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!

Women's Singles, C Division, Primetimers 9-pin no tap, Tues, Jun 8

On Tuesday morning, all four of us met for breakfast at the Firelight Buffet.

Laura has been to this casino/resort many times and has lots of points - so she got comped rooms which she gave to me and Jacque (as well as herself, of course) and could comp two meals at a time, so she would take turns treating one or the other of us to a meal (starting the previous night for dinner).

We then went to the Bowling Center, got our bags and shoes, and got ready to bowl. Jacque, Linda and I bowled on the pair of lanes, 43 and 44.  Laura was bowling singles on a different pair of lanes.

We were bowling singles. I elected to spend $10 on brackets.

The games began. Jacque was scheduled to go first, then Linda, then me.

In the first game, I started with a strike, and then had two splits in a row. But I managed to come back with 2 9-pin strikes, then a real strike, before having another split. Then I converted two 8-pin spares, before finishing with a "turkey," a 9-pin strike and then two real strikes in a row.

I finished with a 189, and a 263 with my handicap.
Jacque was 182/217, Linda was 176/204.

I enjoyed the second game a lot. The oil pattern was just right for me.

I started with a 9-pin strike, had an open, another 9-pin strike, another open, a real strike, and then 5 9-pin strikes in a row. Then I had an 8 and a spare for a 222 game, 296 with my handicap.

Jacque had a 220/255, Linda a 181/209.

I was on a roll...feeling confident...sadly the third game did not go as I'd hoped.

It started out well with converting two spares, then two 9-pin strikes, then an open, then a 9-pin strike, then a spare and a real strike. Then disaster. Had an open in the "foundation frame" - the 9th, and then an open frame in the 10th. I finished with a 167/241 - for an 800 series.

 Jacque had a 266/301, Linda a 196/224.

With that 800, I was expecting to be first! But that was not to be. By the end of that night (I went down late at night to check) I was in sixth place. At the end of Wednesday, I had dropped down to 10th place, which is where I'd stay.

The Strip, Las Vegas

After we finished bowling, Linda and Laura elected to remain at the casino while Jacque and I took a shuttle bus to the Las Vegas Strip.

Laura's hip was bothering her and she wanted to save her energy for the next day, and Linda didn't want to miss the Cocktail Party which was being held for all participants of the Primetimer's tournament and of course which we had paid for.

Jacque had been to the strip before, and pretty much took me where I wanted to go.

The first thing we did was go on the High Roller, a ferris wheel type observation wheel with huge observation cars which hold probably 50 people all standing.  It takes 30 minutes to revolve in a circle, for $20, and gave us a great view of the Strip.

The bottom of the High Roller. Note the net!

The observation car in front of us. We're almost at the top.

"Top of the world, ma!"

After disembarking from the High Roller, we walked to the Pelican Casino and looked at their bird sanctuary.

High Roller from the bird sanctuary at the Pelican casino

Pelicans

Next we went to the Bellagio to view the water show. The Bellagio had an underwater motif in the lobby of its hotel.

Jellyfish in the lobby

Corals

Then at Ceasar's Palace - umbrellas in the ceiling.

Walking along the strip, we saw various people dressed as characters from movies, posing with people for tips. Chewbacca and Yoda, the snowman from Frozen, Hello Kitty, etc.

Then we saw this street performer:

Somehow he's levitated in the air...masked. Cars pass him, people walk past...

Paris Casino. There's a restaurant at the top of this

We headed back to the bus area and got there with about 40 minutes to spare. We waited and rested from the hot day as it got dark out, and the bus waiting area gradually filled up with people.

Casino shuttle bus stop on the strip.

It was past 10 at night, no time to watch the light show. I bought a hot fudge sundae at McDonalds. Jacque got a hamburger and pop and I treated her to a sundae for being a guide.


Then we went up in the elevator. She got off on floor 2, I on 7.

Linda said the cocktail party had been good. I told her we'd gone on the High Roller and then walked around...

The next day she confirmed she wanted to go with Jacque and me to the Fremont Expereince after bowling.

We turned in.

Sweepers at Sam's Town PrimeTimers 9-pin No Tap Tournament, Monday June 6, 2016

Our lost teammate, Shirley, had wanted us to bowl in all four sweepers to be held at the PrimeTimer's 9-pin no tap tournament on Monday. She was going to bowl with another bowler from Cheyenne, Sam, in mixed doubles at the event, as well as with us.  Males and females could be on the same team - the scores were divided into those for men and women, even during Sweepers.

The first sweeper would begin at 10:30.

Linda and I got up at 6, and I texted Jacque and Laura to see if they wanted to eat breakfast with us. Both declined.

Linda and I headed for the Firelight Buffet, and met Jacque with her bowling ball bag - she was going to check in, as team captain, and get our lane assignments.

