Donna and I just returned from a 4-night stay in one of our favorite places -- Laughlin, Nevada.
As part of the Total Rewards player's club, Donna and I get numerous offers from Harrah's casinos. For the past couple of years, we've been getting offers to fly on a casino junket to Harrah's in Laughlin. We finally decided take advantage of one of these.
Now, I don't like flying. The actual flight part of flying is not a problem. I don't have problems with takeoffs, landings, or even turbulence. I just don't like standing in long lines, waiting around to board, going through inspections, sitting in cramped seats on planes, and surrendering my freedom of movement. I prefer car travel. I like to come and go as I please and stay as long (or as short) as I like.
But I decided to give flying another chance. I did alright, but I still prefer car travel.
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| Our little airport only has 2 gates. I'm standing at Gate 1 and taking this picture of Gate 2. Now, big city folks might snicker at how small our airport is, but it is very nice and modern. We were through check-in and inspections very quickly. The TSA agents were all polite and professional. Parking is free at the airport. It is only a 10 or 15 minute drive to the airport, and we only pass through 3 or so traffic lights. Yeah, I'll take my little airport any day. |
We flew out of our little airport in San Angelo last Tuesday. Our flight had already picked up a number of passengers in Abilene before collecting us. It was late in the day when we arrived at the airport in Bullhead City, just across the Colorado River from Laughlin. Two buses were waiting for us, and they drove us through a light drizzle across the river and to Harrah's, the southern-most casino in Laughlin. [Note: The Avi is farther south, but it is not technically within the Laughlin city limits.] We were met at the entrance of the casino with our room packets. We took our carry-on bags to our room, freshened up a bit, and then went downstairs to eat and play. Our large bag would be delivered to the room later.
During our stay, we divided our play between Harrah's and the Aquarius. I found the Harrah's casino to be very smoky and a bit grungy. There is a large non-smoking room in the casino, but the games there are not good, so we ended up doing most of our playing in the smoking section at the three 9/6 Jacks or Better machines (quarter denomination). We ate most of our meals at the Beach Cafe, and we enjoyed them for the most part. There is a Starbucks located there; I was thankful for this as the coffee in the Beach Cafe was terrible.
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| Early Wednesday morning, I stepped outside the room where I had been playing video poker onto a balcony to snap this picture. That is the dock for Harrah's bottom center. The opposite side of the river, of course, is Arizona (Bullhead City). We just love these views of the desert. |
On Wednesday and Thursday mornings, Donna and I walked the 2 miles down Casino Blvd to the Aquarius. On the Wednesday morning walk, we took time to walk through each casino along the route to see if any changes had occurred since our last visit to the area about 3 years ago. On Thursday, we walked straight to the Aquarius. Both mornings were pretty cool, around 40 degrees or so, but the walk felt good.
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| On our walk to Aquarius on Wednesday, we stopped at the Golden Nugget casino to snap this photo of the river from Bubba Gumps. |
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| Sign of the times. We passed this new shop while walking to the Aquarius. |
Aquarius has always been our favorite place to play in Laughlin. There are still a good number of 9/6 Jacks or Better machines scattered around the casino; most of them are in one of the two non-smoking areas, and that is nice. On Wednesday, we enjoyed burgers at the Regency Casino next door. The burgers there have long been extremely popular with visitors to the area.
After our sessions at the Aquarius each day, we boarded a water taxi to return to Harrah's. We do love that beautiful river.
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| We caught a river taxi at Edgewater Casino to return to Harrah's on Wednesday. That is the Edgewater Casino in left center of picture. Tall building in center is its hotel. Aquarius twin hotel towers are just to the right of that, and Riverside hotel towers are farthest right. We had the taxi to ourselves. |
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| Looking north on the Colorado River. Desert terrain is entirely in Arizona in this shot. |
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| Colorado Belle Casino |
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| The water of the river is really clear. This was taken from the dock of a water taxi. I would guess it is a depth of 2 feet or so. I do not know what the reddish object in center of picture is. |
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| Terrain on the AZ side of the river. |
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| Donna is a bit cool waiting on the dock for the next taxi. Edgewater is in background. |
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| Bubba Gumps at Golden Nugget, with Pioneer and Colorado Belle farther right. |
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| Another view of the Arizona side of the river. As the sun set each evening, those mountains would change colors as the shadows fell. |
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| The dock at Harrah's |
Harrah's is located on one of the best places on the river. There is a natural cove in the river there, with bluffs enclosing a private beach. But the casino is also isolated, and is the only Laughlin Casino other than the Tropicana that is not on the riverwalk. As a result, most travelers to Harrah's tend to stay there. The casino does a huge business with tours and casino junkets. The other casinos are grouped together and tend to share customers, and it is easy to walk from one casino to another to eat, play, or attend a concert. Not so with Harrah's.
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| This is the southern part of the cove where Harrah's is located. Note the bluff on right. |
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| This is the northern part of the cove, with another bluff. While these bluffs add privacy to the beach at Harrah's, they also isolate the resort. There is no riverwalk extending to Harrah's, and walkers must take another route to get access to other casinos. |
I'd like to go back, but I prefer to drive. We both regretted that we were unable to visit the Laughlin residential area during our visit, or to even drive over to Bullhead City.
I've written numerous times about our visits to Laughlin over the years. We've spent a great deal of time there, including 2 longer stays in our travel trailer. Links to some of those stays are below:
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