Above: The beautiful, picturesque skyline of “The District” from the 215 freeway.
Given that I had breakfast at Red Rock last weekend, we decided to go the opposite direction on Sunday morning and have breakfast at Green Valley Ranch. Also known to many of my readers simply as “suburban hell“.
Not much has changed. Henderson still sucks, and security at GVR still sucks.
I made a realization this weekend. Much like cops, the security hacks appear to have quotas.
In other words, they have to harass X number of customers per hour to prove to their superiors that they are, indeed, working.
I took pictures all over the casino, but when I snapped the shot above, a (in)security lady came up to me, and told me that I could not take pictures. I said “okay, and put my camera away”.
Then, she picked up her walkie talkie and said, “One camera warn at station number 2571″. I don’t remember the number, but it either denoted her employee number or the location of the “incident”.
Basically, every time a security person annoys someone, they proudly radio it in so that they will get credit for pissing off a customer. I guess they get a gold star or something after they annoy the hell out of a certain number of people.
I get this harassment all the time, but this was the first time I heard the formality of radioing the “kill” back to headquarters.
The other thing that surprised me about GVR this Sunday, is that it was dead. Completely dead. The entire casino.
Here was the Poker Room:
Here was the casino:
It was a relative ghost town.
Sunday mornings (around 11am) usually have some action. People checking out, getting in some last minute gaming, poker playing, or whatever.
But there was nothing.
As a matter of fact, this was not unique to GVR. The Strip was also quite dead the day before (Saturday).
In my travels in and around town, I am beginning to see a very noticeable decrease in tourists as compared to the norm.
I think the economic conditions may be a little worse than the town is letting on, and I am not sure if I believe the numbers that show only a small decline. Numbers can be made to say what you want them to say.
I would estimate that I see a good 20%-40% fewer people milling about the casino areas in town than I did at this same time last year.
The town isn’t deserted by any means, and things are still going on. But the crowds have perceptibly thinned in the last two or three weeks based on my own personal perception.
I actually ended up eating the exact same dish, at the exact same restaurant “Huevos Rancheros at the Grand Cafe” … except I ate them 20 miles apart from each other.
The food at these places is good and filling.
I took some pictures toward The Strip, but they didn’t come out well because of the nasty air quality this weekend.
There were a few yuppies hanging around The District, but even that fake place was pretty dead (not that it has ever been “alive”).
I dunno. It was an enjoyable trip. I liked the food. The casino is nice. Some of the staff sucks. I probably don’t need to elaborate more since I have already beat Henderson’s suckiness to death.
I do still hate Henderson.
Everyone does.
I mean, how could you not?
But my trip to GVR this time was slightly less annoying than it was last time.
That’s really about as positive as I am ever going to get about the place.
