Vegas trip report-Day 2

Day 2: Losses pile up

The wife wanted Krispy Kremes and Starbucks for breakfast. I figured that wouldn’t be too difficult as there is a place that has Krispy Kremes in TI and there’s a Starbucks on every corner. I made my way over to TI only to discover the Krispy Kremes hadn’t been delivered yet. It was 7:45, but the attendant said they should be arriving in 15 minutes. I’m the consummate skeptic, so I figured it would take longer than 15 minutes and I could easily find something in less time than it took to wait for the donuts. I swung by a Starbucks on the way back, grabbed some Burger King breakfast from O’Sheas, and picked up something in the muffin food group in the hotel. I had made 4 stops for a $10 breakfast.

I scarfed down breakfast and headed over to the Mirage to place some football bets. MGM/Mirage is the only casino group (that I know of) that puts together money line cards. The card is simple: Just pick the winners. Each team has a certain point value, the bigger underdogs have higher point values. The payout is based on how many points you accumulate. And, of course, every team you pick has to win for it to pay out. One card I filled out was fairly conservative, consisting of all favorites. The other was more aggressive with a couple underdogs.
I met up with the wife at the hotel and we wandered south on the strip. She was going to catch the Duece to the outlet mall, searching for a sports book that wasn’t packed or possibly play some poker. I didn’t have any luck finding a cash game to suit my limited bank roll, so I wandered through several casinos. I played some video poker (and lost) while my sports bets were also going down the drain.
I met up with the wife at about 4 and we headed to downtown. There was a very strange altercation at our bus stop. There were probably 15 people waiting to board when the bus pulled up. The driver said drop off only, but then proceeded to open the front door and let people on. I didn’t think anything of it, I was just glad we wouldn’t have to wait for the next bus. An older gentleman did take exception and he got very irate, despite the fact that he was allowed on the bus. He got so upset the supervisor that was riding along told him to get off the bus and he radioed to the next bus to not pick him up. It was very surreal, as I can’t imagine getting that upset over nothing.
The ride downtown took over a half hour, so by the time we walked around for awhile we were hungry. I’ve only been downtown once before and had a terrible dining experience. The wife didn’t want a buffet, so we settled on the Bay City diner in the Golden Gate Casino. I had the $5.99 meatloaf special, although there was nothing all that special about it except it was cheap and didn’t make me throw up. The service was good and the food was cheap and forgettable.
We stopped at the Golden Nugget next as they were giving away $10 in free slot play to new card members. Since neither of us were card members, I thought maybe this was a chance for at least one of us to come out ahead. We got our cards and sat down at a couple video poker machines. We were playing three play quarter machines, so we were dropping $3.75 on each deal. We were both lucky, as the wife cashed out $16 and I was $12 up after burning through our free money. This turned out to be my only win of the day. Now it was time to get something to drink.
We went to Mermaids next as my wife has never experienced the joy of deep fat fried oreos and twinkies. We got one of each and bought frozen drink in a football. I’m not sure how big it was, but it was plenty for the two of us. The way the night was going, it was going to be a wonder if we both managed to hold down the deadly combination cheap alcohol and suspect food.
As we headed out of Mermaids I asked a bartender where the Duece picked up to get us back to the strip. She said go to the end of the canopy and take a left. I asked if she meant by the Walgreens where we got dropped off. She said it was, so we made our way to the bus stop. I was a bit skeptical that we were in the right spot because no one got on there when we were dropped off. I was looking at the map when a guy approached us and asked if we were trying to get back to the strip. We replied, and he informed us we needed to go to the next block and he offered to point us the way. We thanked him, then he mentioned he doesn’t charge for directions but he could really use some spare change if we had anything. I knew I only had a quarter in my pocket, and since I make a point of not opening up my wallet in these type of situations, that’s all I gave him. After all, what is the fair market value of directions that I was about to figure out myself? I have to admit I do admire his entrepreneurial spirit. Most beggars sit around and hope people feel sorry for them. This guy knew tourists would be needing directions to the bus and he strategically placed his business to benefit from it.
We got on the Duece and made our way back to the hotel. The huge drink didn’t make us drunk, just kinda full. We decided to call it a night.