leastbest - but still one of the best
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Greektown
posted Wednesday, 27 July 2005
The night before we went to Greektown I was excited. I stayed up later than I should have since I had to be up at six in the morning to make it over to my father-in-laws. A few days before my wife had bou
ght me my tourist outfit that included a hat and garish shirt. I packed a thermos of coffee, snacks and my book, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. I was going to have fun!!
I got to Stephen's (my father-in-laws) house at the right time which is rare for me. I'm normally late. Once we got my wife settled in over there we took a quick picture and were off.
The bus we took was the Lakefront Lines. The deal is incredible. For twenty five bucks you get a ride to Detroit and back and you also get twenty five dollars in chips and five dollars towards lunch.
The plan was to meet the bus at the Holiday Inn in Elyria at 8:15 and head to Detroit. We got there at 8 and a bus pulled up at 8:10. Unfortunately this bus was going to Windsor so we went back to the car to wait. Finally at 8:30 the bus showed up, checked off our names and we hopped onto the bus. Only two seats were left so we sat down. I noticed a large gray box over my head but forgot about it as soon as I sat down. The seats were like airline seats, only smaller and closer together. I pulled out my new book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and settled in for a nice ride.
Once we hit the highway the driver flicked a switch and the movie, Bruce Almighty came on. I now realized the purpose of the box over my head, it was a speaker. The sound was so loud it was painful. It was purposefully loud to accommodate the large number of older folks. Within minutes my head was throbbing and I was having trouble concentrating on the book. Less than an hour into the ride we stopped at a rest stop and we went in.
My head was throbbing so I stopped into a little store to buy some aspirin. Normally I pay $1.00 for 250 aspirin tablets so it was only fair that I paid $2.99 for four tablets here. I went into the bathroom, took wads of tissue and crammed them into my ears. Back on the bus I was able to enjoy my book and the rest of the trip was uneventful.
We got to Greektown around 12:25 and people were restless. The driver announced that a representative from the casino would be out in a sec
ond to give us vouchers for our chips and lunch. People started yelling, "Let's Go. Let us gamble!" The guy from the casino came on, gave us vouchers and first timers like Stephen and me got Club Greektown cards. The bus driver said we had to be back at the bus at 4:45 and the bus would leave at 5:00. Finally we got off the bus and headed for the games.
First thing to do was to cash in our vouchers. We went to the cage and a couple of women asked us if it was our first time and when we said yes they showed us coupons they had. They and their guest got ten dollars in cash so we got a total of forty dollars before we started.
I stepped up to the cage, got my forty bucks and then had to go to another cage to get my Club Greektown card. Once we had our cards and cash we were ready!
We walked around the first floor and saw all the slots. I was interested in live poker but didn't see any so we played some slots. I got lucky and within the first few minutes I won ninety bucks. Of course I kept playing it until it was all gone but it took a long time. Stephen was a lot luckier and won two hundred and fifty on one and later a thousand. I would win and lose on the slots but slowly my money would go down and I was getting a little discouraged. One thing about the machines. You put your card in the machine and it keeps track of you and gives you points that you can use for things like shirts, hats, etc.
After a while we went upstairs. We walked around and there were craps tables, roulette, three card poker, four card poker, and blackjack. I still didn't see any live poker so decided to play some blackjack. I watched for a while and then gave the dealer one hundred dollars and got back twenty, five dollar chips. I started playing and doing okay. I'd win a couple and lose one. It was fun and then a guy sat next to me and laid down a large pile of chips. He was betting one hundred dollars a hand. We started talking and I told him it was time for me to start betting big so I stopped betting five dollars and doubled it to ten. He laughed and started betting two hundred per hand. I wasn't doing well although I had the whole table laughing. I was almost out of chips when the guy next to me tossed me a twenty-five dollar chip. He said he was planning on giving it to the dealer as a tip but I needed it more than he did. It didn't take long before I was busted. I bid the table goodbye and rejoined Stephen.
He was doing great on the slots so I walked over to an open spot to call the wife. While calling I noticed a separate room apart from the casino. I looked in and saw a bunch of tables with LIVE POKER! This is what I had been looking for. I walked in and watched some of the tables. After a while one of the casino employees in a tux asked me if it was my first time there. How could he tell? I asked him to give me the tour and he did. What a blast! Unfortunately we had to be back at the bus in an hour and a half.
I found Stephen and showed him the room. We decided to wait until next time to show them how to play poker. I had a hot dog and went downstairs to play some more slots. All in all I was down less than a hundred and Stephen was up a couple hundred. We were to meet the bus at 4:45 and running out of time. At 4:30 I was just finishing up at the slots when a waitress asked if I'd like a drink. I said no thanks as I'd be asleep on the bus so she brought me some complimentary coffee. It was great. We had to get to the bus so we started to leave. I was stopped by security and told I couldn't take the coffee out of the building. One sip was all I got, oh well.
We were outside waiting for the bus at 4:35 and at 4:50 it wasn't there. At 5:00 it wasn't there. By 5:15 we were getting worried and speculating where he was. Stephen said he probably got in an accident, a lady said he was probably sleeping somewhere and I said he was probably sitting at a bar.
At 5:30 he showed up and everybody gave him a hard time. Once on the bus he made jokes on the intercom that were lame but fortunately the sound system was so bad it sounded like we were at Burger King asking for fries. I placed the tissues back in my ears and once on the highway he put the movie De-Lovely, the Kevin Kline movie on the life of Cole Porter. This was worse than the Jim Carey movie in that there was a lot of music so much louder. The tissues did their job and I concentrated on Harry Potter.
