Every time we see our friends Steve and Kay Krepteck, we hear about their adventures at the Hard Rock. Now Steve has been retired for some time, but since Kay's retirement just short time ago, this has become one of their favorite places to go. They go often enough that they pay them to come and gamble!!! They either get to stay at the hotel for free or have dinner at one of the exclusive restaurants free.
So, here we are pulling off I-4 onto Hillsborough Ave which will take us to Orient Road. That;s the hotel off in the back.
As you turn on to Orient Road to the entrance, you're greeted by this flying guitar. It really is nearly as hig as the palm trees 
As you enter the grounds, looking for a place to park you'll pass disply over a large fountain on your right. Guitars seem to be the big theme here.....Guess that makes sense given the name hard "Rock".
Actually as you walked through the Casino, it was quite impressive. Lots of table games and thousands of slot machines. There is 150,000 square feet of casino! There is rock and roll memorabilia every where you go. Being a fan of country music, my favorite was the autographed guitars (yes, more guitars) of Wynona Judd and Garth Brooks. Lots of places to eat, from your typical "mall type" walk up places featuring pizza, burgers and chinese food. A huge buffet onthe second floor ($15 for members, $20 for non members). And then you have your more upscale restaurants. Lots of lobbys and corner bars and one great big bar right in the center of the casino.
If you're going to the casino for some real atmosphere and top notch entertainment, you really go at night. But........hey, we just wanted to see what the place was like that everyone kept talking about. So no entertainment this early in the day, but we understand they have one of Florida's best night club, which opens from Thurs through Saturday at 11PM, complete with music and large dance floor.
Well - we wandered around a little more, checking out the Hotel. Nice - Very nice. Well secured. Without a guest key pass you could not even get into the hotel restaurant. But we managed to get outside and check the grounds.
Yes..another BAR. But this was outside, with immaculate and beautiful landscaping. Located adjacent to the pool.
There is actually another pool, but this one is a lap pool.
But come on folks, this IS a casino. How did we do? Well I (Donna) tried my hand at the slot machines. We found some 5 cent slots. Well, I put in my money, one dollar and pressed the button. (I liked pulling that handle on the old slot machines....oh well) Nothing happenned. Well,
it's not really a 5 cent machine. The minimum bet is 12 nickles. 60cents!!!! I won 50 cents!
I invested a total of $6, had fun pushing the button and walked away with my 30cent voucher!!
Better luck next time.
This is an absolutely beautiful place, with everything to entertain their gambling guests. If you enjoy the casinos and the night club entertainment, and a 4 star hotel, this is a great place to be.
When we got back home, The Laker, which is our Wesley Chapel newspaper, was in the front yard. When we got to the sports page, there was a big article on our Meadow Pointe pickelball round robin......... I sent the article in about a month ago. It was a surprise to see it in print. I posted that out on our pickleball website. Click the link to read the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment