8/2 West Wendover Trip

The rest stop view from the north side of I-18 near Aragonite Road

Introduction

It's been a while since I've made a trip to Wendover and the rest of the crew was sort of itching to go.  Being that it was 5x comps and we had some free food and free play coming our way we decided to make our way west for a day of gaming and eating.

The road trip there was pretty uneventful and we actually left on time (around 9AM).  It is amazing how every one can be on time when there is gambling on the line.  We did have to make a pit stop at the Aragonite restroom and I managed to snap a few pictures despite the warnings about scorpions and rattle snakes.

The Day Trip

We arrived just before 11.  I had done a run in the morning and had had a protein shake for breakfast.  Believe it or not, I was not terribly hungry.  After activating our player's cards each went our separate way for a bit.

I jumped on a Fu Dao Le near the buffet.  I've always had super luck on it and wound up sticking $40 into it.  I got some play on it, but didn't really win anything.  Soon I was $40 in the hole.

I headed over to the rear of the casino and jumped on another Fu Dao Le and plunked $20 into it.  Soon I got a nice $80 bonus round so before brunch, I was up about $20 - $30.

 

We had to wait in line for the buffet on account that the bus from SLC arrived, which means a ton of people were hitting up the buffet.  The wait in Wendover is rarely a big deal and we had to kill about 10 minutes in line.  

They were obviously busy today and it took a while before we got our drinks, but the buffet lived up to its expectations.  I've had very few disappointments with the Oceano Buffet.

After eating I mosied over to another Fu Dao Le machine and put in $20 and another $10 of free play into it.  Almost immediately, I got the Red Envelope jackpot. Unfortunately someone had just won it moments before I had so I only got about $100 from it:

I played a bit more and netted the minor jackpot for another $90.  I was definitely on a roll!

I goofed around some more in Montego Bay but wasn't really getting anywhere.  Shari and her mom wanted to go to the Rainbow, so once we got everyone assembled we made the drive down Wendover Blvd.

I normally don't have any luck at the Rainbow so I reluctantly went along.  Sure enough I wound up putting a fair amount of money back into the Fu Dao Le's and had zero luck.  Sure I'd get a small bonus or two but I was dumping all my winnings down the drain.

Even video blackjack was evil to me...  

As the day progressed I was starting to dive back into the red (I think) and I was sort of itching to leave.  I hadn't slept well the previous night and I was almost falling asleep while playing.

On a whim, I put in a twenty into Super Red Phoenix and was alternating $.55 and $1.10 bets when I hit a bonus round.  I selected 15 games at x2 payout and wound up netting an $85 bonus round (it re-triggered too).

As we were leaving, I was waiting for people to finish using the restroom, so I put in a final twenty into a Fu Dao Le and got a sweet bonus round.  I almost got the Red Envelope bonus on that too.  I think I managed to make a $30 profit on it.

Conclusion

Overall this was a good trip.  To be honest, I didn't clean up at the buffet today.  My appetite wasn't really there.  I think I was a plate short of my normal "load".  We did eat for $18, which is a steal for two meals of this caliber.

Gambling-wise, I came home with a good $60 more than I left with.  Shari came home with $5 more.  We also nearly doubled our comps, so we'll be eating for free a few more times.

We are heading west again next weekend, so I am glad I came home with money and will definitely have some spending money for that trip.

Weekend West Wendover / Elko Trip

All you can eat crab legs at the Elko Red Lion Hotel / Casino

Introduction

A few weeks ago Shari and I were eating at the Montego Buffet Oceano Buffet and we saw "10X comps, June 5-6"  For those not in the know, 10x comps basically means you get 10 times as many points when you gamble.  For cheap skates like us, that means if we gamble say $50 we might get $1 in resort credit.  With 10x comps, it means we'd get $10.  

We've seen 7x before and that usually warrants a Sunday trip, but 10x??  Unheard of!

So with a little planning, Shari and I lined up a free room and headed out to West Wendover, Nevada directly after work on Thursday.

Thursday

The trip to Wendover was pretty uneventful.  We had smooth sailing and when we arrived we swiped our cards and got onboard with the 3x comps.  A mere pittance compared to what would be in store tomorrow.  We also got $10 in free play and a 2-for-1 buffet pass.

We weren't really planning on gambling much on Thursday night.  Sure 3x comps isn't bad, but with tomorrow's action, we definitely wanted more action then.

For $18.11 we ate a really nice dinner buffet.  They also had my favorite shrimp dish -- some peanut kung pao thing that has just the right amount of heat.  

