For my eighteenth birthday, my parents booked us two rooms at the Morongo Casino, Resort, and Spa located near Palm Springs in California. There was one simple reason for this — at Morongo, 18-year-olds can gamble. Now, my whole family can’t wait until we go back.
The poker room is nice. There are tournaments in the morning and at night, and there are always cash games, so there’s always something to do. The tournaments are pretty low-key and the dealers were super helpful telling me when it was my turn to bet, call, check or fold. It’s non-smoking and every time I went there, it wasn’t hard to get a table or register for a tournament.
I also tried blackjack, which was a lot of fun. It was not crowded there either. I had no problem getting a dealer. There are, of course, slots and video roulette.
They have all of these wacky promotions and we seem to get a lot of free credit. Just for signing up for a player’s card (which took two minutes) and playing in a casino for an hour, I got twenty bucks, a shirt, and a hat. We also got money for roulette and slots.
The rooms are really nice. We got two rooms, connecting. The beds are great and the showers are amazing. Honestly, I wish I could take that shower home. It was the perfect temperature.
They have a buffet that's okay. It wasn't as good as Vegas, but it was okay. They had everything — pizza, pasta, chickens — and our room package came with a free buffet every day.
I have to say that I hate working out. I really do. I don’t think I’ve worked out since my last day in P.E. in tenth grade. I graduated from high school last month. I saw their fitness room and I went on the treadmill for a half an hour. I went up hill the entire time for 1.3 miles. I outlasted and burned more calories than the fit teenage boys the next two treadmills down. I plan to go back tomorrow.
Article comments
1 - Christine
Oh my gosh, I grew up in Palm Springs and went to Palm Springs High School. I am very familiar with the area and lived in Palm Desert up until 3 years ago, and I miss the dessert at times. Morongo Casino is a cool place, even for non gamblers like me. Glad to know you and your family will be returning and keep up the workouts, Maddy!
2 - Joanne Huspek
Holy cow, Maddy's all grown up and hitting the casino! :-) Sounds like a fun, low cost vacation.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Tip: never bet on sports with your favorite team. You'll go broke.