Live from Turning Stone Casino and Resort

What a great day - XC Sectionals, dinner with Corey and friends, and a bit of luck at the casino!

On a beautiful fall day, we drove to Marcus Whitman High School for the Section 5 Cross-

Country championships. We got there in time to see the Odyssey boys run at 11:30 AM, followed by the girls at 1:00.  A couple of kids we knew were running in the 2 and 2:30 races so we hung around for those. The Odyssey kids looked real good and I think the boys took 3rd in the Class C race and the girls were a bit lower, but still a good performance. Four of the Odyssey runners earned Sectional patches, but none moved on to the state meet.  As we were driving to the meet, I commented to Jim that it was nice to be driving to the Sectional Meet and not have a stomach full of butterflies because one of my kids was running. But then as we were watching the first race finish I was surprised to find myself feeling sad because I had no runner to cheer for!  We got to see many parents and coaches that we haven't seen in a while and that was fun. 

We were on the road to Syracuse at 3:30, but had to make a stop at the yarn store in Skaneatles to purchase a kit that I had seen there when we stopped after dropping off Corey in August. We arrived at SU about 5 PM and met Corey in his dorm. He had invited two of his

friends, Jordan and Curtis, to join us for dinner, so off we went to the Armory Square area of Syracuse. We ate at a restaurant called Pastabilities, which was the place we ate when Tucker and I drove through at the end of

August. We all had a good meal and it was fun to get to know Jordan and Curtis. As you might imagine, the conversation never strayed far from the topic of running! Corey and friends were going to an 8 o'clock movie so we said our goodbyes outside of the restaurant and we headed for Turning Stone Casino and Resort, about 30 miles down the Thruway. 

This place is jumping on a Saturday night and after getting settled into our room, we headed for the casino. I had a coupon for $20 of free play and played that in the slot machines for a while. When that was used up I put another $20 on my Diamond Card and started to play. After trying several 25 cent machines, I decided to try my luck on a dollar slot machine. Bingo! I ended up coming away with $73.50 more than I went in with! 

We were only on the casino floor for about 45 minutes, which is a good thing because the smoking is really obnoxious. This casino has a non-smoking section, but there are only 5 cent and penny slot machines in there! I don't understand that. The non-smoking area seemed quite busy to me, so I don't understand the limited choices. Oh, well. I may take another $20 down to the casino before we go to Jim's race in the morning. 

Last night Jim and I went to the movies! One of those rare occurances, especially since we live right next to a movie theater. We saw the movie Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney. Now this is typically not the type of movie I usually pay to see, but, come on, George Clooney was in it!! And I did enjoy it!

Tomorrow Jim runs in his race at noon and then we will head home. I will put a photo from the race in tomorrow's entry. I don't think the weather is supposed to be as nice as it was today, but that's OK, I have my Rhinebeck sweater to keep me warm.

Hope all is well.