Thursday, July 21, 2005
Toe Knows Gambling
Current Location: Bally's Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV
On Monday, I drove all day across Arizona on the I-40, passing landmarks that I really wanted to stop for, Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon, etc. When I reached the town of Kingman, AZ, at about 2:30 Pacific time, I turned N on US 93, which takes you all the way to Las Vegas, passing over the Hoover Dam. The area surrounding the dam is very interesting landscape; you are surrounded by craggy, rocky bald mountains, there isn't much vegetation. Suddenly, you pull over a ridge, and all you can see is green and blue, the effects of Lake Mead, the lake formed by the dam. Lake Mead National Recreation Area was the first place in the US to receive that designation.
I was extremely excited to drive over the Hoover Dam, though I wasn't sure what to expect. I felt for sure there would be huge security in place, considering the dam provides power and fresh water to seven states. No trucks are allowed on that section of US 93. About two miles from the dam, there was a large security turnout, so cars could go through a checkpoint. However, the guards were just waving people through, without even asking questions. It seemed to me as though they were just sort of taking a peek at people, and perhaps their skin color, not really looking in their cars. To the guards' credit, it was an extremely hot hot day, it was over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, possibly the hottest weather I have experienced. I saw signs that stated there were more checkpoints at the dam itself, but these turned out to merely be stop lights, and weren't in operation that day. Coming up to the dam, there is a lot of evidence that they are building a dam bypass down river a bit, probably to ease the flow of traffic towards Las Vegas, and limit the travel over the dam. I stopped at the dam only briefly on monday, just took a few quick photos from the vista areas on the Arizona side of the dam, before proceeding on over the dam. It took about 5 minutes to cross, as traffic was slow but steadily moving. There were tons of people walking around on the dam, and on the Nevada side, I saw there was a huge visitor center offering tours and such. I wanted to stop, but I was in a little bit of a rush to get to Vegas, so I decided I would come back on Tuesday, since the dam is only about 30 miles from Las Vegas. The temperature was over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, just ridiculous temperatures, and because I had my AC on, and the path to Vegas was uphill, my car started to overheat, before I realized what was happening. I thought I was in trouble but the engine cooled off pretty readily as soon as I turned the AC off.
I have been to Las Vegas twice before, but never driven into the city. In fact, I've only arrived in the city at night. During the day, you can see the monstrous hotels from 15 to 20 miles out, and definitely from the nearby city of Henderson, NV. Las Vegas is a city of contrasts. It is very easy to find the poshest of places, and walk right next door and find the sleaziest of places. You might find the richest of people, having some fun, blowing off a little steam in the casino, gambling next to someone who's hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, hoping for extreme luck. You'll find young, old, beautiful and ugly, the extremes and everything in the middle. This is the true crossroads of the United States. There is something for everyone and everyone can share a piece of the action. Driving in, I saw a sign for Felecia's Fun Club, home of the $5 lap dance, which is a bit cringe-inducing.
I met up with Jim and Andrea, two of my friends and former co-workers, who were in town for a conference. I love going to Vegas with Jim, because he is really into fine dining and goes to a different gourmet restaurant every night. Monday night we went to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grille at Caesar's Palace, and I had gotten us tickets to see the Amazing Johnathan, a favorite comedian of mine, who's show I had wanted to see the previous two times in Vegas. Everyone agreed that the show was hilarious, definitely a good see, particularly if you have a bit of a sick sense of humor. The show was an hour and a half!, and the lower priced tickets were $45 (and most were probably better than the high priced tickets). Definitely highly recommended.
Jim was staying at Caesar's Palace, so I stayed with him on monday and tuesday night. On tuesday, while Jim and Andrea went to their conference, I went back to Hoover Dam, Bill Simmons be damned. The dam is very very impressive, and well worth the $5 to park and $15 for the tour ticket. The first part of the tour was a brief slideshow where they tell you historical facts about the building of the dam, as well as neat statistics such as: there is enough concrete in the dam to build a two lane highway from San Francisco to New York, the water in Lake Mead would cover an area the size of Connecticut with 10 feet of water, and that Lake Mead stores 2 years worth of electricity in water, behind the dam.
