Trip Report: Four Winds, a Family Trip
This one will be done from memory, so no play by play or dirty thoughts. I know, I know I suck. I just wanted to show the different things there are to do around the Four Winds Casino & Resort in New Buffalo Michigan.
So sit back and enjoy the ride...
About 75 minutes outside of Downtown Chicago is the beach town of Michigan City Indiana. This is where we will began our adventure.
First Stop, the Lighthouse Outlet Mall.
You can easily spend a few hours here, all of the top middle America brands. Old Navy, Calvin Klein, Nike ETC.
We drop a few quarters in a kiddie ride to keep the kids on "Our Side" while Mom shops.
They have a Toys R Us Outlet here, always a crowd pleaser, and we get the girls a Merada doll to keep the show rolling.
From the mall its just a quick 15 minute drive down Route 12 and you are there.
That is a ton of shit for just one night!
Check in is fast and efficient. But being a busy Saturday night in summer, no free upgrades for us. But even their standard rooms are pretty damn nice.
The girls go down for a nap, and I head over to the casino. I do well on this random Jurassic Park knockoff game.
But that was the extent of my adventures. I end up losing a couple hundred bucks. But it did take nearly 2 hours to do so. As weird as it sounds, I'm OK with that. Kids awake by now, we grab dinner at Timbers Grill and then head over to the arcade.
Here is a shot of their buffet. Its better than the Blue Chip, but that is like saying you are the taller midget.
For a casino in the middle of nowhere, they sure have a ton of things under their roof. The arcade is pretty big. And that is connected to a Kid's Quest play center. If you want to leave the kids with their sitter, it is pretty reasonable. I think it was something like $15 per hour. Zero chance I'd leave the little one alone, but the big kid would do fine.
Still, what good does it do us to just have half the set, one kid or 100 it wont matter. Still cant be alone with the wife and have fun.
Tuck the kids in and I take first shift in the casino. The below is a completely random snapshot of my slot hits. In no particular order, I do OK.
I never do make back the $200 I lost earlier in the day. But I grind through about $5,000 on the night and tap the wife in for her turn. She ends up hitting a few hundred bucks on a nickle slot machine, so I'll call gambling a push for now.
Wake up bright and early, grab some breakfast at Timbers and I take the big kid out to the pool. Baby stays with Mom for a dual nap. She did gamble the night shift and all.
You could easily spend a few hours lounging at their pool area. Sorry I don't have a picture of the actual pool, I didn't think this far ahead. But plenty of chairs and a bar nearby.
Exit the pool, through the garden and back to the room to gather the troops.
Just a few miles down the road from the resort is there Downtown area. It is pretty adorable. Some unique shops. Or "Shoppes" as most of them spell it. I guess it is a fancy way to sound pretentious.
Park at the end of downtown. Its free for a few hours. From there you can walk right to the lake.
Now Midwest beaches are NOT like ocean beaches. The sand is gritty, lots of rocks. Some dunes, which are neat, and a hellofvalot less fish smells to go around.
By now, everyone is tuckered out. Back to the city, and some much needed rest.
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