The Great Foxwoods Van adventure

The cool thing about my Dodge Caravan is that I can go solo when I want to be just off by myself and save money by sleeping in the van, and the next week I can pop up the seats and put six other people in for a day trip.

Guziks, Proziks, Elizabeth and I have been trying for two years to head off to Foxwoods. We had hoped for an overnight and finally decided that a day trip was more practical. They have always driven in the past. This was my turn. Usually we have had to take two cars, but we all fit in the van, including Jerry's 91 year old mother who still has her girlish figure and was fine about getting squeezed in the middle of the back seat.

I drove out and Jerry drove back. I could do it, but I'd rather not drive after dark and I was happy not to be in the traffic we encountered on the way back.

The trip out was full of laughter and stories and getting caught up with family and other news. As we went in, someone mentioned that the loud party atmosphere of the van might be different on the way home, but actually we sang almost all the way home. Josie has a wonderful voice, but we all took a piece of the atmosphere and the songs were old. Even Mom Guzik sang along.

The gambling was good for some and not so good for others. Don and Josie found the well pretty dry. The Guziks hit one of those slots with the huge wheel that spins around if certain screens appear and they did very well. For much of the time they played as a team, but Mom was the top winner.

Elizabeth and I watched for a while. I quit early when my poker table went south. The morning was great and I was up almost two hundred and had a few Courvoisier, with a rich businessman who made his money in China and some other interesting characters, but the afternoon was not great so I quit ahead seventy five and lost another twenty in a video poker spin machine with Elizabeth. She lost at her moderate slot play as well, but most of her day was the spa: massage, swim, hot tub. And she went to see the Bodies revealed show as well and really loved it.

All in all it was a fun day. We had a fine buffet and some great time to chatter. Now we'll start planning so that the stars align themselves again sometime in the next two years.