My name is Bond, Jay Bond...

Things have been a little hectic recently around the Phlipside homestead recently.  Lots of work and travel and stuff.  So I suggested to my lady wife that we should take advantage of some bonus points that we'd built up with our favorite hotel chain (thank you Choice Hotels) and get away for a little while.  The Kid was going to be away at a convention on that same weekend so we decided to just take a quick trip over to Erie PA.  Got a room at a hotel near to the Presque Isle Downs and Casino  and just went without much in the way of plans.

Dinner our first night was at the the Brewerie at Union Station, a brew pub that we'd never checked out before.  The atmosphere was very cool, the service was great, the food was very tasty as was the beer (I tried an Apparition Ale - named in honor of Clara the train station's resident ghost.  Very dark in color but with a lighter, smoother flavor than you might expect at first glance).  We'll definitely add it to our list of favorite places in Erie.  It's obviously a pretty popular place with the locals as well.  We try to get down to see the Altoona Curve (Pirates AA farm team) play in Erie and the Brewerie is pretty close to the stadium.

We spent a quite evening in our room and hit the casino the next morning.  We had cruised through Friday night just to get a feel for the place (it's nicely done but pretty much casino standard).  I did notice that the table games were pretty pricey, $10 minimums which is too rich for my blood.  My hope was that Friday night and Saturday morning might be two different beasts.  Turned out I was right.

We arrived with vouchers from the hotel good for $7 worth of slot play and when we signed in to get our "member" cards we got $10 more for the slots.  Which is great for my lady wife since slots are favorite part of the casino.  They bore me silly.  Turns out one of the roulette tables had a $5 minimum that morning so I took $20 and decided to try out the James Bond system for playing the game.  In the novel Casino Royale Ian Fleming describes Bond's cautious approach to the wheel.  He bets two of the three fields of numbers.  They pay 2-1 so you always come out ahead if one of your fields is chosen.    A quick check of the board which tracks the 20 or so most recent numbers showed most of the numbers were in two fields.  After an early set back (down to my last $5) I got rolling and in an hour had two bets on the table and $45 stacked in front of me.  Years ago I made a rule - when I double my stake I quit.  So I let the two bets on the table ride, lost them both and walked away pretty happy with myself.  I showed off for my lady and then decided to play my share of the slots.

I started with penny slots and realized I'd be there forever at that rate.  I did win 3 cents.  Found a $1 machine and spun the wheels.  And promptly won $30!  A few more spins added another $5 as well.  So the day at the casino turned out pretty well.

Lunch was at  O'Charleys  a chain restaurant we'd never heard of but looked good.  Very nice.  Good service, good food, good prices.  All right across the street from the Mall.

The rest of the day was spent checking out some area wineries.  We were especially impressed by Lakeview Wine Cellars, Heritage Wine Cellars (where the sampling bar was serve yourself, a first for us), and Courtyard Wineries who introduced us to a new varietal called a Chardonel.   A very tasty way to end the weekend.

Gambling, good wine and a beautiful woman.  Tell me I don't live the life of a secret agent!
Peace