We spent the weekend in the Queen City. We left the house pretty late and I kept dosing off on the way there. It was well past my bedtime but I refused to go to sleep. My husband, a.k.a. the king of the road, has created his own rules for driving. He joked that if he would have allowed me to drive that we might have ended up in Germany. I quipped better Germany than the hospital!
Our first stop was at a popular casino. My husband was itching to get on the Craps table. The place was crowded, lively, and smoky. I must have missed the memo that read “Must have cigarette in hand to enter.” Almost everyone had a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. The only saving grace was the size of the casino. Therefore I wasn’t totally engulfed by smoke.
Out of courtesy my husband played a few slot machines with me. He quickly won $100 and was ready to move on to bigger and better things. He headed upstairs where apparently the “real” players play.
I stayed in the lowly basement and decided to concentrate on playing the penny, nickel, and dime slots. Plus, it was one of the designated smoke-free areas. Feeling adventurous I played a few rounds on the dollar machines. You can probably tell that I am not a high roller by any means. I promised myself that any jackpots I won would go straight to Sallie Mae.
$50 and a case of carpel tunnel later, I was ready to go. I checked the time and was shocked that we had already been there for three hours! I made my way to the Craps table and waited semi-patiently for my husband to finish up. I had no idea what was going on and really was not interested in knowing either.
I was a bit annoyed because everyone at the table was smoking–my husband included. But knowing how I detest smoke, he put out his cigarette when he saw me approaching. One while it was so unbearable that I had to move. The guy next to him, who I’ll call Smokey the Bandit, kept lighting forest fires immediately after distinguishing one.
An hour later I played a game of shooting poisonous darts at my husband’s back. Every so often he would turn around and say that he was almost ready. Then he would give me money to keep me occupied. Eventually I started pocketing his bribes.
Tired of standing I finally took a seat, wishing that I had charged my Ipod or stuffed a book in my purse. Some weird, seedy man kept giving me the once over—-twice. I was so ready to go!
Thirty minutes later my husband was satisfied with his winnings. At 4:35am he cashed in and we headed out.
We grabbed a bite to eat before checking into the hotel. The rest of the weekend was spent shopping and relaxing. Our final stop was at Pappadeux’s for dinner.
Sadly, Sallie Mae still needs a new pair of shoes.