Day 1
Tuesday March 23, 2004

Trip to Airport:
I picked up a rental car at the local airport yesterday from Avis. I reserved a full size for about $61 including all taxes and fees. The lady that works the counter here is getting to know me and usually tried to give me a decent car. This time I got a Buick Regal. It’s a 2003 and has over 28,000 miles on it. It’s not all beat up though and had a full leather interior and all sorts of gadgets I don’t need. Not quite as many as the Cadillacs I’ve had in the past though. The ride to Newark sucked. Usually I’m on an earlier flight and miss all of the traffic. Today with the later flight I hit all of the morning rush hour traffic. Returning the car went well and only took a minute. The final bill was exactly what the estimate was.

Flight:
Today I’m taking America West Flight 790 out of Newark. I have to connect in Phoenix before I finally land in Las Vegas. Normally I fly non-stop but I booked this flight on frequent flier miles and the non-stops weren’t available. This flight was scheduled to depart at 9:45am. We pretty much left right on time. After passing out the standard soda and pretzels they offered to sell a meal for $7 to all passengers. I think this is lame. I remember when the meal was free not too long ago. Personally I’d rather they charged an extra 7 bucks on the fare and fed me.

Today’s movie is “Somethings Gotta Give” with Jack Nicholson & Diane Keaton. It wasn’t a terrible movie but it wasn’t anything great. Following the movie was a rerun of Friends.

The flight was pretty full but I was lucky enough that the middle seat in my row was empty. That gave me a little more breathing room.

We landed in Sky Harbor 45 minutes early. It’s nice to get out of the metal tube early but it’s no picnic sitting in the airport for 2 hours.

I connected to flight number 4. It left a little late because it was awaiting a few passengers that arrived late. Once we took off it was about 2:50pm, about 20 minutes late. We made up the time in the air and landed in Las Vegas right on time at 2:32pm. Go figure that one out. I made it from Phoenix to Vegas in negative 18 minutes!

Luggage made it out pretty fast and my bag was one of the first ones out. From here it was off to the Dollar shuttle.

Rental Car:
I booked a full sized car with Dollar using Fast Lane and discount code LVCOM. I booked this car back on New Year’s Day and got a great rate of $207 for 11 days. Checking the rates frequently between then and now the rates have gone up over $100 to $323. Glad I booked when I did. When I got to the lot there were only 4 full sized cars on the lot. All Ford Taurus. I checked out each one and took the one with the fewest miles and best condition. This car has 8400 miles on it and even though it’s over 3 months old still has the new car smell. From here I was off to the Silverton to check in.

Hotel:
Checked into the Silverton where I’ll be staying for the next 3 nights. They sent me a mail offer with a bunch of coupons in it including 4 complimentary nights (I’m using only 3), $20 cash, $20 free food, and 2 free drinks in Shady Grove.

There was no one in line and check in was a breeze. They gave me room 3085. These rooms were renovated since I last stayed here about 2 years ago. They are now very nice with new double beds, nightstands, TV cabinet, in room safe, mini bar, work table and armchair. The bathroom is small but does have a hair dryer and one of those toilets that will suck down a small child if they don’t hold on. This room has a great view on nothing. All I can see I a tree and a wall. It’s no bid deal though because the rooms here don’t have great views anyway.

Dining:
Went to the Sundance Grill with my friend Anne for a quick dinner. I had the chicken pot pie. This thing was huge and was way too much to eat in one sitting. Anne got a BBQ burger cooked well done that looked to have the same texture of a hockey puck. I used that $20 food coupon to cover bill.

Gaming:
I started off playing 8/5-bonus video poker at the bar. It was up and down and then just down after that. While I was playing my friend Anne stopped by. I dropped $100 here and got just over $800 in play. I’m starting to flash back to December again.

After losing at VP I tried a little blackjack. They have put new layouts on all of the table games that are a gold/bright yellow color. The results here remind me why I don’t play this game that much anymore. The dealer kept pulling 5 and 6 card hands, mostly with a total of 20 or 21. I dropped another $100 here and it was time to get something to eat.

After dinner Anne left and I hit the craps table. Tonight I see that the craps table is a $5 minimum with 10X odds. They used to run this as a $3 game. I guess someone has to pay for those nice new layouts. The table was ok but not on fire. Lots of numbers were hitting but it seemed like I wasn’t on any of them. After about an hour I cashed out with a $100 win.