Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, CT
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| Mohegan Sun Casino |
We boondocked at the Mohegan Sun Casino parking lot, arriving on a very windy, rainy Wednesday. The parking lot is high above the Thames River. There were only about 5 other RVs there at the time, so we had a great view of the casino hotel and the river. A shuttle bus comes along every 15 to 20 minutes. After we got the rig leveled we headed to the casino for lunch and to meet with Bob and Sue, who live in nearby Ledyard.
The casino really surprised us by being much more than just a casino. It was well designed and executed, even though it pushes the Native American theme decor a little too much for me.
Rather than feeling like just another casino it looks like a classy hotel and shopping mall with a casino attached. Actually there are several casino areas, separated by restaurants and shops. The casinos don't intrude. There is little of the typical casino noise once you are out of the immediate vicinity. Also, there is restricted smoking, and the good air exchange minimizes the effect of what smoking there is. The most annoying noise comes from the centrally located 55 foot waterfall. In front of the waterfall is a glass sculpture, which I assume is a Chihuly. It is called "Splash" and I presume it is meant to look like a splash of water. It looks more like a sea anemone. I call it "Squid".
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| Squid |
None of us liked it. I was told it cost $100,000. After the financial crisis the casino is, according to Wikipedia, $1.6 billion in debt. According to Bob the tribe used to pay out $14,000 a month to each member. That has stopped. They should sell the sculpture. It would be a good start on repaying the debt.
The casino wasn't full, like a Vegas casino is, but it was still fairly busy for a mid-week day. We finally found the pizza place we were looking for: Frank Pepe's. They make a great thin crust pizza. We ordered a half clam and half spinach Gorgonzola combo. They were excellent. I wish I could make a crust like this.
Bob and Sue showed up after lunch. We took our leftover pizza back to the rig then headed out to the Mashnatucket-Pequot Museum. This was one of those cases where having a local guide you was vital. Like his brother Tom taking us to the Air and Space Museum, Bob showed us a place we would never have gone to even had we known it existed. The museum is in a huge modern building and features many dioramas depicting Native life along with artifacts and history not only of the Mashantucket-Pequots but of native cultures across the country.
The figures in the dioramas look very realistic, handsome even. Maybe they really did look this good before the white man came.
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| Bringing fish home |
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| Learning to make arrows |
On the way out there was a display on the history of the Mohegan casino. It started as a bingo hall. Bob told us that the payout could be as much as $25,000, half of which would be paid in cash on the spot. The winners could go home on their own, with a bag of cash, or for $350 they could hire security to follow them several miles down the road.
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| Bingo Hall History |
We took a ride down to Mystic Seaport, where we planned to visit the following day, then went back to the casino for a bite to eat. We were still full from pizza, but we split an excellent blue cheese fondue, while Bob had a hamburger with fried egg and Sue had sliders.
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| Sliders, Blue Cheese Fondue, Fried Egg & Burger |
We parted in the lobby of the casino, after one last picture of Bob and Sue.
and headed back to the rig via the shuttle while they stayed to gamble for a bit.
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