This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to Morongo Casino, Resort, and Spa with some friends to celebrate a birthday. It was a very nice short getaway. We did some gambling, had good food, a fun time at the resort, and some shopping.
September 17, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto
Travel
We drove from Los Angeles to the Resort – it took approximately an hour and 30 minutes.
We left at about 10 in the morning and traffic was pretty light.
Lunch
We had in-n-out, which is an American fast food staple when driving on the road, especially in California.
Casino
After lunch, we proceeded to go to casino area of the hotel. The casino is your standard casino filled with slot machines, video games, poker/blackjack/roulette tables, etc. We played a few rounds of roulette – one of my friends ended up winning a couple hundred bucks, but I ended up down a bit. House odds.
Hotel
After the casino, we checked in and went to the resort. The four of us stayed in two 2 queen bed rooms.
The interior of the room was standard, but comfortable. Our room was on the 15th floor and had a pretty nice view of the desert. It was interesting to see the number of cars that were parked over the weekend. In addition to the parking structure, there was secondary parking area that was covered by a large solar panel.
Resort
After checking in and settling in the hotel, we went out to the resort. Compared to Cancun, the resort was a little underwhelming, but it was nice and relaxing. The demographic of the resort seemed moreso on the family friendly side. Take that into consideration whether you want to hang out at the resort or not. Additionally there are options to rent cabanas, but if not then there is plenty of seats outside.
There are about 2 pools – a medium sized and a larger sized one, along with a lazy river. There are also a couple of jacuzzis, which are always nice to hang around for a bit.
Dinner
After the resort, we then went back up to the room, showered, and got ready for dinner.
For dinner we went to The Marketplace by Fabio Viviani. It is a buffet with many different types of cuisines including American, and ethnic ones such as Asian and Mexican cuisines. Our favorite meal seemed to be the Prime Rib, which surprised us all. It was very juicy and tender with the right amount of fattiness. Along with prime rib, dinner also consisted of pasta, shrimp fried rice, poke, tacos, menudo soup – which were all decent, but did not impress us as much as the prime rib.
After dinner, we did some more gambling, went up to the room, enjoyed a couple glasses of scotch, played Mario Kart and Party and went to bed.
Of course, the birthday boy got 1st, and I was able to get 2nd in our round of Mario Party.
Breakfast
We woke up, did some more gambling at roulette, and checked out in the morning. Then we went to have breakfast at Grand Central in Palm Springs. The interior of the restaurant was very trendy and I wasn’t really expecting much of the food, but it was delicious. I had the Brad’s Breakfast which consisted of the standard bread, potatoes, eggs, bacon, paired with a black coffee. It hit the spot. I was impressed with my friend’s choice that he made through seeing a TikTok on it. Whether or not TikTok is a good source of info is a topic for another day.
Shopping
After breakfast, we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the Desert Hills Outlets. I mostly ended up buying a couple polos for golf from Nike along with some things from Lululemon. My friend also ended up buying golf stuff at Underarmour. It was an afternoon well spent shopping.
Dinner
We left the desert at around 4 in the afternoon and got back into town at around 6. For dinner we had Broth, based in Cerritos. After a weekend of some alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling – it was just what we needed to recover from a fun weekend.
History
Some interesting history about the Morongo Casino and Morongo Band:
The Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa is a casino owned by the Morongo Band of the Cahuilla Indians, located in Cabazon California. The $250 million dollar hotel opened in 2004.
On February 25, 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that neither the state of California nor Riverside County could regulate the bingo and card game operations of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
The Morongo Reservation is located in Riverside County, California in the San Gorgonio Pass. Established as the Portrero Reservation by executive order in 1876 under President Ulysses S. Grant, and called Malki by the Native Americans, the Morongo name was adopted by 1908 when the land was patented to the Morongo Band of Mission Indians
Closing Thoughts about Morongo Casino
Morongo was a very nice quick getaway from the city with some friends. A combination of gambling, hanging out at the resort, eating at the buffet, and hanging out at the room. It was a very chill and wholesome type of weekend. Overall, we had a great time, and might be considering more of these short “getaway” like trips more often.
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About the author
Kazuyoshi Fujimoto, PE
Founder | Engineering Career Coach | Principal Mechanical Engineer
Kazu oversees all of ultmeche’s engineering services. He provides consulting such as resume reviews, rewrites, mock interviews, and all services career related. Additionally, Kazu performs consulting work regarding Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense. Kazu is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of California and has 9+ years of experience in Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense.
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