DISCLAIMER: This is not a Las Vegas report; rather a description of our experience staying at a couple of local Indian owned casinos in the Upper Pennisula (U.P.) of Michigan.
PROLOGUE:
I worked 33 of 35 days prior to this vacation; which included two stretches of 14 days in a row, including several 14 hour work days...boy did I need this time off. My friend, Gail, whom I met thru LVA was able to accompany me on my Michigan trip. We traveled together last year to Vegas and had a great time; was looking forward to spending some quality time with her.
It was a 6 1/2 hour drive from Rochester,Mn to Escanaba, Mi.. traffic was light and the time passed quickly. The drive from the Wisconsin border to Escanaba along M-35 skirts the Lake Michigan shoreline in many places which makes for a very scenic drive. Dinner was at a local place called Dobbers, which specializes in serving pasties, for which the U.P. is famous. It took Gail several tries, but with some coaching from me, was finally able to pronounce 'pastie' properly.
The Island Casino is a 13 mile drive outside of Escanaba...literally in the middle of nowhere, but the whole U.P is in the middle of nowhere. They have two hotel towers, a couple of restaurants and plenty of gaming opporunities. The hotel desk clerk was very friendly and check-in went smoothly. We each received a coupon packet which included a free drink coupon, $5 food credit and a coupon for bingo. Our hotel tower was on the other side of the casino from the hotel lobby, so I used a luggage cart to take our bags up to the room. Gail is not one for traveling "light". Our non-smoking room was very nice, beds were comfortable and the hotel was very quiet during our stay.
First order of business after unpacking was to hit the lounge to use our drink coupons to wash down the "trail dust" from our road trip. I noticed that the coupon did not have a restriction on types/brands of alcohol so I asked the bartender for a glass of McCallans 25 yr Malt on the rocks. He gave me an odd look and said he didn't know what that was. I explained that it was a premium Scotch that costs around $700 a bottle....another odd look....I started to laugh and told him I was joking and to give me a Manhattan, which he gladly did,,,wow....they mix their drinks strong up here. Gail's drink was also not for the timid. After another round it was time to hit the casino.
They have a good selection of slots and some, but not a lot of VP machines, The paytables for VP were terrible, so did not play any, with one exception. After our drinks, Gail had to use the ladies room, so I planted myself in front of a Deuces Wild machine and slipped in a fiver just to kill some time...played for nickles..doh. Hit a wild royal about the third played hand...should have played for quarters. The casino has a mini craps table as well has a full sized table, a couple of roulette tables, several BJ tables and other assorted games (LIR, 4 and 3 card poker...no Pai Gow). There were a lot of people smoking, but the air quality was good in the casino. We found a $5 BJ table and settled in for a session. It seems that they were having a LPGA tournament in Escanaba that weekend, so there were a lot of participants playing in the casino that night. We had a fun table and some pleasant dealers. Gail jumped out and was up early, which she usually does..almost doubling her $100 buy-in. I, on the other hand had my usual session where I get hammered early and have to claw my way back to even. Gail started to lose, and before you knew it she had lost most of her winnings. She ended the night even and I was down about $20 ...not bad for a couple of hours of play and good conversation.
Slept like a rock and woke refreshed at 08:30. We had breakfast in the cafe by the bingo parlor. I can't remember exactly what we had, but the food was good and our waitress was pleasant and attentive. The food coupons provided us with a very inexpensive meal to start the day. Check out was quick and we were on the road in no time. I was very satisfied with our hotel room...cost was comparable to what I would have paid for a similar room and one of the more upscale hotels in the area. The casino was not elegant by any means, but relatively smoke free, clean, with polite and talkative dealers. Our stay was well worth the 13 mile drive from Escanaba.
It was a beautiful summer day for our drive across U.S. 2, heading for St Ignace and the Straits of Mackinaw. There are several stretches where the highway runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline and plently of opportunities to pull off and enjoy the beaches and crystal clear water. The beaches for the most part are owned by the State of Michigan and you can walk for miles along the sandy shore. Gail and I spent a very pleasant couple of hours enjoying the water and basking in the sun while lying on the beach. My face had a slight "glow" later that night.