Next stop on the tour was the Nevada generator room, where there are 8 generators (another 9 on the Arizona side).
The last part of the tour included a model of the dam bypass down the river a ways, and then a mention of the memorial across the street. The memorial was set up in memory of the workers who died building the dam (94 I believe). The memorial includes two winged statues, and the tour guide mentioned that if you touch all 20 toes on the statues, you are guaranteed 24 hours of good luck.
I wandered around the top of the dam some more, and took a lot more photos before heading back to my car. On the way to the car, I did happen to walk up to the statues for a look, and figured "what the heck", and touched all 20 toes individually. Just as I was getting back to the garage, I heard this loud boom, a huge huge noise, that echoed throughout the whole canyon and dam area, it was very scary! Turns out, it was just blasting as part of the construction down river, but it was very very scary.
I got back to Vegas, and met up with Jim and Andrea. We went to Spago's at Caesar's for dinner. By this time, I was definitely getting anxious, because I had been in Vegas 24 hours already, and not gambled a bit, not even shoving a quarter into a slot machine. Andrea and Jim had tickets to see another show that night, Danny Gans at the Mirage. I didn't really want to see Danny Gans (the performer who replaced Siegfried and Roy) for $100, so I planned to gamble at the Mirage and wait for them and we would all gamble afterwards. I took $400 out of the bank (the gambling budget for the entire trip) and quickly found a game called Crazy-4-Poker, a 4 card poker game I had never heard of before. The game looked intriguing and included a lot of bonus bets where you could get paid out 4-1 on a flush, 7-1 on a three of a kind, in addition to your regular bets. Because of all the bonuses, if you played say $25 on your bonus, and $10 on your regular bet, you could get paid as much as $300 on a three of a kind. I played several hands and quickly got down to $180, and almost got up and left the table, but something kept me there. By varying my bets and getting extremely lucky, I just went on this amazing winning streak. I kept getting flushes and three of a kinds, like really huge hands, every few hands. I've never had a gambling night like this in my life, I jut couldn't lose. I did have a few breaks, for instance when Jim and Andrea came out of their show and we met back up, but I pretty much played this game for about 8 hours, and won so much money over the course of the night that it covered my new tires and all the gas I had bought up to that point on the trip. It was unbelievable, I just couldn't lose... and I attribute it to touching the toes at Hoover Dam :). The title of this article was suggested by Jim.
I didn't want to leave the Mirage, but I finally did at about 3:15, because I was so tired, despite having had about 20 cokes. Vegas at 3 am is very interesting, something I have surprisingly never seen. At 3 AM, the casinos start to clean, which is really something to observe. They start cleaning out the slot machines, vacuuming, wiping down surfaces, all while people are still up and about playing their games. I stepped outside on the way back to Caesar's next door, and was almost knocked over, the temperature was still in the high 90's. It was amazing. I needed a shower when I got back to the room, and quickly conked out for the night.
Wednesday I slept until about noon, and met up with Jim and Andrea for dinner. I checked into my own room at Bally's, because Jim's girlfriend Rachel was flying in that night. We went to dinner at P.F. Chang's (a favorite of mine) at the Aladdin, then dropped Andrea off at the airport and picked up Rachel. At this point everyone was tired, so we all went back to our rooms.
I can't believe I'm in Vegas, home to several of the biggest and best hotels in the world, and it is impossible to get a wireless internet connection. I would say 95% of the podunk little motels out there, 60% of truck stops and 40% of campgrounds that I have been through offer free wireless internet, and yet Vegas hotels want to you to pay $10 a day. Tomorrow at some point, I am heading to southern California to meet up with my friend Becky.
