Day 14
Since our flight isn’t until tonight we have plenty of time to do make the best of our last day.
We started our day bright and early again today. We wanted to make the most of our last day and walked down the strip to the North end. One thing Dee has wanted to do is play blackjack in the early morning at Slots – A – Fun on their low limit tables. This morning they had 3 tables open. One was full, one was a 6-5 game and the other was a double deck game that only offered double downs on 10 or 11. That game won’t cut it so we went over to Circus – Circus. There they had a $5 double deck game with double on any 2 and double after split. I was playing 2 hands at $10 each and quickly dropped $100. I bought in for another $100 and things smoothed out. I was slowly gaining ground back and eventually pressed my bets a bit. Dee was holding her own too and we actually got to play for a while on our money. I colored up with a $20 win after about an hour of play. I think Dee won a little bit too.
When we left Circus – Circus we came back to Caesars Palace to go to the pool area. I have to say I haven’t been to a pool area at a major strip hotel in years and being here reminded me why. The place was packed and we got there just after it opened. It was fun to lay there and watch the construction of the new Octavius tower though. I attempted to go into the water but oddly it was freezing. Now I know it’s a pool and it’s supposed to be cool and refreshing but this was so cold I didn’t even want to get in. I think everyone else at the pool agreed as there were like 3 people in there.
When we were done with pool time we headed out to Henderson. Our first stop was my friends Anne’s house to drop off some stuff. Her and Steve were the lucky winners of all of our leftover supplies like water, soda and snacks we never touched.
Our next stop was the ever popular Fiesta Henderson. Dee has really taken a liking to that Feel Good Soup and wanted one more bowl before we went home so that’s what we had for lunch. One thing I noticed today that I didn’t notice the other 2 days was the lack of chicken in it. Not only have they raised the price of it to $10 a bowl, they seem to have cut the amount of chicken in it in half. We also split a half order of their egg rolls, another one of Dee’s favorite items at the Baja Beach Café.
When we were done with lunch we made a quick stop at the Laundromat to return some clothes they gave me last week when I picked our stuff up. I’m’ sure the person that thought their clothes were gone would be happy to actually get them back.
From here it was back to Caesars Palace for a quick break and then across the street to the Flamingo. The stop at Flamingo was 2 fold. First was to go out back and check out the wildlife area. They got rid of many of the animals they used to have but it was still fun to see the remaining ones. Dee took some pictures and we also took a peek at the pool area. I had forgotten they had a waterslide there and Dee thought that it was neat. The second reason for stopping here was to play a small amount. I had a coupon offer that was worth $100 if I earned 25 points at 2 different Harrah’s owned casinos. We chose some penny slots for fun and in no time we had the required points.
After Flamingo we came back to Caesars to get the 25 points needed here in order to cash in the coupon. I hit a few bonus rounds on the machines here but didn’t make any gains on them. As usual I did pretty lousy on the bonus rounds. Once we had the points needed a quick stop at the Total Rewards booth and then one at the cage had $100 in my hand.
I also played a slot machine for a friend back home. She gave me $2 and said to run it through once and anything left after that to cash out. It was her lucky day as I turned her $2.00 into $2.75!
It was now mid afternoon and we took a break up in the room and I finished up packing to get ready for tonight’s flight. I hate packing as it is but packing to go home really sucks ass!
When I was done packing I went to the diamond/7 stars check in area to settle up my bill. I wanted to apply my reward credits to the bill now while I could make sure everything was right and so I knew what they were taking. Everything checked out fine and I was back up to the room in a few minutes.
We gathered up our stuff, and headed to the valet area to say goodbye to Caesars Palace. The valet area was in total chaos and reminded me of why I don’t like staying on the strip and why I really hate staying there on a weekend. It’s been a nice run staying in these hotels for the last 2-3 years but it’s about time to get back to the places I really enjoy downtown and off strip.
We had plenty of time to grab dinner and Dee was in the mood for Olive Garden. I know, I know. I can’t use comps here but it’s one of Dee’s favorite places and they don’t have them in her part of Canada anymore. I had the chicken parmesan and Dee had the Tour of Italy. This was 3 different Italian entrees on one plate (smaller servings of each). As always the meals come with unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks. If I were local I’d load up on soup and bread and take the entrée home! For dessert we split a chocolate mousse cake.
While we were at dinner it was time to split the kitty we made doing our coupon runs. Initially we both “deposited” $100 each into a pot and used that money for all of our match plays. I was happy to see that when I counted it up there was now $600 in the kitty so we each got $300 for a $200 win with coupons. I thought this was pretty good and was actually my biggest win for the trip! Dee was pretty thrilled with the return we got on our coupons as well!
