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Richard’s Trip to Grand Casino-Mille Lacs (Oct. 7-9, 2016)

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by Richard Alpert, Oct 9, 2016.

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  1. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    My Trip Report

    My beautiful bride and I had a three day, two night getaway to celebrate our anniversary! :kiss: We travelled to our fifth-closest “local” casino, Grand Casino Mille Lacs, in Minnesota.

    Disclaimer: I’m not going to go into detail and provide minutiae like “the toiletries were a splendid trio of 1 fl.oz./29 mL bottles of Rainkissed Leaves volumizing shampoo, volumizing conditioner, and body lotion from the Bath and Body Works’ Signature Collection.” I’m just not going to do that! (Oh, yeah... The counter also boasted a Sysco soap bar, and the towels from the Fairview Royal Collection if you’re curious! :))

    Friday, Oct. 7

    We dropped the minions off at grandpa and grandma’s and made a break for it! Roughly two hour drive to Mille Lacs, a good chunk of it the multilane Highway 169 so we made pretty good time.

    Dropped my bride off to check-in and I ended up parking in the front casino lot as the side lot next to the hotel was already packed.
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    We dropped the bags in our 2nd floor king-bed room and then hoofed it down to the Grand Northern Grill. My bride enjoyed the pork plate special and I downed the garlic parmesan chicken tenders.

    We slotted around a tiny bit before early bed at 10:00, both of us exhausted from the busy day and the travel.

    In honor of @broncofn, here is a pic of my Friday night pocket dump!
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    Saturday, Oct. 8

    I awoke on Saturday to find my eyes quite irritated from the smoke I encountered in the casino the previous night.

    My first task of the day was to scoot into the bingo hall to reserve our spots for the evening’s bingo session.
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    A step outside to take in the beautiful fall morning!
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    I did a little slot hopping and tried a little VP for kicks. Stayed afloat for a while playing while enjoying cup after cup of Mountain Dew from the beverage stations.

    About 10:00 or so I returned to the room to see how my sleeping beauty was doing.

    We had a “Two Person Focus Group.” :wink2: After that came to a conclusion I enjoyed watching most of an episode of “The Greatest American Hero” while my bride went through her morning preparations.
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    Speaking of superheroes, it was “housekeeping appreciation week” at the hotel/casino. A lot of the employees had on superhero shirts. They do a fantastic :clap: job there. I thanked a lot of them for their hard work and commented on the cleanliness of the property. Very nice folks there!

    My bride and I made our way to the buffet for lunch. Pretty good :feedme: for $12 apiece. Their turkey was my favorite, followed closely by the French onion potatoes.

    We headed out to the sea of slots, setting out to reel (pun intended :D) in the big one! My wife sat down on a Triple Red Hot 777 machine. I blew through $5 on OMG! Kittens. (Screw you, Mr. Whiskers! :mad:)

    I went over and sat next to my wife to watch, but got a little bored :whistle: so I put a fiver in the Triple Red Hot 777 machine next to hers, and a minute or two later hit this…
    DSCF0432.JPG

    I cashed out and took my TITO to R2-D2’s taller brother to get my moolah. I returned to find my wife had a hit close to the amount I had just won. :woot:

    She cashed out and we went up to the room to relax rather than stay down on the casino floor and give back what we’d just won.

    Here’s a slightly-more impressive pocket dump photo taken when we got back to the room…
    DSCF0434.JPG

    We watched some HGTV (Flip or Flop). My bride got a little thirsty and I went down to the casino floor to grab some more pop. I took a long-cut past the bank of machines we’d been at less than an hour before. I put in a ten. Two spins later (25 lines X 10 credits) I believe, and I was looking at $49.xx on the screen. :cool: Cashed that out, grabbed the pop, and went back up to the room for awhile.

    It was fun looking out our window and watching this fellow using a grabber to pick up trash in the parking lot from the comfort of his golf cart. I guess I'm easily entertained!
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    We went over to the theatre just north of the hotel (across one street) and watched the 1:15 showing of “Masterminds.” Lots of laughs! :popcorn: $13 for two tickets. We’ve learned from our two previous visits that the theatre staff doesn’t show up until about five or ten minutes before the first showing, so don’t get there too early. Also, they normally have the previews already rolling so the movie starts right at the advertised time. You can tell they want you out of there in good time to return to the casino!

