Aug 7th & 8th - Idaho Springs CO

Aug 7th – Sun – to Idaho Springs CO
We left about 8:30 for our long 53 mile drive to Westminster CO where we were going to stay at an Elk’s Lodge. When we arrived and looked around, the only sites available were very narrow or in the overflow parking lot with electric only so we decided to continue on to Idaho Springs which is west of Denver. We are staying at Cottonwood RV situated on a little creek about a mile off I70 – very peaceful.
We had trouble getting cable TV so the owner came over and put a new end on our cable which solved the problem. After a late breakfast sandwich, we headed to Black Hawk which is 14 miles away and consists of casinos. Like a lot of Colorado that we have seen so far, you drive through narrow, winding canyons with a stream to get there. It doesn’t open up too much so the casinos are all multi-storied and backed into excavated holes in the mountains. We parked in a parking garage which always makes Terry nervous with our big truck but it was high enough and the slots were just wide enough to wiggle into.
We spent the rest of the day and into the evening going from one casino to another. We earned points at one casino to get 4 free buffets (with all-you-can-eat king crab) which we took advantage of for dinner. We weren’t doing too well on the slots but I won a bit of money right before dinner which lasted us until we left about 8.

Aug 8th – Mon – Idaho Springs CO
Yep, we headed back to Black Hawk this morning. We were going to have a breakfast buffet but we were about 10 minutes too late. We checked and found out that the buffets earned yesterday had to be used yesterday so we gambled to get enough points for lunch today. We thought we had enough but found out it was “double points” day so we went back to the slots. On the third spin on a machine, Terry hit a bonus and got $446.90 with his 40 cent bet!
After lunch we continued our casino hopping and gathered cards for our collection. I was not doing well but Terry was pretty lucky. At a machine that we had not played before, he got one symbol across the whole screen and won $100.00!
After dinner that was paid for by coupons from yesterday, we drove to Central City which is just a mile or so away and is more casinos. They are older, smaller casinos and we were pretty much gambled out so we drove through the town – very “restored” and picturesque – and came back a different way on the “Central City Parkway”. This road does not follow a canyon but ends up on the side of a mountain with lovely views and 8 percent grades down to I70.