On Monday, I drove all day across Arizona on the I-40, passing landmarks that I really wanted to stop for, Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon, etc. When I reached the town of Kingman, AZ, at about 2:30 Pacific time, I turned N on US 93, which takes you all the way to Las Vegas, passing over the Hoover Dam. The area surrounding the dam is very interesting landscape; you are surrounded by craggy, rocky bald mountains, there isn't much vegetation. Suddenly, you pull over a ridge, and all you can see is green and blue, the effects of Lake Mead, the lake formed by the dam. Lake Mead National Recreation Area was the first place in the US to receive that designation.
I was extremely excited to drive over the Hoover Dam, though I wasn't sure what to expect. I felt for sure there would be huge security in place, considering the dam provides power and fresh water to seven states. No trucks are allowed on that section of US 93. About two miles from the dam, there was a large security turnout, so cars could go through a checkpoint. However, the guards were just waving people through, without even asking questions. It seemed to me as though they were just sort of taking a peek at people, and perhaps their skin color, not really looking in their cars. To the guards' credit, it was an extremely hot hot day, it was over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, possibly the hottest weather I have experienced. I saw signs that stated there were more checkpoints at the dam itself, but these turned out to merely be stop lights, and weren't in operation that day. Coming up to the dam, there is a lot of evidence that they are building a dam bypass down river a bit, probably to ease the flow of traffic towards Las Vegas, and limit the travel over the dam. I stopped at the dam only briefly on monday, just took a few quick photos from the vista areas on the Arizona side of the dam, before proceeding on over the dam. It took about 5 minutes to cross, as traffic was slow but steadily moving. There were tons of people walking around on the dam, and on the Nevada side, I saw there was a huge visitor center offering tours and such. I wanted to stop, but I was in a little bit of a rush to get to Vegas, so I decided I would come back on Tuesday, since the dam is only about 30 miles from Las Vegas. The temperature was over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, just ridiculous temperatures, and because I had my AC on, and the path to Vegas was uphill, my car started to overheat, before I realized what was happening. I thought I was in trouble but the engine cooled off pretty readily as soon as I turned the AC off.
I have been to Las Vegas twice before, but never driven into the city. In fact, I've only arrived in the city at night. During the day, you can see the monstrous hotels from 15 to 20 miles out, and definitely from the nearby city of Henderson, NV. Las Vegas is a city of contrasts. It is very easy to find the poshest of places, and walk right next door and find the sleaziest of places. You might find the richest of people, having some fun, blowing off a little steam in the casino, gambling next to someone who's hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, hoping for extreme luck. You'll find young, old, beautiful and ugly, the extremes and everything in the middle. This is the true crossroads of the United States. There is something for everyone and everyone can share a piece of the action. Driving in, I saw a sign for Felecia's Fun Club, home of the $5 lap dance, which is a bit cringe-inducing.
I met up with Jim and Andrea, two of my friends and former co-workers, who were in town for a conference. I love going to Vegas with Jim, because he is really into fine dining and goes to a different gourmet restaurant every night. Monday night we went to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grille at Caesar's Palace, and I had gotten us tickets to see the Amazing Johnathan, a favorite comedian of mine, who's show I had wanted to see the previous two times in Vegas. Everyone agreed that the show was hilarious, definitely a good see, particularly if you have a bit of a sick sense of humor. The show was an hour and a half!, and the lower priced tickets were $45 (and most were probably better than the high priced tickets). Definitely highly recommended.
Jim was staying at Caesar's Palace, so I stayed with him on monday and tuesday night. On tuesday, while Jim and Andrea went to their conference, I went back to Hoover Dam, Bill Simmons be damned. The dam is very very impressive, and well worth the $5 to park and $15 for the tour ticket. The first part of the tour was a brief slideshow where they tell you historical facts about the building of the dam, as well as neat statistics such as: there is enough concrete in the dam to build a two lane highway from San Francisco to New York, the water in Lake Mead would cover an area the size of Connecticut with 10 feet of water, and that Lake Mead stores 2 years worth of electricity in water, behind the dam.
