It was very nice to wake up refreshed for once on this trip. Before returning the room , I used one of the bathroom towels to wipe all the dirt from the car. Advantage Rent-A-Car would probably ban me for life if they saw all the dirt which filtered into the vehicle while driving through the Arizona backroads.
I went to pay for the room and had a breakfast special with orange juice for $4 at the casino restaurant. A man and a woman sat next to me, but something didn't seem quite right. He was about my aga and dressed in jeans and t-shirt, while she had her hair defy gravity and wore a leather dress. I listened to a bit of their conversation and concluded they didn't come together. One of the thing she asked him was, "Which direction do you drive home?" She was probably hired company.
Today, I decided to head back to Las Vegas and hopefully avoid the weekend crowds, but unfortunately, it was still a bit packed. Rather than revisit the strip, I headed to the downtown casinos. The first casino was the Plaza, where I won about $100. I hopped back and forth between the other casinos playing one and two deck games, coming out barely ahead. It was the first time I had played single and double deck games.
At Fritzgerald, the dealer from Hawaii was very nice, and he told me about a special for $15 rooms at the Station casinos, a chain of 5 casinos throughout Las Vegas, which he saw advertised on local television. He also gave me advice on places to eat. By the end of the session, I was about even for the entire trip. While playing, there was live local entertainment, and the gentleman did a very good job singing classic and new tunes.
Next was to find one of the Station Casinos. Unfortunately, I had left Fritzgerald about 4:30 pm, near rush hour traffic. I drove around for about an hour before discovering Palace Station, about 1.5 miles from the Strip. I also discovered northern Las Vegas is slummy at certain points. I thought I noticed a woman and her pimp.
It turns out no one knows about the $15 at any of the Station casinos. I played for about 3 hours before deciding to take a $30 room, which is fair. The Station casinos, like many of the other casinos off the Strip or away from downtown, cater to the locals. It seems many of the regulars know the crews.
For some reason or another, I wanted to visit the Strip and stop at Denny's for one of their breakfast. I parked at MGM, and walked the distance. The casinos now have security guards checking driver's license, and the one who greeted me heard some hard rock playing on the radio, and made a comment about it.
Denny's had lots of patrons, and I decided to sit at the counter where a man and a woman sitting seperately were eating. I suppose this is how the life of a gambler can be, lots of lonely times, no one to share any special moments with, and eating alone. None of us spoke to each other during that time, except I sense from body language, the man wanted to make a comment to me, but decided not to. They left and another man came in. I ate and left reading for bed.
Las Vegas must be the wonder bra capital of the world. Women dress up for the occasion here. I'm not sure they really need to since people can be naturally beautiful if they would just be themselves. In this day and age, it seems being simple stands out. Everyone seems to be full of piercing and body art. I've always felt beauty comes naturally, no need to be fake about it.
After dinner, it was very late, and I headed back to Palace Station and took a shower and went to bed. Had I realized I would eventually stay here for the night, I would never have played here and lost $300. Probably would have lost $300 somewhere else, just not here.
At about 2:30 am, the free entertainment found me. There was a bang-bang-bang-bang in rapid succession. It was like an earthquake rattling unsecured items or someone pounding on the door during a semi-conscious dream. It turns out the banging noise was from the bed headboard of the adjacent room. The couple were having sex and I could hear the woman moan and groan. Sometimes, they would stop for a minute or two, and then go at it again. This lasted for about 30 minutes. At one point, with my ear to the wall (okay I admit I am a pervert), the woman mentioned someone else taking viagra. Then bang-bang-bang-bang. They sounded like they were young, possibly in their 20's.
At 3:00 am, I could hear what sounded like snoring (my ears were not to the wall). For $30, I got a decent place to stay and free entertainment, that's difficult to beat anywhere in Las Vegas.