The line for check-in was sort of long but it was a quiet night.  We got a room in the new section.  I am really pleased with some of the updating that Montego Bay is doing.  They have replaced all the carpeting and everything has a new smell to it.  The new wing is pretty nice, but it is a haul to the pool.

After settling in, we did gamble a bit.  I actually was on a decent winning streak.  Nearly every machine I put money into -- I won something... Not a huge amount but a few bucks here in video black jack to $10 - $20 on my favorite Fu Dao Le machines.  By the time I went to bed I would've guessed that I was up about $30 - $40.

Friday

In the morning I rolled out of bed and did my traditional run out in the desert north of Wendover.  You can see photos here.

Afterwards I headed down to the pool.  They have finally opened the outdoor pool (the saunas are open year round) and I was pleasantly surprised with how warm the pool water actually was.  I definitely hope to spend some more time there this summer

After packing up our room, we headed down to the casino.  We had an hour or so before the buffet opened and I jumped on a Fu Dao Le and managed to pretty much break even.  Given that it was 10X, though, it meant I was quickly getting a lot of resort credit.  While I was gambling a lot, my bonus rounds were pretty crappy and I really wasn't gaining anything at all.  It was entertaining, but not rewarding.

Just before we hopped into the buffet line, Shari bummed $20 off of me and went to one of my favorite Fu Dao Le machines and was rewarded with this winner:

Shari's big win in the morning

I love the Oceano's buffet on a Friday morning.  They put out some of the seafood that they are going to be serving later in the day and they have the best seafood ciappino.  I could literally live on the stuff.  We wound up eating for $4.10 because of all the comps we had just earned.  Roughly a $30 savings.

Plate #1 of many

Shari got tired of watching me eat and went out and gambled some more.  I probably made a spectacle of myself because I was like a bottomless pit.  Eventually though I waddled out and at that point that is where my luck suddenly ended.  It was as if all my good fortune was suddenly transferred to Shari.

About an hour later I was down about $20.  We went over to the Peppermill and I tossed another $40 away.  Rainbow was even worse and I dropped another $80.  Granted I was making good comps but it was as if the operator of the casinos were like "tighten the screws -- no more wins"  I wasn't getting anything

Disgusted and suddenly down about $100 or so, we headed west.  I had a bunch of food coupons and a heavily discounted room at the Elko Red Lion.  I love going out to Elko.  The drive from Wendover to Elko, while some would consider boring, I find fascinating and it always goes by pretty quickly.  Before we stopped in, though, we went to the California Interpretive Trail Center, which you can read about here.

Shari isn't a fan of Elko that much but I was hoping to do some hiking or site seeing the next day, but the weather really didn't cooperate.  I still want to go back to Lamoille, but Shari clearly isn't much of a hiker.

Either way, the room was super nice and for $50 they treated us really nicely.  They also gave a $12 food voucher and between the two of us we had $12 in free play.

My luck continued to tank and while I was having some fun I was throwing away good money after bad.  Shari's continued to hold up.  She jumped on a Rumble Rumble machine by Ainsworth (she left me at the buffet to do this) and hit paydirt with a $2.50 (max bet):

I ponied up for the buffet and Shari ate off the menu (that is nice about the Red Lion since Shari isn't a seafood person, the Friday night buffet is next to worthless for her).  I was still pretty full from the other buffet, but I did pretty good for myself.

We wound up crashing around 10:30.  Shari wouldn't let me crank down the A/C so I boiled all night.

Saturday

In the morning, I went for my exploratory run around the north east side of Elko, which you can read about here.  

After cleaning up and packing we hit the Saturday morning brunch buffet.  The coupon they had given us made this virtually a 2-for-1 buffet.  Their buffet is a lot tinier than Wendover's but it was still good.  Over the two, I'd rather have Wendover's, but it wasn't crowded so I had them make me an omelette.

We talked about going hiking or going downtown but Shari wasn't feeling terribly adventurous.  Also there were looming storm clouds over the south of Elko.  So we headed back east towards Wendover.  We did stop off in Deeth, which you can read about here.

We rolled into Wendover just after 3pm.  We swiped our cards and got onboard with the 10x comps again.  I was down a good chunk of change and I hadn't played anything in Elko.  Tentatively I stuck some money into Fu Dao Le and got -- nothing.  I mean at this point it wasn't even fun anymore.  I tossed a few more bucks into various machines and it was like I couldn't catch a break.  Absolutely nothing....

We had gotten some free tickets to see Chris Cagle.  Shari thinks she had heard some of his music before, but I really didn't know his stuff.  I didn't want to lose any more money, I wasn't hungry and we had a good three hours to kill before showtime.  For those not in the know, Wendover is an exceedingly boring place if you aren't gambling, sitting at the pool or eating.  

