Major Jackpot

No, not mine.  But after stopping in the bathroom upon arrival, I headed to my favorite machines - just in time to see a lady hit the Major - $4900!  And it was her birthday.  She must play a lot because within a couple minutes, the executive casino host (I got a look at his badge) approached and said 'Hi [insert her name]!  I noticed you were here so I just loaded $250 in free play on your card.  And now I see you hit a big jackpot!'.

I sort of wonder if he somehow flipped a switch and that made her hit the Major?  'cuz I know that can be done.  (Remember when I won the free play in Jackson and it was one massive jackpot after another until the free play was gone - maybe I never wrote about it - but I'm sure that was 'magic' free play.  I've also been at Thunder Valley when a high roller told the host 'I'm not winning' and he said 'let's see what I can do about that'.  And that bank of machine started hitting like crazy - and thankfully, I was still on it!).

I was happy for her but disappointed to see that jackpot reset to $1,000.  But I did pretty well - came home with 50% more than went with so that's a great thing.  It was a really fun day - and I hit a jackpot mid day and brought most of it home - enough to pay for part of the London tickets.  Though thankfully, it's going to fun money.  Didn't hit the Thunder Strike but now could go up again next weekend if it hasn't hit by then.

On the way home, I drove in the most terrifying rain storm ever.  I have NEVER in my life seen so much water - including a 'cloud dump' which dumped so much water at once, my windshield was completely covered.  I couldn't see ANYTHING for several terrifying seconds - and I've never experienced anything like it.  HUGE rain with thunder and lightening.  I thought about trying to pull over and wait it out but everyone slowed way down (thank goodness) and we inched our way through.

R. and H. are 'home' - and we're not sure why since she officially has her own apartment as of today. While I imagine they are both exhausted, I'm not sure why they're spending the night here?  Her kids are in Texas with their dad for ten days so she is going to get the place ready - guess she has 9 days stretching out in front of her so why rush.  (She and H. are very similar in their 'whenever' approach to things).

I'm still a little shocked that we made a fairly spur of the moment decision about going to Europe in October - but we did and we are!  We'd been toying with it for a couple days - and on the way to Costco, I told J. 'I think we should get the airline tickets and then reserve the rooms in London and Paris - we can reserve them to be paid when we are there vs. in advance - the extra expense is sort of like what we would pay for an insurance policy to guard against unforeseen circumstances.  The airline will let us change the ticket (for a fee) so if something comes up, we can regroup and won't have to forfeit the hotel expense.

We're staying at the same place we stayed in London when we went on our Groupon trip a few years ago - in Kensington.  And in Paris, we're staying at our 'place' - the Mayfair Hotel across from The Tuileries.  The Paris hotel is more expensive and I'm sure we could have found something less expensive - but as J. said 'it's what we know'.  It's in a very central location within walking distance of the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre and other nearby fun places - including the six story department store!!  I'm planning to take an empty suitcase just in case - and we will do laundry the  last night in London before we head to Paris so we can pack a little lighter.

Time to head upstairs and get ready for bed.  I'm tired.  White knuckle driving in a torrential atmospheric river of a downpour is exhausting.