We took our annual getaway weekend sans kids this past weekend. Just a quick trip to Niagara Falls to walk among the Christmas Lights and feel the icy mist on our faces. We stayed at the Fallsview hotel with a beautiful room overlooking, not surprisingly, the Falls.

The hotel was connected to several adjacent buildings containing shops, restaurants, an arcade, an indoor waterpark (why didn’t we bring the kids again?), and of course, Casino Niagara.

The first day there we walked through the casino to get to the comedy club’s box office where we got tickets for the following night. On the way through, Kim went on explaining how she didn’t get the whole gambling thing. Why did people think it was fun? And how could all these people possibly be having a good time. So I popped $5 in a slot machine and had her sit. She pushed the buttons and pulled the lever over and over, but there were no bells and lights so she left non-plussed.

So the next day, after touring Ripley’s museum and a collection of the world’s most notorious criminals… A side note… With the exception of Jack the Ripper apparently all the world’s most notorious criminals are Americans. None are Canadian. Just an interesting tidbit I learned in Canada. It was also a bit odd to see all the shop signs saying “US money accepted at par”. My how far we’ve fallen. But I digress.

We had a lovely dinner and headed toward the comedy club for the show. We were a bit early so I popped $10 into a video poker machine and she watched as I played. I hit a couple of good hands and was soon up to $22. She was aglow. I cashed out and we went to the show. But only after assuring her we could come back out and play again afterwards. We did. And she cheered out loud every time she won more than a $1, much to the delight of the people sitting near her. We finished the evening up a total of $2, which I consider a pretty good evening, providing you exclude my bar tab.

Now back home, as we parted, she made a point of saying that maybe we could go to the casino again sometime. Oh what evil have I done?