We Blew Up the Town (really: Our Livers)

  It's Hell getting old.

Last week Mrs. TPM and I celebrated 25 years of Marriage in Las Vegas. We hadn't been there since our October '22 trip.  We're going to be back in October '23.

We will NOT be imbibing in as much alcohol on this upcoming trip as we did the last.

My liver physically hurt. I swear.  When you hit 50 you cannot drink like you could in your 30s. The metabolism isn't the same. I also, for probably the first trip ever, got really tired of sitting at a bar and playing Video Poker. This despite the fact that we actually had a winning trip.

Oh sure, we did things. We walked over to Downtown Summerlin, we went to The Arsenal for VGK gear at City National Arena, we walked through the District by Green Valley Ranch. We ate good food, enjoyed the sunset package at Legacy Club in Circa, we stood out and listened to bands on Fremont Street. But, when in a casino we usually found a bar and a VP machine and just did.

So, I'm not going to do that anymore. Am I still going to play video poker? Yup. Because I'm halfway decent at it and have been known to make some money on the game. But it's not all going to be bartop, because there the drinks come too fast. We were actually in the room going to sleep before 10PM some evenings. That's unheard of us for Las Vegas.  As a matter of fact, we only stayed up "early" 3AM, once the entire trip.

We did win though. I hit a Royal Flush on our Anniversary and got 4 Aces times 10 on Super Times Pay another night. ($2000 at the quarter level). Throw in a bunch of 4OAKS (some with kickers) and 2 $500 Video Keno trips and you have a profit.

Other than that?  Some thoughts.

1. Regardless of your thoughts on Circa, I know some hate it and some love it (I'm in the latter group) their King beds are the best that I've slept on in Vegas. The A/C could be better (make sure to turn the fan up to high or the room gets stuffy) but it works. We slept great there no matter what.

2. GVR used to be my favorite off-Strip casino but it's fallen apart of late. The Service, and staff, are still good, but management is getting stingy with the offers. We had no welcome note from our host, and no acknowledgement of our 25th wedding anniversary,  At Circa we got a card and a coupon and a bottle of bubbly.

3. Best Meals of the Trip?  1. Botigglia 2. Borracho 3. Andiamos?  To be honest, after the first two the gap to #3 is pretty big. I was disappointed in Andiamos this time around. The service was good but the food was.....lacking.  A LOT of it came off as reheated, or par cooked and fired. While some things, like the Veal Osso Bucco were excellent, the meatball was just OK, and Mrs. TPM's veal chop was good, but I've had better. But the Tuscan wine by the glass was good, as was the complimentary Crème Brulee they provided us as an anniversary gift.

4. Status: I'm Platinum at Stations and Maverick at the Stephen's casinos. Not sure where I am at 4Queens but I played a TON there trying to knock over one of their very high Dollar progressives on the Suited Royal Jacks or Better games. (almost $12K for Clubs, hovering around $9K for Diamonds)

5. Mrs. TPM put $10 bucks on the Jaguars to win it all at +3100. No, I don't think they are going to win it either but I'm sure rooting for them now.

6. I updated fairly regularly on Twitter. (X, whatever), You can follow me there if you like. I'm @coryWcrow My account is private so you have to request to follow and I have to approve it. Don't worry, if you're not a bot I probably will approve.

7. I did not record one video.  I thought about it but I just did not want to pull that trigger.

8. After leaving Kaptyn limo service (formerly Presidential) we had good rides, clean cars and nice drivers with Bell Limousine. Might try them again in October.

9. United first class on the old 737s is more comfortable than United first on the 737/Max planes. The old seats are better.  The food was fair and the crew makes too many damn announcements.

10. Lastly. Thank you Mrs. TPM, for 25 years of putting up with my shit.  Love you.

So, good luck, good eats and good drinks.

A Quick Note on Blog Comments

 Comments on this blog are moderated. 

Unfortunately, due to the prevalence of spam comments that has to be the case.  I do plan to allow comments, both positive and negative, through but.....there will be some rules.