We got back to the Holiday Inn at 8:30 tired and a little poorer but in good spirits. It was a fun day and I think Stephen had fun too. I go on vacation again in three weeks and I think we should go and teach them how to play poker!
ght me my tourist outfit that included a hat and garish shirt. I packed a thermos of coffee, snacks and my book, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. I was going to have fun!!I got to Stephen's (my father-in-laws) house at the right time which is rare for me. I'm normally late. Once we got my wife settled in over there we took a quick picture and were off.
The bus we took was the Lakefront Lines. The deal is incredible. For twenty five bucks you get a ride to Detroit and back and you also get twenty five dollars in chips and five dollars towards lunch.
The plan was to meet the bus at the Holiday Inn in Elyria at 8:15 and head to Detroit. We got there at 8 and a bus pulled up at 8:10. Unfortunately this bus was going to Windsor so we went back to the car to wait. Finally at 8:30 the bus showed up, checked off our names and we hopped onto the bus. Only two seats were left so we sat down. I noticed a large gray box over my head but forgot about it as soon as I sat down. The seats were like airline seats, only smaller and closer together. I pulled out my new book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and settled in for a nice ride.
Once we hit the highway the driver flicked a switch and the movie, Bruce Almighty came on. I now realized the purpose of the box over my head, it was a speaker. The sound was so loud it was painful. It was purposefully loud to accommodate the large number of older folks. Within minutes my head was throbbing and I was having trouble concentrating on the book. Less than an hour into the ride we stopped at a rest stop and we went in.
My head was throbbing so I stopped into a little store to buy some aspirin. Normally I pay $1.00 for 250 aspirin tablets so it was only fair that I paid $2.99 for four tablets here. I went into the bathroom, took wads of tissue and crammed them into my ears. Back on the bus I was able to enjoy my book and the rest of the trip was uneventful.
We got to Greektown around 12:25 and people were restless. The driver announced that a representative from the casino would be out in a sec
ond to give us vouchers for our chips and lunch. People started yelling, "Let's Go. Let us gamble!" The guy from the casino came on, gave us vouchers and first timers like Stephen and me got Club Greektown cards. The bus driver said we had to be back at the bus at 4:45 and the bus would leave at 5:00. Finally we got off the bus and headed for the games.First thing to do was to cash in our vouchers. We went to the cage and a couple of women asked us if it was our first time and when we said yes they showed us coupons they had. They and their guest got ten dollars in cash so we got a total of forty dollars before we started.
I stepped up to the cage, got my forty bucks and then had to go to another cage to get my Club Greektown card. Once we had our cards and cash we were ready!
We walked around the first floor and saw all the slots. I was interested in live poker but didn't see any so we played some slots. I got lucky and within the first few minutes I won ninety bucks. Of course I kept playing it until it was all gone but it took a long time. Stephen was a lot luckier and won two hundred and fifty on one and later a thousand. I would win and lose on the slots but slowly my money would go down and I was getting a little discouraged. One thing about the machines. You put your card in the machine and it keeps track of you and gives you points that you can use for things like shirts, hats, etc.
After a while we went upstairs. We walked around and there were craps tables, roulette, three card poker, four card poker, and blackjack. I still didn't see any live poker so decided to play some blackjack. I watched for a while and then gave the dealer one hundred dollars and got back twenty, five dollar chips. I started playing and doing okay. I'd win a couple and lose one. It was fun and then a guy sat next to me and laid down a large pile of chips. He was betting one hundred dollars a hand. We started talking and I told him it was time for me to start betting big so I stopped betting five dollars and doubled it to ten. He laughed and started betting two hundred per hand. I wasn't doing well although I had the whole table laughing. I was almost out of chips when the guy next to me tossed me a twenty-five dollar chip. He said he was planning on giving it to the dealer as a tip but I needed it more than he did. It didn't take long before I was busted. I bid the table goodbye and rejoined Stephen.
He was doing great on the slots so I walked over to an open spot to call the wife. While calling I noticed a separate room apart from the casino. I looked in and saw a bunch of tables with LIVE POKER! This is what I had been looking for. I walked in and watched some of the tables. After a while one of the casino employees in a tux asked me if it was my first time there. How could he tell? I asked him to give me the tour and he did. What a blast! Unfortunately we had to be back at the bus in an hour and a half.
I found Stephen and showed him the room. We decided to wait until next time to show them how to play poker. I had a hot dog and went downstairs to play some more slots. All in all I was down less than a hundred and Stephen was up a couple hundred. We were to meet the bus at 4:45 and running out of time. At 4:30 I was just finishing up at the slots when a waitress asked if I'd like a drink. I said no thanks as I'd be asleep on the bus so she brought me some complimentary coffee. It was great. We had to get to the bus so we started to leave. I was stopped by security and told I couldn't take the coffee out of the building. One sip was all I got, oh well.
We were outside waiting for the bus at 4:35 and at 4:50 it wasn't there. At 5:00 it wasn't there. By 5:15 we were getting worried and speculating where he was. Stephen said he probably got in an accident, a lady said he was probably sleeping somewhere and I said he was probably sitting at a bar.
At 5:30 he showed up and everybody gave him a hard time. Once on the bus he made jokes on the intercom that were lame but fortunately the sound system was so bad it sounded like we were at Burger King asking for fries. I placed the tissues back in my ears and once on the highway he put the movie De-Lovely, the Kevin Kline movie on the life of Cole Porter. This was worse than the Jim Carey movie in that there was a lot of music so much louder. The tissues did their job and I concentrated on Harry Potter.
We got back to the Holiday Inn at 8:30 tired and a little poorer but in good spirits. It was a fun day and I think Stephen had fun too. I go on vacation again in three weeks and I think we should go and teach them how to play poker!
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