Annexed: The Night Out

Welcome to this special edition of Annexed!!

The Annexed crew has been talking for a while about unleashing ourselves on the general public to see what this town is made of. Well, Saturday was the night. Barry and Bubbles stayed in town (instead of flying home to Texas) and the rest of us went about securing baby-sitters (except for the Brit who doesn’t have kids. But what she does have is a snotty stuffed up nose so she went about securing drugs and a purse full of Kleenex).

The plan was to meet at the 360 Steakhouse, at Harrah’s casino in Council Bluffs, at 5:30 p.m. We’d have some drinks and then head down to the buffet for dinner.

CJ and I were running a bit late as we had to introduce Isabella to a new sitter. But we got there at the same time as The Brit and her hubby and we all walked in together. Barry and Bubbles were already there and on to their 2nd round of drinks (Cosmo for Barry, Sprite for Bubbles – look out!). I ordered a White Russian. I seriously haven’t had one of those in 2 years and it tasted so.good. Went down very smooth too.

The 360 is on the 12th floor of the casino so it had a great view of downtown Omaha and the river. Unfortunately it was a cloudy overcast day so while I took some pics, they don’t really showcase the beauty and splendor of our fair city.

Wow, I actually typed that whole sentence with a straight face.

Seriously though, Omaha is growing really fast and becoming a pretty cool city. Take a look!

Bob and his wife arrived and we all had a great time chatting. At one point we noticed a bottle of booze on display at the bar that looked A LOT like shampoo. Seriously, don’t you think this looks like something you’d put on your hair?

Turns out it’s sparkling vodka. Huh. We were all curious but you had to buy it by the bottle and none of us was willing to make the investment.

It was finally time to go down to the buffet for din-din. Fortunately, Barry is the Slot Machine King and he had enough comp points to buy dinner for ALL of us. Yes, ALL of us (for those of you not paying attention earlier, that’s 8 people)! They had pretty much everything you could think of on this buffet – Chinese, pasta, pizza, salad, all kinds of meat and cooked veggies. They even had a macaroni and cheese calzone! Cheesy noodles stuffed inside bread? Yes please! They also had a whole line of desserts from cookies to cheesecake to ice cream to apple crisp. The Brit and I particularly enjoyed a delectable chocolate mousse.

The best part of the buffet was our “waitress” Norma. She was this cute old lady who basically kept our drinks refilled and dirty plates picked up. She was so sweet. I just wanted to tuck her in to my pocket and take her home so that my drinks would always be full and my dirty dishes always whisked away.

Bob and his lovely wife had to leave right after dinner but before they departed, we took a group photo (notice the “Responsible Gaming” ad on the TV behind us. We stood there hoping to get a cool photo of the casino or 360 lounge or something but instead we got that. Figures)!

(CJ, me, Brit’s hubby, The Brit, Bubbles, Barry, Bob’s wife, and Bob)

Then, it was time to head over to the Horseshoe Casino and see Barry’s second home.

Before we could get in, we had to wait in line to be carded. The guard told the Brit that anyone who looks younger than 35 has to get in line. Barry and Bubbles walked right in (probably because they’re there so often that everyone knows them). The rest of us got in line. Then the security guard actually came over to tell CJ he could get out of line and go right in because he looks older than 35. Ceige said he was both happy and sad about that. Although he is older than 35, he’s always been told how young he looks. So being told that he looked older was a bit of a blow to the ego. But on the other hand, he didn’t have to wait in line anymore so that was a win!

When I got up there, I couldn’t get my driver’s license out of the little slot in my wallet. I told the guard that and he just stared at me and said to keep trying. Finally I got it out and he looked at it, then looked at me, then looked at it, then scanned it through a machine, then looked at me again. Finally he shook my hand and said “Good luck Sarah.” Gees!

We went straight to the General Manager’s Lounge, which apparently only the high rollers get in to. Because Barry is the Slot Machine King, he could get in and bring the rest of us with him. I won’t tell you how much money you have to bet out on the floor over the course of a year to get access to the GM lounge, but it’s a lot. A LOT. Once in there we got unlimited drinks and desserts. One of us, I won’t name names, took advantage of the free desserts (hmm, who could it be…?).

(This was some raspberry cheesecake cup and a cookies and cream cheesecake bite.)

We sat by the fire and had a really nice time.

Then Barry took us out on the floor to show us the good slots. OMG they are so much more advanced and high tech than I ever realized! There are Wizard of Oz , Sex and the City and Star Wars ones! It was fun to watch them being played. CJ and I had to take off and get back home to Munchkin. I would have liked to stay and play some slots but there just wasn’t time. I’m sure Barry stayed and played enough for all of us though!

It was great to get out with the gang, have fun, and include our spouses. Everyone really got along well and it brought back the “glory days” of working together at the Annex. Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Consider yourself Annexed!!