1. Please keep the comment content germane to the post you are commenting on. I'm not going to allow comments that question me about something I've posted on X or asking my opinion on some odd-ball topic that is not what I'm posting about.

2. Keep it PG-13 please.  Gratuitous cursing, etc. will not be allowed.

3. Criticism is good, insulting and just name calling is not OK.  Make a point, don't suck.

4. I will not argue opinions. It's my opinion. I do not have any need to justify or further explain it to you. I will  provide elaboration, where needed, but well.....you should know what I mean by this.

5. No racist, sexist, or comments with any other of the many -ists will be allowed. It's a pretty simple rule: Don't be a bigot.

6. Please keep your politics to yourself. I don't give a crap if you're camp red or camp blue. I'm neither, and I'm not going to debate which one is better. (If you've been reading me for any time you know I feel about both sides)

7. In summary, let's keep it civil. If that's too hard for you it's OK too, you just won't make it past my moderation wall.

Just to end on a high note.  Here's a good puppy picture.

Wow it's been a while. (Let's get the lights back on)

In case you haven't noticed, and by the lack of any questions regarding this blog it appears that you haven't. I've been gone for a long time now. Not "gone" gone, just not feeling like updating my weekly college football plays and other general blogging gone.  Not for the lack of things to talk about (realignment anyone?) or gambling trips, not Vegas mind you, we haven't been to Las Vegas since October of last year, as I stated in my last post about being done with it for a while.

Well, I guess a "while" is now.  Because after almost a year away we're heading back to the penny-pinching, nickel and diming mecca that is Sin City.  Not on the Strip, mind you, never on the Strip.  And given the traffic and PR nightmare that has become F1 Las Vegas I'm pretty sure our Strip days are even more done than they were before.  

Also done will be our time at Green Valley Ranch. Unless something drastically changes this trip, and early signs are not looking grand, we're going to have to find a new "locals" joint.  Our host there left the company. And since we've gotten our new host service has declined rapidly.  The last room we had there, in October, was probably the worst room in the joint. Dirty, old, badly in need of some TLC. Add to it a mess of an issue with the front desk, someone requested an early departure and they put it on our room number in error which resulted in housekeeping banging on our door demanding we leave. I had to go down to the front desk and sort it all out.  Texted our host and....nothing. No response, no I'm sorry, no offer of compensation due to the whole mess.  Even the front desk was dismissive. "Oops", basically being the response.  Add to that the fact that my offers have been throttled, despite my level of gambling staying the same, and we're there this upcoming trip will be just to use up any comps and free play, then we'll begin the slog of finding a new off-strip home.

We do still love Circa however, and it's our downtown go-to. 21 and up with great amenities, friendly staff and the best rooms downtown equal my kind of place. We'll be spending a lot of time at the bars there banging out VP sessions and hoping to win some money.

And, yes, you've figured it out. We're heading back to Las Vegas. In previous years we would visit there 3-4 times per year. We've decided to limit that to 2 for the foreseeable future. Once in August for our anniversary, and again in October for our Birthdays.  The rest of our time in casinos will, for now, be spent in Oklahoma.  Choctaw Casino & Resort treated us really well on our last visit there, and River Spirit in Tulsa is still the place where we are treated the best.

As for sports betting?  I'm not going to do "The Five" this year, or any weekly series really. I'll probably start commenting more on college football rather than just sharing picks of questionable value. What I've learned on some time here is that no one cares much about betting picks from an accountant in Houston. what I've not yet learned is whether or not anyone cares about the sports opinions of an accountant in Houston. Time will tell.

So going forward we're going to try something new. A mix of Gambling, gambling news, food, travel and other hodge-podge. Not from the perspective of a high-roller, but from the perspective of a normal couple who just love to venture out and see what's what.  Hopefully you enjoy. the good news is, if you don't, you will have gotten what you paid for.

I guess if all else fails I can just post pictures of Charlo.

Good luck, good eats, good drinks.