When we had dinner at Council Oak last month, we saw an advertisement for an upcoming Kaskade show scheduled for our anniversary weekend. We already had plans for the weekend, but we would be able to reschedule easily. We were excited by the prospect of attending a great show and then having a casino night for our anniversary.

That is until I checked on the price of the rooms at Seminole Hard Rock Casino. While we were too late to get the early bird pricing on the show, the tickets were not terribly expensive. The rooms, however, were twice what our budget allowed. When I lamented to our friend, Cat, my disappointment at not making the adventure happen, she expressed her interest in going to the show and offered to split the cost of the room with us. I promptly ordered our tickets and booked the room.

We arrived at the casino about an hour before the seven-hour show started. Check-in to the room wasn’t until four. We didn’t want to have to leave the show early, so we decided to ask about early check-in. The lovely gentlemen at the front desk let me know that the people in our room had checked out, but they had not cleaned the room yet. He said he would be happy to give us a call when the room was ready. We were nicely surprised when he called only 30 minutes later.

The Show

After we checked into the room, it was time to head to the pool for the show. We each picked up a complimentary Hard Rock Casino towel and then found a shady spot under an umbrella in front of the High Noon Seltzer cabana. While members of the High Noon team chatted with us and asked to take our picture in front of their sign, one of them did not want us there. He called security to have us removed. While we were unhappy to lose our shady spot, we appreciated how nice the security guard was about the situation.

We picked another shady spot, accounting for the direction the sun was moving. We chose the area next to the outdoor bar, where we found both shade and a place to sit. The only issue was someone had claimed the spot by leaving their belongings on the bench. We decided to hang out until they returned. Eventually, they did return to retrieve their bags, and we claimed the spot. While it was the perfect place to enjoy the show with plenty of room for dancing, the spot came with a downside. Quite a few people decided to enter and exit the bar through our little corner instead of walking to the entrance. Some of them walked right over us. Others did what they could to overtake our spot, one person choosing to sit almost right on top of me. I held my ground, and they gave up and left. Eventually, a security guard noticed what was happening and stationed himself next to us, preventing people from taking the shortcut.

While we were appalled by some people’s behavior, there was a great camaraderie amongst most of the attendees throughout the show, with many people stopping to chat with us. The opening DJs were fantastic, and Kaskade had a stellar performance. We headed to our room to regroup for dinner as the show ended. As we left the pool area, people were handing out more towels. I decided to get two more so we would have a set of four. When we got to the room, we realized that Cat and I had each ended up with five towels.

After showers and some rest, it was time to head to dinner. We stopped by the front desk on our way to dinner to see if we might be able to get a late checkout. The gentleman behind the desk was happy to accommodate our request.

Rock N’ Raw Sushi Joint

While we would have loved to return to Council Oak for dinner, that was not in the budget. Instead, we went to Rock N’ Raw Sushi Joint. I found the seating interesting. There were a few regular tables, but we sat at a community-style table surrounding a beautiful infinity fountain. We ordered Crab Rangoon, Edamame, and Potstickers for appetizers. I’ve never eaten edamame in the pod before. I popped one into my mouth and chewed and chewed and chewed. I did not enjoy what I was eating. Eventually, I asked Chris if I was supposed to eat the whole thing. He laughed as he told me the proper way to eat them. There were no paper napkins, so I wrapped the pods in the paper sleeves from the chopsticks. Once I tasted the edamame without the pods, I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Chris ordered Seafood Noodle Soup, and I ordered a Dancing Eel Sushi Roll before sharing the Chef’s Sashimi Special. The food was delicious, and the service was excellent.  We noticed a man taking pictures of our friends as we ate dinner.  He looked like he was attempting to do it on the sly, swiftly putting his phone down when I waved at him. When an employee approached him about taking pictures of us (without us bringing it to their attention), he attempted to say he had taken a photo of the fountain. He quickly left the restaurant, and Chris talked to the ladies next to him. They confirmed that he was taking a picture of our friend. He had recently had eye surgery and was required to wear dark glasses while healing. People had been mistaking him for a celebrity all day.

