With no travel together since a year ago August (other than to see family) when we went to Gatlinburg for an extended weekend I had my sites set on getting away in August. The original plan was to go to Saratoga, and hopefully get a Bed & Breakfast. But that fell through. Thought of how I've wanted to return to Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto for their August Wednesday stakes card, but this year it's being run on a Sunday afternoon. Then it occurred to me that I could return to Canterbury Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I found the Mystic Lake Casino Resort Hotel which has, obviously, a casino. And then proposed it to Kim for a getway in mid-August thinking chances were slim she'd go, but she surprised me and was all in! So we booked it. We left Tuesday August 17th in the morning for Fort Lauderdale International and had a two-plus-hour layover in Nashville. Landed on time in Minneapolis at about 5:30 Central Time. The Uber ride was there within minutes (though expensive!) and took us right to the casino. Found the main hotel entrance on the other side of the casino and checked into our room on the 16th floor.
After checking in we walked around, had a light dinner and headed upstairs to watch "America's Got Talent" before crashing. Wednesday we went downstairs and got coffee, and sat around the giant fireplace before heading over to the casino where we were both big winners! Had lunch in the food court and then went upstairs to relax for just a big before heading out to the track for the big evening of racing.
We had Clubhouse reserved seats and were seated right up against the glass at about the 16th pole. We stayed here through the first half of the card until the major stakes events started. Then we moved downstairs to sit out in the fresh air as the sun was setting. As far as the racing......all the "experts" seemed to see the same thing I did, tonight's races should be dominated by the favorites who not only looked to have the edge but truly looked very hard to beat. But we got a sneak peak into the night when in the opener the 2/5 favorite was run right by in the stretch and finished second. But on the night I still managed to win three races, including two stakes....one of which was the premier event of the evening, The Minnesota Derby!
Sunday we were up and back downstairs to have coffee in front of the fire and them played some slots where Kim piled on more winnings, you go girl! Had a light lunch and headed out to the airport to fly home mid-afternoon. Got home twenty minutes early and were home in bed before the 11 o'clock news started. It was a great getaway!
