We arrived at the IP around 4pm after a nice drive down from Chattanooga. We detoured off the Interstate in Mobile and cruised up 90 to Biloxi. I was thrilled to see a van on the side of the road selling fresh shrimp and another selling watermelons. (I really miss living in the coastal South...) Anyway, we had a suite reserved and check-in was quick. We headed up and discovered several workmen in our room. One of the workmen graciously told us that the room "was out of order". We headed back to the check-in desk and after a bit of foundering, they put us in a Jacuzzi suite on the 15th floor. Our bags were with the bellhop and sorta disappeared during this switchabout so we just headed down to get our players cards and PIN numbers. The line was around the corner for the cards and we stood in line for more than 25 minutes. It was probably longer than that, but I stopped keeping track lest I get too bent out of shape about the line. Apparently, the mailers for the month included a scratch-off play amount, but the Rewards desk staff had to scratch it off. IP did not plan this promotion properly as they only had three staffers working the desk and it was agonizing to stand in line so long. I mean, they could have at least had a cocktail girl there or some appetizers or SOMETHING...seriously, every minute I'm standing in line waiting for something is a minute I'm not spending $$ in the slots. Oh. Wait. That isn't a bad thing really... at least, not for my pocketbook.

After we finally got our cards, we were ready for dinner so we went to Tien on the second floor. What a flaming disappointment. The server neglected to bring us part of our order and then when we asked for it, she looked surprised and said she didn't think we wanted everything we ordered. What? I mean, seriously. We marked down several items on the sushi list and expected all of them. Then she just disappeared after bringing our first couple items. The food itself was great and I really wish I could have gotten everything we ordered. Funny side note about Tien: we asked for the sushi menu and got the little list you mark off your selections with and the pen the waitress gave us said "Beau Rivage". As a joke, I said to her, "Oh, I didn't know y'all were part of the Beau." She looked puzzled and I showed her the pen and she still didn't quite get it.

After dinner, Vance went straight to the poker room and got in on a game and I headed to the slots only to discover after trying to shove my card in ten different machines that it wasn't reading the card. Arg. The line at the rewards desk was still just as long so I headed to the poker room (a LOVELY large space with quick bar service) and motioned Vance out of the game. The poker manager overheard me kvetching to Vance about not being able to play and he right there and then printed me up a fresh card and gave me a buffet comp for the trouble. Wow. I love the poker room....

So I spent the evening playing various slots and discovered a new favorite - Spin Poker. We don't have these out at the Indian casinos in CA. I was surprised that several of my "regular" machines from CA weren't in Biloxi, including Deal or No Deal and Ancient Chinese Secret. Nonetheless, I had fun playing new machines like Gold Fish and some game with Mermaids that Vance played Wednesday morning and with two good wins managed to erase all our losses from the night before!

We ate breakfast each morning at the buffet and it was right fine. And yes, the grits were perfect! We also ate the lunch buffet at least once (maybe twice!) and it was a lovely spread. Loved the tiny pralines and embarrassed Vance by actually wrapping a few of them in a napkin to enjoy later. Hehee. The waitress said I could. He was stunned about my lack of class. (This is amusing simply because I tend to be Miss Manners about restaurant behaviour and wrapping buffet offerings in a napkin to shove in your purse for later is a huge NO-NO.... he did certainly enjoy the pralines later with me, though....)

Wednesday morning we started playing some Texas Hold'em in the poker room. I wasn't focused enough to stay playing poker so I headed back to the slots and he played on for most of the day. I ate lunch at Quench, the pool bar. DELICIOUS! Oyster nachos with jicama coleslaw. If you haven't taken the time to hit the pool, oh my. It's amazing... little floating boat things parked on the edge of the pool to lounge in, great poolside service, and a movie-screen size TV outside that you can watch from the pool. I could not believe it was on top of the parking garage.

After sunning myself for a bit (I burn quickly so I couldn't stay long), I headed back to the room for a nap. A side note here: I had no idea so many children would be present at the IP. The place was loaded with them. The bartender at the pool told me, "Today is light. You should see Saturdays. Nothing but chicken fingers and hot dogs." He said IP was the only casino that you could bring children to.

Wednesday evening, we headed to the Isle of Capri for a poker tournament. I was out before even making it off the first table (sometimes I have the patience to play; this was not one of those times). I wandered to their buffet - only $11 for dinner and featuring crab legs and seafood. It certainly wasn't the caliber of the IP buffet, but the sweet tea was good and they had Boston Cream Pie. Isle of Capri's poker room had graciously printed players cards for both of us when we signed in for the tournament, so then I took my card to the rewards desk to get a PIN and got a free can koozie for my effort. That's what I'm talking about, kids. Gimme something useful!

Broke even playing various slots there at Isle until Vance got out of the tournament. We played some more slots and then were debating whether or not to play another hundred when there was this loud ringing bell and a voice comes over the loudspeaker, "We have an unconfirmed fire emergency. Please head to the nearest exit now." We were right by the front door so I scanned the valet ticket and just as the masses began pouring out of the doors, our car was ready to go. Never did find out what really happened, but fire trucks were pulling up. We headed to the Waffle House for a very late dinner. Yeah, yeah, I know. But we ain't got Waffle Houses or Huddle Houses in California, so it's good to be back home in the South and be able to order grits and eggs any time of day or night.

Thursday we spent playing slots and poker at IP (and yes, Vance got the "free" beach towel for playing in the poker room) until mid-afternoon when we headed back to Isle of Capri for another tournament. Vance got to playing quick and I decided to check out one of the hotel rooms at Isle. They gave me a key and wow! I really dig the island theme with the striped wallpaper and crazy floral prints and everything. I work in the arts and collect folk art so this wild bright style was right up my alley. In fact, next time we go to Biloxi, we're staying at the Isle. We tried to get a room for Friday night, but they were booked solid along with everyone else in town. O'well. As Vance played on, I enjoyed a fresh Krispy Kreme in the Tradewinds Café and pondered getting oysters from the raw bar. Vance got knocked out in 8th place for the tournament so we played a few more slots and headed back to the IP.

Another side note: I seem to recall reading on the forums here that someone was getting charged for drinks at the Hard Rock and was surprised. As it turns out, the Seminole Tribe of Florida now owns ALL Hard Rocks worldwide, hence, no free liquor as per Indian Casino protocol.

We debated eating dinner at Carnaval de Brazil at IP, but neither of us were hungry enough to justify the cost (we did hit Fogo de Chao in Atlanta the other night for our Brazilian steakhouse fix). Instead, we decided to stroll in the summer air of Mississippi and walked over to Boomtown. Eww. Didn't even manage to cash out a tiny bit. The poker room list was long and after we lost about 150 bucks in the slots, we decided to go back to the IP. We will not go back to Boomtown.

We grabbed dinner in the Sports Bar at IP and let me just say, GAME ON. TVs on each of the table, each with their own tuner and sound, scrolling scores, too many TVs on the walls to count with more than ten different channels of sports stuff. And the food was terrific!

Vance played some more poker after dinner and I lost some more in the slots and we finally went to bed late in the night. We got up Friday morning, ate breakfast at the buffet, played a few more slots and ended our play for the trip down quite a bit but we had a BLAST losing our wad. We love the IP, but I love the groovy island feel of Isle so our next trip to Biloxi, we'll test out the Isle and see which we prefer.

Thanks to everyone on the board here that gave us all the tips and feedback for all my questions and queries!!