Sunday, March 7

Mini Vacation

Kids Weekend Getaway : Grandparents in Estacada

Alan & I Traveled To : Alan's folks home near Seattle

One of the 1st items on our itinerary once we arrived, was to watch Alan's cousin Brian & his band "Just Dirt" perform Friday night. However Alan got off work way too late on Friday, which his Boss apologized for. We were dissapointed but plan to check them out next time we are up North. So Alan & I decide to set off on our getaway early Saturday morning.
Nice road trip up North with my man.
$4.25 for my 20 oz. quad hazelnut latte' with skim milk.
$4.50 for Alan's 20 oz. triple "real" caramel mocha with whip.
$75 to fill my Excursions empty gas tank & we're off.
3 hours later arrive to Alan's dads home.

1st thing we notice is the fine job Alan's dad did on adding a bay window to their cute lil' house. Dad & Elain are ready when we get there to go eat. . . . and introduce us to Muckleshoot Casino "up the hill" from their home. Now unless you count me walking into Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City & walking immediately out as a casino experience... I have never been. My only memory of Chinook Winds was overpowering cigarette smoke & feeling nauseated. I had been encouraged by friends who said "State of Washington is no smoking in public buildings"....BUT they were wrong....even Muckleshoot had a smoking section which we had to walk thru in order to get to the dining room or the the nonsmoking portion of the casino. Freshly washed hair = cigarette smoke saturation, yuck! Ahh well.

1st we eat, and boy did we! Roast Pig but I did not have any of it...just thought my kids would be tripped out by this photo. I did however partake in huge chunks of fresh pineapple, plump strawberries, salad greens, lots of tomatoes, smoked salmon, a crab cake, a couple bites of prime rib, and lots of crab legs.
After we stuffed our faces we went & gambled. Now I was only willing to blow $5. Alan planned to play with $20. Dad & Elain boogied off to their favorite machines. It was so obvious I didnt know what I was doing. I was the only one who kept hollaring "Where are the intstructions?" "How do I turn the volume down" "This machine wont take my ticket" etc. Well I finally learned if I increased my bet, instead of betting a penny at a time, it increased my odds of winning. I played for a good hour & cashed out at $25, netting a profit of $20. Alan was at $75 and his frugal penny pincher wife kept chanting "Cash out!" But he ignored my advice & said "I will cash out at $50" and continued to play. When he was done he netted a $25 profit. After an hour or so of gambling the 4 of us decided to head back to their house but I wanted to take a couple of photos of my casino experience. I was able to capture this single picture of the casino before security rushed over to me "MA'AM! MA'AM! STOP! You are not allowed to take pictures MA'AM!" Apparently, I could have been accused of casing the place out to perform some heist?! Ooops! Once we were back at their place....Alan enjoyed lots of father son time...watching bowling...talking...listening to music....lots of laughing. I enjoyed getting to know Alan's stepmom Elain better & was happy to meet 2 of her kids Corena & DJ. Sunday morning came...Alan & I decided to go venture out, have breakfast, & go see the sights.
We were on a mission to go see Lake Tapps, but had bad directions & finally gave up. Another: "Next time!" "Mt Rainier from Lake Tapps" Alan's maternal grandparents lived in a cabin on this lake & it has been passed down thru the family over the years. I had looked forward to seeing this all. We head back & visit with the folks some more & finally pack it up to return home to Oregon & our kiddos. It was a nice mini vacation! We plan to take the kids next time & visit Seattle's Space Needle. Thank you to Dad & Elain for being such gracious hosts!

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