    We chilled in the room for a little bit more after the movie. Then we headed down to Plums, the café/snack bar right at the edge of where the casino floor connects with the short corridor to the pool and hotel. We enjoyed some fry bread :feedme: with honey butter, cheese curds, and wild rice soup. We weren’t super-hungry at that time, but we wanted something that would get us through the roughly three-hour bingo session.

    After eating my bride slotted around a little as I ran up to the room to get our bag of bingo daubers, including my lucky pink dauber affectionately named Jeffrey. Jeffrey Dauber. My wife :rolleyes2: just shakes her head. The other day I shared how as a high-schooler I used a fanny pack full of quarters to buy Super Mario 3 for Nintendo. She says if she would’ve had this information before our wedding that the whole thing would’ve been off. Okay, back on topic here…

    We both splurged for the $30 bingo package, which meant we had 18 cards to keep our eyes on for a lot of the games.
    Bingo Games Oct 8 2016.jpg

    The bingo caller was a heck of a lot faster than she’d been before. It was the same lady who’d called on our previous visits. No wonder the folks on the machines kept winning. A lot of people probably missed bingos on their paper just trying to keep up! :faint: Anytime they had a glitch with one of the player machines they’d wait until they were up and running before picking the next number. That pause was a good chance to catch up and double-check your bingo cards.

    No wins for the bride and I this time, but I was drawn as a “bingo buddy” for the first half. Anytime the “hot ball” (N45 this time) came up during the first half of the session, I and the other “bingo buddy” got $5. N45 came up three times in the first half of the night, so I at least got half :thumbsup: of my buy-in back!

    When we got out the casino floor was packed. Most of the crowd from the Maddie & Tae :cowboy: country music concert had apparently stuck around to use their free slot play coupons. Lots of flannel, tight jeans :wink2:, and boots. And the ladies were dressed quiet “country” as well!

    A stop at Plums again—this time for shakes :feedme: and chicken nachos—and my bride and I retreated to our room for a little television. The next thing I remember was my bride waking me up and mentioning that it was probably time for bed. :snore:

    Sunday, Oct. 9

    My first stop in the casino was to the cashier to cash in my loose change. I then hiked over to the grocery store to play my favorite “Daily 3” numbers, 50 cent play for 14 daily draws. I’ve yet to find a winner on those numbers in MN. I’m much luckier with those numbers back home in WI, but it’s fun to try them out in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, too!

    On the way to the store (which was right next to the theater), I found this grease gun on the sidewalk. Not what I was expecting to find along the way. I left it there, because it's not "the one that I want. Ooo, Ooo, Ooo." :biker: (All apologies to Ms. Newton-John and Mr. Travolta!)
    DSCF0457.JPG

    The weather was just fantastic.
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    I walked around quite a while before returning to the casino to super low-roll on some slots and consume some more Mountain Dew. You may have figured out by now that it was a dry property due to it being on the reservation.

    While walking around, I came across the Play Pulse brochure below.
    Play Pulse.jpg

    I walked around and looked at all the machines I’d played the last three days. Most had labels of a “three” rating.

    I ordered some cheese curds :feedme: from Plums and did one final lap around the casino floor before returning to the room to pack and to wake up my sleeping beauty. After checking out we decided to hit the buffet one more time. Pretty much the same selection as yesterday, but still :feedme: pretty good eats. A lot more customers and more families than the previous day.

    Then, the sad walk to the car and the ride back to reality. Pick up the minions, do laundry, etc.

    My bride and I had a super time :thumbsup: celebrating our anniversary. Came back ahead, but I’ve been a winner since hitting the jackpot on my wedding day! The rest is frosting on the wedding cake!

    I have no reservations (pun intended :D) about recommending Mille Lacs for a quiet stay of a night or two.

    Thanks for reading--and for putting up with me on this Board!

    RICHARD
     
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  2. 93 Octane

    93 Octane Chief Bottle Washer

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    Nice TR Richard! It's interesting what people eat in different parts of the country, cheese curds definitely not found in the deep south but if you want something fried we have you covered. Cheers!!
     
