I escalated the entire time and we made out at the bar a bit. She told me she wasn’t ready to go home yet and wouldn’t mind going somewhere else (bar closed fairly early due to Covid restrictions).
It's great that you have the balls to do that, but I have the feeling that you did "too much". The best option, especially on first dates, it to kiss, tease, back up. Eventually, she's gonna come closer, be way more inviting, even starting kissing you too. The idea is give her a bit, back off, watch her coming to you. Remember, a girl that's chasing you can't dump you.
We drove to a nearby casino where we made out in the parking lot in my car and did some heavy “petting.” I told her we could just stay at the hotel with a grin and she smiled and said “she doesn’t do that on 1st dates.”
For me it sounds like a test. But, once again, if you kept on doing it and backing off a bit, she'd be so wet that she wouldn't be testing you this way probably. She felt you pursuing a bit more, giving youself a bit too much, tested, and apparently you failed on it. It's not that you should have ignored and just got inside her house, but just look to her eyes, give her a smile and then kiss a little bit more on her neck, slowly, and then back off with the kisses, maybe just feeling her scent on her neck, not touching too much.
She said she would like to see me again - and normally I wouldn’t ask out again on the date but this seemed like a pretty good opening so I asked her what she was doing Tuesday and she agreed to meet me near my apartment.
It's great that she did, but when you set up another date while you're still in a date it sounds like neediness. It sounds like "I got nothing else going on in my life, so my schedule is completely open for you". Whenever it happens, it's better to give a "Yeah, we can make it happen" kind of answet, that isn't you setting a date, but letting her know that you like the idea.
My experience usually is chicks who had a great 1st date typically reach out the next
Day with some texting. If she doesn’t reach out bad sign? I’m not going to text her at all today and see what happens.
Yes, it can happen. But also, since you failed some of her tests, she may be testing you to see if you're not going to approach her first. Let it be for a week (if she doesn't reach out to you in this meantime). If one week passes and you don't hear from her, go talk to her, don't talk for more than 15, and set up another date.
Don't focus too much on your cellphone. Keep in mind that most girls will only start really pursuing, texting and calling you one or more time per day when she's already really liking you. It can happen in the end of the second month or the third month that you're dating her. The more she reaches out to you, the more dates you'll set. To begin with, set one date per week in the first month (AT MAX), and then slowly increase this number as you're feeling she's more and more into you.