Dad hangs out with me in the living room on his visit to my suite at Harrah's
Early in 2000, I decided I was going to take a 4th annual trip to Las Vegas, in celebration of the end of the Fiscal Year at work on the 30th of September. I began calling around for prices on rooms, only my first two choices, Caesars Palace and the Mirage were in the $200+ category. I remembered that Harrah's had done me pretty well in 1998, so I got a reservation there for 4 nights, at $95.00 for Thursday and Sunday and $125.00 for Friday and Saturday. As for airfare, I did something in the typical impulsiveness the internet has bred into people. I bid $250.00 at priceline.com for a round trip ticket from Washington Dulles to Las Vegas McCarran, thinking no one would take it. Well, TWA was in my market and picked it up, and priceline charged me an additional $42.50 in assorted fees. This is nearly as bad as the monthly surcharges on my local Verizon phone hookup. The fatal flaw with priceline.com is that one cannot specify a time of day. I typically like to leave for the west by 12:00 Noon from Washington, only this ticket was for a 6:00 PM flight, connecting in St. Louis and arriving at 9:50 PM. My parents later joined in on this trip, so I figured they'd be up rather late waiting to pick me up in their rental car. I began to brace myself for what sounded like an all-night flight, vowing to spend the additional $300.00 next time. I'll bet William Shatner flies in a chartered corporate jet...
5 October 2000 -- A Very Long Day
I had essentially a whole day today to goof around at home, and I could have gone to work if I wanted to, since I'm typically done by 4:00 PM. I got my cat Thomas checked in over at Woodlawn Kennels and began my typical day-of-the-trip packing. I actually took something of a nap on the sofa downstairs until 2:00 PM, since I had so much time to kill, and it is good that I did not oversleep. I figured I'd have a better disposition in the evening if I could rest up during the day. I shut down my PC at about 3:00 PM, hoping to find an internet kiosk somewhere near the Strip to keep an eye on things. I was on the road at 3:25 PM, and I didn't encounter the extent of traffic on the 495 Beltway that I was prepared for. I noted that Dulles handles a lot more passengers now than it did a few years back, with 2 additional long-term lots. I figured I was right on time as I boarded the crowded parking bus and headed for the gate to see what this E-ticket would entail.
When I arrived at the midfield terminal to check in for this TWA flight 147 to STL, I discovered, to surprisingly little surprise, that it was destined for more than an hour's delay on account of "weather". I called out to the Wellesley Inn where Ma and Dad had already checked in the day before (retirement has its benefits...), and left a message to alert them to my upcoming ordeal. The plane finally boarded at 7:10 PM and did its "wheels up" at 7:55 PM, about as late as I could imagine leaving for the west on the now-familiar runway 30. At least this flight wasn't very crowded, and I had a bit more space. The window seat next to my aisle seat was unoccupied, and I proceeded to use the two seats to my maximum advantage. As we flew along over Illinois, I had the opportunity to witness a thunderstorm from above. Rain--this is what constitutes "weather" in the new age of air travel. We arrived in St. Louis at 9:15 PM Central time.
It was really getting to look late as I ambled about to find the next gate in the STL concourses. Due to the great compensating providence of airline delays, my connecting flight to LAS was also blissfully delayed, so that I could make its 10:30 PM departure. I called Dad at Wellesley again, estimating my arrival at 11:00 PM Pacific. Being so used to flying Denver - Las Vegas on United, I miscalculated by an hour. Never again will I consider as insignificant the two Great Plains states of Missouri and Kansas. When I asked at the gate, in what seemed like something of a waking dream, they told me midnight. Oh well, it's all just tourism to Ma and Dad. This 2nd flight, which was 3 hours, 15 minutes in length, tested even further my ability to survive the stress of space-deprivation, though I was able to get to sleep in my aisle seat somewhere over Kansas. It was interesting to see how people were camped out in the plane when I had to get up and use the aft lavatory--I am reminded of scenes from third world railways, where each person makes his own deal with the powers that be.
6 October 2000 -- A True Challenge to the Senses
It was indeed good to see Ma and Dad at the gate to catch me as I was finally let back into a "human" set of space constraints in Las Vegas. The time of arrival ended up being 12:15 AM. We rode across town, making somewhat better time than the Gray Line or Bell Trans shuttle would have afforded, since we had only one stop. I have to credit my parents for studying up on what really matters--they had actually found the way over to Harrah's beforehand, and it was a simple matter to be dropped there at the registration entrance.