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  3. joehypnosis

    joehypnosis Low-Roller

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    Happy Anniversary, Richard! Glad you guys were able to get away for a couple days to relax and have fun. Thanks for the report!
    (Sadly, I couldn't think of a single pun while writing this!!!)
    Joe
     
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  4. pleasemum

    pleasemum High-Roller

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    Happy Anniversary!!! Love the way you refer to your partner "my bride" - very romantic
     
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  5. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    I thought of three while reading it!
    Thanks, Joe! I hope everything's cool :cool: (not necessarily weather-wise) in your "neck-of-the-woods!"

    RICHARD
     
  6. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Thank you very much! I've only heard about that good deep south cooking. Perhaps I'll get to enjoy it firsthand someday!

    RICHARD
     
  7. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Thank you. She is a big fan of "The Princess Bride!"
    I'm a fan of The Dukes of Hazzard, so I'm her "Bo." (Beau :))
    (It sure beats being her "Cooter!")

    RICHARD
     
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  8. LV2GAMBLE

    LV2GAMBLE Certified LOW Roller

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    Thanks for your report. Happy anniversary. We used to like to go to Mille Lacs quite a bit, but last time we were there it was so darn smokey. As soon as you hit the carpet (coming in by the gift shop) it was intense. Don't remember it being that way in the past. I do miss having cocktails on the floor while there, but it's interesting that the Mille Lacs location is dry while the sister property in Hinckley is not. For that reason, I'd probably pick Hinckley but don't want to drive the extra distance to get there. Thanks for sharing your report.
     
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  9. Edserv

    Edserv Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the trip report Richard and happy anniversary! Your puns are funny and entertaining. Sorry I couldn't think of a pun to put in this post. Guess i'm punnyless.
     
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  10. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice report!

    And kind of the casino to roughly guide you on the relative variance of the slot machines. Now if only they admitted the paybacks...:evillaugh:
     
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  11. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Well played, Edserv. Well played...:thumbsup:
    Thank you!

    RICHARD
     
  12. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    I sure couldn't find a brochure on that one!

    RICHARD
     
  13. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    It definitely still is really smokey in there. I'm doing the second half of the laundry tonight and you can definitely tell the clothes we wore this weekend just by the smell.

    RICHARD
     
  14. ShepherdDon

    ShepherdDon Tourist

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    Since I had a couple sessions with pneumonia, I've almost decided non-smoking places or a mask are necessities for casino activity. Then I read trip reports like your and realize there's so much enjoyable stuff to do and see that my resolution disappears. Thoroughly enjoyed making the trip with you.

    Don
     
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  15. Geogran

    Geogran VIP Whale

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    So, no essentials like shower bonnet, cotton balls or q-tips? How cheesy.

    Wow, do you bring your own handmade RESERVE sign to Bingo? I'm impressed @Richard Alpert !

    You need to do these more often, they are so pfunny! Thanks for taking us along and belated Happy Anniversary.
    Geogran
     
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  16. Minnesota3

    Minnesota3 Tourist

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    Happy Anniversary! Great trip report! Mille Lacs property is always kept up well. Had brunch a few months ago and also very good. As a VP player, I wish they had better than 30/6/5 bonus poker, 6/5 DDB and served alcohol though.
     
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  17. JosieCat

    JosieCat VIP Whale

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    Fun trip report. I actually drove up to Grand Casino Hinckley this past weekend. Thanks for sharing it with us :).
     
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  18. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Maybe those were just for the "diamond" guests.
    Funny...shower bonnet, cotton balls, and q-tips... those are the components of my Halloween costume for this year!

    RICHARD
     
  19. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Thanks, Geogran! They have a stack of those reserved signs on a little table at the entrance to the bingo hall. I usually like to decorate it a little bit more, but I didn't have my gel pens, decorative hole punches, or stamp pads with on this trip!

    RICHARD
     
  20. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    You're welcome and thank you, JosieCat! I hope Hinckley was kind to you this weekend. I haven't been there in quite a few years! We're considering going either there or Mystic Lake next month. Our closest local (Turtle Lake) is not the most exciting for couples (especially the hotel).

    RICHARD
     
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