Relaxing day...

Day 30, Mar 4th

Glorious sunny skies greeted us as we woke this morning. I took these shots from our room on the 11th floor...

With the weather so nice, Lorraine thought she may head up the mountain and have a ski. Unfortunately, whilst trying to put her boots on, she found it too painful due to a nasty bump she gave her leg back in Big White. On the morning we were leaving Big White, I heard a scream/obscenity fly from Clive and Lorraine's room. My first thought was Clive must have walked naked out of the shower, but Lorraine hobbled into the living area, having banged her shin on the very solid steel base of the bed. Within minutes she had a rather large 'egg' forming on her lower leg which was obviously painful. It was this area which started to 'burn' when she put on her boots this morning, so that plan was put on ice.

Clive called from their room and we arranged to go for breakfast. Diane opted out because she has picked up a bug or something and has been getting nauseous and unable to keep food down for a few days. In fact, at Hard Rock last night Diane ordered a chicken dish which she barely touched. When the waiter took away the plates he inquired as to whether there was something wrong with the food. Diane explained she had not been well and thought she would be able to nibble on a chicken dish but was unable to do so. To their credit, they did not charge us for Diane's meal, so that was nice. Of course, as Clive rightly pointed out, it was in the waiters best interests to ask the manager to waive the meal cost as it was he who would get the subsequent generous tip. Little did he realise he was dealing with Clive...lol

The three of us went to breakfast and I got into trouble because I forgot to bring the vegemite tube we brought over with us. We also learnt something at breakfast that I was unaware of about ordering our eggs. 'Sunny side up' is obviously eggs cooked but not flipped, that part we knew. I was under the impression that when you flipped the eggs, it was called 'over easy' and that was it. Lorraine asked for her eggs to be 'over easy', but not too runny, so the waiter said 'You want them over medium?'. We then established that you can have them 'over easy' = runny, 'over medium' = not runny but not hard and 'over hard' which cooks the yolks until they are hard. So Karmen, remember to order your eggs, 'over rocks'.

After breakfast Clive and Lorraine headed out because Lorraine wanted to show Clive some artistic 'pieces' her and Diane had seen the day before. We arranged to meet at 11:30 at the local 'Village 6' to see Matt Damon's new movie 'The Adjustment Bureau'. This we did and although we all agreed it is not a must see, the movie was OK, just. We then headed to a pharmacy and Diane described her symptoms to the pharmacist who told her to take 'Pepto Bismol'. It's the pink stuff that gets mentioned often in American sitcoms when they do gastric, farting and vomiting jokes. We also found out where the local Medical Centre is if her condition doesn't improve in the coming days. We wandered around a few more shops before heading back to the casino. An hour or two on the gaming floor and it was almost time for dinner.

I went and checked my 'Rewards Points' balance at the desk. Now here is the Rewards Points story. On our first night, we went and signed up at the host desk because we thought at the end of the week we may have enough points to get a T-Shirt and a pen or something. The very friendly lady at the desk explained the good deal we get as 'new members'. If we accumulate 100 points within 48 hours you get a $20 gaming credit. 250 points gets you a $50 dining credit for use in the restaurants and 500 points gets you $150 in credit to spend anywhere in the property, dining, merchandise, whatever you like. Diane and Lorraine stuck their cards in the machines and started hammering the buttons. It soon became evident as there points tally climbed that the first level would be almost reached by the time they go to bed. To cut a long story short, both Diane and Lorraine reached their 500 points easily and received all 3 rewards. So they started to play with my card inserted. Within the 48 hours I had reached 300 points, so I got my $20 and my $50 dining credit. The lady told me to come back tomorrow (today) and check to see if I reached 500 points. I knew that was outside the 48 hour limit, but who am I to argue. When I went to the desk a different lady was there and she told me I was outside the 48 hours cutoff. I said I understand and it was no problem, but Maria had told me to come back today. She told me Maria starts in 20 minutes and if i wanted to see her, go for it. I waited for Maria to start and went and saw her. She smiled and then said 'Oh, we are outside the 48 hours' I said I understood that but she had told me to come back tonight. She made a call to her boss and within 30 minutes I also had the $150 credited to my card...woohoo

We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Harrah's where our Rewards are also valid. We had Peking Duck and a few other dishes and when the bill came, Lorraine used her $50 voucher and paid the balance of $66 off her rewards balance which was over $170. All we had to do was throw in the cash tip. Tomorrow night we are booked into the Steakhouse at Harvey's and Diane will use her voucher and card for another free meal. My voucher and card will be used for Sunday nights meal and we are going to sign Clive up tomorrow morning, Diane and Lorraine will use Clives card when they play and we'll use Clive's card to pay on Monday. Breakfasts from now on will also be paid for by reward points, so we should be eating free from now until we leave on Tuesday morning. Any unused rewards can be used at the casino merchandise shops, so we should have enough for those T-Shirts and pens after we are finished...lol

That's all for today, but here are a few more shots from our hotel window...

The Village...

The gondola...

No, it's not the cemetery, it's a new casino complex that was being built next to Harvey's on a huge block. Apparently the developers went broke at this stage of construction and the current economic environment has failed to find anybody willing to take it on. It may stay like this for a long time...

Later...