arrival and hotel
arrived in las vegas on july 18th, and took one of the shuttle buses to the flamingo. a long line to check in but it moved fairly quickly. declined the offered upgrade to a GO room and got a perfect roon for me, a low floor (short elevator ride) and not very far down the hall.

food
i had the steak special at ellis island 4 times in 5 days so i guess that has to be my favotite place in vegas, it was a bit of a hike over there but it was worth it. salad, roll, steak, vegetable, potato, and either a beer or a root beer for $6.99.

also tried fatburger and it was ok, but adding cheese and bacon to a burger was .99 each making it kind of expensive. the burger was tasty but the fries at in & out are way better.

the ribeye and eggs at bills (midnight - 8AM $4.99) was good, the steak was a little tough (or maybe i just got a dull knife) but for the price it got the job done.

the hobo stew at binions wasnt as good as i remembered it, i can make something much better myself.

tried the pizza at treasure island and at new york, new york. both were ok, the one at treasure island being a liitle better because after you order it they put it in the oven for a minute or two to make sure it is hot.

only had one buffet breakfast, at Imperial Palace, and it was average.

people
on tuesday night i met up with cardiac at flamingo and we went over to oshea's and met Newf and his dad. they were there on wednesday too, along with TBC and alaska gal came by later. i busted out of the 1-5 game and left. later i found out that minton came by later. if i knew he was going to be there i would have stuck around. i went over to the bellagio to see if i could recognize anyone, i saw jean robert bellande and Shawn Shekan playing in a mixed game of some kind.

poker
played 2-4 at flaming and imperial palace, only 1 winning session, the rest were losers.
also played the 1-5 spread at osheas twice. the game was fun, the only thing i didnt like was the noise. it was too loud to have much of a conversation except with the person next to you.

thursday night i played 1-2 no limit at the venetian. played about 2 hours and only had one hand of note. i was UTG with 5,5 and limped. an asian lady in MP raised to $10 and it folded back to me. i hadnt played many hands so i called and we were heads up. the flop was 5,2,2. i bet $20.00 and the lady raised me, i didnt even look to see how much the raise was i just went all-in and she called (i had her covered) i turned over my fives and she never did show her cards, just mucked after the river was dealt. after about 2 hours i left ahead $61.00.

other casinos
i played some $2.00 blackjack at fitzgeralds and won $6.00, layed .25 roulette at el cortez, losing $20.00, $3.00 blackjack at casino royale, won $7.00 and lost $20.00 in the slot machines at bellagio.

overall i lost $199.00 on this trip.

other observations
the porn slappers were out in full force along the strip. one time when i was on the bus one of them even held out his cards to the bus when it was at a stop light.

the people selling water all over the place were real lifessavers, just $1.00 a bottle. came in real handy more than once in that heat. one night i did see 2 of them getting tickets from the police, i assume for blocking the sidewalk. porn slappers ok, selling water not ok. i guess free speech beats free enterprise.

the pool at the flaming was great, nice to just lounge around, read a book and people watch. just walking around the pool area i was reminded of the beuaty you can find in the world. at other times i was reminded of those shows on the Discovery Channel where the walruses haul themselves up on the rocks.

next time i go to vegas it will probably be in the spring, the heat on this trip was a bit much for me.