Linda and I had a good breakfast buffet, then we went up to get our bowling bags and reported to the bowling center. We took out our bowling balls and shoes, and placed the bags in the PrimeTimer's Paddock, a room full of shelves on which people could store their gear for free.

Jacque handed us our PrimeTimers shirts, a coupon booklet, and the card on which were our lane assignments for the four sweepers we'd be bowling.

PrimeTimers 2016 collared shirt, lane assignment card, and a slip for .... something! Don't think I ever filled it out!

Coupon for the cocktail party, included in the price of the tourney

One of 3 $5 off coupons for food at Sam's Town

One of four Bingo coupons for one pack of 6 games

Coupon for free keno

We wore our mint green shirts and beads, even though these were sweepers and we were essentially bowling for ourselves.

Laura did not bowl in any of the sweepers - the Sam's Town bowling office refunded the money Shirley had paid, and Laura had a bad hip and did not want to bowl 8 extra games.

I had thought the Sweepers would consist of a series of three games each, but there were only two games in each set.

I did poorly in the first set - my thumb was having trouble coming out of my Brunswick Mastermind (a reactive ball), which had been drilled with a fingertip grip, so I switched to my plastic Viz-a-ball which had a skeleton pirate on one side and a treasure map on the other. Did poorly with that and switched back to the Mastermind, just throwing it harder to make sure my thumb wouldn't stick.

So, my score in the first games weren't that good. 135 (208 with my handicap of 74). In the 2nd game of this first 10:30 set I did better, a 173 so with my handicap, 247. Together that added up to 455 handicap, not good enough to get a place in the first Sweeper.

I can't remember if I did brackets for these first two games, but I know I did them for the second two...

And in the second two, I did very well. We had moved from lanes 23 and 24 to lanes 31 and 32, and this pair of lanes was ideal for the left hander.

I had a 182/256 and a 228/302, giving me a 558. Good enough for 8th place in this sweeper.   My team mate Linda had a 285/313 and 288/316 to tie for second place. (Jacque didn't place in any of the sweepers.)

Score screens for us all, 2nd game of 2nd sweeper.

In the third sweeper, I fell down a bit... we moved to 41 and 42 and I had a 192/266 and a 152/226, for a 492 series, not good enough to place.

First game of THIRD sweeper.  Five real strikes in a row!

For the final sweeper, we moved to lanes 47 and 48.

I didn't do good in the first game, just a 155/229. However in the final game I did extremely well, 228/342 - finishing with 3 real strikes in a row.  (I'd had 5 9-pin strikes.) This gave me a series of 531, and I expected to be "in the money," but there were fewer people bowling in this final sweeper and it paid out only 8 places, ending at 540!

Ah well!

After the games were over, we changed and met for dinner at the Firelight Buffet. Then we went to the Free Slot Tournament.

Waiting in an area set aside for the slot tournament

We had 5 minutes to try to win as much money as possible on the machines. We were each given 500 credits. (I toyed with the idea of just cashing out and not playing, but decided against it!) I started out slow but eventually passed Linda, who was sitting next to me, but other people in the tournament did much better and we won nothing.

Then, we went to the Bingo Hall to try our hand at Bingo. Laura is an avid Bingo player and had brought two daubers with her. I called dibs on one, so Linda went and bought one from a machine in the entryway for $1. (You had to use a dauber on your cards, you couldn't just use a pen or a highlighter.)  I think Jacque had brought her own dauber with her.

Our coupon was good for one free pack of six games. Having never played bingo before, I started out slow. The announcers called out the numbers in a monotone, and during the first game would intersperse announcements about game play with calling the numbers which amused me extremely.

Over the course of six games, Linda and I came nowhere near bingoing, and by the end of it we were typically swearing beneath our breath as other people would bingo after 6 numbers called and so on.

With bingo over (it had started at 9 and ended a little after 10 - too late to attend the light show again)  Jacque and Laura stayed in the casino to do a bit of gambling. Linda and I went up to our rooms. I did a bit of work on my computer before lights out.

Singles and Doubles at South Point - Women's Nationals Sunday June 5, 2016

South Point: Doubles and Singles Events

We arrived at South Point in good time on Sunday morning, after about three hours of sleep, and returned to the Coronado Cafe where everyone ordered breakfast dishes. I had gravy over biscuits. I like sausage gravy on biscuits but this was bacon bits in gravy, not nearly as good.

Biscuits with bacon-bits in gravy

When Jacque had checked in the previous day, she learned our lane assignments for each of the events - team, doubles and singles.

So, we took our bowling bags out of the lockers and placed them near the appropriate lanes. The Tournament Plaza has 60 lanes, 30 on one side and 30 on the other, separated by a sound-absorbing wall and with seats for spectators.

Spectator seating in the middle (butting up against a sound-proof wall with the poster on it and the Pepsi macines, and 30 bowling lanes on either side.

