big money! no whammy!

Kirstie & Nathan (my sister & brother-in-law) visited last weekend, and we had a really good time. Most ridiculous thing we did? Well...Nathan decided that because he'd never been to a casino before, it was absolutely necessary that we go. So Saturday night, we did. I encourage you to visit any casino's website. You will see many photos of lovely, young, well-dressed people having the time of their lives. I think these people must have been hired, because do you know what we did see?

• Rows and rows and rows of slot machines
• A bright red plastic ashtray at each and every slot machine
• Old ladies clutching dollar bills in the left hand and a burning cigarette in the right hand
• Five middle-aged men on stage playing country music (and they weren't bad, really)
• A "non-smoking area," which measured about 100 square feet and was immediately adjacent to a cigarette vending machine

It was pretty crazy, and Nathan was less than impressed. I suspect this might have something to do with the fact that he put $10 in a slot machine and lost it all in about three minutes. "Big money! No whammy!" he said. But it was big whammy, no money.

We surveyed the despair around us and decided we didn't want to become senior citizens clutching their Social Security money at the penny slots. So we left and went for frozen yogurt.

Kirstie fared pretty well, though. Here she is with her winnings!