Travel Diary

It had been a long time. Not since I woke up in a hotel. That was only about a week ago. But it had been a long time since I woke up in a casino hotel. It brought back memories of the good old Gold Country Casino days. I took a very long shower and tried to wash all the layers of hairspray out of my hair since the Elvis look was retired for a while. Then I contacted the others to see about breakfast. It looked like other people were sleeping in and I didn't want to get too far behind so I just went down and ordered a to-go meal. It was tough to find out exactly how much I could spend but I thought I had about half of my $75 voucher left.

There were so many options and none of them especially cheap. That was the big difference between this casino and Gold Country. The prices were far, far lower at Gold country. But I guess overall casinos have jacked up their prices in recent years. Apparently people will gamble no matter how much they have to pay for food and drinks so there is less incentive to offer any savings to them there.

But I went with the French dip, which is a favor of mine. It also came with fries. I waited around and the others finally did come down and went to the restaurant. So I just brought my food into there. I also had a cappuccino which was really good and obviously full of calories, but sometimes it's nice to enjoy a high calorie drink and not worry about things. That was kind of my feeling about the entire trip.

We enjoyed our breakfast meal and then it was about 11 AM so it was time to check out. I was all packed and ready to go so I took a long last look around and then headed downstairs. During checkout, I found out that the tips were not covered in the vouchers, which I guess kind of makes sense although I think it's also a bit silly but whatever. The second meal was worth it and I enjoyed the food.

We got in the car, but before heading out, I sent the drone up to get an overview of the casino. It was a great day for it bright and sunny. Then we headed to a gas station for some oil which I guess was low in the car. The ladies tried to add themselves, but finally asked me for help. I didn't mind and was happy to help, but they had made a big deal of doing it themselves first, so I just sat back. A bit ironic since I've been adding oil to my car since I was 16 years old.

We drove home and the drive was much faster than going to the casino the night before. At home we relaxed a little bit. But we had another event to attend to in the evening. We were going to be on the murder mystery train.

I guess Serena had wanted to do this for years but never found a good time. So she booked us some tickets and we got a ride from her neighbor out to the train site. It was kind of hard to find. It doesn't seem like a place that's obvious for the train to arrive although there were some signs here and there. But other people were gathered around and the train finally pulled in.

We climbed aboard and it was cool to be on a dining car—almost feeling like you were in a different era. We got our seats and were next to a nice couple who were in Florida because they canceled their trip to Mexico due to some world events. So they had found a last-minute thing to do, which was the mystery train.

I do have to say the food was quite adequate. They had fruit and cheese appetizer plate before we sat down, then later served soup and a pretzel roll, and then a salad, and finally the entrée which was steak and mashed potatoes and green beans. Next was coffee and dessert. I don't think I've ever done a mystery where so much food was offered. The people do get fed well.

As far as the show, we knew a few actors in it so it was fun to see them. I was dedicated to try and solve the mystery, especially since I write them on occasion. But they can be tough to solve, and the clues can be easily missed. Plus, I was in the bathroom for one scene so I missed all the clues there. In the end, my first choice wasn't the right choice although my second choice was, and it was even kind of obvious in the beginning. Maybe too obvious. Overall, quite fun.

As far as the views, the train kind of went by some challenged neighborhoods a lot of the time. But you also got to see some greenery and creeks and waterways. Crossing the big river was scenic with the sunset, so that part was very nice to experience. Although we've been spoiled by the Naples princess cruise where you got incredibly nice sunset views.

At the halfway point, the train stops and you sit there a while and then start heading back. The structure of the show is a little different than most of our mysteries. The murder is talked about, but no murder victim comes out which I kind of suspected for part of it as the cast only has five people, and you would lose a person if he or she dies. They also collect the clue cards without notice although they said that the notice had just been forgotten so a bit of an oversight.

We had a great time and it was fun seeing fellow actors perform. To be honest, if I lived out there, I would be tempted to audition and try to be a part of it myself, although I think it would be really tough to do it five nights a week so there's that. I do like performing but I'm not sure I want the same show five nights a week.

We took Uber home and then watched a little Netflix. I think it was “Glow.” And then crashed. Saturday would be another busy day.