I wound up giving the tickets to a couple we had met on Thursday night from Amarillo, Texas.  They seemed really excited to get them so I am hoping they were put to good use.  

Disgusted we headed home.

Conclusion

Well, I came home broke.  What wasn't spent on gambling was put towards tips and other incidentals.  Gambling-wise, this trip flat out sucked.

Shari was the big winner.  She was able to give me back my $20 and have two Benjamin's to put away.  She was ecstatic Normally it is the reverse situation but my luck was bound to change after the good runs I've been having there...  On this trip, however, my luck was so bad I couldn't even win a few bucks at video black jack.

Food wise, we ate for about $70.  That is for 4 premium buffets each.  Not bad.  Lodging came to a grand total of $50.

I was also able to knock out the California Interpretive Trail Center, which had been on my list of things to see for quite some time.  I also got to check out Deeth -- which was cool, but a bit of a letdown especially compared to Metropolis.  I also came away with a huge understanding of what the early settlers on the California Trail felt like when they crossed through this section of the country.  I can't imagine what it would've been like to have your kids in tow with everything you own in a covered wagon walking across this rugged land.

Not sure when the next Nevada trip is.  This one was bittersweet and left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  There are still some areas north and south of Elko I want to check out, so you can count on me wanting to explore. Also the Basque Festival is coming up on the Fourth of July weekend which is definitely tickling my curiosity.

West Wendover Trip for 7/23 - 7/24 Pioneer Day Vacation

Enjoying the glow of a buffet!

Wednesday 

Each year, on July 24, the state of Utah pretty much has a state holiday -- called Pioneer Day which celebrates the first settlers arrival to the state of Utah in the mid 1800's.  Most of the public services are closed and even some businesses.  For me, it is an optional / floating holiday.

Having a free room, free play and free food burning a hole in my pocket I decided to head out to Wendover again.  After work, we jumped into the car and headed west for a pretty much non-eventful drive to the border.  I was surprised at how hot it was -- my car's temperature gauge showed it was 105 degrees.

We arrived at the Montego Bay casino and jumped into the 2 for one buffet.  I ate pretty well.  After about an hour, we grabbed a room and Shari headed up to watch her tv shows while I goofed around in the casino. I jumped on the Fu Dao Le games and dumped a $20 in, only to hit a bonus round in short order and double my money.  I pulled it out and swiped my card and the kiosk to earn my spin and win award (you basically gamble a small amount of money and you get either some tier points or free play).  I won $10 in free play and along with my $5 just for showing up, I had $15 in free play.

I walked over to the other side of the casino and put my $15 in free play in another Fu Dao Le game and turned it into $75 after a solid bonus run.  I played a few more times in hopes of getting the Red Envelope Bonus, but cashed out after making a total profit of about $75.

I went back up to the room and waited for Shari's show to end.  They put us in the north wing of the hotel -- and I thought I'd seen it all, but this is a different wing that you have to sort of jump through a few hoops to get to.  It was certainly quieter but you are closer to the casino.  I'd definitely stay on this side again, especially on the weekends when you have more noisy people in the hallways.

I gathered Shari and we headed back down to the casino.  I wound up gambling some more and my profit disappeared.  We did head over to the Peppermill where I dumped another $25 into the machines before getting discouraged.  There weren't any good comps going on so I wasn't earning anything.  It was approaching 10pm at this point and I hadn't slept well the night before, so we called it a night.

Sweet win

Nice bonus round

View from the room and Highway 80 in the distance

Thursday

I thought about going for a run, but I woke up late and feeling incredibly lazy.  I wound up lounging in bed and catching up on my sleep.  Around 9am I got up and headed down to the pool where I swam for a bit and sat in the jacuzzi.  What a way to start the day.

Montego Bay Pool

Montego Bay Jacuzzi

Montego Bay View of Northern Wendover

After that I headed back up to the room, showered, and grabbed our stuff and headed to the buffet.  I was totally expecting to use our comps to pay for most of our meal, but as we were standing in line, a guy came up and handed us his 2-for-1 coupon.  Sweet!  

I inhaled a huge amount of food.  They had the spicy shrimp that I just love and wound up eating WAY too much.  I may lose in the casino, but I always win in the buffet.

