Monday morning came early this week. I was going to
Coushatta Inn and Casino in Kinder, Louisiana for 3 days with 8 other gals from
the park. The bus was scheduled to pick us up at 6:45 a.m., to arrive in Kinder
about 7 hours later. Owned and operated by Rockport Tours, the bus was quite
comfortable, and the host and bus driver were very accommodating. There was time for a movie onboard, so we watched SeaBiscuit, and stopped at
a couple places along the way to pick up other passengers and for restroom
breaks. We arrived at Coushatta about 2 p.m. Weather there was almost the same
as in Rockport, perhaps a bit cooler at night, but beautiful, none-the-less.
The casino is located about ¼ mile from our hotel; we either
took the shuttle, which runs continuously 24/7 or walked. It offers blackjack
or slots, in over 100,000 square feet of space. After checking in we spent a
few hours at the one-arm bandits before gathering for dinner in one of the many
restaurants onsite. (I was back in my room by a little past 6 p.m. for the
evening.) My roommate cancelled at the last minute due to illness so I was
fortunate to have a room to myself.
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The sign reads, "The Luck Starts Here."
Mmmmm, not so much! |
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| Coushatta Casino Resort sign. |
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| Christmas trees are recycled as Mardi Gras trees! |
I noticed there weren't any coffee packets in my room, so I
made a trip to the front desk. The next morning when I attempted to turn on the
coffee maker, the on/off switch popped out of the machine; after much finagling
I did manage to get it to work, but made another trip to the front desk to let
them know that it needed to be replaced. Then, when I turned on the television,
the picture went from perfect to snow in just minutes. This I reported to the
front desk on my way to breakfast—it took 2 visits by the maintenance staff to
fix the problem with a new cable. Wednesday morning I had to reattach the chain
in the toilet tank to get it to stop running…all in a day's work at a Best
Western!
There weren't any shops or other means to occupy our time,
so after a few hours at the slots on Tuesday morning, friends Connie and Marty and I
headed back to the hotel to sit in the sun to knit and read. What a beautiful sunny and cloudless day! We
went back to the casino for dinner, then directly back to the hotel. Wednesday
morning we packed up to load luggage onto the bus by 8:30, with a scheduled
departure time of Noon. After, once again, contributing to the Louisiana economy, we boarded the bus for the trip home—all
except Lyn and Marty. Lyn had hit on over 300 spins and Marty was keeping her
company, thus being coined with the nicknames "Spin and Marty." Ha! By about 12:20 we
were all on board and heading home. We
arrived back at Bay View by about 6:45 that evening, and I can truthfully say
that a good time was had by all.
While I was away, Dick kept the home fires burning, and did
some vacuuming in between time spent working on software for the park. He's
also going to be teaching a computer class this coming week so he spent some
prep time on that, as well.
Thursday was our 32
nd wedding anniversary!
Hurray, we made it another year! (Upon my arrival from Coushatta, he gave me a beautiful
bouquet of pink roses to celebrate. Love that man!) That afternoon we played
Pegs and Jokers with friends Bob and Sharon (from Missouri), Bill and Carol (from Arkansas), and Steve and
Marty (from Michigan), splitting the wins, 1:1. That was followed by happy hour and the weekly
dinner in the clubhouse, held Thursday this week because the chef was "Spin-ning away" at Coushatta. This week's dinner was spaghetti with red sauce
and meatballs, salad and garlic bread with a lemon crème cake for dessert.
Yum-yum!
Friday welcomed us with 54 degrees and sunshine. The sun and
warmth certainly brightens everyone's mood! That afternoon we attended happy
hour at 4 p.m., and after dinner at home headed back to the clubhouse to hear
Cody Dooley, a local boy who made it in the country western music scene,
perform country western music impersonations. He has over 150 impersonations in
his repertoire. Currently living in Branson, Missouri, he's been performing the
Country Legacy Tribute Show for 9 seasons. He's opened for Willie Nelson and
Janie Fricke, to name a few. It was a good entertaining couple of hours.
The third Saturday of the month is the Rockport Market, held
in downtown Rockport, near the harbor. Marty joined us for a walk-through, to
see if there was anything worth purchasing. We each made small purchases while
Dick walked around the harbor taking photos. Marty and I saw a
huge flock of white pelicans fly
over—there must have been about 150 of them—but sadly didn't get photos—Dick with the camera didn't see them… Hopefully we'll have another opportunity while we're here. Quite a sight to see! The following 6 photos were taken of Rockport Harbor.
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| (I remember a different "Love Boat...") |
Sunday we attended church, followed by breakfast at home.
The message, brought by Jordan Mims, the youth pastor, was from Nehemiah
8:1-12—"A Proper Response to All God Is." Gave us lots to ponder on. Here's the link to his message:
http://www.sermon.net/fbcrockport
That afternoon we joined friends Bob and Sharon, and Bill
and Carol for ice cream at the clubhouse, and another 3 games of Pegs and
Jokers. WOMEN RULE! We won all 3 games! Woot-woot!
We were surprised by the arrival of friends Wes and Carolyn
from Welcome, Minnesota that afternoon. (They decided to check out this place, based on our blog.) We met them originally on our first
trip south in 2012, then again in Grand Portage, Minnesota last summer. What
fun! We turned them on to Pegs and Jokers last summer, and Wes has subsequently
made a set for himself and for their kids for Christmas, and who knows how many
more! They’ll be here for at least a week, perhaps more if they like the area.
Regardless, this weather is much better than that in Minnesota at this time of
year!
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| Turtles in our pond. |
We hope this finds you well, and surviving any strange
weather in your area. As I write this, I’m sitting outside in 70 degree
sunshine, with a slight breeze off the water. Lovin' it!
Hugs,
RJ and Gail
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