmopolitan to meet up with Claire who we were joining for the show. It was great to see Claire again and she managed to get great seats for us for the show.
At Rose. Rabbit. Lie we were seated at the bar in the Music Room for the pre-show and I ordered a Cable Car to drink.
Mom, myself and Claire as the pre-show begins in the Music Room.
This was my third time to see Vegas Nocturne and while some of the material remains the same there is always enough new material and acts to keep the show fresh. The cast put on another great show on Friday night, July 11th, and at the time we didn't know that the next day would be their last show at Rose.Rabbit.Lie!
I've read since the closing of the show that they might open up at another venue on the strip but currently there are issues about that and a lawsuit. Personally I would love to see their show turn up again someplace, so I hope things work out for that.
Photos of the acts that night, plus I took a couple videos. If you are interested in watching the videos click on the links below. The first link shows a short clip of several acts, including the finale and the 2nd link was a duo of tap dancers.

http://youtu.be/laKsdwRn7Eo

http://youtu.be/CIGzj3Vxy4s

After the show Claire returned to her hotel and Mom and I went back to Palazzo.
We returned in time to Palazzo for me to meet my friend Kelvin who I had fun gambling with in April at Paris and Ballys during the time of the SF Meet.  Kelvin had just earned his Masters degree in Chemistry and was enjoying a well deserved break before deciding which job offer to accept.
Mom was getting tired so after taking the above photo she headed back to her room while Kelvin and I walked over to Venetian to play slots together.
Kelvin and I were having fun but no big wins until I hit the Major Progressive on The Walking Dead. I have a video of this bonus, just click on the link if you want to watch it. I was very happy and celebrated with a Mudslide!

http://youtu.be/DJ2v0ZZv1h8?list=UUIDCCsnYzkXWxuSTGNCycxw

Shortly after my fabulous win on The Walking Dead it was time for Kelvin and I to meet up with my friends Rhonda and Toc. I first met Rhonda and Toc during the Halloween Stumble in October of 2011, during the same time period I met so many other friends that I usually get together with at the annual Meet in April that I have written about in past trip reports.
They surprised me with a birthday gift, thanks again Rhonda and Toc!
The four of us had a great time enjoying drinks and chatting in the Venetian Gold Room. Rhonda and Toc are both engineers and during our chat about Kelvin deciding on what job offer to accept and likely making a move for his career it was discovered that Kelvin currently lives in the same small California town/city that Rhonda and Toc live  in, what a coincidence!!
After leaving the Gold Room, Rhonda and Toc headed back to their room and Kelvin and I played some more slots. We had fun together with Jurassic Park since we could wait for each of us to have a bonus and play them together. Video link for my both my bonuses with Kelvin and my friend Skyler.

http://youtu.be/NRNQyhUAgo0?list=UUIDCCsnYzkXWxuSTGNCycxw

Around 1am or so Kelvin headed back to his hotel and I continued playing a few more slots and had some good wins!
Right before going back to my room to get some sleep I hit a Frodo bonus on 3 reel Lord of the Rings that had numerous re-triggers!
A good win above on a $3.50 bet but if you watch the bonus in the link below with all the spins I had perhaps it should have been more? Darn that Legolas and his arrows! LOL!

http://youtu.be/EE6SpHhnszE?list=UUIDCCsnYzkXWxuSTGNCycxw

The next morning both Mom and I got up early because we were meeting my friend Terri at a Wynn Tournament she was in to cheer her on and also because Wynn has fun tournaments with lots of food and free drinks! They also had a area to get your photo taken so what the heck, I did!
As Mom and I were watching Terri in a couple of her tournament sessions a lady came up to me and introduced herself as one of the readers of lasvegasdaze, Judith, it was great to meet you and hope to see you again!

