Wednesday, August 18, 1999
It is our last morning in Las Vegas. I was really tired and cranky. I was not looking forward to the long drive home and we still had one stop to make. We packed up quickly and Dan went downstairs to cash out the last of our scratcher cards and coins at the cage while I packed up the last of our things.
We checked out of Main Street Station without incident at 10 am. Our total bill was about $33.00, including 3 telephone calls, our lunch at the brewpub and sandwiches from the coffee shop along with the 3 nights that were comped. I probably could have gotten the meals taken off the room too based on the money I lost there, but I was tired and didn't want to go find a host. I hope leaving the money will continue to result in more room offers from them. I already have offers for two weeks in September.
We headed out on the freeway with a quick stop at Tropicana. I'd wanted to see the Gambling Museum and we had one of the free admissions that are available in any and all of the freebie magazines in town. If you forget to bring your coupon, go to the free-pull in front of the casino valet. They are giving away the coupons there too.
We made our way through the casino, stopping to put a couple of dollars on the slot card to keep it active and found the museum back by the deli. It was smaller than I expected it to be, but it was full of great memorabilia.
Each hotel had a shelf in a display case that had some stuff like ashtrays, ticket stubs, programs, menus, etc. There was a great menu on one wall that listed crab louie salad for $0.95! Where is that bargain!?
There was some video of Elvis and the Rat Pack and Vegas Vacation. There might have been other movies, but we didn't stay very long to see the whole reel. There was another video showing the hotel implosions on a loop and yet another with information about the mob in Las Vegas.
This museum is a must see if you collect casino chips. I couldn't believe the wide variety of rare and nearly impossible to find chips. It almost made me want to start collecting. Of course, when you exit into the gift shop, there are plenty of those chips for sale.
There were some really fascinating pieces too, including a bunch of chips that were melted in the El Rancho fire and a shrine to Bob Stupak (now we know where the Stratosphere statue ended up!). There were payroll checks from a number of well-known Vegas entertainers and some clothes from one of the Kinevils (I'm sorry, I didn't pay enough attention to remember), Liberace, and others.
Dan:
That would be Robbie Kinevil's suit and motorcycle - the one he used to successfully jump the Caesar's fountains, more than 25 years after his father broke every bone in his body attempting to do the same.I was rather surprised with the video about mob history. Vegas seems to downplay this part of its history. Go to the Flamingo and you'll find barely a mention of its flamboyant gangster founder. I also enjoyed the implosion video and the stuff on The Rat Pack and other entertainers. I would have like to see on the casino games people played over the years, as well as more of the small display of the tools of casino cheats. I supposed they don't want to give people ideas.
I think it's worth a stop if you're in the area and a must see if you're a collector. However, it's not a huge museum and certainly not great. But I found it interesting and I'm glad we stopped on our way out of town.
After about 15 minutes of browsing in the gift shop and convincing Dan that we don't need a shoe for our house (we play cards about twice a year, usually right before a trip to Vegas), we bought a couple of iced lattes and headed for the car.
We got on the freeway and began the long drive home. We were on the road by 11:30. We stopped in Barstow for lunch and gas and then it was a straight shot home. Dan was more than cranky by the time we got off I-5 at San Luis Reservoir, but we managed to get home without killing each other.
I think it was a successful trip. We somehow managed to come home with the same amount of cash we brought with us. We got to see the two new hotels we had not yet visited and I'm excited to go back to see Paris when it opens. I'm looking forward to staying at Mandalay Bay in the off season and hope to get some offers in the mail from them.
I am also looking forward to visiting Madame Tussaud's on our next visit. That's my big disappointment. On every trip there is at least one or two things that I wanted to get done that just don't happen. This trip it was the wax museum. I probably could have done without a couple of rest-breaks in the room and gotten it done, but Dan would have had to carry me around Vegas.
It's the new things opening and those things that don't get done that keep me going back and back and back for more.
