Coos Bay Trip Story #1: The Mill Casino and Hotel

Okay, here is the first story.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

After we left Springfield, we were headed toward Roseburg to meet with a man named Francis who is in trouble with the government and had the U.S. Marshals hold him at gun point in early May.  THAT is another story in itself, to be told in another post.  Francis said that he would meet us in Roseburg, but he must have changed his mind, because we couldn't get in touch with him, though we tried.  We really did.  We even called his best friend, Jim.

So, we said to ourselves we said, lets just drive on into Coos Bay and check out that Mill Creek Casino/Hotel.  I figured that our anniversary is coming right up, so we could make it a special weekend, just for us two lovebirds.  Lord knows, we needed it.  Cary is always a good sport, though he was a little worried that we would get there and all the rooms would be full.  I said, don't worry, it will be okay.  I figured that Oregon is so dang broke that the casino would have a room to spare for the two of us.  It turned out that I was right.  Though that didn't really surprise me much.  I am getting used to trusting my intuition.

So, the registration lady said, do you want to face the bay or the parking lot?  I said, "Bay".  Cary said, please make it close to an exit, the first floor is best.  So, she put us in the middle of the third floor.   Worse for his trip to the smoker's section, but nobody had a room on top of ours.  (Though, later, on the 2nd night, somebody kept jumping up and down and yelling in the room next to ours, he must have won big, so I had to turn up the t.v. to block out his shenanigans.  And then, (I am guessing here) I think that the dipshit next door smoked in the bathroom at 4:32 in the morning and set off his smoke alarm!  Because I heard it, and I jumped up, confused ... remembering that I should take the stairs and take my purse AND get dressed, but wondering if I should grab my luggage or good winter coat ... when photo albums are not involved I found it difficult to prioritize in a fire emergency.  My husband slept through that whole event, and the smoke alarm stopped after two beeps, so the neighbor must have caught the hint and put out his ciggy.) Here are some pictures of our room, which was very reasonably priced at only $99.00 per night plus tax, worth every penny:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

We asked for a cart, but no way, the bellman had to escort us (me) upstairs and take the bags off of it and tell me all about the extras of the joint, and to let me know that if he had more storage space in his car that he would always carry a case of water.  You can't make this stuff up.  He was really nice though, and very helpful, and I did my best to not rearrange things until after he left the room.  Also, I did not suggest that the next time around, maybe he should buy a station wagon.

Here is the view from our window.  It was great, and way better than the parking lot would have looked, even when window screens are involved!  Good job, Kathy Matthews:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Cary came back and we changed our clothes and took a quick tour to see what a great deal we had really gotten for $99.00 per night plus tax.  There was an awesome pool, big, with an outdoor deck that hosted some mighty nice hot tubs.  Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of those.  There was also an awesome weight/exercise room, and we didn't even look at that.

We went outside to the boardwalk and I took these pictures, which are even that much prettier without the screens, in my opinion.  We will begin with one of my handsome husband:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

We went back inside where I took pictures of the lobby:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

After our tour, we went into the casino.  It is open 24 hours a day.  No cameras are allowed, so you will just have to trust me on what happens next.  We went into the lounge and I had a glass of Merlot and some mozzarella sticks.  Yumm!  Then we wandered around the casino to get the lay of the land.  Cary went over to the blackjack table as I spent a while losing a little bit on the slots.  I joined him at blackjack and had a fun time over there.  


Our first dealer was this tall thin boy named Klint with a "K".  He was a riot.  I told him that I was not very experienced at blackjack and was also kind of intimidated about playing.  I didn't want to sit in the wrong spot where somebody would yell at me for taking their card.  I also told him that the last time I played was around 5 years ago in Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget, and the Chinese people yelled at me for having bad manners and putting my forearms on the table.  Klint nodded knowingly and said, "Ah, yes, the Asian persuasion."  I knew then that he understood, and would help me through the healing process.

Cary and I sat next to this nice couple from Eugene, Marlin (like the fish) and his lovely wife of 66 years, Joyce.  They were so nice, and had a great sense of humor.  Marlin kept calling me the 3rd baseman, because of where I chose to sit at the table.  They were in town to get a boaters license.  To round out our table, here came Leslie (from the Portland area), who was in town visiting her mom.  She was a crack up, and the more yummy coffees that Cary bought her, the funnier she became.  When Leslie found out that Marlin was 80, she could not believe it (he really did look at least 10 years younger than that).  Leslie kept looking at him and said, hey, I work in a retirement home (well, I am in laundry, she said) and I know what 80-year-olds look like, and, besides, my husband is 64 ... why doesn't he look as young as you do?  She didn't want Joyce to feel left out, so she would tell her how pretty and young she looked too.  Leslie was so funny!

We were getting hungry, so Leslie and I went back to the lounge and ordered fish and chips.  We also danced a couple of dances to the classic rock band.  We sat next to Eddie, with the long white hair, who had a t-shirt on that said, "Old Guys Rule!"  Leslie said, well, old ladies couldn't get away with wearing that shirt.   I said, so how old are you Eddie, and he said 44.  I said, What?  I tried to trick him, and asked him the year he was born.  Based on his answer, he was really 44, and said that he had started getting gray at 18.  That really reaffirmed my choice of coloring my hair for the past 10 years, let me tell you.


After a while I got tired, said goodnight to Cary and Leslie and went back upstairs and fell right asleep.  It was a really fun night, and I got over my fear of playing blackjack, thanks to Klint.  Cary came in later, and he didn't do too bad at all at the blackjack table.  Good job, Cary Matthews!

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