Claire also joined us about a hour later at the tournament so it was fun to see her again but would be the last time for this trip.
The food at the tournament was great. They had both breakfast and lunch items and it was quite the spread. I wish I had taken photos but I forgot and the small plates I did snap a photo of doesn't do justice to the food.  Above is a crab cake and below was a freshly made mini taco.
The announcer for this tournament was a Chippendale Dancer!
The desserts were really great! To the right of the desserts is a panini sandwich with ham and cheese.
Terri's last session wasn't for another hour so all of us left for the casino. Trish who was staying at Encore was leaving today to return home to the UK so we were able to meet up with her at this point to say goodbye and have a chat while we played a few Wynn slots!
After saying goodbye to Trish and wishing Terri good luck with her final tournament round Mom and I  returned to Palazzo to greet my husband who had just arrived in Vegas. I gave my husband just enough time to unpack a bit before dragging him and Mom to the Venetian Summer Grazie Gift Show!
This year they had a few new vendors that we could spend our points on including Omaha Steaks. At the show Omaha steak was giving out cooked samples of their meats.
Click on the photos if you want to see more detail.
As always lots of variety of items to select from including gift cards from Macy's and Best Buy!
They had a photo both set up so we had some photos taken and they put them in nice vinyl holders.
Refreshments other then the free samples from Omaha Steaks and some candy, was wine, coffee, tea and assorted flavored waters.
Yes, you could turn in summer gift grazie gift points for free play but we took a pass on that.
We ended up with $600 in Best Buy Certificates and $150 in Macy's gift cards.
Of course I had my photo taken with my husband. We also had a photo taken with Mom!
After the Grazie Summer Gift Show Randy wanted to play some of the new slots since he hadn't been to Vegas since our Christmas trip. I was meeting Billy and Moyra so after introducing them to Randy while he was playing Jurassic Park, the three of us left Randy and went to Palazzo to chat in the Platinum lounge. Are you getting the feeling I used the Platinum Lounge a lot? It's true, I get  a lot of use out of it and the Gold Room at Venetian. It's very convenient they are the only VIP lounges that I know of on the strip open 24 hours a day!
Billy and Moyra are from Scotland and while they have been visiting Vegas for many years now on a annual trip this latest trip was six weeks and 70 casinos! Both of them took time out of their trip every day to post a live trip report on Slot Fanatics under the handle "wynnvegas".
Mom joined us toward the end of our visit.  Billy and Moyra are a fun couple and I hope to see them again next summer. While their trip is now completed and they have returned to Scotland they wrote epic trip report and it's well worth going over to Slot Fanatics to read it!
After saying goodbye to Billy and Moyra, Mom and I played a few slots and then joined up with Randy and played a few more but none of us were winning much before dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Tao. While I've eaten there quite a bit this year Randy hadn't and it was his one request for the trip to eat there. No photos of our drinks but I once again had the Dragon Slayer that I liked during my June trip,  Mom tried the Geisha Girl and Randy had them make the Phuket to their original recipe instead of the new one.
All of us shared the Tempura Green Beans, Asparagus and Onion Rings, ordered and enjoyed the Miso Glazed Sea Bass and loved our Giant Fortune Cookie dessert!
After dinner it was time for Randy and Mom to walk to Palazzo to see Panda.
I stayed at Venetian because as I was walking over to Palazzo with them I got distracted by the new David Copperfield Slot.
I had several bonuses and enjoyed playing Copperfield but not enough to go out of my way to seek it out again. Here's a link to a video of my bonuses on it.

