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A Couple Days in Mesquite, Nevada

November 29th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Mesquite, Nevada
View From Our Room at the Casablanca, Mesquite, NV

Mesquite, Nevada
Mesquite, NV

Mesquite, Nevada Golf
George, Kathy, Dallas & Jordan, Mesquite, NV

After flying into Las Vegas and eating dinner we drove to Mesquite, Nevada, located near the Nevada/Arizona/Utah border. Mesquite is a really small desert town that has doubled in size in the last 5 years due to two casino resorts and a bunch of golfing in the area. The mountains and desert are beautiful, but other than golfing and gambling, there’s not much else to do.

Dallas and his parents and his brother Jordan golfed on Thursday and Friday. Dallas’ sister Caroline and I stayed back and just hung out. We stayed at the Casablanca and I tried to learn to play video keno and poker, watched a lot of football, played some slots and tried to enjoy the mild weather. I’m really not a big gambler. I could practically last all day on $20, just sitting at a machine, watching TV and getting free drinks. Really, there wasn’t much to do, though. A few ideas I did have (go to the movies, go to the salon) were shot down because they were closed for the holiday.

I watched Dallas play craps a lot. I got some of the lingo down (“six the hard way!” “horn high yo!”) and after a while got to figuring out what was going on. I’d never read about or watched craps before this trip and it can be confusing, but I think I want to read up on it now to understand what all was going on.

On Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Casablanca casino buffet. Very nontraditional, but every Thanksgiving dish we could wish for was there in any quantity we wanted!

Long Night

July 23rd, 2006 · No Comments

Horseshoe Casino, Hammond, IN

When your night ends at 4am with this blurry vision of the Horseshoe Casino, you may have had a really great night or you may have had a really horrible night. Luckily, I had a really break-even night. I’m not a gambler really at all. I put $5 in a slot machine and lost it in about 2 seconds. I put $5 more in and it lasted longer, but I lost it. Then I put $10 in and made $10 off of it. Even Steven. I didn’t bet any more, but then just chose to watch others for the rest of the night. Everyone else made some money, so it was a lucky night for us.

Also, I thought Atlantic City was depressing, but you should see the Horseshoe Casino in the middle of the night.. eep!

If you’re wondering how we ended up at the casino …

Abby & Kristin :: Gannon’s, Lincoln Square, Chicago

Danny, Allison, Dallas, Rob :: Gannon’s, Lincoln Square, Chicago

Abby & a weird ghost image :: Gannon’s, Lincoln Square, Chicago

Rachelle & Chad :: Gannon’s, Lincoln Square, Chicago

Brian & Chad :: Gannon’s, Lincoln Square, Chicago

It was Abby’s birthday so we all went to Gannon’s to celebrate. Even Rob, who was in town from Boston for the Mackinac race the next day … although he had to call it a night early so he wouldn’t be too tired for the race. We were all having a good time when sometime around midnight or 1am someone said “Let’s go to the boats!,” meaning the gambling boats. Now, this will come up every once in a while and usually it’s like a joke, like, “yeh.. we should.. but it’s too late and we’re too drunk and we’re broke..” but for some reason on Friday night one person wasn’t too drunk to drive, and we didn’t think we were too broke and we just took it serioiusly and went. Except “the boats” became “the casino in Indiana” somehow. Doesn’t matter, anyway. It was only 45 minutes away.

Jon, Eric, Eric, Matt :: Avec, West Loop, Chicago

Delirium Tremens :: Avec, West Loop, Chicago

Before that I was out for happy hour at Avec. One or two other times I’ve had wine outside, but this was the first time I have been inside Avec even though it’s only a few doors down from the office. It’s very minimalistic with lots of wood. I couldn’t stay very long, but I’d like to go back and enjoy it more. They had a lot of interesting beers and wines on the menu and I’d like to try the food, too. I’m sure the opportunity will present itself in the near future.

Coney Island + Las Vegas = Atlantic City

February 17th, 2004 · 11 Comments

With nothing better to do on our President’s Day off, Mark and I hopped in the car and drove down to Atlantic City and found it to be so much like Coney Island with Las Vegas casinos. I had a lot of fun but found it to be a little sad knowing that this was one of our last adventures together for quite a while.. Mark has a new baby on the way and I’ll be moving off to Chicago.

We have arrived.

We parked the car at Bally’s and then made our way towards the boardwalk that all the casinos face out towards. On the way there we passed by the New Jersey Korean War Memorial which felt terribly out of place.

Another statue in the war memorial. No disrespect, but he reminded me of Paul Bunyan.

Along one side of the Coney Island-style boardwalk are entrances to the casinos (like Trump Plaza), stores, and restaurants. Along the other side is the beach.

Some parts of the beach were getting worked on. I think they were dredging and adding more sand, but I’m not exactly sure what all was going on.

Most of the shells on the beach were clam shells.

Strolling along the beach for a bit. I miss living by a beach a lot.

“Comfort Station” must have been the polite way to say “Restroom” in the old days. This Comfort Station didn’t look nearly as inviting as the Women’s Comfort Station I saw in Central Park a couple years ago. That was the first Comfort Station I’d ever seen.

We ate at the Virginia City Buffet inside Bally’s Wild Wild West Casino. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet, of course. Atlantic City is all the cheesiness from Coney Island and Las Vegas and is missing any of the grittiness from either place. It’s filled with elderly people and Jersey/Long Island types.

A fake tree strung with lights inside the buffet. A couple from Long Island chatted us up in the buffet. Especially the wife. She would not stop talking about Vegas vs. Atlantic City vs. Reno vs. Tahoe. Even when we said “thanks” and turned completely around about 5 times.

Next we hit up some slot machines. Mark & I both agreed that we would spend no more than $20. While I quickly lost all of my money, Mark won $40.

Back out on the boardwalk. It’s time to go home but we walk down to see Trump’s Taj Mahal casino before leaving. The boardwalk is filled with these guys with pushcars that you can hire to take you back to your hotel/casino.