Our plan was to get up, get dressed, and hit the road, planning to be on the highway before 8;30. But I decided that we should have oatmeal for breakfast, instead of a Tim Horton's breakfast biscuit, so it was closer to 9:30 before we actually hit the highway. After gassing up ( I was able to get a cup of tea at Tim's while the car was being filled. I didn't win anything with my tea, but David won a free coffee for buying gas), we headed around the North Perimeter, This was our first trip through there since the construction was finished for Centre Port. The whole area has changed, especially visually. We almost missed the turn off onto #1 West. The road between Winnipeg and Headingly has been re-done--Beautiful! And the signs said that they plan to do more in terms of twinning the road. Headingly is a booming little town, but you can still find Headingly Husky and Nick's Drive-In--if you look closely enough. (Needed the Husky after drinking all that tea).
Next stop was Tim Horton's in Portage La Prairie.
Bought more tea, hot chocolate for David, and then headed out west yet again. won a free coffee on the tea this time. Finally hitting Hwy #5, we turned South. And darned if a tour bus didn't turn south right behind us. There weren't many signs, and the road was awful but eventually we found what we were looking for, with the tour bus hot on our tail.
I had spent a fair bit of time on the computer trying to register us for their Gold Club, as Cathy had told me that , if you register via internet, you get 10X points on your first visit, and a free lunch. The computer had given me problems, so I had phoned and been told that we had only registered for their newsletter, and would have to fill out paper and pencil forms when we got there. And that tour bus looked fairly full of people, who were likely going to have to do the same thing! Oh,Oh! Big line ups?? We grabbed the first handicapped parking spot we could find, and rushed into the building. The bus was parked and starting to open the doors. Hooray! We were first in line. We filled out forms and got our Gold Club cards, but the free lunch was only if you were there on your birthday. Oh Really? There was a little confusion when I realized I had put down my date of birth as March 14, 2015, (crazy old lady??) but it got sorted out and I got a voucher for lunch.
We spent a pleasant couple of hours, and then headed into the buffet. They asked David for --hold your breath--$16.95! Then she realized that we had "over 55" stickers on our Gold Club Cards, so it was only $12.67. I remarked that I hoped we got more than soup and a sandwich ( which is what we've been offered other places). When we got in. David went to checkout the steam table and came back excited. We had found ourselves in a special sea food buffet. It was, hands down, the best sea food buffet, if not best casino buffet, that we have ever had. The chef even came around to offer us lobster tails. There was crab salad, crab cakes, shrimp, crab legs, seasoned salmon, battered mushrooms, and much much more, including more traditional items such as bannock,salad bar, b-b-q chicken wings, stir fries, and Asian noodles. We ate well, and then the waitress came around offering dessert--cherry cheesecake or chocolate mousse cake. So I even managed to get a bit of cake for my birthday. But then we had to say goodbye, and left richer than we had gone in.
So we headed North, toward Cat Spit Holler. I have no picture of that, as the sign had broken and was in the garage. We were greeted by three enthusiastic dogs, and my sister, and DH. We spent about an hour with them, including taking the traditional picture. We also got to see several pictures of little Chloe. Yes, Cathy is turning into one of those proud Grandmas who have lots of pictures to share. She looks like a cheerful little thing, full of smiles and bright eyes.
Then it was time to hit the road again. Back to Portage la Prairie, where I used the free coffee rim I won earlier, to buy a Cafe Mocha. I also bought a lemon poppy seed muffin. I don't recommend them. My tummy was upset the rest of the way back to the city
We then went to Club Regent, as I had a card that would give me $10.00 of slot play and a gift. The gift is always a bit of a joke, a too-small-to-be-of-any-use tote bag and a used deck of cards with a hole drilled through it. But they did give me a little button to wear on my collar that had flashing lights announcing my birthday. It was a concert night, and an absolute zoo, so we stayed awhile and then headed home, with money in our pockets.
No comments:
Post a Comment