http://youtu.be/uzDptBRd9ts?list=UUIDCCsnYzkXWxuSTGNCycxw

After winning a little bit on Copperfield I went to the Venetian High Limit Room and hit a bonus on $1 Sun and Moon for $274.00.
Also had my best QH bonus for the trip on $1 Quick Hit for over $500 after playing Sun and Moon!
After those wins I started to lose in the HL room so decided it was time to return to the penny slots. I was surprised to hit the free games on my first spin on the above Seagull Sam slot as it usually it takes a long time to hit this bonus that has sticky wilds. After I won my $161.75 on it I made a quick escape.
I've been so lucky on The Walking Dead slot since I first played it in May that I can't walk past it without seeing if I can hit the bonus quickly. Didn't get a huge bonus win this time but had fun. During this bonus I was recognized by a nice couple who watch my youtube channel. I was recording a bonus at the time so I hope Tom and Deb don't mind hearing their voices in it when I upload it to youtube in the future.  :) Was nice to meet you both, hope to run into you again!
It was time for Panda to be over so I walked back to Palazzo to wait near Grand Lux for Mom and Randy. When Terri and I had seen Panda earlier this year they had thrown into the audience several cute stuffed Pandas. I had mentioned that to Randy and said our cats would love a stuffed Panda. Surprise, they only threw out one stuff Panda during this performance and the performer threw it directly to Randy of all people in the first row!
My stuffed Panda was briefly my lucky charm (in hindsight I should have carried it around for the rest of the trip) when I hit for $973.20 on Wonder 4 on my 3rd spin of playing Buffalo! Quite a shock as I don't normally do well on Buffalo.
After my lucky hit on Buffalo, Randy and I played Goldfish together and we had some fun bonuses.
While none of them paid us a lot we had enough bonuses and hits on a regular basis that we walked away a winner from Goldfish!
Randy was missing our old $1 Davinci Diamonds slot they removed from the Venetian HL room last year so he tried the newer one in the Palazzo HL room that has "more games" and had one hit for $130.00 before he lost it all and more. This slot in the Palazzo HL room is very cold, I have sat near it playing $1 Quick Hit when other gamblers are playing it and all of them so far I have watched have walked away losers on it.
After our $1 Davinci Diamonds disappointment we played various penny slots and were up and down with them. We finished for the night with a bonus on Treasures of Troy.
We slept in late next day but Mom of course got up earlier to get her coffee and morning pastry in the Platinum Lounge.
 Once we got up we went to Grand Lux for lunch. Randy had his favorite breakfast Sandwich minus the tomato and Mom and I both ordered the Sonoma Chicken Salad.
Today we would be checking into to Wynn for our final two nights but I had a late check out for us at Palazzo so we could return to the Grazie Summer Gift Show to use our points we earned last evening. I sent a text to Rhonda and Toc to see if they had gone yet to the show and since they were planning on doing that today they met Mom and I there and we got a photo of us together. Sadly this would be the last time I would see them this trip and since Randy and I aren't going to the annual Vegas Halloween Stumble this year because we are on a Caribbean cruise instead, we will miss them and other friends.

While I was leaving the check out desk with my final gift items, Donna from St. Louis who reads my blog recognized me and said hello. Great to meet you Donna!
After leaving the show Mom and I walked over to Wynn to check in and see if our rooms were ready before checking out of Palazzo, while Randy stayed behind to play slots. Our rooms were ready and on the same floor with a view of the golf course, so we checked out of Palazzo.

I was lucky to use a bellman again for our luggage because it was the same as last trip a long line at the Palazzo taxi stand without any taxis so he took us up to the next level to catch one dropping off. Funny now, and actually funny at the time it happened too,  we thought the bellman had told our taxi driver to take us to Wynn so we didn't say anything to him and the driver didn't ask so imagine our surprise when he drove past Wynn assuming with our luggage we were going to the airport! LOL! Well we quickly corrected him so he did a U-Turn at the next light which happened to be red at the time (thankfully no traffic or police) and had us at Wynn pretty quick despite the misunderstanding.
It didn't take any of us very long to unpack and get down to the casino floor for a drink.
I had the Chocolate Martini above and Randy the Strawberry Daiquiri. Randy's drink choice cracked me up because he normally drinks Tequila or Scotch.
While we had our ups and downs at Palazzo and Venetian we had walked away from our three night stay there even for the trip, if you counted the comps. Unfortunately at Wynn this was the start of mainly losing.
Yes, we had some wins as you can tell from the photos I will post, but for every win we had 10 losses or more, it was brutal!
My last stay at Wynn I had done well on Wynn's Penny Megabucks slot but this was my best win on it this trip.
After way more losses then wins, we returned to our room to dress for dinner where we discovered a lovely birthday cake waiting for me from my Wynn host Edward. We had the cake after dinner and it tasted as great as it looked. There was buttercream frosting and a mousse filling underneath the fondant!
Dinner tonight was at a restaurant we have never eaten at before, Mizumi!
Mizumi is lovely and has a view of one of the Wynn waterfalls which I unfortunately cut off in my photo. If I hadn't messed up my photo, toward the right you would have seen that the patio curves around to a outside table off by itself close to the waterfall that would be excellent for a semi-private party.
Mom ordered the Dream which is a champagne cocktail available at most of the Wynn/Encore lounges and restaurants and is very good. I can't recall what Randy ordered as I was busy falling in love with their signature drink, the Mizumi Cloud!

