Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Vegas III: Fresh air, crumb sweepers, and small victories.

Our last full day in Vegas we decided to get some fresh air and explore the Red Rock canyon area. We has some lunch and made our way west into the hills. It was a very sunny day, but still very brisk, probably around 45 degrees or so with a steady wind. We made our way around the canyon, hiking some of the trails, stopping and looking at others. It was great being able to see something other than the inside of a casino or losers waiting to get chow in a buffet line.

After spending a good part of the afternoon at the canyon we got back to the IP with a few hours to rest up and then make our way to dinner at Lawry's. I took advantage of that time to roam around the IP, finally deciding to stop and have a beer while playing some video poker at the Sake Bar. I flopped a straight flush playing 'deuces wild' and pocketed the profit.

We met mom and sis' at Lawry's off of Flamingo. It was delectable - sis' and I had shrimp and brie stuffed salmon filet, while GF and momma had exquisite cuts of prime rib with 2 shared bottles of Merlot between the 4 of us. Just prior to dessert the waitress whipped out a silver tool which she used sweep the crumbs off our table. Ooo la freakin' la! The 3 ladies were stuffed and tired after dinner which was perfect for me as I was able to watch the end of the Texas/ASU game and play some poker. Texas won, netting me a modest 18 bucks, and I then ambled over to the Flamingo and then back after realizing their pokerroom was full. I was soon seated at a 2/4 table at the IP.

This table was by far and away the best of the trip - it had a couple of out and out fish there to have fun, a couple of decent looking girls from California who had a decent grasp of the game but both ended up losing their buy-ins, and a couple of drunk slobs who were in pretty much every hand. I don't remember much in terms of hands, but I was able to grind out a 50 or 60 dollar win over the course of the next 3 hours. One of the dealers that rotated in moved at an insanely fast pace. It was exhausting watching him do it and I hardly had time to take a decent swig of beer. He informed the table that he did everything fast - a comment that was met with modest chuckles from the ladies. The table started to get shorthanded, and with the speed at which the blinds were coming around I decided to book a small profit and call it a night.

The next day we were on our way back to Fargo. The flight back was pretty good despite a few crying babies. However, it was nightmare on the tarmac part two as the airport people were unable to get the skyway to connect to the plane. We sat there a good 45 minutes until they decided to de-board us using some rickety stairs pushed up to the cabin door.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Vegas III: Christ's B-day Buffet Special

When I woke up at Harrah's I realized that the events of the night before weren't simply a nightmare - it indeed happened. Why else would we be at Harrah's? The important thing was that we are now here and awake and must go back to IP to check in. After showering and grabbing coffee we head over to IP ready to sit in line for an hour or two. Things go surprisingly smooth at check-in and we make our way up to our "Deluxe" room. Spending one night in a decent hotel makes you realize what a fucking dump the IP is.

We hopped in the Impala and made our way to the Texas Station for a Christmas day brunch buffet. We were meeting GFs mom and sister there. I park the car by a replica of an oil derrick and make my way inside. We are seated quickly and head for the first run through the buffet. Nothing is all that great, but in true Christmas fashion it is a Champagne brunch buffet. All 4 of us wash down our first plate with the cheap swill and we convince the waitress to bring us some more. She came through with a whole damn tray full of the shit and everyone gets pretty toasty by the time we get done eating.

After that we do the regular xmas day gift exchange and everyone gets pretty tired around 4pm. GF and I head back to the IP, she takes a nap and I make a beeline for a 2/4 limit table. The table is short-handed for the first hour or so, and our table even stopped briefly, but they kept brining me drinks, so it was ok. I played for a few more hours before dinner and ended up about 30 bucks.

We head to eat some Mexican at the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace. I have a 15 dollar burrito and spill my 10 dollar margarita in true drunken spaz fashion. After that we do a bit of shopping and call it a night, but not before I lay down bets on the 2 days of college football bowl games.