When I was growing up, my general region was rocked when a casino was built in our state.  Though I’m not really a gambler, Mohegan Sun Casino has become a surefire stop every time I come back to the states.  With lots of fun shopping, great eating, sparkly lights- it’s fun for the whole family!

As I said, gambling- not really my thing.  So, the actual casino part of the casino is, to me, the least interesting.  It’s a good place to people watch.  That’s about the highlight of it, I think.  The people at the casino really run the gambit from young people dressed up for a night out with friends (and hopefully free drinks if you gamble enough) to senior citizens with buckets of nickels playing the slot machines.  With an attached hotel, it’s the closest thing we have to an all inclusive resort in these parts.  (Well, ya know… besides the other casino down the street…)

The shopping in mostly overpriced little boutiques, which, for me, are great to look through… but not really things that I would ever actually buy.

If shopping’s not your thing, surely eating is?  Everyone loves eating!  The restaurants are varied and spectacular.  From a krispy kreme doughnut workshop where they make hot fresh doughnuts to waterfall restaurants… wait.  Waterfall restaurants?

See? from the outside, this looks like a lit up, man made waterfall.  But on the inside, it’s a restaurant.  Because you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten inside a lit up, man made waterfall.

There are many entrances into the casino.  Obviously.  Because it’s really big, and there are lots of people.  However, unlike basically every other building that has run of the mill, unexciting entrances and exits- we do things differently here:

One of my favorite things at the casino is the Chihuly sculpture.  Glass blowing is at the very top of my bucket list. (Between learning how to develop my own pictures and body painting, if you were interested)  It is something that I would love to learn how to do.  It is also something that I find fascinating.  So, Dale Chihuly is a cool guy in my book.  Sidenote: I once met a woman that had a glass manipulation booth at an art expo in Chicago.  She said she had studied with Chihuly.  Needless to say, I now consider this woman to be one of my very few celebrity meets.  (Along with Bono, Dane Cook, and Jamie from Real World New Orleans- I am so cool, I shock myself sometimes)

How cool is that?!  (Don’t call it the sperm statue.)  For more of Chihuly’s work: http://www.chihuly.com/installations.aspx  Check it out!

Now, in addition to everything else (as if it really needs more awesome…)  Mohegan Sun has a sports arena, a cabaret club, and several other venues and things.  My favorite is the Wolf Den, which has a live band every night, and is always free to get in.

Some bands are more exciting than others.

So yeah, that’s it.  I leave you with a little life update.  I am on my way to Korea, to start the next adventure.  So it might be a bit before I post again, as I move and get settled.  I also need to buy a new camera, because mine is dying a not so slow death.  So hopefully within the next month or so, I will have new posts from Korea.  And I have some posts backlogged as well.  So we’ll see how everything goes!

Also, I use picasa for webhosting my photos… and they have added a feature called auto awesome.  I think it’s bizarre, but… yeah… kind of awesome.  So I leave you with a photo that picasa auto awesomed (I had nothing to do with it.  The internet did this on its own!)

(I don’t know how I feel about the internet thinking and anticipating.)