This drink was so delicious I got the recipe for it online, I love drinks with foam because at home I have a ISi canister that I use for making foams and whip cream! Mizumi Cloud is make with Kai Lemongrass-Ginger Shochu, KU Citrus Liqueur, freshly squeezed lime juice and Agave Syrup. It's topped with a Coconut-Lemongrass-Ginger Foam and with the addition of the edible orchid garnish this is one fabulous cocktail!
For our dinner we started out with some Edamame which was a smaller bowl that I have been given at other restaurants and at a higher price.
 We shared the Shrimp Taco Appetizer which was tasty but the tacos are very tiny.
We ordered the entree Shrimp Vegetable Tempura for our side of veggies.
All of us had the Miso Black Cod, it was tasty but at first one end of it tasted a bit fishy to both my Mother and me, while Randy's piece of Cod didn't. The food was good but for the price in my opinion not great. While I would eat again at Mizumi if friends wanted to eat there it's not a restaurant l will go out of my way to return too.
We skipped dessert because we had the birthday cake back in our room to eat.
Our check to give you an idea on pricing before tip.
I like the masks on the wall as you walk into the restaurant.
It's possible that the Sushi is outstanding here, since Randy and I don't care for Sushi we don't know.
After dinner we played more slots both at Wynn and Encore and all of us lost!
Am I going to blame the tight slots at Wynn for my losses?  As much as I would love to, I can't. I ran into friends Katdancer and The Englishman from the SF forum and they were on their 4th hand pay at Wynn! Sadly I had to recognize that our losses were just picking the wrong slots at the wrong time.
Randy and I tried Country Girl hoping to repeat my big win I had on this one at Cosmopolitan back in May, but it didn't happen.
We decided to play a few slots we hadn't tried in the past so we gave the new Sex in the City slot a try. Normally Randy refuses to play any of the Sex in the City slots with me but he was tired of losing. We actually had a couple fun bonuses on this one before we started to again lose.
Feeling positive this trip about Buffalo given my big win on it on Wonder 4 at Palazzo I found I couldn't repeat that luck on the Buffalo slots I tried at Wynn.
I didn't walk away a winner but I did have some fun briefly with WMS slot Belle.
We couldn't get a spin on $5 WOF at Wynn so we tried dollars and had a bonus.
Some brief luck with quarter 5 line Quick Hit slot!
Before we went to bed that evening we tried the Sex in the City slot again and hit a decent win. So at least we went back to the room on a little win instead of a loss.
The next morning it was officially my birthday and we went to the Country Club Restaurant for lunch.
As usual their bread basket was a delicious assortment or rolls and cracker bread.
We were seated at a table with a relaxing view of the Wynn Golf Course and Waterfall.
Watermelon Gazpacho Crab and Avocado soup was so refreshing, I loved it!
Mom had the Corn Chowder because I told her how much Gwen loved it.
Randy's Hamburger and Truffle Chips, he loved everything but the onion rings they forgot to remove as requested. I was happy they forgot to remove them as I love crispy onion rings and Randy gave them to me!
Mom and I both ordered the Grilled Lime Shrimp. It was very good, I would order this again.
Most of the time I have gone to the Country Club restaurant for the Jazz Brunch with a large group of people so I was surprised that the staff recognized me during our meal. They learned it was my birthday during lunch as we were talking and they surprised me with a wonderful complementary dessert of Beignets! Since their pastry chef learned to make them at Commander's Palace in New Orleans you can imagine how great they tasted! Sadly we were so full and they had given us so many we had to leave behind half of the dessert which makes me sad as I'm writing this up and craving them!
Photos taken on the outside patio of the Country Club Restaurant.
After lunch it was time to make our way over to Encore as I had qualified for their daily tournament.
Mom and I in front of the Jeff Koon Tulip sculpture that you walk past when leaving Wynn and going to Encore.
Katdancer and The Englishman had already played in this tournament and won some free the previous day and today Katdancer also did well.
I had my husband and Mom take photos of me playing in the daily tournament but all of them came out to blurry to see anything. This was a fun little tournament I would do it again. While spinning as fast as you can for 5 minutes there are balloons worth credits that appear on the screen periodically and you have to slap them with one hand while hitting the spin button with the other. I ended up coming in 2nd or 3rd for my session and I later found out when it appeared on my card that I had won some free credit as you can see in the below photo.
After the tournament we lost at some more slots and then returned to Wynn to play what else, more slots! See the pattern? I think we should have gone shopping instead, LOL!
It was almost time for dinner and Mom was having a streak of bonuses with the Hangover slots and Randy and I were playing next to her and having a few wins too.
Mom cracked me up when she told me back in the day when Dad and her were visiting Vegas everyone including the restaurants understood you couldn't leave a winning streak and it was acceptable to be late. I said we need to make our reservation on time at SW Steakhouse because Terri would be waiting for us. Ironically enough it was Terri that ended up being a bit late due to also having a streak of luck and getting a hand pay on Video Poker. LOL!
If you read June's birthday trip report you might remember that I enjoyed the placement of our table so much that trip at SW that I requested the same table #101 for my birthday dinner and even though the restaurant was busy we were given that exact table again.
Before dinner started we asked Terri to take our photo in front of the Wynn Lake of Dreams.
Love pretzel bread but the rolls with the cheese can't be missed, so yummy!
My drink tonight was the same as I ordered in June the delicious Limoncello Drop. I don't recall what Randy and Mom had to drink, I guess it wasn't memorable. ;)
Randy ordered the Baby Iceberg Salad with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing. He said it was great but then how could it not be with that huge piece of bacon on it!
Mom, Terri and I each had a half portion of Steve's Chopped Salad, it's a tasty salad!
Mom and I ordered the Halibut which was cooked perfectly just like last month when I had it.
Terri and Randy shared the Chateaubriand which they couldn't finish as it was a very generous portion of meat. I tried it too and it was great.
Grilled Brussels Sprouts with Sausage and Mustard Creme is a must order!
Summer Vegetables were good but we couldn't finish them.
Highlight of my dinner was the beautiful birthday cake that Terri had ordered for me!
SW Steakhouse cut the cake and served it to all of us with ice cream. Thank you Terri for a fabulous cake!
After dinner all of us returned to playing slots and while we continued to lose Terri hit a big win on $1 Davinci Diamonds! Randy and I had tried this slot a few times but since there's no winning photos you can guess our results.
Terri had suggested we try some of the quarter slots like Tabasco and we did have some fun with it for a while and walked away a bit ahead on this slot.
However there were lots more losses then wins going on and while Terri was smart and headed out for home a winner after playing for about a hour after dinner, we continued to play since this was our last night and Randy's first time in Vegas this year.
We discovered these new Konami Xtra Reward slots and had a couple fun bonuses on them.
We had a good hit on this 5 cent Top Dollar slot due to Katdancer and The Englishman playing the Top Dollar slots here and we stopped to chat with them. Never got the Top Dollar bonus but this hit made up for that.
After saying goodbye to our friends we tried out Megabucks and won $360.00 on it which was a pleasant surprise!
After our Megabucks win we tried some more slots and just lost on them so we returned to those new Xtra Reward slots we had played earlier and were shocked to get some lucky bonuses and hits on them.
Curious about the new Forces of Minerva Slot, watch the video at the link below that shows one of the three bonuses we had that were good wins.