Buffet plate #1 - I love that shrimp stuff

Buffet Plate #2

#3

#4

Dessert

After eating, we headed on over to the Rainbow to try our luck there (and to take advantage of the 3x comps).  I jumped on another Fu Dao Le machine and hit the minor jackpot for $130.  This was a stunner but a welcome surprise.  I got it by hitting a wild row, which turned into a mini-bonus round.  You basically pick a series of bubbles until you match a series and you get whatever the jackpot is.  This includes winning up to $9000.  Granted, I wasn't playing at that level, but was shocked to get the mini jackpot.

Mini Jackpot win of $137

Mini Jackpot win of $137

Mini Jackpot win of $137

After the Rainbow we went to the Peppermill.  I wound up doing all right there on the Red Phoenix game.  The Red Envelope bonus was sitting at over $190 and I was itching to win that.  I had seen lots of people win it and figured it was due.  I was playing with house money at this point and I wound up playing at least a solid hour.  I netted an awesome $100 bonus round, but never did get what I was looking for.

Very nice bonus win

Awesome win on Red Phoenix

All told, I left Wendover with about $200 and I came home with a hair over $300.  I paid with cash for breakfast this morning, plus tips and I gave Shari money periodically.  I want to say that I wound up with a gaming win of $150 - $200. 

Shari didn't have any luck whatsoever.  She brought about $50 and blew through that in about 30 minutes.  She also took a lot from me... She was betting heavy on the games that we were playing and at $2.00 a spin, $50 goes very fast.  I was playing everything from 40 cents to 2.00 a spin, so my money wound up lasting a lot longer.

Either way this was a good trip.  We didn't have to use any of our comps either, so we still have about 2 meals coming our way.  

West Wendover Run on Monday Morning 1/20

Initially upon waking up at about 7:30, I thought about sleeping in.  I had run hard yesterday and I just felt plain lazy.  I looked at my cell phone and the outside temperature was 16F.

Then my running spirit got the best of me and I decided to get up and suit up.  I headed down to the casino dressed in sweats and more heavy-duty winter running clothes.  I wanted to explore the ATV / trails north on the Utah side of Wendover.  I had been there a few weeks but there are so many other trails out there to explore.

While the temperature was only 16F, the entire area was covered in fog.  I didn't think it was that cold and I was completely comfortable for the entire running trip.

I headed up Aria Blvd, starting in Nevada and quickly making my way to Utah.  I ran through the suburbs and quickly jumped into the desert and ran along.  The houses gave way to swirling mists.  Visibility was limited to maybe 50 yards and it was like running on a different planet.  Not another soul was out there and from the looks of it, none had been for a while.

I started to look for Danger Cave, but  I couldn't really make out where the main trails went.  I thought I was on it, but it quickly dead ended and I was looking over a cliff down at Highway 80.  Even at 8:15 I could hear the whine of the trucks below.  I snapped a few pictures and took off in search of another trail.

I told Shari that I was only going to be gone for a bit.  I came to the main junction and decided to head north into a canyon.  I could see the mountains in the distance and figured the trail would go for a mile or so and I could snap a picture or two and turn around.  I had particularly studied the topography maps.

Running into this grotto took a lot of energy.  Again it was a steady but subtle climb.  I was sucking wind like crazy and I felt so out of shape.

Luckily the mist gave way and suddenly I found myself in a very sunny canyon.  I could follow the trail and saw that it disappeared into another canyon.  Very curious to see where it went, I followed (which has gotten me into trouble in the past).

It went into a slot canyon that resembled something out of Arizona.  The trail was well marked and I could see evidence of ATVs there (as well as old beer bottles and other desert "junk").  The trail snaked its way into a canyon where it lead to a cave.  The cave was only about 10 - 15 feet long and looked like a party hangout.  I was getting a bit nervous as there was no cell phone service there and one false step while climbing around back there and I'd be crawling the 4 miles back to town.  My Achilles was barking at me too but it luckily worked its way out.

I snapped some incredible pictures and made my way back.  I almost got lost as the mist had gotten a LOT worse but I knew that I had to head south and west and before I knew it, I could see the dark shadows of the house of Wendover.

On the way back, I did visit what looks to be the Stations of the Cross at San Felipe Catholic Church.  With the dark mists, this was perhaps the most scary and most surreal pictures I've ever taken.

Enjoy the photos:

San Felipe Catholic Church Crosses

Not a black and white photo

Not a black and white photo - Highway 80 below

Running north into the canyon

Tempted to climb this....

Looking behind me as I run north

Zig-zagging through the canyon

Cool cave...

Climbed on a rise near the cave

The Cave from a distance

What it was like running in the mist - almost blinding

Weird how the frost / salt sits on the plants

San Felipe Catholic Church

San Felipe Catholic Church

San Felipe Catholic Church