I had the distinct advantage of having paid up front for one night, so Harrah's did what they could when faced with the arrival of a straggler they had probably written off as a no-show in their overbooking scheme. I was in the right place at the right time (though this could still be the subject of considerable debate), since they had been shuttling folks over to their partner, the Rio, but were left now with being forced to give one night upgrades to 35th floor suites. I figure this triple-wide room could easily have run $400 - $500 a night, only they charged me a mere $75.00. Perhaps that was on account of my Total Gold card. I don't know--Las Vegas hotel rooms are a market-based commodity. This suite, Carnaval Tower #3555, had a most incredible bathroom, with hydro-massage bath and steam shower, plus a two-sectioned living room with a big-screen TV, VCR, and wet bar. Most impressive, for a reason that George on Seinfeld might appreciate, was having a "guest" bathroom. I made a point to call Ma at their room, though it was 1:30 AM, and invite them over later in the morning when I had to move.
Well, this was all too much. I had been pushed on through to the other side of my usual bedtime routine, so I was a circadian basket case. Not quite ready to sleep, I went downstairs for some initial time at the surprisingly active blackjack tables, then succeeded in attempting to sleep a few hours more during this night of two days. I made it a point to use as many of the bath amenities as I could when I got going again, and this room had a fine set of Harrah's toiletries to add to the collection I have been building since 1994. Ma and Dad came by at 11:00 AM and were visibly entertained by my stroke of luck in getting bumped. I had to marvel myself at the view I had to the northwest, which featured Treasure Island on the left and the Venetian on the right. From that kind of altitude, the distance looks surprisingly small, say, to the entrance of Treasure Island, a journey that involves at least a good 1/2 mile of twisted-about walking. I had some more Cheerios from the box Ma had bought me and packed up for the move.
Dad hangs out with me in the living room on his visit to my suite
at Harrah's
I wanted a high-up room in the Carnaval Tower, only the hotel looked pretty full when I began my 2nd negotiations at the desk. I agreed to take room C2915 when it was made up, this being the room immediately below C3015, where I spent my trip in 1998. I parked my gear with the bell desk, and we headed out onto the street to visit Casino Royale next door. I was successful in finding Ma a progressive nickels slot machine there, to play her $10.00 and the $2.00 from my Uncle Dick. We sat side-by-side, playing the requisite max credits of 15 cents a throw, until we realized they should be going if they wanted to visit Hoover Dam. I had seen it in 1999, so I figured I'd hang around and maybe get the rest of my rest in my new room. I started playing out the rest of Ma and Uncle Dick's nickels, hoping to hit the progressive total of $3,300.00 on the display above. This was one of my favorite slots, Red, White and Blue. I began hitting repeated payouts like three triple Bar, and soon had in the neighborhood of 500 nickels. This is where I thought Ma would want me to cash out, so I got her $23.95 from a whole tub of nickels and headed back to Harrah's.
They had my room ready at about 2:00 PM, while I was engaged in a concurrent campaign on the housephones to reach "lost and found", since I remembered leaving my boonie hat in C3555 in all the rush. I took time to get some chow at the Garden Cafe prior to reclaiming my bags at the bell desk, and when I plopped down on the bed in C2915, I finally got through to housekeeping, who said they'd keep an eye out for my well-travelled hat. This finally showed up at 3:30 PM, as I was watching "Roseanne" on TBS. After getting rested up, I went to the casino to register some additional play on my Gold card, coming out ahead for the day by the time I finally retired at 7:30 PM. I was entirely ready to sleep a solid piece by 9:00 PM, after calling Ma to ask about their visit to the Dam (which had run out of food, including the legendary "Dam Dogs"). We discussed the next day's activities, which I felt should include the trip I wanted to make to see the Charleston Peak area. This second day, too, had been a very long day.
7 October 2000 -- Spending a little time on the mountain
Dad and Ma showed up right on time at 10:10 this morning, to see my
new room. Ma thought the rainbow-hued decor of the room looked "cheery",
and I had to agree that it had something of the "Orlando" feel to it.
