Before I started gambling in 1994, we used to do trips to the east coast &
Canada. Those trips never stopped but were much less frequent due to the
time for gambling trips & because our trips for Broadway theater were
replaced by shows in LV & by joining a theater group in San Jose. In the last
month, it seems like we're returning to our old ways with the last two trips
we've taken to Atlantic City & Windsor, Canada.
What is becoming a characteristic of a lot of trips lately is that I
restrict gambling to only one casino even when there's a lot of casinos around.
What this does is allow time for other activities that we used to do before
gambling became so prominent in our lives.
AC 7* Signature trip -- gambled only one day at Harrahs on what was
supposed to be a 5-day stay but we cut it down to 3 days so that we could spend
more time in Wilmington DE (1 hr from AC) where there are 4 duPont mansions.
Even with 2 days we were able to only cover 2 mansions (Longwood Gardens &
Winterthur). This dichotomy of switching from AC to Wilmington made it
seem like we had taken 2 separate trips because it was so relaxing to do
something completely different. We had such a great time at Longwood that I'll
be scanning my AC mail looking for an excuse to return so that we can also
revisit Longwood & see the other 2 mansions that we missed.
Caesars Windsor -- this was my annual 7* trip which I wrapped around a
backgammon tournament that my son wanted to go to in Novi, MI. Again I gambled
only one day at Windsor & cut my stay from 5 days to 4 in order to spend
more time at the tournament in which I also played. Unfortunately I didn't
get any time to visit any of the local attractions but we had such a good
time that we're planning on coming back next year during which we plan to:
--stay on the US side. Due to late arrival & the amount of time spent
playing at the tournament, 3 of my 4 crossings were after midnight & each time
Canadian customs interrogated me at length though each successive crossing
was shorter. (BTW they don't like the term "interrogate" which I used
without thinking of the connotation, "question" would have been a smarter choice
but I couldn't think of any other term when I was interrogated.) I think
the problem I had was that late at night, they have plenty of time to
practice & also I learned to not carry a lot of money. Everybody told me that US
customs was much tougher but my experience was the opposite &, on my last
crossing, I even got some helpful advice from an officer who took an interest
when he saw where I was from.
--Some local backgammon players that we befriended suggested that we visit
some of the sights with them such as the Henry Ford Museum near Dearborn &
the Motown Museum.
--Probably gamble at MGM, LV in hopes of getting an invite to play & stay
at MGM, Detroit or maybe I should look into Greektown or Motor City.
Haven't thought this one though.
In summary, we've had such a good time lately on those trips where we took
time to do things other than all gambling that we might go back to that
model again -- where paying for room & board isn't such a nasty concept.
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