Lost in the Casino

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the casino. We searched for and found every one of Chris’s favorite slot machines, winning on several of them. I wanted to play blackjack, but the tables were too rich for me. At 3 am, Cat texted us to meet her in the bar. We set off on what turned out to be a journey through the casino. Everything looked pretty much the same on the casino floor, and we walked around the room twice before finding our way out.

After finding our way to Cat, we decided it was time to eat again. We talked about going to the noodle place. We noticed they had a long line all night, even in the wee morning hours. We only wanted a snack, so we decided to head to the only other open eatery instead. We made our way through the casino to Rise Kitchen and Deli.

I don’t often eat dessert anymore, but our anniversary is a special occasion that merits a sweet treat. After looking at the dessert case, I decided on a piece of carrot cake, to be sorely disappointed to learn they were out of the cake. Instead, I ordered a chocolate-covered cheesecake, which was divine.

When we returned to the room to settle in for the night, we started laughing again about our abundance of towels. We decided to dub this our terry cloth anniversary. As it turns out, when I looked it up the next day, the second anniversary is designated the cotton anniversary.

I wanted to return to the casino in the morning, hoping to find lower minimum tables. Unfortunately, Doc had to return home for work, but Chris told me we could come back after dropping him off.

We went to brunch and told Cat our plans to return. She decided to join us. I found a $15 blackjack table and sat down to play. Winning only one hand out of five, I cut my losses and returned to the slot machines.  I returned to Cat and Chris to find that Cat was not feeling well. We walked her out to the truck so she could lay down for a few minutes to see if she would feel better. When we returned to the casino, we explored a hallway we had not been down yet. We found two more restaurants and an adult ice cream shop, all of which looked promising. We got silly walking on the moving sidewalk as we approached another parking garage. It was fun looking at the instruments and clothing decorating the casino everywhere we went.

We returned to the main bar in the casino, where we ordered drinks and played the penny slot machine. I had a ticket for $97.50. Since I like whole, even numbers, I decided to play with the $7.50. I ended up winning, so Chris and I played for a while, stopping when we were back to an even $100. The slots we played were fun, and we had a great time. Cat returned as we finished our drinks, and it was time to head to Jubao Palace Noodle Bar for dinner.

Jubao Palace Noodle Bar

Of course, there was a line, but it moved relatively quickly. Again, the restaurant had community tables. We were pleased to sit at the end. We started with Crab Rangoon, Spicy Garlic Cucumber, and a Soy Boiled Egg. The cucumbers were delicious, and I enjoyed the egg so much that I ordered another.

I ordered the Jubao Special Fried Rice with shrimp, pork, and chicken. Chris went with the Deluxe Beef Noodle Soup, with rare beef, tendon, flank, tripe, and meatball. When Cat could not choose between the pork belly and the oxtail soups, our server suggested ordering either the pork belly or the oxtail as an extra side. She picked the Crispy Pork Belly Soup and added oxtails. When our server offered a choice, Cat chose the oxtail broth. Chris added a side of pork belly to his order as well. The soups were spectacular, and Cat’s oxtail broth was magnificent. The pork belly melted in our mouths as we ate it. We had plenty of food to take home for another delicious meal.

Aubi & Ramsa

After one more fun round at the slot machines, we stopped at Aubi & Ramsa, the 21+ ice cream shop. The liquor-infused ice cream comes in pints or single servings. The menu was incredible, with various flavor profiles paired with different liquors. It was challenging to settle on one, but I went with the popular Highland Truffle, Belgian chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks infused with Macallan 12. The ice cream was luscious, and the flavor of the scotch worked perfectly with the chocolate. Cat ordered The Chocolate Azteca, a chocolate ice cream infused with mezcal. It was equally delicious.

I was impressed at the level of service offered at the casino all the way around. From the front desk to security to the servers and bartenders, every employee we dealt with was top-notch and made our adventure most enjoyable. We had a lot of fun, ate some great food, and didn’t lose all our money. I call that a successful casino weekend. Oh, and of course, we have our towels.