Our next stop was the Kewadin Casino in St Ignace, located just a few miles north of the Mighty Mac(the 5 mile long bridge that spans the strait separating the two pennisulas). This is a fairly new casino, the hotel is not large, but the rooms are very nice. The desk clerk gave us a room with a small balcony overlooking Horseshoe Bay...score....great view. The restaurant had a wide selection of food, but I was only interested in having fresh Michigan whitefish....the first of many meals of whitefish this trip. Gail had the whitefish and I had the triple combo of whitefish, lake perch and smelt. The whitefish was great, but the batter that they used for the smelt and perch was heavy and had some odd spices. Before dinner, we again hit the bar for some liquid libations. Our bartender was very funny and the drinks were very strong. Gail's brandy and water was mostly brandy with a splash of water. I had a draft beer and a Basil Hayden on the rocks. Again the bartender had a "heavy hand" and I ended up with a huge tumbler filled with my favorite bourbon. The bar bill was less than 10 bucks...couldn't believe it. She received a hefty tip.
Time to check out the gaming. The casino is not fancy, but is well lit, clean, has good air quality and a good variety of slots and table games. Roulette, craps, BJ, LIR, 3card poker, with low table minimums ($5 BJ and $3 craps). We made a tour of the casino, I played some slots, but did nothing but lose. We finally staked out a BJ table, each bought in for a hundy and gave the dealer our players card. Gail started to win right out of the gate...again, lucky girl. Me, I lost the first 6 hands and played even for the rest of the night..ending down $35. Gail almost doubled her buy-in and almost quit several times to post a nice win, but played too long and ended up with a modest $10 win. Her mistake was to change tables when she first started to lose...things went from bad to worse quickly at the new table...plus the guy at 3rd base was chain smoking, blowing cigarette smoke across the table contantly....cough.
After playing BJ for 30 minutes, the pit boss starts calling out my name..oh,oh what did I do wrong now? No worry, I won some type of drawing and have to go up to the desk by the gift shop. Gail gives me a kiss for luck...that kiss was like having a rabbit's foot and a handful of 4 leaf clovers. I arrived at the desk at the same time as another guy. The two ladies at the desk explain that we had to play a word game, like the old TV game show "Password". I am to give the clues and my new found buddy is to guess the word. For every right word, we each win some money, with the maximum prize of $275 each for getting 9 out of ten words within 90 seconds. Sixty seconds later my partner gets the 9th word correct and we are in the "chips". Take my voucher to the cashier and collect my winnings...sweet. Gail can't believe it, and the pitboss is really impressed. Afterward we played a old coin dropper Haywire slot machine, with Gail hitting for a nice win to end our evening.
I woke up about 01:00 feeling very strange...the spicy batter on my fish decided to re-surface. For the next hour I felt really ill...thought that I would lose my dinner from "both ends"...profuse sweating, nausea and cramps. Fortunately I travel with a well stocked inventory of pharmaceuticals, which has bailed me out several times during my past Vegas trips. A dose of Zantac and a handful of x-tra strength Tums and I was able to go back to sleep. I was able to eat breakfast the next morning and was feeling 100% by noon.
Kewadin runs a nice hotel/casino..would stay there anytime I am at the "Straits". They had sent me a $5 off food coupon and a coupon for double slot points to use during our stay. I also received a very nice e-mail after our trip, thanking us for our patronage....nice touch.
We stayed three nights on Mackinaw Island at the Chippewa Hotel...top floor suite with a balcony overlooking the harbor...had a wonderful 3 days. If you ever get a chance have dinner at the Grand Hotel on the island...do so....very memorable dining experience. They have a strict, "old school' dress code at the hotel: After 6 PM, men have to be dressed coat and tie and women have to wear a dress or a nice pants suit outfit. While we were there, some lady(a guest at the hotel) who was dressed in blue jeans was told flat out by the desk clerk that there was no way she was going up to the dining room/lobby dressed like that...period. She wasn't a happy camper.
Gail and I had a great time on vacation, can easily recommend both casinos as providing a nice place to stay and gamble. Next trip for Gail and I is a 7 night stay at the Rio in Las Vegas in September...only 65 more days...whoo Hoo. Thanks for reading.
