Saturday, April 22, 2006
Colusa Casino, Colusa, CA - April 21-22
We called ahead to make sure we could park overnight here, and were warmly welcomed. After setting up, we went into the casino, to see if they had any "deals". Upon joining the Players Club (free) we each got a $3 discount on the buffet (for senior day), $10 in credit for gambling, plus $5 extra senior credit. At the end of our stay we calculated that the casino paid for our buffet, all our gambling and for the dump station at a nearby state park, as well as giving us two nights of free camping.
After our Friday buffet, and during much of Saturday we went birding at the Colusa NWR, one of five units in the Sacramento River NWR Complex -- islands of man-made wetlands in the vast agricultural sea known as the Sacramento Valley. Every time I visit a NWR it saddens me what we are doing to our environment, destroying wildlife habitat to the point that we have to set aside little pockets of land for nature to survive. This refuge only heightened that feeling since the land had to be converted from dry & alkaline soil by the CCC starting in 1937. We saw over 30 species in two days, including our first tri-colored blackbird.
We also saw our first yellow-billed magpie across the street from the casino. It was a pleasant stop, located amid a walnut orchard and farmlands, despite the generator nightly running extra security lights. It was a fun casino and had some of the best penny slots we have seen.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 11:12 PM 
