EXCITEMENT AT STADIUM SWIM

Besides celebrating the birthday of one of my Circle of Sisters on June 1st and Memorial Day weekend, one of the reasons we went to Las Vegas was to go to a watch party featuring the home team, Vegas Golden Knights.

They were playing the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference championship for the right to represent the western conference in the Stanley Cup finals against the team in the east, Florida Panthers.

If they had won Saturday night, we would have been going to a watch party for the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday night, May 31st, but nope they lost on Saturday night, May 27th.

Monday nights game was the important game and being the Sports Diva that I am, I suggested to my friend that since our hotel was in Downtown Las Vegas, not far from CIRCA, let’s go to a hockey watch party at a place called Stadium Swim.

Now this is Las Vegas where nothing is what it’s supposed to be.

Where else can you go to a pool and right above you are big movie like screens that show basketball, hockey, baseball and any other sports right in front of you?

May 31st was no exception.

Normally it’s $20 to get into Stadium Swim but on the nights the Golden Knights play, it’s free if you’re wearing something that has Golden Knights on it.

I’m talking about a hat, jersey, or shirt.

Wear that VGK swag loud and proud which is what half of Vegas wore that night.

No half the town wasn’t there enjoying the game, it just seemed like it.

The Golden Knights won the game and did what they couldn’t do two nights before.

They’re going to be representing the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

EATING AT GARDEN COURT BUFFET

Since the COVID, Las Vegas shut down a lot of buffets that they’re famous for.

My favourite buffet was the Paradise Buffet, which was located inside of the Fremont Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, part of the Fremont Street Experience.

That particular buffet is now a food court .

The other buffet that is downtown and is the only one there, is the Garden Court buffet located inside of the Main Street Hotel and Casino.

The Main Street hotel is part of the hotels that make up the Fremont Street Experience corridor, but like the Plaza Hotel, it’s not on Fremont Street.

The buffet is listed as one of the top buffets in town and inexpensive at $23.

Now if you have a players card, high roller of course, you pay $20.

The hours for the brunch are 8am to 2pm, every day. Saturday and Sunday it’s $22.

Friday and Saturday only there’s a dinner buffet, 4pm to 9pm only.

While there aren’t as many food options as you would find at many of the other buffets, they have an assortment of Southern, American and Hawaiian options

There are so many Hawaiians that come to Las Vegas that they like to call the city the “Eighth Island”.

The Sports Diva as usual likes to make a pig of herself and had two plates of food along with coffee and cranberry juice.

My second plate of mashed potatoes, Kailua pork, and Smothered pork chops was my favorite.

The Sports Diva could have been a real glutton and gone for plate number three but nope.

The Sports Diva has gotta save some room for my friend’s birthday dinner at Capo’s.

HELLO AGAIN FOUR QUEENS

Usually when I stay in Las Vegas, it’s either at a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip first, then at one of the hotels in Downtown Las Vegas or vice versa, Downtown Las Vegas and then on the Las Vegas Strip.

My hotel of choice when I stay in Downtown Las Vegas is ALWAYS the Four Queens Hotel and Casino located right in the middle on Fremont Street.

It’s a favorite with those of us who come to Las Vegas more than we would like to admit for one particular reason.

Unlike some of the other hotels in both Downtown Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip, the Four Queens doesn’t charge a resort fee.

The Sports Diva spent Memorial Day, May 29th until 3 June at Four Queens with one of my Circle of Sisters for her birthday.

It was my friends first time at the hotel.

Her reaction?

“Can we stay here again the next time we come to Vegas?”

As I mentioned this hotel is in the middle of all the action of Fremont Street Experience.

We were there for the Vegas Golden Knights watch party at Stadium Swim at the CIRCA Hotel and Casino, but more about that in an upcoming post.

One of the things Four Queens doesn’t have is a pool.

No problem.

If you show your room key at their sister property, Binions Hotel and Casino, you can use their pool, located on the 25th floor, which is what the Sports Diva is doing right now.

There’s two more days left in this particular 30 Plus Teams Tour of Las Vegas and I’m using every moment of it saying hello again to Four Queens.

