December 17-20, 2004
This was our annual pre-xmas trip. We go every year the week before Christmas. The town is as close to empty as you will ever see it and the deals are usually abundant. This trip would also include my 100th night staying in Vegas since my first trip in November 1994. Since we didn't want to leave our dog at the kennel too long, I was driving up on Friday and Lisa was flying up on Saturday afternoon. We were able to get a decent deal out of OC airport, which never happens, for only $49. We have never stayed at Main Street Station despite all the great reviews so we decided to give it a try. We wanted one of the suites they have since we like having a couch in our room. We don't subscribe to the "Its just a place to sleep" theory. We like having a nice room to lounge in. I worked with a host, Annette to get the room since they don't usually rent them. Since I don't have any history there it took a little work but Annette was able to get it for me. It was a very good first impression!
December 17
I picked up a rental car from the local Hertz. It was a a "mid sized" which turned out to be a Cavalier for $22.99 a day. Not really wanting to drive a Cavalier, I upgraded to an Impala with Sirius satellite radio for $7 more. I hit the road at about 10:00AM. I hit traffic on the Riverside Freeway at the beginning and on the 15 into Vegas but since the Cajon Pass was closed to trucks due to high winds, the rest of the trip was great. With only stopping for a brief forced pit stop at Primm, I managed to get into MSS a little after 2:00. There was absolutely no one waiting at Check-In so I was up to my room in no time.
The suite was really a psuedo-suite, a big room with a partially divider. The bathroom was quite large and even had a vanity desk in it, which I don't think I have ever seen in any other Vegas room. The room was a little worn but, all in all, pretty nice and it work great for us. There was only 1 suite on each floor and it's location is rather curious. It is literally right next to the elevator bank. If you walk out of your door, it is no more than 6 inches away! The room is also facing North Las Vegas towards the Spaghetti Bowl Interchange and railroad tracks. I was definitely concerned with the potential noise problem that people have mentioned. I unpacked and relaxed for a few minutes before heading out to get some room supplies.
I don't ever recall seeing a supermarket around Downtown and if one existed, I don't know if I would want to shop there! So I jumped on the freeway and headed out towards Summerlin. After picking up some milk, water and munchies, I drove back to MSS. I hadn't eaten since I left so by now I was starving. MSS biggest drawbacks it its lack of restaurants so the bridge connecting it to the California is incredibly cool. We would end up going over there quite a bit over the course of the weekend. The place was surprisingly busy so end up getting a seat at the counter at the Cal coffee shop and had a very good burger and a mediocre salad bar.
After dinner, I sat down for my first crack at a Video Poker machine. There is a bank of 3/5 machines right near the buffet and this is where I would spend a large portion of the rest of the weekend. I was doing pretty well, racking up scratch-offs with each four of a kind. I would managed to get quite a few of these before the weekend was over. I went back and forth for a couple of hours, I cashed out up about a hundred bucks. I can only look at a VP machine for so long without going bug-eyed, so I decided to head over to Fremont Street. I haven't seen the show since it was redone and it was pretty impressive. I walked around a bit, picked up a hot chocolate at Starbucks in the Golden Nugget before going back to MSS. I sat down at my now favorite machine for a few more hours. The 4OAK were coming fairly often as were the scratchers. I ended the evening up another couple hundred and a pocket full of scratchers. I was dealt quads twice in about a half hour for 10 of them!
December 18
I woke up, showered and headed back over to Starbucks for my morning coffee. Then it was back to MSS for VP. My favorite time of day in a casino is in the morning. It usually is mostly empty and pretty quiet. I continued my string of good luck, getting more 4OAKs and eventually pulling down a royal flush.
After cashing out a happy man, it was time to head over to the airport to pick up Lisa. Her plane was right on time and we were out of there in no time. We were both hungry so we drove over to Luxor for our required stop at Nathan's hotdogs. We then headed back to MSS so Lisa could unpack. After hanging out in the room for a while, we went back downstairs, Lisa played Spin Poker and Keno while I was back at my VP. After a little while, we walked over to Fremont Street to shop for Xmas presents at the little Kiosks that line the street. We found some cool stuff there last year and wanted to check it out again. We got a few ideas but didn't buy much. We walked back to MSS and played a little bit more before going to the Main St buffet for dinner. They have a very good spread with plenty of variety most of which was very good. We finished the evening off with a last round of VP. Unfortunately, since the Royal earlier in the day, my luck has gone south. When things go south on a 5 play machine, it does so fast!