We headed out from the Harrah's parking structure to the northwest side
of town, where Dad was interested in finding some component for his laptop
computer. He was trying to connect to the local Coscto ISP number,
but it was acting strange. We finally located a CompUSA store, and
I went in, intent on finding a computer that had internet access, even
if it was a paid kiosk. In the PC department, I was able to call
my e-mail account via telnet and check up on the ebay.com auction for a
1986 Pin-Bot pinball machine, where I was still the high bidder. I eventually
won that machine (see arcade pictures) when I
got back. We then made our way out of town on Route 95, into the
wide open desert.
 |
After we turned to begin the long uphill ride into Lee
Canyon on Route 156, I began monitoring the altimeter on my Casio watch.
By the time we reached the ski area, in a different climate full of pine
trees and color-changing aspen, it read 8300 feet. I thought I might
be getting somewhat hypoxic as I walked around in the parking area, to
be photographed by Ma with a variety of backdrops. Of course, as
a relatively inactive man, I tend to be short of breath on many occasions
at my sea level home. We then headed south on the high-up Route 158,
where we stopped at an impressive lookout that had been developed into
a short, railed in walking path. There was a sign at the end noting
how people used to come up here in the 1950's to witness above-ground nuclear
testing at the Nevada site. By about 2:00 PM, we had made our way
up Kyle Canyon on Route 157, stopping at the Mt. Charleston Hotel (or was
that the "Lodge"?), to have lunch. This was at an altitude of 7400
feet, according to my watch. They had an Oktoberfest buffet set up
outside near the patio, and Dad clearly enjoyed this reminder of our German
heritage and his own youth. The scene actually did remind me some
of the look of the Königssee area of Nationalpark Berchtesgaden, which
we visited in 1996.
After our meal, we began the long descent to Route 95 on Route 157, to a point where one could see the buildings of the Strip in the far distance. After a good piece of driving, we stopped by Ma & Dad's room at the Wellesley Inn, over on Flamingo and Maryland Roads, halfway to the airport. In the sweltering 90s F heat that assured me I had returned to the "lower" elevations, I noted that my watch read 2140 feet, which I recalled was accurate. Not being as interested as I am in gaming, Ma and Dad were able to stay this far out, though they admitted they'd have been at Harrah's, too, if they had been offered such a deal as mine. The Wellesley reminded me a lot of a Hampton Inn, and I'm sure Ma got her fill of the continental breakfast. I often think of Ma as the queen of "el cheapo" travel, though the correct Spanish should be "La Cheapa". One box of Cheerios, sneaked into my room in a gift shop bag, was probably equivalent to $40.00 in meals at the Harrah's eateries. I had walked around all day with casino chips in my pocket, so I naturally returned for more blackjack. I was annoyed to a certain extent by the noise created when the two country and/or western dancers in red outfits came up to perform in connection with the giveaway of a showcased sports car. Well, I suppose if a man can't stand the noise (or the cigarette smoke), he should just stay out of the casino. |
I left the age-restricted area for my room at 9:00 PM, having had my share of play for this 2nd day. I began to think of the other life I have, beyond the casino, and how I would need to pack up the next day for my return to real life. I reminded myself that I am a man of many interests and a rich family life. These thoughts ran through my mind as I gazed out upon the scene of the Imperial Palace in the foreground and Caesars Palace in the background. I've always liked that geodesic light-dome at Caesars, and I see they're now giving a facelift to the Strip-side tower, to make it resemble the main tower in its Greco-Roman façade. Architecture is of a decidedly grander scale along the Strip.
8 October 2000 -- One Last Day
I got up this morning and played some more blackjack, before meeting
Ma & Dad at 12:00 noon. I downed a quantity of pastry and milk
from the coffee counter, to supplement the day's Cheerios, and got ready
for some more sight-seeing. I was glad not to need to drive on this
trip--this is why my truck has only 32,000 miles
on it after 3-1/4 years. We rode downtown and parked in a paid
structure, to visit the infamous Fremont Street Experience. This
was my first time seeing the old part of town. This was a large,
vaulted arcade, to remind a person of an Italian shopping area or a German
Fußgang, with everything in close and accessible, unlike the miles-apart
properties on the Strip. After seeing the Discovery Channel program
on Vegas high-rollers, I wanted to visit Binion's Horseshoe, to say I had
played there and to add one of their $5.00 chips to my collection of "funny
money". We continued down the street, with me trying to find an inexpensive
6-deck cardshoe to accommodate the old casino cards I had bought at Harrah's
for my own studies in becoming a dealer. One day, Good
Shepherd just might have a Las Vegas night. I finally realized,
after we stopped by the Golden Nugget and investigated one of those places
with the old-style cheap steak dinners, that such an item would be too
heavy to carry back, and that I should look for one when I returned.
