The four of us (2 couples) recently spent July 10-17 in dear sunny Las Vegas.
Thanks to Wagerworks, it was a pretty inexpensive vacation.  And since we
usually try to go for as cheap as possible (hey, we farm too, can't afford much
at today's grain prices), we aren't used to staying at this type of hotels either.
We are Westward Ho, Tropicana, Imperial Palace, downtown sort of people.

Flew out of Detroit on Northwest Airlines.   Had gotten a deal of $216.50, then
took $600 off with vouchers from our last trip when we took a bump, so airfare
for the 4 of us cost $266 total.  Flight was ontime, no problems at all.

Arrived at 10:40pm Vegas time, so it was on to the Thrifty car rental to pick up our car.
We had a full sized vehicle reserved, but they were out of them when we got there.
They gave us a minivan instead, which was ok with us as we planned on driving to
San Diego over the weekend.  On to our first destination - NYNY where we had rooms
reserved via Wagerworks for Wednesday and Thursday nights.   Absolutely no problem
checking in, they had both our rooms ready.   We had a strip view (MGM, Trop was all
we could see) and the friends were across the hall with a mountain view.

Went down and tried our luck for a while,  but with the time change we were tired and
didn't last long.   A word of warning - our friend didn't read the tag on the bottles of water
in the bathroom - he thought they were complimentary bottles.  I told him to read the tag
and he wasn't too happy to read that he had just spent $3.95 on a bottle of water!!
So watch what you pick up! Up in the morning and made the trip to the Bellagio where
we had 4 free breakfast buffets waiting.   No waiting in line and the buffet was really good.
Back to NYNY to enjoy that part of the strip.

Kathy and I went over to MGM to cash in our Wagerworks prizes for 4 dinner buffets
and 4 show tickets.   Mine were in the system, but hers weren't.   A quick phone call
and all was taken care of and off we went with our prizes in hand.   At NYNY we also
had 2 roller coaster rides to cash in.   Spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around
the south end of the strip.   Even though this was hubby and mine's 30th trip to Vegas,
I never get tired of just wandering around and looking.   Met back at NYNY for dinner
- the guys were very happy to discover crab legs and shrimp on the buffet.    They ate to
their hearts content until we had to leave to make it to the show.   Thought the show was
pretty good, kind of glitzy and showy.   Little too much smoke from the stage for me,
but not bad, especially for free.  Seats were close to the stage.   I wasn't in the mood to
gamble afterwards - throat was dry and eyes burning from the stage smoke, so back to
the room we went.   Fell asleep and didn't get up until morning.   Played a bit in the
morning then checked out and went to the Mirage to collect yet another Wagerworks
freebie - this time for another 4 buffets there.   Again, pretty good buffet for breakfast
with a good variety of food.

Headed to San Diego for the weekend - just didn't want to pay the high weekend room
prices in Vegas and like to take a side trip when we are here for that long, so off we went
and would return on Sunday afternoon.

Returned to Vegas around noon on Sunday.   Decided to check out the Palms. Found it to
be a nice casino, but a bit unfriendly at the machines.    May be willing to go see it again
next time to see if it gets any friendlier and try out the all you can drink magaurita buffet!
Two rooms were reserved at the Bellagio via Wagerworks - both ready and were they nice!!

So this is how the other half lives!   Had asked for strip view but none was available - we both
got pool view.   Pools looked really nice but never did find time to go walk around them.
Called the friend's room right away and told him not to touch anything in the fridge - he said
he had learned his lesson on that one!  Down to the MGM for another 4 dinner buffets and
the guys were once again pleased to eat to their hearts content on the shrimp and crab legs.

Found the machines at the Bellagio very cold the whole time - couldn't get it to give us anything
back at all.   Monday we had to actually pay for one breakfast each - had the Treasure Island
2 for 1 buffets from Wagerworks.  Nothing special about this buffet - not even an omelet station.
Visited the Dolphin Habitat, again on Wagerworks times 4. Nice to see, but glad we hadn't paid
$10 apiece to see it.  Spoke with the guy at the slot club desk and he said that the Mirage was
very happy with Wagerworks and the response to it.   He wouldn't be surprised if they tried
it again!!  Hope he is right!!  For dinner, we had 4 Wagerworks Bellagio buffets.   None of us
were very impressed with this buffet at all, especially after all the glowing reports we had heard
about it.  The others found things they had never had before that they were willing to try, but I am
not adventurous at all when it comes to food and I had a difficult time finding anything I liked at all.
Doubt if I even ate $2 worth of food, so it was a major disappointment.   Certainly glad we hadn't
paid for it.

The guys weren't even impressed with the crab legs - they thought they were too watery although
they did like the way the were already cut. Spent some time downtown Monday night gambling
- like the atmosphere down there and a lot easier to move between casinos.   Tuesday morning
we once again had the TI 2 for 1 breakfasts.   Checked out of the Bellagio and checked into
the Mirage - again 2 rooms compliments of Wagerworks and no problems.   Collected our last
Wagerworks freebies - 4 Mirage buffets. Kind of got used to just signing our names, showing
our ID and going to the head of the line.   Everything that involved Wagerworks went very smooth.

Went downtown to see the Amazing Jonathon at the Nugget, then stayed out until 3am downtown.
Went back to the Mirage, where Dan, Phil and I went out for a while - Dan lasted until 6:30am,
Phil until 7:15 and I came dragging in at 7:30am!!   Nobody hit anything big, but we did hit some
small pots here and there.    Dan and I came home within $100 of what we took out, so it was a
pretty successful trip!   Flight on Northwest was to leave Vegas at 12:45pm, but we sat on the
runway and waited for a storm to move thru the valley for an hour. 15 planes at least were in line
behind us!  The plane did make up time in the air and we only landed in Detroit 15 minutes late.
It is certainly going to be tough to beat this vacation for a while!