Don't Bother . . .

I have a confession.

Brave Sir Robin likes to occasionally get his gamble on.

I love Vegas. I like to hit the casino on cruise ships. I've been known to gamble in Louisiana from time to time. I even like the dog races.

I like blackjack ok. I like to play poker, ("Poker? I didn't even kiss her!") with friends. I love to spend time in the sports book. I'm not much on slot machines, but I have played them.

I really love Pai gow poker. If you make it to a casino that offers it, I highly recommend it. Roulette is a lot of fun, though I rarely win at it.

Ahh, but the dice. Yes, Brave Sir Robin loves to play craps. It is such a social game. Get a hot guy on the dice and everybody makes money. You make friends very fast at the craps table.


So, with that in mind, let me tell you about our side trip to the Choctaw Nation Casino in Oklahoma this past Saturday.

We were all excited!!!! Myself, D & L were old hands at hitting the casino, but for G, their son, it was to be his first time. His girlfriend, Dn, also came along for her first casino experience.

We arrive to a packed parking lot. The place is huge!! Casino, hotel, conference areas, Rodeo arena, Concert Hall. That's a great sign, I thought. I've seen my share of rinky-dink roadside Casinos in Louisiana. This looks pretty good! It was about 2:00 or so in the afternoon.

How to describe it? A list of what I didn't see is probably the best way to let you understand the experience.

What I didn't see in the casino.

Native Americans.
The only Native American I saw in the entire place was selling trinkets on a table outside the official gift shop.

Clear Air.
Maybe the smoke eaters were broken, maybe they were simply over-taxed, maybe they were non existent. Who knows? All I can say is that my leather suitcase still smell like smoke just from having my dirty clothes in it for the day. Sweet Jeebus this place looked like an L.A. afternoon in the late seventies.

Young Middle Aged People.
I'm thinking the over/under age of the average patron was about 67.

Bras.
(See previous item-this makes for an unpleasant combination) Enough said.


Empty Chairs.
This place was wall to wall humanity. As crowded a place as one can imagine. In the middle of the afternoon!

Craps, Roulette, Pai Gow, Sports Book.
This place had blackjack and slots. That's it. A Casino bigger than 2 or 3 football fields, and all they have is blackjack and slots. Oh, and there is a 50 cent per hand surcharge just to play blackjack!!!

Alcohol.
Ok, I'm not saying I can't have a good time without alcohol. Ok, I am saying that. It's a freaking CASINO!!!!!!! I can't even have a beer? Are you shitting me? You are going to deny me craps and clean air AND a drink, then charge me 50 cents a hand to lose money?

On the bright side, some of the dealers had all their teeth.

btw - I'm really not exaggerating, its was worse than I'm letting on. I've cleaned out much of what I really wanted to say about the patrons.

Postcards From Jeebus Land.

Well, the trip was wonderful. It was great to get away with friends and have adult conversation. It was also nice to drive leisurely, without time-lines, and with the ability to stop when and where we wanted without kids complaining.

Note - all pictures have clickable goodness to embiggen. I do suggest it, because most of them require reading.

A few things of note. North Texas is definitely Jeebus Country. Yep, they loves them some Jeebus, (and Huckabee).

They also don't much care for alternative culture, or clothing.

You can even stay in a Jeebus Hotel!!

If your car gets dirty, you can always go to a Jeebus-Endorsed car wash. (Can you imagine the ads for this place? Washed in the blood of the Lamb anyone?)

Just in case the Fundies forget to talk to the big guy, there are reminders along the highway.

Even the truckers get in on the act.

This one was in the Casino parking lot!

As one might well imagine, we were ready for some good old liberal, alcohol drinking, rock music listening, counter-cultural type people after two days of all that! So, on the way home we took about a two hour detour so we could go home via Austin.

For those of you that don't know, Austin is a blue city stuck right smack in the middle of the red state of Texas.

D&L are silent partners in a wonderful pizza place on South Congress in Austin. We knew we were back where we belonged when we saw this car parked out front of the restaurant.
(The Gandhi quote is my favorite)

Once inside, we felt right at home.

We weren't so sure however, that all that time in Jeebusville didn't affect us. David was convinced he saw the Virgin Mary's nipple in his beer foam. What do you think?

Well, She wasn't hiding in the cannoli or the chocolate sorbet, that's for sure.

We got home about 10:30 last night and declared the trip a rousing success. I will probably post more photos throughout the week.

I Survived The Trip!!

Details and pictures coming to a blog near you soon. . . . .

To whet your appetite . . . .

Good Morning From The Road . . .

Well, it took 8 and a half hours to get here.

But that was ok, we had excellent conversation and (two of us), plenty of beer.

This morning we are crossing the border into Oklahoma for a bit of gambling at the Native American Casino.

I'll have pictures later, I can't upload from this machine.

Did I miss anything?

Roadtrip!!!!!!

Brave Sir Robin is going on a much needed Roadie this weekend.

My good friends D&L are hitting the road with me, and we are going to Sherman, Texas.

Why on earth would we do that?

Well, besides being the location of D's Alma-Matter, their oldest son is in a production this weekend.

So, 7 hours of driving, and we will see The Foreigner.

I most likely won't have internet access this weekend, but if I do, I'll stay in touch. Otherwise, I'll be back with pictures and updates on Sunday.

Be good.

I'm Houston Proud

I lived in Houston for about 9 years in the 80’s and early 90’s. I still go there between once and 10 times a month, depending on various factors.

I like Houston. It is not as aesthetically pleasing as say, San Francisco, or Vancouver, but it has quite a bit of beauty, if you know where to look. It doesn’t get the press that Dallas gets, but having spent a lot of time in each city, I can tell you it is friendlier, has better freeways, and YES, the arts scene is much, much better in Houston.

Still, Houston doesn’t get much repect as big cities go. It is the fourth largest city in America, but rarely gets much good press.

All that being said, I was very pleased to see this excellent little article on traveling to Houston on National Geographic’s website.

Peruse it, enjoy it, and don’t believe all the bad press, weather aside, Houston is a great city, and getting better all the time.