Weekend West Wendover Nevada Trip for March 28 - 29

Me with my big win!

Introduction

Shari and I had planned a quick Wendover getaway for a bit.  We hadn't been there in a while and it was a comp multiplier weekend, so we figured why not get away.  Unfortunately, we booked it sort of late in the game and the only thing affordable (and not sold out) as far as hotels went was the Rainbow.  We opted to get the cheap wing, which is still nice, but definitely dated compared to the rest of the resort.

So after my very successful half marathon on Saturday, I rushed home, posted a recap and then headed out the door for Wendover.  Before leaving, we made a quick pit stop at the bank and got some extra spending money and sped off with an easy and uneventful trip west.

First Stop the Peppermill

We didn't have to be anywhere in particular upon arriving in Wendover.  Shari has always had decent luck at the Peppermill and usually it is the least crowded out of the group of casinos we visit.  We activated our cards and got our 6x comps going.  We also entered our cards into their drawings contest, which would give us the opportunity to either win $500 in free play or $1000 cash.  It was a long shot, but still worth hanging around for.

I wound up putting in some money on various machines and got a few tidy bonuses or big wins, but nothing to write home about.  Before too long though, I had re-invested my winnings which soon turned into losses.  I was a fixture at all the Fu Dao Le machines, as usual.

$41 win on Fu Dao Le on $1.28

$12 bonus round on .38 bet.

Shari didn't come with much money but I gave her some and she hit two red envelope bonuses within minutes of each other.  Before I knew it, she was clutching nearly $200 in her hands.

Shari's $108 Rise of Ra Red Envelope Win

Shari's $104 Red Envelope win on Fu Dao Le

The final score after leaving the Peppermill an hour or so later was me, down about $80, Shari up about $140.

Montego Bay

I was sort of sore about losing and to be honest I was cranky.  It was now just after 4pm and I had been up since 4am (not to mention I had slept poorly the night before).  We had talked about going to the Salt Flats Cafe but since we had earned a fair amount of comps over the past hour we decided to take the plunge and visit the Montego Bay Oceano Buffet, which is my go-to choice for food while in Wendover.

We decided to circle the place a bit before eating and I wound up dumping another $20 and change into video blackjack or Bally's Wonder Woman machine (which I have not seen payoff in any meaningful way as of yet).

We got into the buffet just before the SLC bus arrived and I was filling up on a made to order tuna steak as well as whatever other seafood delights they had out.  Sadly, I filled up rather quickly and didn't make my usual dent into the buffet's profit margin.  Either way, between the two of us, we ate like royalty for about $20.

Rainbow

Since our host hotel was the Rainbow, we scooted over there and checked in painlessly.  At this point, I really just wanted to lay down.  I was down over $100 and my luck was just terrible.  

As we were walking back to the car to get our luggage, I spied a vacant Fu Dao Le machine.  I was like WTF, why not.  So I put in a $20 and bet the minimum: thirty-eight cents.  Up comes the wild row and depending upon how much you have, you have a chance to pick a random prize.  Normally when I bet that low, I rarely get the pick'em prize, but this time it triggered.

Shari had caught up to me at this point and was incredulous about me winning something (and hopefully me shaking off my sour puss mood).  She implored me to pick the areas in the middle, since she had seen other people do it with a modicum of success.  To humor her, I did.  I picked the middle ones and before I knew it, I had 2 Maxis (at a 10K win), 2 Majors (at a $1K win) and 2 Minors (about $120).  If I picked well, one of those good prizes could be mine.  I picked another tile and bam, the machines goes nuts and I hit a major for $1050.  I've seen it happen before with 38 cent bets, but Shari and I were astounded.  We were high-fiving each other and causing quite a commotion.  As it incremented my money, Shari snapped several pictures of me sitting in front of the biggest win of my gambling life:

I took my ticket and wound up putting in another $60 bucks and about 15 minutes later I cashed out with another $200 after a nice Red Envelope payout.  I just about passed out when I went to the cashier's counter and had the attendant count out 12 one hundred dollar bills:

We had a corner room at the Rainbow and luckily it was super quiet.  We've stayed in Wendover on weekend nights before and had carousing people hoot and holler in the hallways late at night.  I slept like crap though on account I was pretty jacked from my wins and a certain someone wouldn't let me crank the AC low.

Rainbow Morning

As usual, I got up pretty early and decided to take my player's club card down and activate it for the day.  On the way there I saw a Rising Dragon game with a huge red envelope jackpot ($192).  They rarely get that high and I figured why not, I am ahead.  So I put in a $100 and played max ($2.75).  I wound up playing for 15 minutes but other than earn a lot of comps,  I got an unexciting $35 bonus round.  I came very close to hitting the red envelope bonus three times, but the machine was simply teasing me.  This will probably be the last time I go all in on Rising Dragon. I didn't hit the red envelope.  Disgusted, I put in a twenty into a neighboring Fu Dao Le and made a $20 profit on it.

Sunday Morning Run

The pool wasn't open yet, so I opted to go for a run at on the Leppy Hills Trails, on the other side of the freeway.  I was pretty beat up from yesterday's half marathon and I didn't want to twist an ankle on the rougher trails that lead out to the desert.  I finally ran into someone out on the trail though (a dog walker).  First time for everything, I suppose.  

This trail is perfectly groomed, but there is a lot of rolling hills and at its apex, I suspect you are a good 500 feet above where you started at.  One of these days I'll take my Garmin out there and get some elevation readings.

I cleaned up and for the first time ever Shari was waiting for me to get ready.  Luckily  I am a quick piece of work and 20 minutes later we had the luggage loaded.  I think we each pissed away twenty bucks at the Rainbow before heading off to breakfast.

I had a two-for-one buffet pass so we wound up eating for $18.  I love their Sunday breakfast and I had a TON of food.  Shari couldn't believe how much I was putting down and when I left, I probably could've eaten more.  Once again she abandoned me out of boredom (and perhaps embarrassment)

Peppermill

After breakfast we mosied over to the Peppermill.  Shari wanted to do one final blast of gambling.  We also hung around for the noon time drawing.  My luck continued to be sour and I wound up throwing in another $20 or $40 with not a lot to show for it.  Shari had similar luck.

Soon afterwards we opted to head home and we had a pretty uneventful drive home.

Conclusion

Well, I had a lot of fun.  Food, between the two of us, was about $40 (excluding tips) for two nice meals and the room was $99 plus tax and resort fees.  I left Utah with just about $400 and I came home with $1200.  Shari wound up breaking even all together and best of all, we have about $30 in comps coming our way, so our next meals will likely be free.  I was disappointed that my wins weren't more spread out but that Saturday night was truly magical and one I won't soon forget.