Day 2 on my WSOP week. Phoenix - Mt. Hopkins
It is always nice finding a bargain. The hotel in Phoenix certainly was one. It was almost like a nice little mini-suite with sofa and everything for 53$ (tax and everything included), less than my tank filling anyways. For good bargains in terms of hotels, especially in Las Vegas I have two recommendations.
1. You are going to play. Call the casino and ask for a casino rate or poker rate. It all depends what you like and how much you are going to play. Of course poker rates are not that big of a bargain and casino rates you need to be known. But you know, if you are not bold, you’ll never get things in life. Ask for a host and ask how much you have to play for a casino rate (6 hours green action should suffice for everything but the fanciest hotels). Once an established customer, you are known to the host and you’ll be inundated with hotel offers. I haven’t played blackjack in a long time to warrant offers, but I used to get them in the mail like daily. My husband would never pay more than 20$ for a mid-strip hotel (think Stardust, Circus Circus, Riviera, Sahara, Tropicana, Boardwalk etc. types hotels, yes I know some of those have closed). Anyway, buffets and meals are usually comped, too, as long as you don’t chose the fanciest steakhouse in the property. For a high end casino like Bellagio typical casino rates go for around 60$-80$, but then you need to show black action or play at least dollar slots for a long time. phew, long sidetrack… I tend to be that way…
2. Book at Travelaxe . It basically just runs a search for you on all the hotels websites (like Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc.) and therefore you will find the absolute cheapest rate for it. I still can’t believe people paying 190$ for a night in Las Vegas, except for the fanciest of suites. If you are interested in Internet access, be sure to check out this page on Las Vegas Advisor, which has info on all the rates and the places where there is free Internet.
Anyway, Travelaxe also works for other cities, so I found this little hotel/motel in Phoenix for 45$ there. Oh, the bed was absolutely soft and wonderful. Excellent free Wireless, good Cable TV, fancy bathroom and continental breakfast. bellatrix left Phoenix happy. On to Tucson!
Once in Tucson, I stopped by the Trader Joe’s, because astronomers have to bring their food up the mountain. But nothing eventful, except the 100 degree temperatures. I hope it’s not that hot in Vegas. So now I continued my journey to Mt. Hopkins, which is between Tucson and Nogales (Mexican border). Here is a picture on the way already to the mountain. You can see Elephant Butte and Mt Hopkins and maybe even the telescope on top of the mountain next to the telephone pole.
So I met up with my colleagues on the basecamp and made the dangerous trip up the mountain, always an adventure. We arrived pretty early, so I checked some e-mail and just surfed the web.
I won’t bore you with the observing. It went pretty well and we already discovered quite a few new objects. There is a beautiful picture of us opening the dome during sunset. Unfotunately the only good ones I have of the huge 6.5m mirror have only me in front of it, so no pretty telescope images.
I love my job! Really, you will not see me being a poker pro anytime soon, even though I know I could make it. This is much more beautiful and interesting than c/r on the turn with the nuts 
Tomorrow, just a short little post.
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Awesome Bella, so cool. I’m an astronomy and physics buff even though not nearly smart enough to do what you do. Saw this on wired yesterday…amazing what your profession can do these days
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/astronomers-mak.html