Day Tripper Trip Report

Jason and I made a day trip to Las Vegas for the Great Gift Wrap Up. The first session was held at the Flamingo, but we valeted our car over at Caesars and spent most of the day at Caesars except for about two hours when we were at the Flamingo for the shopping event.

We arrived around noon after making the drive up from the LA area. No traffic, the I-15 was wide open and no construction delays. But on the ride up we both commented that we must be getting old because in the past it seemed like the ride was no trouble, but now it seems long and boring. We shared the driving and made one pit stop for gas. Yes, gas prices are about 20-cents a gallon less in the Victorville area than they are in LA proper.

The valet was busy when we pulled into Caesars but there were no delays. I've always been impressed with the valets at Caesars -- they are the first "experience" for guests and the "last impression" that guests get. Management undervalues valets at all properties for this reason.

The casino was very busy. In fact, I couldn't get on a craps table. There are seven craps tables at Caesars. One was reserved for a high roller and the crew was waiting. One table had a $100 minimum, one was a $10 minimum and the rest were $25 minimum. There was room on the $100 table but that's out of my budget.

So instead of playing at craps, I checked out the video poker situation. Caesars does not have "good" video poker. The double double bonus machines are 9/5, the Bonus games are 7/5 and the Jacks or Better games are 8/6.

I checked the high limit room and the paytables there surprised me as well -- on the $25 and $100 machines the pay tables on those same games was the same as on the $5, $1 and even the 25-cent games. High roller VP players do not get a break at Caesars Palace.

The Great Gift Wrap Up had no surprises -- what was on their website is what you had to "shop" at the event.

For dinner we went to Hyakumi, the sushi restaurant. This is classic and always great. I had a delicious crab roll, an appetizer of grilled asparagus and my entre was the lobster tail mixed with three different varieties of mushrooms. Since my transplants I had to eliminate raw fish from my diet, so I stayed with the cooked items. Jason had some gorgeous sushi which was fresh and the portions were large.

For dessert we had the Japanese ice cream -- they actually had it in chocolate-espresso for me and Jason had vanilla. I forgot what Japanese ice cream is called? But you know what I'm talking about -- the little round balls of ice cream that's coated with something or another. Look, whatever the name, it was delicious.

Yes, Nero's is closed and some of the shops near Nero's are closed as is the big gift shop that was near the Forum casino. It looks like a big renovation is being made, perhaps to coincide with the opening of the new Octavius Tower in January.

I did OK playing craps and had a couple of decent rolls. In one of my "hands" I made six passes but unfortunately kept repeating 5's and 9's so I never got a firebet payoff. I bet the firebet on every shooter and it never paid even though several shooters did make three different points. I really had my hopes up for one old gent who made three different points quickly but then started to repeat.

During the early evening the craps tables had to turn players away -- even though they were all open. The only table with space was the $100 table. I never saw the high roller show up at his reserved table. When we left Caesars at about 7PM for the drive back the crew was still waiting for him to show.