Gosh, Mikey always writes the first trip report and tells all the good stuff so I am really going to have to think long and hard about what to write. It would help if we had won a lot of money, but, alas, that was not to be.
We started out early Saturday, the 14th , heading south to Tunica. Drove less than a mile when Jerry asked me if I had our confirmation number. Nope!! You have to understand. My mail was thrown out by my son when he tried to help me by cleaning my house. I had a made a tearful call to Fitz to see if we could still have our free rooms and they said as long as I had a picture ID we would be ok. But Jerry was worried we would be rejected without the confirmation number so I made our first U-turn and went back to get it. We finally got south of St. Louis and needed gas and food. Got the food at a McDonald's (in and out quickly) and headed to a gas station, (an old fashioned gas station) that did not take debit/credit cards. Jerry had to go inside to pay. The clerk swiped his card and told him it did not go thru. Had to swipe it again. She did it a second time. Of course, when we got home we discovered that we had been double charged and had to go to the credit union to straighten that one out. Rest of the trip to Tunica was uneventful and boring. Got there about 3 pm to check into the Fitz. Asked for a deluxe room and was told the room was still dirty but could be ready in an hour. We said ok and took off to gamble. Got our room an hour later, first room off the elevator, one of the quietest rooms we have ever had. Went to GS and Sheraton for some free play. Nothing to write about. Simply put, we lost.
GAMBLING: The next day we went to Resorts and Sams Town for some free play. Left Sams Town very quickly with no wins.
Played my $25 free play at Resorts in a White Orchid machine, one coin per line plus bonus for 80 cents a pull. Got into the bonus and just kept retriggering
it over and over so I cashed out $300 there. This is the only good hit for the whole trip. I cashed out $100 on a couple machines after playing $20. I'm
trying to remember some of the machines that we at least got a little play on. A Pompeii at Fitz gave Jerry some play. I had fun on the Wizard of Oz machines
at Fitz. Went back to the White Orchid machine at Resorts and took another $70 out of there. There are some brightly lit machines right in front of the doors
at Fitz that gave me some good bonuses and I got $80 or $100 each time from them. It was not a winning gamble this time but we spent no more than if we had
went on any other vacation, so for me, that's a winning trip.
FOOD: We ate at the buffet at the Fitz, good food as usual. I love their snickers cheese cake and coconut cake. We ate at the café at Fitz twice. Both time there was a lengthy wait for seating. I questioned it since lots of table were empty but they said that they could only keep a small portion of the restaurant open because of shortage of staff. That as soon as they served others, they would seat us. This is the main area where we saw how the economy was affecting the casinos. We ate at the buffet once and the cashier was also seating people. It was difficult to get a drink refill. Items were not refilled on the buffet as quickly as before. We went to the omelet station to get a ham & cheese omelet and was told they were out of ham and she could not leave the station to get more. We ate at Resorts on T-bone Thursday. The t-bones were cooked to perfection. We really enjoyed them. Not much choice for desserts but I had the banana cream pie and it was very good. We also had breakfast one morning at the Waffle House. Do NOT be in a hurry when you go there. It took a while just to get a seat. They too seem very short handed and it takes them a while to get the tables cleared. We finally got seated at the counter and ordered our food. It did not take long to get 2 waffles delivered but after 20 more minutes, we wanted the rest of our food. I had finished my waffle by the time I got my bacon. Jerry eventually got his eggs, hash browns and bacon. In the past, these foods have always been served together, not in shifts. Took forever to get an extra cup of hot water for tea and a refill for coffee. Then waited for our ticket. Waitress at cash register asked if everything was ok. Jerry complained. Got an eye roll. Makes it really hard to tip in a situation like that. We also ate at the Blue and White Restaurant in Tunica. Good food and good service. Will definitely go back there.
FRIENDS: It is always so much fun when we can meet friends in Tunica. It had been a year since we had met anyone, so we had a lot to catch up on. Always fun to have people to eat with and to chat with in the casinos. Really enjoyed our times with Anne/Jerry (hound dogs), Mikey/Brandy, Pat and Dan from NY, Jen and meeting Dewey from NY too. Lots of laughing between bites. And if any of you get to meet with Jen, be sure to ask her to flash before pictures. So hard to have to say goodbye to everyone. Not sure when we will all be able to get together again.
PANHANDLING: It seems Tunica has a resident panhandler. He hit Mikey up for money at the Fitz. He found us at the gas station. When he approached Mikey, he only had one child and only needed $25 to get home to Georgia. By the time he reached us, two days later, he had produced 2 more children and needed $30 for the trip. Guess it takes a lot of gas traveling from parking lot to gas station.
OVERVIEW: Overall this was a good trip. We had a great room, good food and excellent company with our friends. With the economic troubles, I'm not sure when we will return but I'm hoping it won't be a year before we can all get together again. We lost a little money but the chance to relax and enjoy time with friends makes this trip priceless. Drive home - uneventful.
