Other things to do in Vegas . . . and a shout-out

There are other things to do in Las Vegas besides just hang out at the casino and win (or lose) thousands of dollars.  So here is my Top Five list of things to do in Vegas which don't involve gambling:

1. Eat breakfast at the Golden Gate casino downtown.  They have a dumpy little diner in the back with cheap, good, and completely nondescript food.  Sometimes I'll even drive all the way downtown from the Strip just to have breakfast there.
2. The buffet at the Rio.  It's probably the biggest . . . it might just be the best.
3. The buffet at the Fremont, downtown.  Not as big as the one at the Rio, but I really like it.  Plus, they have a soft-serve ice cream machine!

Hmm . . . I see that my list of things involves a lot of eating.  Maybe we'd better do some exercise now.

1. Walk the Strip, all the way from the Mandalay Bay to the Sahara (or even the Stratosphere if you are really inspired).  This was a lot more fun when the Frontier and the Stardust were still standing.  This little jaunt can take me all day, as I tend to pop into some of the casinos/bars/restaurants along the way just to see what's happening.  For people-watching though, this stroll is hard to beat.
2. Watch the Fremont Street Experience display show downtown.  Okay, not really.  It's so appallingly lame that I can barely watch it for 15 seconds without wanting to flee.  But watching the people who are watching the show can be entertaining.  It's a tragedy to realize that this tacky show may be the highlight of these people's lives.

There is, however, a lame guilty pleasure on Fremont that I do enjoy.

There's a slot place squeezed in between the Golden Gate and the old Pioneer Club that sells $1 Margaritas (I forget the name of the joint).  Out front above the door they have this jumbotron that advertises the Margaritas.  It is an endless loop commercial of different people and characters (George Washington, Mona Lisa) enjoying the drinks, while the words superimposed on the images advertise the product.  I first saw this same sequence on my first visit to Vegas 15 years ago . . . and it was probably 15 years old even then.

Anyhow, one of the scenes is of this dog, a pit bull terrier, cocking his head left and right, while a cartoon Margarita glass glides across the screen.  I'm a sucker for dogs, and this little scene just cracks me up every time I see it.

There is one other thing that's fun to do in Vegas, but you need to be adequately prepared (it is the desert after all) and the weather has to be cooperative (not too hot, not too windy).  That's go hiking.  There are some decent hiking trails around the city and it's worth trying some of them.

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Now, a shout-out to my poker comrade Thom.  We both played in a home game last night, a tournament hosted by Poker John at the Poker House in Kent.  It's always a lot of fun to play these games.  Unfortunately, I ended up out of the money, and it was Thom who finished me off.  Nursing a perilously short stack and being on the button, I had a Jack-Five offsuit.  It was folded all the way around to me, so I pushed.  Thom, in the big blind, called with King-Jack (naturally the right thing to do).  The board was irrelevant, and I was out.  I went upstairs to the cash game and managed to nearly make up my entire buy-in in an hour's time, something that's hard to do in a game that was 25c/50c!

Meanwhile, Thom went on to win the tournament.  I am not surprised, he is a good player.  But the competition was pretty fierce.  If I understand it correctly, I think the heads-up was against Robert who is one of the best players in the group.  So congrats to Thom for a well-earned win.