December 19
I woke early as usual, went to Starbucks for coffee then played a little bit before Lisa got up. Once Lisa awoke, we walked over to the Cal coffee shop for breakfast. Although, they have a little buffet going on there, we opted to order from the menu. We were both happy with our meal.
After breakfast, I hung around the Cal Sports book to watch the NY Jets game. While I was sitting there, my stomach starting feeling really ill. It had been acting up since the drive in on Friday and it suddenly got worse. We went back to the room where I ending up sleeping for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, we missed the big LVA meet that was going on at the Orleans that we had really wanted to attend. While I was asleep, Lisa went down and played some Keno.
After waking up, I was feeling better so walked back over to Fremont Street to actually buy something this time. They do have a few interesting things for sale and you can usually get a decent deal. We walked all the way down to Neonopolis, which as usual was a ghost town. After grabbing a hot pretzel at Orange Julius, we turned around and went back to MSS to play some VP before getting ready for dinner. We had planned on eating at the Pullman Grill at MSS since we have heard good things about it but it was closed all week for maintenance. It seems quite a few places around town shut down during this week for sprucing up.
Since the Pullman was a no go, we decided to try the Redwood Grill at the Cal. We both had the filet and it was terrific. It was so tender that you could cut with the fork. It wasn't ala carte and the prices were fairly reasonable. After dinner, we wanted to play some Roulette. We headed back to Fremont St, hoping to find some .50 tables. Apparently, the .50 table is a dying breed as the only 2 that we found, at the Fremont and 4 Queens, were both completely full with people waiting. Even the Las Vegas Club had a $1/$5 minimum even though the table was empty. I don't understand the logic of a casino preferring to have an empty high min table as opposed to a full lower min table! Disappointed, we went back to MSS for another (losing) session of VP before calling it a night. On the way back to the room, I stopped by the players club to speak with Annette about reviewing our play. She ended up comping just about everything including the room and most meals. All that we picked up was the 2 coffee shop meals.
December 20
I woke up and did the morning routine of coffee and VP. Fortunately, I finally was able to turn things around and had my first winning session in 2 days. It was nice to recoup some of the last 2 days beatings. After a couple of hours and a bunch of scratchers, I cashed out and went to the club booth to see if I could get 2 buffet comps for breakfast and my cash back. With no problem, they gave them to me. I went upstairs to get Lisa who already had most of the room packed up. We finished packing, we for the buffet which was pretty good, nothing special. After breakfast, we checked out gassed up the car and headed home. We got on the road about 11AM and although the 15 was busier than Friday, we still made decent time and were home by 3PM.
Some Random Musings...
Scratcher Numbers:
Total: 120 - 36 Friday, 30 Saturday, 25 Sunday and 8 Monday
Breakdown: 9-$5, 22-$3 and 89-$2
Total: $289 Average: $2.41
We had a good time at MSS and especially enjoyed playing there. It had just about every game we like to play and it is all in one nice little area. The scratcher cards are a bonus. It was cool to go back to the room after each session and see what you ended up with. The change people were, for the most part, excellent. I think I waited more than 5 minute only once and at point, I actually had someone hanging out about 20 feet away just waiting for me to hit quads. The suite was perfect for us. Although it would be never confused with Bellagio, it worked well. We don't ask for much; just a couch and a fridge. While could hear the freeway and train, it was never a big problem. In fact, I think it provided a nice white noise that helped me sleep. The elevator right outside the room wasn't even an issue. I think we heard it twice in 3 days. One thing that MSS lacks is food choices, room service in particular. We don't use it often but it is nice to have the option.
As always, the trip came to an end too soon. It seemed like it was over before it began. Aside from the quick stop at Luxor, we never even made it to the strip so I didn't get any new property maps for the website. I was also disappointed we missed the LVA meet. Hopefully, I will make it to another one in the near future. I don't know when the next trip will be but I am sure I will start planning for it soon!