PICTURES FROM THE ENCORE CASINO BOSTON HARBOR

Now you know two things about the Sports Diva.

If a city has a sports team or a casino, the Sports Diva WILL find it and will make a 30 Plus Teams Tour of that city.

Thanksgiving holiday was no exception.

This particular place has been on my radar since I found out it was opened.

It’s the Encore Hotel and Casino Boston Harbor.

It’s located in the Boston suburb of Everett, Massachusetts.

It looks just like its bigger sister property, the Wynn Encore in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and in my opinion, it’s fancier looking than the one in Vegas, which is just as fancy.

Unlike the one in Las Vegas, there’s a free shuttle bus that goes from either Chinatown, Wellington or Malden Orange line stations or like I did, take it from the Market Basket Supermarket parking lot in Chelsea, where you can get the Silver Line bus number 5, which goes to South Station in Boston.

Chelsea is the city next to Everett.

I wasn’t going to play any slot machines when I got to the casino, but after finding out that my players card from the Wynn Encore in Las Vegas also works at the Encore Boston Harbor, yeah let’s play a little.

I did play a little, $25 total on three penny machines, which is a little money for me, just saying.

Unlike the Encore in Las Vegas, the Boston Harbor has a Harbor Walk, where you can walk along a pathway on the Mystic River, where the Commonwealth of Massachusetts actually began.

While the Encore in Las Vegas has a merry go round made of flowers right in the middle of the hotel lobby, this one has a Ferris Wheel made of flowers.

When I do another 30 Plus Teams Tour of Boston, I definitely will spend a little more time and money on the slot machines.

As for staying in one of the rooms at the Encore Boston Harbor Hotel , if they lower their prices and maybe offer the Sports Diva a complimentary room for playing the slots like crazy, I might stay there while I’m in Boston.

PICTURES FROM CAESARS PALACE

Yes, there is a Caesars Palace in somewhere else besides Las Vegas.

It’s on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City and even though I have points from being a member of Caesars Rewards, I have never stayed in either Caesars Palace.

Caesars Palace in AC isn’t as huge as the one in Las Vegas, so since my bus back to New York City left from the transportation center there, I had enough time to explore.

I wouldn’t have been able to do that in the one in Las Vegas, as some of you remember, walking through Caesars Palace in Las Vegas was on my bucket list and no lie, it took me most of the day to explore it.

No problem with the one in AC, even though it took me part of my first day there just to find out where the transportation center was since my bus left at 9am the next morning.

If I get a good rate, because you know that the Sports Diva is ALWAYS looking for a good deal on a 30 Plus Teams Tour, I might just stay here for a few days, but that’s a post for another time.

RETURNING TO ATLANTIC CITY

It was a nice day on Thursday, August 25, so what’s a Sports Diva to do with her time?

You do a 30 Plus Teams Tour of somewhere.

But where?

Why not some place close by and a place that I hadn’t been to since 2019, Atlantic City?

Now even though I’m the Queen of Las Vegas, Atlantic City is two hours away and I can use my Caesars Rewards and MGM Rewards at some of the same hotels in Atlantic City that I use in Las Vegas.

To say that I was a snob when it came to Atlantic City would be an understatement.

So I decided the day before to give the “original Las Vegas” another try and take myself to AC for the day.

Early Thursday morning after taking the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, I took the New York City subway to 51st Street and Broadway in the Theatre District.

This bus, which is run by the company, Our Bus, stops at Resorts Casino, Tropicana Casino, and Caesars Palace.

All of these casinos have transit centers and you get free slot play, which is always good, especially if you have a players card from any of these casinos, which I do.

I stayed at a hotel that I like to stay it when I did go to Atlantic City, The Showboat.

Like the rest of Atlantic City, The Showboat has also changed.

All in all, I’m glad I took a 30 Plus Teams Tour daytrip of Atlantic City, and you’d better believe I would go again.

GOING ON A 30 PLUS TEAMS TOUR EARLY IN THE MORNING

It’s now 7:15am and the Sports Diva has been up since 5am trying to catch the 8:24am Long Island Railroad train to Penn Station.

