Sunday, January 31, 2010

A night on the town...



Being a poor divorcee, OK not exactly poor, but a heck of a lot poorer than I was as a married person, I'm all about enjoying free entertainment when I can. A while back I got a sent a certificate for a free nights lodging, and 2 free dinner buffets in Wendover. I saved it because, unlike most promotions it was actually good on the weekends, and it might make a fun night out. I found it the other day, realized it was about to expire so I decided it was time for a fun little road trip.

For those that don't know, Wendover is the nearest across the border gambling town in Nevada. Hop in I-80 drive 2 hours west, step an inch over the state line, and there you are. Nevada style decadence, built solely to entertain the people of Utah.
I'm not really a big partier or gambler, but it is fun to get out of town and do something different now and then, so I made a reservation, grabbed a friend and off we went.

We had a fun evening. Friday night is seafood buffet night, so it the best night for a free dinner, 3 kinds of crab, fish, shrimp, mussels, clams and oysters. I adore seafood, so it was a real treat for me. We wandered around a bit, I like to people watch and take in all the crazy lights. Eventually we found a bar with a live band, and stayed and listened for while.

I'm not much of gambler. My intuition, and the statistics course I took in college, tell me that if I were really going to win, these places wouldn't exist, so I'm pretty happy to just put a few bucks into a video poker machine and enjoy it until it's gone. I threw five bucks in the machine, played for at least an hour and several free drinks, and was still $0.20 cents ahead when I got bored with it and cashed out. This is what I don't like about casinos: a number of years ago they went electronic, so you put you money in, gamble away, and any winnings are printed on a receipt that you redeem at the cashier. How boring! I though it was much more fun when walked around with your tub of change, dropping quarters (or nickles in my case as they last longer)into machines, and get to hear the jingle of coins as they were expelled into the metal tray when you won. I miss the old days!

I case you can't tell by the pictures, I kind of like the crazy casino lights. They make you nuts, make you get lost easily, and make you glad you are not an epileptic, but I think they are fun to look at. Kind of like living in a Christmas tree.

1 comment:

one-eared pig said...

I went to Vegas once, and was sure I'd turn into an epilectic. LOL

Glad you had a fun weekend!