PROLOGUE:
I worked 33 of 35 days prior to this vacation; which included two stretches of 14 days in a row, including several 14 hour work days...boy did I need this time off. My friend, Gail, whom I met thru LVA was able to accompany me on my Michigan trip. We traveled together last year to Vegas and had a great time; was looking forward to spending some quality time with her.
It was a 6 1/2 hour drive from Rochester,Mn to Escanaba, Mi.. traffic was light and the time passed quickly. The drive from the Wisconsin border to Escanaba along M-35 skirts the Lake Michigan shoreline in many places which makes for a very scenic drive. Dinner was at a local place called Dobbers, which specializes in serving pasties, for which the U.P. is famous. It took Gail several tries, but with some coaching from me, was finally able to pronounce 'pastie' properly.
The Island Casino is a 13 mile drive outside of Escanaba...literally in the middle of nowhere, but the whole U.P is in the middle of nowhere. They have two hotel towers, a couple of restaurants and plenty of gaming opporunities. The hotel desk clerk was very friendly and check-in went smoothly. We each received a coupon packet which included a free drink coupon, $5 food credit and a coupon for bingo. Our hotel tower was on the other side of the casino from the hotel lobby, so I used a luggage cart to take our bags up to the room. Gail is not one for traveling "light". Our non-smoking room was very nice, beds were comfortable and the hotel was very quiet during our stay.
First order of business after unpacking was to hit the lounge to use our drink coupons to wash down the "trail dust" from our road trip. I noticed that the coupon did not have a restriction on types/brands of alcohol so I asked the bartender for a glass of McCallans 25 yr Malt on the rocks. He gave me an odd look and said he didn't know what that was. I explained that it was a premium Scotch that costs around $700 a bottle....another odd look....I started to laugh and told him I was joking and to give me a Manhattan, which he gladly did,,,wow....they mix their drinks strong up here. Gail's drink was also not for the timid. After another round it was time to hit the casino.
They have a good selection of slots and some, but not a lot of VP machines, The paytables for VP were terrible, so did not play any, with one exception. After our drinks, Gail had to use the ladies room, so I planted myself in front of a Deuces Wild machine and slipped in a fiver just to kill some time...played for nickles..doh. Hit a wild royal about the third played hand...should have played for quarters. The casino has a mini craps table as well has a full sized table, a couple of roulette tables, several BJ tables and other assorted games (LIR, 4 and 3 card poker...no Pai Gow). There were a lot of people smoking, but the air quality was good in the casino. We found a $5 BJ table and settled in for a session. It seems that they were having a LPGA tournament in Escanaba that weekend, so there were a lot of participants playing in the casino that night. We had a fun table and some pleasant dealers. Gail jumped out and was up early, which she usually does..almost doubling her $100 buy-in. I, on the other hand had my usual session where I get hammered early and have to claw my way back to even. Gail started to lose, and before you knew it she had lost most of her winnings. She ended the night even and I was down about $20 ...not bad for a couple of hours of play and good conversation.
Slept like a rock and woke refreshed at 08:30. We had breakfast in the cafe by the bingo parlor. I can't remember exactly what we had, but the food was good and our waitress was pleasant and attentive. The food coupons provided us with a very inexpensive meal to start the day. Check out was quick and we were on the road in no time. I was very satisfied with our hotel room...cost was comparable to what I would have paid for a similar room and one of the more upscale hotels in the area. The casino was not elegant by any means, but relatively smoke free, clean, with polite and talkative dealers. Our stay was well worth the 13 mile drive from Escanaba.
It was a beautiful summer day for our drive across U.S. 2, heading for St Ignace and the Straits of Mackinaw. There are several stretches where the highway runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline and plently of opportunities to pull off and enjoy the beaches and crystal clear water. The beaches for the most part are owned by the State of Michigan and you can walk for miles along the sandy shore. Gail and I spent a very pleasant couple of hours enjoying the water and basking in the sun while lying on the beach. My face had a slight "glow" later that night.