Right hand corner, teammates exchanging high fives

Bowling bags in settee area, a few spectators ready to watch

We went once more into the Squad Room, where we had our Doubles photos taken. (It was mandatory that we have our photos taken, but not mandatory that we purchase all the sizes or packages offered - wallet size all the way up to 8 X 11.

Teammate Linda was behind the camera man making faces at us. We displayed beads and fingernails for Shirley

The 155 I had bowled in the third game the day before had encouraged me. I entered the doubles bracket - since Jacque is an excellent bowler. Spent $40 on brackets (and at the end of the day, won $20!)

Our humorous MC of the day before wasn't there. Instead a USBC representative talked to us briefly, Grand Marshals were chosen to lead us out to the bowling lanes.

The first event we bowled this early Sunday was singles. And I did awful. I did not break 100 in the first game - I had a 98. Not sure if I was too tired, too nervous, or what, but I bowled a 98. I was then able to recover somewhat and roll a 156 and then a 136, so I had a 390 series or an average of 130! 7 off my average each game. Absolutely awful.

Then came the Doubles event. Jacque bowled well. Me, well, I bowled a 150 in the first game which gave me a bit of hope...then sunk to 114 in the second game before coming back with a 136 in the third game. So I had a 400 series and averaged  133- 4 below my pitiful average of 137.

Fortunately, Jacque bowled well, and so we did well in our brackets which enabled me to win back $20 of the money I'd invested in that!

We had to wait around to see if we'd won any bracket money - I believe we all did so, although whether we all broke even on the amount we'd spent to enter the brackets I'm not sure.

While we waited around, I took photos of the exhibits and wall decorations.

Six cases of display here, more cases along the walls featuring used bowling balls

Marge Merrick's AMF shirt and awards

100 Years of Organized Women's Bowling

Then, although we were all very tired, we could not leave yet. We went down to get our Bracket Money at the Sports Payout section.

I picked up $20, about 1/3rd back of what I'd paid in brackets for all the events - entirely due to Jacque's stellar performance in doubles. 

Bracket Payouts by the sports book section of the casino

Then, Laura killed time on the slot machines while Jacque browsed through the bowling store. Linda and I went to the Equestrian Arena which was holding a horse trade show and also barrel riding events!

The horse expo

Three John Deere tractors with rakes ready to zoom around the arena smoothing the dirt in between rounds of the barrel racing.

Eventually we all got together again..but we still weren't ready to go.

We went to Calamity Kate's for ice cream.

A hot fudge sundae with whip cream and Oreo crumbs on top

Then we were ready to go. I drove us back to South Point on Flamingo (I think), and we got there about 5:30 or more likely 6 pm. Laura and Jacque went to their rooms, Laura to sleep, Jacque to relax.

Linda and I went to our room also. We spent an hour or so unpacking and relaxing and checking emails, me on my laptop and Linda on her Ipad - something we hadn't done earlier that morning when we'd first arrived at our rooms.

The entrance hall to Sam's Town Resort and Casino

About 7 pm or so Linda and I went down to the first floor of Sam's Town to locate the bowling center where we'd participate in the PrimeTimer's tournament the next day.

We followed the signs and found it down a flight of stairs.

Escalator down to bowling center

The 60 lane bowling alley - all the lanes in a straight line, not 30 back-to-back as in the Tournament Plaza at South Point was not too busy - the lights were dark and Etreme Bowling was in effect.

Dark lights and neon-colored bowling pins, Extreme Bowling Sam's Town

 The K&K Pro Shop was open and Linda and I stopped in there to look around.

K & K Pro shop

 It had the typical things, shoes, sliders, warm-up sleeves, bowling balls, bowling ball bags, etc.

Next we found the pool. It was an outdoor pool, not very big. I had hoped it would be large enough to do laps, but it certainly wasn't. Strictly a pool for kids to swim in while parents get a suntan. It's also used for water exercise I think - as there was a lift-chair to help people get into the water.

The pool at Sam's Town

We then visited the Mystic Falls Logo Shop and looked around. Just beside the entrance was a rack of oversized, personalized red dice. On the 1-side was a person's name and the word casino, and they had my name, Barbara's Casino. On the 6-side were the words Las Vegas.

As we came out of the Logo Shop we saw that people were gathering around a gigantic stone waterfall and pool in the area called Mystic Falls Park.

At 10 pm, the light show began. Music, water jets spouting water high, higher and highest. There was a cougar on one rock above us, a bald eagle on another, and as we watched a wolf appeared at the tippy top and howled.

It was a 15 minute performance, culminating with the song Proud to be An American by Lee Greenwood.



Next, we split an order of food at the Panda Express Chinese restaurant in the Food Court (there's also a McDonald's and a Subway) and then went up to our room and turned in for the night.

The next day, Monday, would be the start of the PrimeTimer's 9-pin no tap tournament for both men and women. We would be playing in four sweepers- handicapped contests with no divisions - just based purely on scores with handicap added on.