http://youtu.be/GDvIH8sihbQ?list=UUIDCCsnYzkXWxuSTGNCycxw

 While we lost at Wynn we decided to end on a high note with our wins on Forces of Minerva and we went to bed.
Next morning we had a late check out thanks to Edward so we slept in and met Mom for a late lunch at Wynn's Terrace Point.
 Randy had the Cobb Salad which he said was good.
 Mom liked her Asian Chicken Salad.
 My Citrus Chicken was fine but nothing special.
After lunch it was was time to finish packing and head to the airport. Mom's flight left 5 minutes after ours so that worked out well.

The summer of birthday trip reports will conclude the end of August, though being a slacker I likely won't write it up until sometime in September. I'll be returning to Las Vegas on Friday, August 22nd for a six night trip and in addition to celebrating my friend Gwen's birthday this trip I have plans to be at the midnight opening of SLS, formerly known as the Sahara, or as my friend Trey quipped about the new name SLS, "So Long Sahara"! I will do my best to get lots of photos of the SLS casino and post them separately from my next trip report to get them on the blog on a timely basis. ;)

17 comments:

  1. As ever-another delightful TR!!!! -and such wonderful food porn!!! Nice hits on Goldfish!!!-love that game!!! Take care! Chriss in UK. :)

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    1. Thanks Chriss, I appreciate you letting me know you enjoyed my TR. :)

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  2. Love reading your trip reports. Looks like you enjoyed yourself even with the losses. Hope your next trip begins you many handpays!!