Ma and myself (foreground), making our way down Fremont Street
After we had had enough of the Experience, we returned to the properties on the Strip, beginning with the Venetian. This has the lavish shopping gallery surrounding its indoor Canal, and I was surprised to see that the casino there was separately located, down a flight of stairs near the parking entrance. Ma shot a number of pictures of us against the interior street scene, an obvious adaptation of the Caesars Forum Shops concept, as we worked our way to the boarding dock for the canal ride. I just might have paid the $10.00 to do it, but I concluded it wasn't worth it for all 3 of us. It was getting near lunch and Ma had recalled seeing a "Coney Island" restaurant in an online listing at 3790 Las Vegas Blvd. Coming from Detroit, I have the taste of Coney Island hot dogs as part of my lifelong experience, and this really sounded good. We spotted a "Coney Island" sign from the street, parked at the Monte Carlo parking structure and worked our way through its casino to the street. "Coney Island", it turns out, was just the name of an ice cream parlor in the Holiday Inn building, so we returned to Monte Carlo, where I had recalled seeing a Nathan's Hot Dog stand in the food court area near the back door. Ma and Dad joined me in this dining experience with some pizza from Sbarro, and they were impressed that a food court should have booth seating.
Ma and Dad dropped me at the hotel at 4:45 PM, since I was starting to grow tired and my feet were bothering me from all that walking. I played some last hands of blackjack before starting to go to bed, with the hotel alarm clock set for 4:45 AM. I was glad to have earlier-day flights back to Dulles; priceline.com had some mercy on me. 2 red-eyes would have been my undoing. I basked one last time in the furor of the casino, which my parents termed overly "glitzy", and the women performing in front of the MR2 Spyder didn't bother me as much with my having 3 entry tickets in the drawing that night. Finally drawing near my pre-set limit for "lost wages", I quit the action and made it to bed by 9:30 PM.
9 October 2000 -- A Bit Easier, Coming Home
I woke to the alarm at 4:45 AM and was ready to ride with Ma & Dad at 6:30 AM, to meet my 8:00 AM flight back to St. Louis. I might have been goofing off a little by watching "Family Ties" at 8:05 Eastern on TBS; this was some of my favorite hotel television during my July, 2000 driving trip to Michigan. I probably should have been up earlier, though, for I had no protracted periods of idleness. I went downstairs and checked out, with a tentative plan to have steak and eggs at the Garden Cafe. By the time I was seated and the server showed up, however, it was 6:18 AM and I was out of time. I played a few slots to kill the last few minutes and grabbed a bag of pastry and some "Naked" brand orange juice from the coffee shop, in my single, fluid motion out the door. The stuff really tasted like eating an orange, something Ma is always bugging me about doing more often. At the airport, I was able to come out ahead for once on those concourse slots, putting an extra $5.00 in my pocket before boarding the flight to STL. Las Vegas is not as bad an airport to be stuck at as IAD or STL.
The effort in flying those two fairly-long segments to Washington Dulles was not as taxing as coming the other way, in the darkness of Stygian night. Everything was amazingly on time, and there was no weather trouble at STL. To play some more on the William Shatner theme, it was as if I met up with the "Evil Kirk" going west and the "Good Kirk" coming back. I got in something like 1-1/2 hours of solid sleep in transit, but the reverse jet lag meant I didn't get in until 5:30 PM, just about the time of day this whole odyssey into airline capriciousness had begun. I called the Kennel at 5:45 PM, saying I'd have to get my Critter the next day. I will definitely opt for United 1796, non-stop service, next time--unless they're charging something like $850.00 for the ticket. It was cooler outside when I went to meet the parking shuttle, only not so bad that I needed to break out my nylon shell-jacket. There was a fair quantity of traffic headed in to the junction of the Dulles Access Road and 495, which surprised me since it was well past 6:00 PM on a Federal Holiday. I got home as it was growing dark, to find all as I had left it. It is hard to say whether "Vegas 01" will happen--the "00" trip sure had its share of highs and lows.
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