Cabazon, California
Wednesday, July 5th, 2006When it comes to the 4th of July in America, my main goal is to find the best place for fireworks. I had heard on the radio that Morongo Casino and Resort was hosting fireworks on Monday, July 3. It seemed like an odd day and place for it, but then I thought about it some more and realized 1) the middle of nowhere is not somplace I’d want to be on the 4th but it’s okay for the day before, 2) it was only half an hour from my house, 2) it would be easier to come home and relax on the 4th, and 3) I could still catch fireworks across the street from my house on the 4th.
I ran out of work as soon as classes ended like it was Friday, even though it was only Monday. I got to Cabazon at nearly 4:00 p.m., and realized I needed to kill some time–the fireworks wouldn’t start until 9:00. I decided to stop and walk around the Desert Hills Premium Outlets. There was a pretty good crowd for a Monday. The stores were nice and well laid-out, but nothing grabbed my attention.
I went on to Morongo. It wasn’t hard to find the hotel–it was the only multistory building around for miles. Downhill from the hotel was a flat maroon and purple building that said “Casino Morongo.” I parked near there, but when I walked over, I found that the doors were locked. I was stunned that the casino would be closed. Then two men outside said I was standing outside the bingo hall–the regular casino was inside the hotel.
As I was walking up the hill, a man driving a golf-cart stopped and asked if I wanted a ride. It probably wasn’t more than a quarter mile, but since I’d walked around the shops and down the hill already, I accepted. I thought it was pretty luxurious of the casino crew to offer a ride like that (and pretty lazy of me and other people to accept it), but then I noticed a box on the cart for tips. It’s another moneymaker for the casino workers. I left a quarter.
When I got inside, I remembered why I hate casinos. It’s not the flashing lights that bother me; that’s rather melodious. It’s the people. They are usually old and not Rockerfellers. They never look happy as they are losing hundreds of dollars. I went to the Pit Bar to get a drink and maybe chat with people, but every seat at the bar had a video poker screen in front of it, and someone focused on playing it. <
Figuring if you can’t beat them, join them, I found another bar outside the Mystique Lounge with a free seat. I ordered a Cape Cod and proceeded to lose a couple of bucks on video poker. When I finished, I walked around some more. I saw signs for the 360 and Cielo (Sky) restaurants. I was pretty sure they were expensive, but for fun I decided to look at the menu. It turns out Cielo has a happy hour from 4-6: $6 drinks and apetizers. It was 5 minutes to 6 so I quickly got on the elevator.
Cielo lived up to its name: it was a breath of fresh air. It was bright and clean and quiet inside. It had huge windows that made the desert landscape feel like a beautiful view. And the “Morongopolitan” I had was good. The small artichoke pizza wasn’t bad, but if I had to do it again I’d order the shrimp cocktail appetizer instead.
If I’d had a higher alcohol tolerance or a room for the night, I might have stayed up there longer. As it was, though, I needed to move on. It was close to 7 p.m., so being outside wasn’t unbearable anymore. I walked to the area where the fireworks were being set off. Suddenly, I was sorry I’d ordered food at Cielo. There was a lot of good food–hamburgers, corn, Indian fry bread, authentic tacos–for a lot less than $6. I bought some $2 nachos and put my blanket on the dirt. There were two bands that were pretty good when they weren’t playing country music. The fireworks started right at nine, and went for a good half hour to the recorded sounds of rock and patriotic music. Not only were the fireworks really good, in the desert setting there were no distractions like streetlights and cars.
The only drawback of the night is that it took longer to get out of the parking lot than to watch the whole show. I even walked back up the casino and watched people lose at blackjack for 10 minutes, and it still took a while to get to the freeway. That said, I would definitely go back next year.
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