The Kings of Hollywood!

Well, really it’s Monday, March 6th and Tuesday, March 7th!

For anyone who looked for yesterday’s blog and found nothing, I sincerely apologize. It’s just that the events of the day did not lend itself to the time needed to write, edit and post the blog. In an effort to make up for my lack of effort, I’m going to attempt to recap yesterday and today in this one blog. So here goes….

Susie and I left the Loews New Orleans Hotel yesterday morning, and made our way across the street to the Harrahs Casino garage. By 10:30 AM the car was packed, and we were heading out of the garage. If anyone is keeping track, hotel for two nights and New Orleans parking for 2 nights total cost = ZERO! Comped hotel, comped parking…thank you Caesar’s Total Rewards!

Looking at the map, we were expecting to head west out of New Orleans on I-10 and join up with northbound I-49 and head to our Monday destination, Bossier City, Louisiana, the GPS had other ideas! Just after Baton Rouge, it had us exit I-10 and head west on US 190, and looking at a map, Susie understood it’s intent. I-10 dipped south before meeting I-49, while US 190 went right across in a straight line….kind of like a high school geometry problem! Let’s just say that it was an interesting detour off the Interstate System! First, it was an area that looked like it was still coming back from Katrina damage. Second, it was definitely an area where you’d expect to see folks with few teeth, chewing on a toothpick, wearing bib overalls, and driving an ancient Chevy pickup truck. Every food place we saw until we got back on the Interstate seemed to be attached to a gas station! Needless to say, we didn’t eat!

Weather was iffy, and several times we had to drive through rain. Luckily, the trip wasn’t a total wash out, but there was enough weather to remind us that it’s not fun to drive the interstates in the rain. We arrived at the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Bossier City (across the river from Shreveport) about 4:30 and checked into our two rooms. Susie and I both had a free room for two nights (Total Rewards again), and we’d be using one and Kenny and Chris the other. The boys had left NOLA after us, but we’d diverted earlier to find a Walgreens to pick up some supplies, so the boys showed up shortly after we did. After having a drink, we headed down to the casino for a little bit before getting ready for our 7 PM reservation downstairs at Jack Binion’s Steakhouse!

Susie and I stayed in this hotel at the end of our 9 week trip last fall, and ate at the steakhouse, and haven’t stopped talking about the great meal we had there. Once we knew we were following the boys this far, I made a reservation for the four of us as our farewell dinner. While I was a little worried I might have oversold how great it was, the boys assured me that it was an incredible dinner and they loved it! Take a look….

                                          Sorry, no Shrimp Cocktail pictures…it came, we ate it all!

 

After dinner, we again headed to the casino and tried our luck at slots. While not as lucky as we’d been in Atlantic City or New Orleans, we managed to hold our own till Susie and I decided to hit our bed at about 11:30 PM.

We both had a great night’s sleep, waking up about 8:30 this morning, and after checking email and the like on our iPads, headed down for some breakfast. The boys were sleeping in and we agreed last night we’d hook up later in the morning. An uneventful breakfast except for a couple of items. We had tea and I asked for some creamers and the young waitress brought us exactly two…one each! As it was National Pancake Day, Susie ordered pancakes and when they came, she asked for a glass of skim milk. The girl first said they’d been out of milk for a week and Susie said that she’d have cranberry juice instead. Yep…out of cranberry juice too! Then the waitress came back and said they had whole milk, would Susie “like me to mix it with some water?” Ah, no, just bring a glass of whole milk!

About 11:30, we met up with the boys, and since they were heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit with Chris’ family, they had a couple of hours to kill with us, and we decided to check out a couple of other area casinos. First it was El Dorado in Shreveport, which is owned by the same company that owns the casino Chris’ Dad works for in Reno, Nevada. A nice looking place that both Susie and the boys had some really good luck in playing very similar slot machines!

Then we came back to the Bossier City side of the ride, and visited the Margaritaville Hotel and Casino and see what it had to offer. It’s rated one of the best in the area, and we can see why. Great sleek design, the latest slots, and lots and lots of Jimmy Buffett inspired decor! A nice place that was also nice to my wife!!

Then it was back to the Horseshoe so the boys could grab their stuff and head out. We were in the last minutes of the “Kenny and Chris head off to LA, D’Elia Family Trek” as we waited for the valet to bring Kenny’s Santa Fe out. It started two weeks ago tomorrow at Nail Night in Mineola, followed by the weekend in Ocean City and Atlantic City, then 3 days on the road, followed by 3 nights in Walt Disney World, then 3 nights in New Orleans, and it ended about 2 hours ago, in the garage at the Horseshoe Hotel in Bossier City, Louisiana! Twin sister Krissi and her boyfriend Mike joined the group in OC and AC, and then again last weekend in New Orleans, so it was indeed a family affair all the way! As I said, the boys are staying three days with family in Tulsa, then heading on to Albequerque, Monument Valley, Las Vegas, and in 8 days they expect to arrive in their new home in LA. A great new chapter of their life starts, and we couldn’t be happier for them. We will miss our youngest, but he’s only a phone call away (unlike on the cruise ship), and we expect them in OC this summer. A lot of big changes for the D’Elia Family!

Susie and I came up to the room, opened maps, and planned our route back towards the East Coast. By Friday we will be in Virginia with 3 multiple options on how we’ll get back home. I think we’re probably going to head back to Ocean City for the weekend and then head back to Long Island on Tuesday, but perhaps we will change our minds. Either way, sometime this Saturday, this road trip will be over and put in the history books. It’s been a very active trip and we have had a wonderful time with our twins and their significant others. Kenny came up with the idea of this trip last year, and although I wasn’t 100% convinced it was a good idea, as with so many things in my life, I am so happy that I listened to my youngest child and my favorite wife and we participated, because it was a great way to spend these last two weeks. Thanks Kenny for coming up with the idea and Susie, as always for kicking me in the ass! Love you both!!

After plotting our next 3 days, Susie and I went down to the casino to play a little. We had so so success, and I won some money on a 3D Alladin machine. The following pictures are of that machine. Can you see the 3D effects?

I left Alladin with a voucher for $150, and we tried to duplicate the luck we had in New Orleans, playing partners with the boys on this machine.

We could not duplicate the luck, and rather than winning $1000, we spent the $150 ticket and decided it was time to get something to eat.

On the way out, we both swiped our cards in the Promotional Kiosk and found that we both had won a free buffet dinner. Free is always good, so it was the buffet for dinner!

Back we went to the casino for one last time and won some but lost more, so it’s 8:30 and we are calling it a night! The money that we won a week ago Friday in Harrahs Atlantic City, sustained us through New Orleans and now Bossier City and Shreveport. We left with nothing, but we’d intended to spend it, and spend it we did. We’re happy, Caesars is happy, and we’ve enjoyed our perks of 7 free hotel nights, free parking, free drinks, and free meals.

And that’s the way it was…Monday and Tuesday, March 6th and 7th, 2017!