April 2012 Casino trip

On Wednesday April 25, 48 hopeful winners boarded the Continental bus for a 3-day casino trip. Our driver for this trip was Willie, who was very nice, accommodating and did not have a heavy foot like the driver for the Firekeepers Casino trip in March. After introducing our first-timers, it was time to celebrate our 6 birthday people with a song. After letting everyone nap for about an hour and a half, it was time for our raffle which was won by Lucy Deckers, Bill Meldrum and Marion Allemon. Then it was on to the Soaring Eagle for the next 4 hours. If there were any big winners, they remained anonymous. We left Soaring Eagle at 1:30pm and headed north to Petoskey. Frank Baecke lent us his horse race game to play which helped pass an hour of travel time. There were 14 winners to split a share of the money. We arrived in Petoskey about 3:45pm and everyone had about an hour to go to their room before going to the Casino to get their packages. The rest of the evening was spent on their own. On Thursday, we left the hotel at 10:30am for a side trip over the bridge to St. Ignace for 3 hours. The machines were still cold as no one admitted to winning big. Sue Huyghe won an additional $10 as our bus winner. John Bopp and Linda Beggs were also winners. We arrived back at the hotel near 4:00pm to spend some more of the free money. There were no winds while crossing the bridge, but when we got to Petoskey, it was very windy and cold, 28 degrees in the morning. On Friday it was hectic, as you had to have your bags on the bus by 8:30am, have breakfast and get to the casino and spend your $21 by 10:30am when the bus left for the Soaring Eagle. The 2 ½ hour drive was delightful listening to music provided by Roland Deprez. We arrive at the Soaring Eagle at 12:45 which was earlier than expected, so we planned to leave at 4:45pm instead of 5:00pm. The rest of the afternoon was spent using up your free money and having lunch. Since we got an early start coming home, we arrived back at Barrister Gardens at about 7:00pm.

I would like to thank my wife Anne for her help; everything she did to help me made it a nice trip. My thanks also to Roland Deprez for his help on the raffle and horse race along with the music he provided. Thanks to Maggy Deprez, Diane Myny, Karen Baron, Helen VanRossen and Bill Meldrum for their help with the games and to Louise O’Connor for the candy. Thanks go out to the 16 newcomers, because if they hadn’t come along there wouldn’t have been a trip. They would like to go again in September but I explained that the Men’s Club gets first choice but they will be first on the waiting list. Thanks again to everyone.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bob Putrycus
Recording Secretary