Pendleton, it's a hell of a town!

This past weekend Bree, Riley and I drove out to Pendleton to see some of the in-laws. We chose Pendleton because it's pretty much int he middle of Portland, Boise and Kooskia.

We were planning on a 4 hour drive, but even with a stop in the middle we got there in about 3 1/2 hours. Riley was good the entire time. We arrived in Pendleton with plans to meet up with the family at a Mongolian Grill for some lunch. However once we arrived we found the grill to be shut down. So we decided to hit up a Mexican joint close by. Bree and I spent our time eating and chasing Riley around the restaurant, luckily they were not busy and she did not cause any mess for anyone.

After lunch my brother-in-law and I went to play some golf at the Casino's course, Wild Horse. Before the game began we decided to place a friendly wager. The loser would have to place a $20 bet on the roulette table for the winner. The bet had to be placed on one of the "third" sections. Bob started kicking my butt from the first hole and did not really let up. Luckily for me we only decided to play 9 holes, however I still lost by 14 strokes, ouch!

After my embarrassing loss we headed to the Casino so I could pay up. I hit the ATM machine for $40, hey if I'm going to gamble I'm going to gamble for me. I got to the table and had to slip in right next to the wheel. there was a rather large lady taken up a couple spaces. The dealer asked me if I'd like to have half chips meaning instead of $1 chips my chips would be worth $.50. This allows me to place more bets. I guess $40 is not what it used to be. I put Bob's $20 on the second third. And put down a few chips of my own. I forget what number came up 5 or 9 I think, anyway Bob lost his money. I had a bet placed on the first third and doubled up that bet. I proceeded to bet for the next 20 mins or so. I got told by the Bit Boss twice not to lean or stretch oer the wheel. Finally after the large lady moved, he made the table slide down so I could sit in a proper position. Before I slide down I asked Bob to pick a number, he picked 24 and I could not reach it so I put it on 14, of course 24 came up, felt bad about that one. The dealer changed out and we kept playing. I was right around $20 win I placed a $2 bet on 29 and a $4 bet on black, and yes I thought about Wesley Snipes as I did it. Anyway, 29 hit and I was up big. My $2 bet turned into $70 and my $4 bet turned into $8. Or at least I thought that's what would happen. Once I won I told the dealer I'd like to cash out. She started with my bet on 29. Remember I was playing with half chips, but this was a new dealer and did not realize that. I knew something was off when the first chip she pulled was black as in a $100 chip. She pushed a total of $144 my way thinking that my $2 bet was a $4. While this is going on I was still trying to figure out how I'd won that much in my head. She then took the chips I had on black and the chips I had left and asked a second dealer to help the second dealer realized they were half chips and corrected the issue but never mentioned anything to me about the $144 I had already gotten. I took the chips walked to the cage and cashed out. I'm now considering myself as one of the few who has taken a casino. Yes I did it for all the little guys!

We met up with the rest of the family at the hotel. They were all in the swimming pool. We marched in told them the news only to have Bree say "Dinners on us!" After everyone got out of the pool and got dressed we headed to Hamleys Steakhouse. It was supposed to be a pretty nice place, of course I spaced on packing any long pants and donned a pair of basketball shorts, t-shirt and slip on shoes. I walked in to find a lot of cowboys, hats, jeans and cowboy boats. Oh well I thought I have Riley and she'll keep the attention off my attire. We waited for about 10 mins and got a table. After ordering we were sitting around and talking. I was playing with the Riley and noticed a familiar looking face behind Bree. This lady had an uncanny resemblance to Julianne Moore. After staring a bit to long I'm sure I decided it was her. I asked Bree is that Julianne Moore sitting behind you? Bree turned and looked, then turned back to me and said "I believe it is." She seemed to be eating with who I assume are her children and husband. Dinner was good and everyone enjoyed their meal. Which was good since we did pay the entire $154 bill. So long house money.

The rest of the weekend went well. We hit the Casino once again, this time I lost $40 and Bree won $8. The next day we played at a park where Riley climbed a bunch of stairs, then we had lunch at Abby's. We took off for home with one extra person my sister-in-law Amber who is spending her spring break with us.