Las Vegas 2011 Thanksgiving weekend at Palazzo and Mandalay Bay!

We left for Vegas on Friday leaving our 22 year old son at home with Thanksgiving dinner leftovers for 10 people. Flight was good, limo was waiting when we arrived, VIP check-in was quick and except for forgetting my makeup bag at home everything was going smoothly. We came in this trip on a offer for a Fortuna suite at Palazzo, $700 free play, $150 food& beverage and 2 tickets we requested to Phantom for our friends.

After unpacking and a quick trip to the Walgreens for some substitute make up, we went to our favorite slots in the Venetian high limit room to see if we were going to start out lucky. We started out with a win of $375.00 on the $5 dollar Pinball, not great, but good enough. Switched to $5 Top Dollar and hit for only $150.00.

Tried the $5 Wheel of Fortune but no spin for us. Went over to our favorite slot $1 DaVinci Diamonds and lost a few hundred as it was cold as ice. Tried the $1 Cleopatra slot and had a bonus for $500 that put us even as we walked out of the high limit room.

We basically had broken even by the time we were to meet our friends Tricia (Pennyplayer), Michael, Yoke and Graham for dinner at Tao for dinner and that was better then being down so we were happy.

Tao was busy but we ended up with a good corner table upstairs. This is the first time I've been seated upstairs and I think I prefer it over downstairs.

Ceiling shot of Tao.

Buddha outside of restroom area at Tao.

One of the appetizers that someone in our group ordered.

Garlic green bean and onion rings tempura, very tasty.

Wynn's Country Club Jazz Brunch!

We loved the Jazz Brunch at Wynn's Country Club restaurant. The views, the service, the Jazz Trio and the food were all fabulous!

Can't decide if you want to order off the menu or do a buffet for your Sunday Brunch? Then I have the solution for you, book the "Cookin' with Jazz Brunch" at Wynn's Country Club restaurant and have the best of both dining experiences. The brunch is priced at $59 for adults before tip and taxes and is every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This price includes coffee, tea and juices but alcohol is extra. 

The Jazz brunch is unique because in addition to a buffet set up, there's also a limited menu of items you can order as much as you want from, of food cooked fresh to order and it has several egg dishes, french toast, shrimp and grits, hot dog and chicken with parmesan on it. Since we were there with our close friends Yoke and Graham who were staying at Wynn this trip I was a bit distracted and neglected to take photos of that menu and also didn't get any photos that showed the complete buffet but since I intend to return to eat here again, I'll be sure to do that next time!

Above is the poached eggs with BBQ smoked pork, bacon cheese muffin and green chile hollandaise sauce that you can order from the menu. Graham said it was delicious!

For those of you like my friend Kydds who joke I never eat a hot dog when in Las Vegas here's the proof that I will at least pose for a photo with one. The hot dog is also on their menu cooked to order and I was told it was one of the tastiest hot dogs on the Vegas strip.

Las Vegas Halloween Stumble Trip Report

This was a last minute trip to Las Vegas due to me telling the organizer of the Slot Machine Forum's Halloween Stumble Meet that I would attend if I won 20k on my earlier trip to G2E in Vegas this month. The improbable happened and if you want to read about that trip and win, here's the link:
http://www.lasvegasdaze.com/2011/10/my-20k-win-on-top-dollar-at-aria-trip.html

My husband wasn't able to join me again this trip due to work but was  kind enough to get up early and drive me to the San Jose airport on Saturday the 29th. Security was speedy and since I had a couple hours until the flight left I had breakfast at the airport Chili's restaurant. The egg, bacon, avocado quesadilla above was really tasty but huge, I had to leave two thirds of it.

The flight to Vegas was smooth but crowded. I didn't have much of a wait for luggage and soon I was in the Palazzo limo arriving at the VIP check in desk. My room was on the 33rd floor of Palazzo and had the typical view of Treasure Island.

The suite was in good shape, though I found out when I went to check my bill the last evening of the trip that both televisions weren't working correctly. For those who might be wondering how the offers are at Grazie these days, they seem to be coming back for mid-level gamblers. My upfront offer was 3 nights in a suite, $600 free play and dinner for 2 at Venetian's Valentino restaurant and since I'm platinum level it also included limo transport to and from the airport.  Current offers from them online are very similar to this one, though some include slot tournaments and there's a offer for New Year's Eve with dinner, dancing and entertainment by Huey Lewis and the News.

While my husband remembers room numbers, I can sometimes get confused so lately I have resorted to taking a photo of the room number with my cell when on a solo trip.

After unpacking I headed down to the casino where I first stopped and played the Hangover slot. I played a bit of Hangover this trip and had some bonuses but most of the time picked badly during them and ended up with the cash payout bonus instead of a fun one like Mr. Chow's below.

I played a few more penny slots including the new Joker's Heist which was a disappointing slot as far as pay outs are concerned, but just continued to lose so I made my way over to Venetian's high limit room where my luck started to change!

I started out playing the $5 Pinball at 3 credits and hit a Pinball fairly quickly that paid out $450.00 which recovered my previous losses.