Primetimers 9-no tap women's doubles, Wednesday June 8, 2016

On Wednesday, we all breakfasted together. Laura confirmed that she didn't want to go to downtown Las Vegas, she'd spend time gambling instead.

We went down to the bowling center.

I checked to see if I had won any bracket money. I was hoping I had - I had bowled so well.

I indeed won $25, but my team captain had picked it up. So I went to Jacque for the money and she said she'd put $20 on brackets for that day. I was a bit annoyed, but I didn't say anything. It was already too late.

I had intended to probably put down $10 for brackets, but not $20!

Jacque had done it "secretly" because she thinks if I know I'm playing for money, I choke. I don't think that's the case, I just bowl poorly for other reasons!

As well as I had bowled on Tuesday, that's how bad I bowled on Wednesday.

I started out playing the same line (throwing my ball on the same spot on the lane as I'd done the day before) but my results were not the same. Couldn't get any strikes - in fact I got several splits - and could not pick up any spares.

Laura, my doubles partner this time, bowled quite well, so I was pretty bummed that I was of no help to her. But she was a good sport about it. She had come to Las Vegas to have fun and was not worried about the bowling standings.

This is an example of the different oil on lanes. What works one day will not work the next, so you have to move around the lane trying to find a spot where your ball will do what you expect.

In my first game, I had a 120, despite having 4 strikes - all 9-pin ones. I had NO marks other than those strikes, and had only two of those in succession, in frame 10, which is how I got that 120 at the end! With my handicap I was at 194.

The second game, I managed to pick up a few spares.  I had seven 8-pin counts, and picked up exactly half as spares. I also had two strikes, but they do little good if you don't "double" them - have one right after the other. I finished with a 136/210.

In the thiurd game, I was able to pick up 2 whole spares. Had four strikes - the double in the 10th allowed me to get a 140/214.

Afterwards, we all had lunch together, then Linda, Jacque and I took the shuttle bus to downtown Las Vegas, and it dropped us off at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas.  We would walk through the Fremont Street Experience. A certain portion of Fremont Street is covered by a barrel vault canopy for four blocks (90 feet high at its peak, and 1,500 feet in length. This portion of Fremont Street was turned into a pedestrian mall in 1994.

Apparently...by 1984 the Strip casinos were siphoning most of the business away from the downtown Las Vegas casinos. One of the ideas to get people to come to downtown was to build a full-sized Starship Enterprise!  When that didn't materialize (that's a bit of a pun, heh heh, cuz of the transporter) the next idea that did work was to create the Fremont Street Experience.

In addition to all the casinos, there are various shops and restaurants there, and the Slotzilla ziplines, one where you sit up as you take the ride halfway down the street - that's the one I went on - and the other one where you are fitted into a full torso harness and sail down like you're flying. That's what Jacque and Linda did.

Blurry photo of me on the Slotzilla Zip line

You climb up a large tower at the west end of Fremont Street. The zipline is 77 feet up, the zoomline is 144 feet up. If you're going to the zoomline you get to ride an elevator the rest of the way to the top!

Since we were there in the late afternoon rather at night, we didn't see any of the scheduled entertainment - apparently there are a few stage shows held on the pedestrian mall - but there were plenty of street entertainers, people sitting in the middle of the very wide sidewalks weaving crosses/flowers out of palm fronds, and characters that you could get your photo taken with, including a guy wearing a mankini and a woman dressed as a dominatrix.

There were also boutiques selling skin rejuvenating products. We got sucked into one of these (frankly because it was cool inside) and stayed for half an hour as one of the clerks demonstrated the products, using Linda. He was a good salesman.

Then we returned to the Golden Nugget casino to catch our bus back to Sam's Town, had dinner with Laura, watched the light show for the final time, and then went to bed.

Here's photos from the Fremont Street Experience.

Underneath the Barrel Canopy

Slotzilla Zipliners

One of the casinos at the Fremont Street Experience

Walking into the Pedestrian Mall Barrel Canopy

Gigantic statue at another casino....

The next day, Thursday, we got up early and had breakfast at our usual place, the Firelight Buffet. Laura treated as she'd done very well at gambling.

Then we dropped off the car at the Rental Car Center, took the shuttle bus to the airport, and our flight left on time back to Denver. We got there about 4 pm, got the shuttle bus to the off-airport parking, and drove back to Cheyenne. I was dropped off first.

Went inside and dropped off my luggage, then went for a long bike ride!