Next stop on the tour was the Nevada generator room, where there are 8 generators (another 9 on the Arizona side).
The last part of the tour included a model of the dam bypass down the river a ways, and then a mention of the memorial across the street. The memorial was set up in memory of the workers who died building the dam (94 I believe). The memorial includes two winged statues, and the tour guide mentioned that if you touch all 20 toes on the statues, you are guaranteed 24 hours of good luck.
I wandered around the top of the dam some more, and took a lot more photos before heading back to my car. On the way to the car, I did happen to walk up to the statues for a look, and figured "what the heck", and touched all 20 toes individually. Just as I was getting back to the garage, I heard this loud boom, a huge huge noise, that echoed throughout the whole canyon and dam area, it was very scary! Turns out, it was just blasting as part of the construction down river, but it was very very scary.
I got back to Vegas, and met up with Jim and Andrea. We went to Spago's at Caesar's for dinner. By this time, I was definitely getting anxious, because I had been in Vegas 24 hours already, and not gambled a bit, not even shoving a quarter into a slot machine. Andrea and Jim had tickets to see another show that night, Danny Gans at the Mirage. I didn't really want to see Danny Gans (the performer who replaced Siegfried and Roy) for $100, so I planned to gamble at the Mirage and wait for them and we would all gamble afterwards. I took $400 out of the bank (the gambling budget for the entire trip) and quickly found a game called Crazy-4-Poker, a 4 card poker game I had never heard of before. The game looked intriguing and included a lot of bonus bets where you could get paid out 4-1 on a flush, 7-1 on a three of a kind, in addition to your regular bets. Because of all the bonuses, if you played say $25 on your bonus, and $10 on your regular bet, you could get paid as much as $300 on a three of a kind. I played several hands and quickly got down to $180, and almost got up and left the table, but something kept me there. By varying my bets and getting extremely lucky, I just went on this amazing winning streak. I kept getting flushes and three of a kinds, like really huge hands, every few hands. I've never had a gambling night like this in my life, I jut couldn't lose. I did have a few breaks, for instance when Jim and Andrea came out of their show and we met back up, but I pretty much played this game for about 8 hours, and won so much money over the course of the night that it covered my new tires and all the gas I had bought up to that point on the trip. It was unbelievable, I just couldn't lose... and I attribute it to touching the toes at Hoover Dam :). The title of this article was suggested by Jim.
I didn't want to leave the Mirage, but I finally did at about 3:15, because I was so tired, despite having had about 20 cokes. Vegas at 3 am is very interesting, something I have surprisingly never seen. At 3 AM, the casinos start to clean, which is really something to observe. They start cleaning out the slot machines, vacuuming, wiping down surfaces, all while people are still up and about playing their games. I stepped outside on the way back to Caesar's next door, and was almost knocked over, the temperature was still in the high 90's. It was amazing. I needed a shower when I got back to the room, and quickly conked out for the night.
Wednesday I slept until about noon, and met up with Jim and Andrea for dinner. I checked into my own room at Bally's, because Jim's girlfriend Rachel was flying in that night. We went to dinner at P.F. Chang's (a favorite of mine) at the Aladdin, then dropped Andrea off at the airport and picked up Rachel. At this point everyone was tired, so we all went back to our rooms.
I can't believe I'm in Vegas, home to several of the biggest and best hotels in the world, and it is impossible to get a wireless internet connection. I would say 95% of the podunk little motels out there, 60% of truck stops and 40% of campgrounds that I have been through offer free wireless internet, and yet Vegas hotels want to you to pay $10 a day. Tomorrow at some point, I am heading to southern California to meet up with my friend Becky.
1 Comments:
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At July 18, 2006 9:28 PM, Anonymous said…