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Published: February 16th 2013
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The 1st few pics you will see were taken around Quartzsite before we left for Vegas.
We arrived in Vegas in the late morning on 2/9. Since we were too early to register at our hotel (The Rio)…..we went to the Flea Market. Jim bought a few Nevada marker plates to sell….but we didn’t stay too long. We were hungry after driving for 4 hours so we headed to the Main Street Palace, in the older ‘downtown’ section of town (we were already in that section of town anyway.)
We headed for the buffet and because it is Saturday, they had a champagne brunch. It was about noon, but I figured in must be 5:00 somewhere….so yes, I had champagne! (Buffet was not as good as we remembered). Jim then played a few hands of Blackjack and left with some extra bucks in his pocket.
We then left to check into our hotel. On the way back, we happen to pass the ‘Gold & Silver Pawn’ shop (for those of you who are familiar with the popular TV show "The Pawn Stars"), but there was a line out the door, so we figured we would wait for a
weekday to check it out.
I am now sitting comfortably in our room (suite). It’s certainly more than large enough for 2 and has a king size bed (I have done the obligatory check for bedbugs), an ‘L’ shaped sofa, 3 end tables with lamps, a round table between the sofa & tv (tv is on a mini-bar) and a small table with 2 chairs and overhead wall lamps. The bathroom area, which is a separate room (therefore the suite designation) has a nice shower/tub, the john of course and a sink with mirror. Outside the bathroom (proper) is the hall closet another larger sink and lighted vanity, the dresser drawers, a keurig coffeemaker (coffee must be purchased @ $8.00 for 3 cups! We went to the grocery store and bought 12 cups for $5.99.) hair dryer, iron & ironing board, room safe and mini fridge. It will suit us well for the week.
Sunday we went back to the fleamarket and spent several hours there….Jim bought more marker plates. Also, I saw some jeans I really fell in love with. See attd pic & comment. We left there and went to one of the (many) casinos for
a buffet. Guess what?? Being Sunday, it was another champagne brunch, so yes, of course, I had the champagne! (Still 5 pm somewhere)
Wow, it has been 6 nights already and we are heading back to our Motorhome in Arizona tomorrow (after we go to a yard sale of course). We have spent the week eating at buffets (only 1 a day of course) and driving and wandering (actually waddling) through Las Vegas, and the surrounding area. One of the hotels here has a buffet called the ‘Big Belly Buffet’…we never went to that one, but that didn’t stop us from acquiring big bellies!
For those of you who watch the ‘reality’ shows on the History channel:
We visited “Ricks Restorations”, “Counts Kustoms”, & “Gold & Silver Pawn” (it took 3 tries before the line was short enough to get in to Gold & Silver Pawn). We had a tour at “Ricks Restorations” and were able to actually watch them at work (though we weren’t allowed to take pics of them working). They have closed off the individual work areas and have large glass windows through which you can see them. I did ask the ‘tour guide’
2013-01-18 dbl bus in Tyson Wells
Love this double decker bus in Quartzsite at the BIG fleamarket if it bothered them, but he says they’ve been doing the tours for about a year now, so they are used to it. We did see Rick walk through the building, though he didn’t acknowledge us…I’m sure he was busy, but you’d have thought he could have smiled or waved or nodded.
We went to Counts Kustoms on Tuesday…there was a sign at the entrance of the parking lot that said it was closed, but would be open on Wed. So we headed back on Wednesday….we got to the front door and there was a sign that said ‘Closed for filming’.
Now, we weren’t sure when they would be open…and some guy walked out of a door and into the parking lot and I told him that we had been there yesterday and came back today…and that we lived in CT and wondered when we could get in. He said he was part of the film crew and they were done filming there and would see if he could get us in. He did…there was one other couple there and a couple came in after us…so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Danny was not there
(out filming I’m guessing), but before we left, Scott, the project manager, came in and was friendly and said ‘hi’ and asked how we were doing and thanked us for coming. Then on the way out we saw ‘horny Mike’ (he likes to have images of horns (ie bull horns) on everything). I took a picture of him from a distance and he started walking over and said ‘if you gonna’ take a picture, do it right’ and stood next to Jim while I took their picture, then he stood with me for a picture. He was very nice and personable and seemed to be just a ‘down to earth’ kind of guy.
It took us 3 times till the line was short enough at “Gold & Silver Pawn” (The Pawn Stars)…they were filming as well. And we did not see even one of the ‘stars’ from the show. Big Hoss’ truck was there, so he must have been there somewhere…but no one bothered to come out to say hi. Jim thinks maybe they don’t actually work in the store anymore, unless they are being filmed. (Guess they really do consider themselves 'stars'😉.
We went to Freemont Street
2013-01-18 bus in Tyson Wells
like the 'balcony' on this bus??? in the downtown area, we have been there many times, but our main objective this time was to eat at the “Heart Attack Grill”. We saw this place on TV on the Food Channel and when we found one in Vegas, we decided we needed to go there to eat. They have a gigantic burger with an obscene number of calories. The waitresses are all dressed like nurses and they put you in a hospital Johnny when you walk in. Our plan was to take a picture of Jim with the ‘nurse’ then order the largest burger, take a picture of it in front of Jim, then take a picture of it in front of me (get the pics developed and send them back home to our family MD, as a joke), then split it and eat what we could (I think it was something like $24.95 for the burger). They wouldn’t let us split it though…they said we could only split the ‘single’….(what fun is that???)…so we didn’t eat there.
We went to a couple of antique shops while we were here, and Jim exchanged business cards with some of the owners. Today, in
particular, we stopped
P1060046
Ok...how often do you see a
leather/ice cream shop???
Quartzsite, AZ at one store and got into a conversation with the owner. He was very friendly and insisted on showing us a collection he has of ‘pre-columbian’ gold. He has quite a few pieces and insisted we hold a couple of them to feel the weight. He allowed me to take a picture of Jim holding them.
We will be heading back to Quartzsite, Arizona tomorrow…we plan to remain there for just one more week. The last week of February, we will move to a different RV park in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Oh….I almost forgot….yes Jim did play Blackjack (I didn’t play this time) and he is leaving with a few extra dollars (nothing big) in his pocket. We are exhausted from walking 9 hours a day though…(getting old, I guess). Not like 7 years ago when we could go out day and night!! New things about Vegas (aside from the New Casinos/Hotels). The buffets have drastically increased in price in the last 7 years. The average dinner buffet was $30.00 p.p. Gone are the days of cheap food in Vegas. And there are now a lot of homeless people both on the strip and in the downtown area
2013-01-18 The Yacht Club in AZ 1
The Yacht Club in Quartzsite, AZ....the humor here being that we are in the middle of the desert! and they do come to you as you are walking by, looking for money.
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