In the Land of the Slot-Machine Song

Bryn and I took a brief trip up to the Tulalip Casino yesterday (we were bonding). Although they have the best buffet I've been to in the Pacific Northwest, we skipped it in favor of one of their less filling restaurants. I had a salmon burger, because haaaaay, I'm from a salmon tribe! Well, and I wanted one. And it came with authentic Native American french fries.

The casino boasts a recently opened resort hotel. The pictures above are from A) the big hallway outside their meeting rooms for conventions and such, and B) the glamoxurious swimming pool area. The whole place is done well in that "new money" kind of way. And for a casino, it seems fitting. Lots of slick materials combined with abstract representation of water or trees to make it more "authentic" and of course there is the ubiquitous swarm of metal salmon swimming on the ceiling in the first picture I posted. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen some artist throw a few cutout metal salmon in a space and call it, "Pacific Northwest," I'd have my school loans paid off. Ugh. And I won't say anything about the swimming pool area except to say that since it was in a casino and there weren't any humans using the facilities, I kept expecting some white tigers to stroll in at any minute. I mean, it could be worse, but if I'm at a hotel I'd sort of not want to feel like I'm in an exhibit at the zoo while swimming in the pool.

The good news though? We put $40 into some slot machines and walked out with $72. At least we know when to stop, right? No matter, the Seattle Premium Outlets next door gobbled up our money anyhow. But now I have an umbrella and a decent winter scarf. And they were on sale! I love sales!!!