Our next stop was the Kewadin Casino in St Ignace, located just a few miles north of the Mighty Mac(the 5 mile long bridge that spans the strait separating the two pennisulas). This is a fairly new casino, the hotel is not large, but the rooms are very nice. The desk clerk gave us a room with a small balcony overlooking Horseshoe Bay...score....great view. The restaurant had a wide selection of food, but I was only interested in having fresh Michigan whitefish....the first of many meals of whitefish this trip. Gail had the whitefish and I had the triple combo of whitefish, lake perch and smelt. The whitefish was great, but the batter that they used for the smelt and perch was heavy and had some odd spices. Before dinner, we again hit the bar for some liquid libations. Our bartender was very funny and the drinks were very strong. Gail's brandy and water was mostly brandy with a splash of water. I had a draft beer and a Basil Hayden on the rocks. Again the bartender had a "heavy hand" and I ended up with a huge tumbler filled with my favorite bourbon. The bar bill was less than 10 bucks...couldn't believe it. She received a hefty tip.
Time to check out the gaming. The casino is not fancy, but is well lit, clean, has good air quality and a good variety of slots and table games. Roulette, craps, BJ, LIR, 3card poker, with low table minimums ($5 BJ and $3 craps). We made a tour of the casino, I played some slots, but did nothing but lose. We finally staked out a BJ table, each bought in for a hundy and gave the dealer our players card. Gail started to win right out of the gate...again, lucky girl. Me, I lost the first 6 hands and played even for the rest of the night..ending down $35. Gail almost doubled her buy-in and almost quit several times to post a nice win, but played too long and ended up with a modest $10 win. Her mistake was to change tables when she first started to lose...things went from bad to worse quickly at the new table...plus the guy at 3rd base was chain smoking, blowing cigarette smoke across the table contantly....cough.
After playing BJ for 30 minutes, the pit boss starts calling out my name..oh,oh what did I do wrong now? No worry, I won some type of drawing and have to go up to the desk by the gift shop. Gail gives me a kiss for luck...that kiss was like having a rabbit's foot and a handful of 4 leaf clovers. I arrived at the desk at the same time as another guy. The two ladies at the desk explain that we had to play a word game, like the old TV game show "Password". I am to give the clues and my new found buddy is to guess the word. For every right word, we each win some money, with the maximum prize of $275 each for getting 9 out of ten words within 90 seconds. Sixty seconds later my partner gets the 9th word correct and we are in the "chips". Take my voucher to the cashier and collect my winnings...sweet. Gail can't believe it, and the pitboss is really impressed. Afterward we played a old coin dropper Haywire slot machine, with Gail hitting for a nice win to end our evening.
I woke up about 01:00 feeling very strange...the spicy batter on my fish decided to re-surface. For the next hour I felt really ill...thought that I would lose my dinner from "both ends"...profuse sweating, nausea and cramps. Fortunately I travel with a well stocked inventory of pharmaceuticals, which has bailed me out several times during my past Vegas trips. A dose of Zantac and a handful of x-tra strength Tums and I was able to go back to sleep. I was able to eat breakfast the next morning and was feeling 100% by noon.
Kewadin runs a nice hotel/casino..would stay there anytime I am at the "Straits". They had sent me a $5 off food coupon and a coupon for double slot points to use during our stay. I also received a very nice e-mail after our trip, thanking us for our patronage....nice touch.
We stayed three nights on Mackinaw Island at the Chippewa Hotel...top floor suite with a balcony overlooking the harbor...had a wonderful 3 days. If you ever get a chance have dinner at the Grand Hotel on the island...do so....very memorable dining experience. They have a strict, "old school' dress code at the hotel: After 6 PM, men have to be dressed coat and tie and women have to wear a dress or a nice pants suit outfit. While we were there, some lady(a guest at the hotel) who was dressed in blue jeans was told flat out by the desk clerk that there was no way she was going up to the dining room/lobby dressed like that...period. She wasn't a happy camper.
Gail and I had a great time on vacation, can easily recommend both casinos as providing a nice place to stay and gamble. Next trip for Gail and I is a 7 night stay at the Rio in Las Vegas in September...only 65 more days...whoo Hoo. Thanks for reading.