It was finally time to get moving to return the rental car and head to the airport. I had to gas up first and found a Terrible’s Texaco not far from the Olive Garden so I was able to use some gas cards I’ve earned playing. Believe it or not I still have cards I got at South Point almost 2 years ago when they let us cash in old points on a current promo! This place wasn’t too far from the rental car facility. Things were good here and in no time we were on our way to the airport shuttle. I think it took the guy 2 minutes to take the return and hand me my receipt.
The airport shuttle was there was waiting for us and in 10 minutes we were checking in at the Continental kiosks.
When we got to the airport there wasn’t a line at the check in. Things went really well here and it was one of the fastest check in times I’ve ever had at McCarran.
Once we were checked in it was on to security where things were great here too. For the first time I can ever recall there wasn’t someone trying to break the rules by wearing metal through or trying to bring water. Dee said she saw some ass clown try to sneak water through in her bag but of course, they caught it. WTF is wrong with people?
Our flight was out of gate D20 so we had to take the monorail from the main terminal over there. Once we got there things were quiet and it was just a waiting game until we boarded. While we waited I fired up the laptop and took advantage of the free WiFi access this airport offers. It’s nice they give it for free. So many other airports charge for it.
Tonight we’re on flight 356 non stop to Newark. Scheduled flying time is 4 hours 50 but they came on the PA and said it would only be 4 hours and 17 minutes. I’d tell you about the flight but I slept through it. I don’t even know what the movie was, the snack or anything else that went on. I was THAT dead to the world.
We landed early and made our way to baggage claim. It took such a short time for the bags to come out but that was ok because we had to kill some time. I can’t recall the last time the luggage was already coming out before we got to baggage claim. This was in part that it took them a while to get the jet way to the plane and we let everyone else off the plane before us.
Dee has a return flight to Canada at 11:55am and it was only about 7:30. After we collected the luggage we went terminal A to get some breakfast. In the terminal we were in all the restaurants are past security. In terminal A we went to the TGIFriday’s. They serve a limited breakfast menu in here and the food is basic at best. Dee had the eggs with sausage and hash browns and I had the French toast with bacon. The food was basic but filled the void after not eating for close to 10 hours.
After breakfast we were off to the check in area to check Dee in and drop her luggage. Check in was very quick and easy for her.
When we were done checking her in it was time to say goodbye so she could go through security. This was tough after spending the last 2 weeks together having a great time but Dee had to get through security and off to her gate. In the old days I would have been able to go sit with her in the terminal but those days are long gone.
After our goodbyes it was off to the monorail and to Avis to pick up my rental car for the ride home. For some reason the rates for this car were insane and it was over $100 for a one day rental even with my discount codes. Even the code from my job wasn’t giving me a good deal. When I got there my name was up on the scoreboard and I had a car in spot 263. They had me set up in a Ford Grand Marquis with 14000 miles on it in good condition. After a once over I hopped in and noticed the gas tank wasn’t full. It was showing between ½ and ¼ full. This is a regular thing when I pick up cars in Newark. So after schlepping my luggage across the lot to my car I turned around and went back to the preferred counter. The only problem here is there was no one at the preferred counter. A guy in the lot said I had to go inside. Inside I proceeded to wait nearly 20 minutes behind only 2 people before I finally got to the counter. When I got to the counter that lady at the desk says she can’t help me and the guy at the booth can. At this point I was losing patience and asked for her boss. He came out a few minutes later. I explained my situation about how almost every time I rent from Newark the gas tank isn’t full, the car is filthy or the car isn’t ready not to mention that I’m Avis First Preferred and the preferred counter was closed and with the amount of time I had already spent there I should have been half way home. He agreed it was unacceptable, took $25 off my rate and changed the gas gauge reading to ½. This would also give me enough gas to get home without having to fill up so another savings of close to $25.
After lugging my bag over the parking lot again I pulled out and headed north on the Turnpike. Other than one slow down where a cop had someone pulled over the ride was uneventful and in about 90 minutes was back to my area where the trip began 2 weeks ago as another trip came to an end.
Total win/loss for the day $400
Final Thoughts
Eff Yous
Total win/loss for the trip -$3200
Friday July 11, 2008
Well today is our final day in town. It’s hard to believe that 2 weeks has gone but time flies when you’re having fun.
Total comps for the day $400
Total comps for the trip $6029
Total comps without rooms $3129