Now I was supposed to get the 8:24am train which goes to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, which means that I would have to change at Jamaica JFK and wait for the train to Penn Station, instead I took the 8:11am train which goes directly to Penn Station .

The train is more crowded than I have ever seen it, but it is rush hour and more people are now taking the Long Island Railroad train as opposed to the New York City subways.

Most people who ride the Long Island Railroad usually get off at Jamaica JFK or Penn Station, but not this train that also stops at the Woodside neighborhood of Queens.

That’s only natural because Woodside is the station that you get off at if you’re going to or working at Citifield, where the New York Mets baseball team plays or if you work at or have a flight to catch at the other New York City area airport, LaGuardia.

I’m glad I took the earlier train, because I have time to get a Vanilla Latte before I take the bus to my destination- a 30 Plus Teams Tour day trip of beautiful Atlantic City.

HAPPY HOUR ON THE HIGH ROLLER

It was our last night in Las Vegas and since both of us had early morning flights, we wanted to make the most of it.

Actually I had to be at the airport by 7am for a 9am flight back to Newark Liberty and my friend had to be at the airport by 9am for an 11am flight back to Pittsburgh.

We had gone to Harrah’s Hotel and Casino the night before to see Donnie Osmond for my friend’s 60th birthday.

Don’t laugh, even though it wasn’t my cup of tea, he did put on a pretty good show.

On that Thursday, after watching the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors, (now THAT is the Sports Diva’s cup of tea!), we decided to go on the High Roller Observation Wheel, which is at the Linq Hotel Promenade, right across from where we were staying at the Flamingo Hotel.

My friend had never been on the High Roller before and as I kept raving about it, she decided why not?

We not only went on it at night, we were in the pod that had a bar in it.

HELLO HAPPY HOUR!

Yes, the High Roller Observation Wheel has four pods that have a bar in them.

This is Las Vegas, folks, even the attractions are entertainers.

Here’s how the High Roller Observation Wheel Happy Hour basically works.

The ride is 30 minutes long, so that means in 30 minutes, you drink as many drinks as you can and the drinks are FREE!

Just remember to tip your bartender, people.

I had three vodka and cranberry juice plus two drinks that our bartender, Cheryl from Rhode Island, no less, made for all of us.

Just like the other pods, the happy Hour pod also does the New Year’s Eve type countdown.

The only difference is, there’s a drink in your hand as you’re counting down.

The Happy Hour ride needless to say, is more expensive than the regular High Roller ride, but like my friend did, Groupon is your best friend for discounts.

I don’t know if it was the five drinks that I had, but I sure enjoyed myself on my second time on the High Roller

PICTURES FROM LAS VEGAS PART TWO

STAYING AT FLAMINGO HOTEL AND CASINO

It’s located on Las Vegas Boulevard right across the street from Caesars Palace, in the area of the Las Vegas Strip known as the Center Strip.

It is, as the name implies, in the center of everything.

It’s one of the oldest casino hotels in Las Vegas and was once owned by mobster, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, who named the casino after his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who had legs like a Flamingo.

Miss Hill was a showgirl, btw

It’s the Flamingo Hotel and I stayed there from 30 May until 3 June.

It was my first time staying at the hotel , and because I’m a member of Caesars Total Rewards, I was given a good rate for my stay.

The only time I had ever been to the hotel was for a pool party at the Go Pool, which is adults only.

They do have a pool for guests with families but for the Go Pool, 21 and up only.

If you aren’t staying at the hotel, you either have to pay to use the Go Pool or get on a guest list.

If you’re staying at the hotel, your room key and your ID gets you in.

Also at the hotel, there’s an area called the Wildlife Habitat, where you’ll find Koi Fish, pelicans and flamingos of course.

I stayed on the 17th floor in one of their renovated rooms with a view of the High Roller Observation Wheel, more about the High Roller Observation Happy Hour in another post.

I never stayed at the Flamingo Hotel before because of the price.

Now that I know that I can get a good rate with my points from playing the slots(sorry not sorry, the Sports Diva plays the slots no matter if I’m in Las Vegas or Atlantic City), Flamingo will be on my list of places to stay in Las Vegas.