Eric Holen

Yvette and I just got back from our first trip to Wendover, Nevada. I had overheard about the trip during a meeting over the summer and, after performing a little research, convinced Yvette to give it a try. For $179 per person, we received round-trip airfare between Austin and Wendover along with 3 night’s hotel accommodations. Before I dive into the review, Wendover is NOT Las Vegas. Las Vegas has large hotel casinos that are just as fun to tour as they are to gamble. In addition, Las Vegas has lots of shopping. Wendover has five smaller casinos with very little shopping. We were a little worried, given some of the reviews that we had read, but figured that if we got bored, we would just relax play games and read the books that we each brought.

Our flight departed on Thursday afternoon. It was charter 737 operated by Xtra Airways and filled to capacity. The flights move all over the states, only coming to Austin every 1 – 2 months. We were probably the second youngest couple on the flight. There was a younger couple that was celebrating a 30^th birthday. While the flight had more senior people, there was a mixture of ages at the casinos. We later found out that most of the business drove or took a bus in from Salt Lake. The flight crew was wonderful and had several giveaways and money draws where people through money into a pot and the crew drew a winner. After a 2 ½ hour flight, the plane landed at Wendover Airfield, an old military base that was also used in the Con Air movie. We deplaned using stairs and walked to the terminal, immediately feeling the difference in climate between Austin and Northern Nevada. In addition, Wendover is located at the base of some mountains. It was much cooler, but we had brought our jackets.

The resorts had buses waiting that took us to our hotels. While Wendover has five casinos, only three of them participate in this program. Out of the three, we chose the Rainbow Resort, because it had an indoor pool. We ended up not using the pool because we had more than enough to do, plus you had to walk through the casino to get to the pool. The bus from the airport dropped us off at the front door of the hotel. The check-in process was extremely efficient. We flashed our identification and the clerk handed us our package with room keys, player cards, coupons and other information. The hotel has four floors and we stayed on the fourth floor, which was non-smoking. There is smoking in the casinos and while it didn’t bother Yvette and me, the smell was noticeable.

Our room had two queen beds and 42″ LCD television. It also had a small table with comfortable chairs that we used to play games late in the evening. Since our luggage would not arrive until later, and we were hungry, we walked next door to the Red Garter Casino for some inexpensive dinner. Out of the five casinos, the Red Garter was the smallest and the most worn looking; however, the food was cheap and they had $2 blackjack. Yvette and I ended up eating their $2.99 breakfast there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. After a little dinner and gambling, Yvette and I headed back to our hotel for some more gambling before heading back to the room.

On Friday, after breakfast, we walked down the street to see Wendover Will so that I could take some pictures. Once Yvette had let me have my fun, we walked back to the Rainbow and took the 24 hour shuttle to end of the strip to visit the Wendover Nugget. Out of the five casinos, the interior of the Nugget most reminded us of a Las Vegas casino. The three other casinos, the Montego Bay, Peppermill, and Rainbow had more neon than you can imagine. Look for some pictures later. We probably gambled most at the Nugget, followed by the Rainbow and Red Garter. From the Nugget we walked over to Montego Bay, but since the casino wasn’t much different than ours, we did not stay long. We stopped by the local Subway for lunch and then started walking back down the strip. We stopped in at the Peppermill casino, but again, it was very similar to ours so we didn’t stay long. After a little more gambling, Yvette and I splurged and enjoyed the “seafood extravaganza” buffet at the Rainbow for dinner.

On Saturday morning, Yvette and I awoke to find that we had received snow overnight. It did not stay on the ground very long, but it was cold enough that Yvette and I decided that except for walking next door to the Red Garter, that we would be riding the shuttle. We stopped into the Rainbow’s sport book and sat with some other fellow Texan’s to watch the last 1 ½ quarters of the Texas/Baylor game. On Friday, I had wagered $5 for Texas to win, but the point spread was 23.5, which had me a little worried. Of course, Texas ended up winning and beating the spread. After the game, we headed back to the Nugget where I played some poker, while Yvette hit the slots. While Yvette and I limit our total gambling to no more than $50 each per day, Yvette had a good day a won over $30 playing penny and nickel slots. Later, Yvette and I played some head-to-head slots on a game called Texas Tea. The idea is that we each start with a dollar, playing $0.05 per spin and see who lasts the longest. We ended up playing three rounds, which kept us going for well over an hour. I won two of the rounds; however, in the end Yvette had more winnings having turned over her $1 from one of the rounds into over $4. We finished out the evening with some more slots, dinner at the buffet again (we skipped lunch), followed by packing the suitcases and a card game in the room.

Sunday we ran the bags down to the airline representative, which like everything else during the trip, was a fast and easy process. We headed over to the Red Garter for our last breakfast before walking back to catch the bus to the airport. The flight two and from Wendover was on a 737 that was filled to capacity.

We never encounter a rude staff person at any of the casinos; however, since Yvette and I are so easy going, it would be easy for us to overlook it. Our only minor complaint was that none of the hotels offered very many t-shirts or souvenirs, which usually eats a portion of our money during any trip. We ended up with a few postcards and a refrigerator magnet. When I mentioned that lack of offerings to the hotel manager, he provided me with a brand new t-shirt that was left over from a previous event. I am sure Yvette will confiscate the t-shirt from me.

In all, Yvette and I agreed that we had a wonderful time and would consider doing it again in a year. At $179 per person for the flight and hotel, we could not beat the price for entertainment. We would even consider going with a group of friends next time (hint hint).