An Up & Down Sunday

Hello friends and Hivians. I hope you all are well. Today I tell you a bit about my Sunday. Started not the best but I decided to make the best of it after that.

I was suppose to go into work this morning and do some over time. Well that didn't happen because my car would not turn over. After hooking up a battery tester to my battery I found out my battery is no good. It was the original manufactured battery so it served it's life since my car is a 2016.

I got a ride to the local Wal-Mart due to them being the best value doing a quick internet search The new battery only set me back around $75. I was really thinking it would be double or triple that.

Once the car was back in action I decided to hit up a river park. I didn't go there to go fishing or kick back some with nature but to get a view of an old rusty bridge. If you seen my last article I shared a mural that showed a painting of it. If you missed it you can click here to see it.

Alright no bridge yet but I have to share a little bit of the park. It really is a beautiful view of the river at this park. It's the location where the river bends and leaves the hustle & bustle of the city. Now it's not exactly the most peaceful environment as the Omaha airport is directly across the river. You can count several aircraft taking off from here every so often.

Here we are the bridge. I took several shots and since I got a new phone I can zoom in quite a bit now. I wasn't all that close to it as it may appear in the photos. There were a few view points of it and I even took some from an interstate.

All photos taken were on the Iowa side of the river. There is a trail that goes by there as well but its an incredibly long walk to get there. A bit too hot today and I wasnt dressed for it. One of these days I will visit the Nebraska side of the river.

The name of this bridge is the Illinois Central Missouri River Bridge, it's also known as the IC Bridge or the East Omaha Bridge. It's a double swing railroad bridge that crosses the Missouri River that connects Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska.

The bridge construction was finished in 1893. At 521 feet long, the second version of the bridge was the longest swing bridge in the world from when it was completed in 1903 through 1915. The entire bridge is a total 1625 feet. In 1975 it was regarded as the third longest swing bridge. In 1980 it's use ended as it was closed.
Source

My next stop was a visit to Ameristar Casino to show you a river boat that is a casino. This I believe was also illustrated in that mural I shared. Now not just Las Vegas las luxury casinos. The money that pours into places like these is probably insane. There are three separate hotels on the property and all connect to the main casino building.

Here we are in the lobby of the casino building before getting on the boat. When you first enter there are check in counters for the hotels. Very decorative interior and this area has a few restaurants, bars and several conference rooms. I use to hit up the buffet here some years ago as they host an all you can eat crab legs on Friday nights. At the time I went it was $19.99, but now it's $55.

Going from the lobby to stepping foot on the boat is not even noticeable. If you didn't know there was boat you wouldn't know you were on one. The boat has three floors and entry is on the second floor. The first two floors are similar in square footage but the third floor is quite a bit smaller.

It was about 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon so it wasn't packed but still quite a few gamblers. A lot of different video gaming machines to choose from. Also a lot of card and table games to play as well. Perhaps dealers were on a break because none of the tables were open.

Did I gamble? Yes I did but I was only going to risk one twenty dollar bill. The last time I gambled at a casino the coins dropped into a hopper. Yes it's been a long while ago as now it prints a paper voucher out. I went strong for a little over an hour. I played on three or four machines and played the penny to nickel slots, haha. Don't be fooled by these because some of these you can play up to 200 credits per spin. So it's not always cheaper than quarter and above slots.

Did I win and come out ahead? My biggest winning spin was $4.90 and I left donating that twenty dollar bill. I really did not go in thinking I was going to get an armed escort out the door with a brief case full of cash, haha.

I'm out $20 but at least I got some photos to share my experience. Here is the river boat casino that has been at this location since 1996. At one time it was a requirement for it to take voyages on the river. I'm not sure of its last voyage and not sure if it even does them anymore since it's no longer required by law.

There use to be a dozen or so river boat casinos in Iowa but now this one is just one of two left. It's a cool concept but I'm sure the maintenance cost is much more than maintaining a building. This one remains for now but will it be around for years to come?

Thanks for coming this far, it's much appreciated. I hope you enjoyed the real things from the mural painting I shared a few days ago.

Take care care, stay safe and enjoy the week ahead. Until next time!