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    1. Thanks Stephanie. I do feel I'm overdue for a handpay or two. ;)

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  3. I was so excited to log on to Tripadvisor to see your link to another TR! It's a cool, rainy afternoon here so your report was a welcome bit of entertainment (with a glass of wine) while sitting on the porch. We will be there the 22nd to the 27th as well, so I will be on high alert for headbands if we make it to Venetian/Palazzo or Wynn! :)

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    1. Michael, I would love to run into you. We'll be at SLS when the doors open if you decide to go to their opening. I know after a hour or so at SLS, I'll likely be stopping to gamble at Belagio and Aria so who knows where we might run into each other. :) Also I'll be at Mandalay Bay on the 22nd for 3 nights and moving to the Palazzo on the 25th for a few nights besides hanging with friends staying at Wynn.

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  4. A really fun trip report as always, Diana! I'm glad you had a good birthday and the birthday cakes and beignets in your photos look so yummy! I am going to be in Vegas for a week at the end of September and beginning of October. Are there any HL slots at Cosmo that you have luck on? I have a good amount of FP to use there and wanted to try out some of their higher denomination slots. Have fun on your upcoming trip! Wishing you some big wins!

    Tim (inceptiongeek)

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    1. Hi Tim, it sounds like we'll be in Vegas during the same time as I arrive on September 29th for 5 nights due to G2E starting on September 30th.

      I've had some luck on the $5 Pink Diamonds at Cosmo and also the $1 Davinci Diamonds there which is one of those slots with "more games" so sometimes it's set to one of the other games then Davinci and needs to be changed. Hope you win big there on your FP!

      Thanks for the good wishes!

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    2. Hope to run into you at G2E! Congrats on your wins in Vegas so far, especially that awesome HP on Walking Dead!

      Cheers,
      Tim

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  5. Always great to see a new trip report from you Diana, I love all the food pics! I hope you had a wonderful birthday and I really love the graphic Sugar did for you, that was really special! Wishing you the best of luck and I can't wait to see what you think of SLS, so don't wait too very long to write your next report PLEASE!

    Skyler/Terra

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    1. LOL Terra, you know I'm a slacker and likely won't get the next one out until I almost leave for the next trip. However I am going to write up SLS separately and as soon as I return home and I'm hoping they will let me take photos of their casino.

      Looking forward to seeing you the end of September!

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  6. Great report, Diana! Some nice hits and love the food and menu pics. You've given me some good ideas for new things to try at Palazzo. I noticed in your pics of the Grazie Gifts event that there seemed to be a "refreshments" area with wine? I don't remember seeing that in the past - or was it a special VIP Grazie Gifts event? Usually they just have cocoa, coffee, lemonade. We are doing something unusual for us and going twice the next 6 weeks, so really appreciated your report to get me through until we leave! I really miss the Gold Lounge! Haven't been to LV since May, which of course seems like forever!! :-) Good luck on your trip!
    Cheers!
    Cheri

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    1. Hi Cheri,

      Some of the gifts that could be selected were wine packages so I believe the wine in the refreshment area were tastings of those wines. There also quite a few different types of water with fruit in them.

      That's exciting you are going twice within 6 weeks. I hope you have lots of wins, I know you will have fun. :)

      Cheers!

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  7. The picture of the Emeril's banana creme pie made my mouth water. We have this dessert everytime we are in LV and love it!

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  8. Which hotel would you prefer to stay at we were thinking Bellagio though the queues sound horrid. We are from Australia so we don't know LV very well.

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    1. If you give me a idea of which ones you are currently considering other then Bellagio I will give you my opinion of them. If you don't currently have any others in mind then Bellagio let me know that. I'm in Vegas at the moment but will reply more to you when I return in about 5 days.

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  9. Diana! You are so cool! I really enjoyed reading this, I like to watch slot wins on YouTube and subscribe to some of your friends and tonight I also subscribed to your channel and that is how I found out about your blog :) I have just spent most of the evening reading your last two trip reports and girl I am hooked lol! Thank you so much for bringing Vegas to me tonight, thank goodness my husband is not here or he would have been ignored a bit lol. Thanks again, you have a new fan :) take care and thanks again! Tana from San Diego

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