24 Hours in Shreveport, Louisiana

This past weekend we visited Shreveport, Louisiana! How did we choose Shreveport? Well, duh we love to gamble. Oh, and I had a free IHG hotel room that was going to expire if I didn't use it by Friday, March 4th. Apparently this free hotel room had been sitting on my account for a full year, and I didn't happen to notice it until just days before it expired. Go figure.

So I messaged CB to brainstorm where we should go for one free night, informing him that we had 6 days to make this happen. CB offered up Shreveport. When I found out this was a mini Vegas (very mini, like super mini... and by Vegas I mean it was nothing like Vegas) only 2.5 hours from home, I immediately secured our room. 

We left Dallas right after work on Friday and arrived in Shreveport by 8:30pm, fireball mini bottles in tow. The hotel had a free shuttle, so we hopped in and asked the driver to take us to Horseshoe. Our driver told us about a place called The Blind Tiger (more on this in a moment) which we'd actually already been told about by someone else.

Driver: yada yada yada.... go to the blind tiger

Us: Oh, we were told about that place... 

Driver: Ohhhh weeeeeee! It's so good it'll make you slap three people in line! 

Us: Well, that settles it then. 

When we arrived at Horseshoe, it very much felt like a casino I'd been to in Indiana called Belterra. It was a riverboat casino with only a few floors, and not much of a selection by way of slots. The ladies were all wearing their finest Forever 21 and magically, within seconds, my hair smelled like I'd used the ashes from a nearby tray as a deep conditioning treatment. 

Not seeing my favorite 25 cent slot machine, Wheel of Fortune, I decided to hang with CB at the Craps table. I'm very picky with my gambling, as you'll know from my post "The Girls Guide to Casinos," so if the machine isn't exactly what I want then I won't play.

CB very sweetly tried to explain Craps and Roulette to me. Here's the general idea of how to play both:

Craps: 7 is the devil.

Roulette: Put down $100 and leave 10 minutes later with 100 fewer dollars. 

Quite frankly, I didn't see the appeal of Roulette but that's just me. 

The next morning afternoon we went to slap 3 people in line at The Blind Tiger. 

I spy CB....

We started with Bloody Mary's and mini meat pies.  I'd never had a meat pie before, so this was a little out of my comfort zone. The name alone, meat pie, had me anxious. Other than the scalding hot interior leaving me with third degree burns on the roof of my mouth that I'm still nursing at this very moment, these were mind blowingly good. We got a mix of beef, crawfish and shrimp, and I was relieved to never bite into any of the beef variety. 

Then after I stuffed myself to the brim with meat pie, I remembered we still had lunch coming. As our lovely server dropped off our heaping plates of jambalaya, crab cakes, fried corn, dirty rice, a now unidentifiable type of fish, crawfish étouffée and several more meat pies, I began questioning our appetizer selection. 

It was all so good that it'll make you slap three people in line. That is, if you had the energy, which I did not. All I had the energy for was a nap, but we pressed on... because we are WARRIORS. I probably could have bathed in that fried corn but that's for another post on another day. 

During our meal, CB kept going ON AND ON AND ON AND ON about the Margaritaville Casino.

CB: It's new and super nice
Me: ok 
CB: It's right next to the boardwalk, you'll love the boardwalk
Me: ok
CB: We can get you a margarita
Me: Sure 
CB: I bet they have Wheel of Fortune
Me: Cool 
CB: You'll really want to go here. 
Me: Sure 
CB: You're going to love this place
Me: ok 
CB: Let's go
Me: ok 
CB: Should we go?
Me: yes
CB: Let's just check it out... 
Me: wait a second, what am I missing....

*we drive up and over the bridge, crossing into Bossier city, where Margaritaville Casino is*
CB: oh look, there's a Bass Pro here! Who knew?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? WHAT. A. COINCIDENCE. I mean, since we're here we should check it out I could use 4,587,456 different fly fishing things. It'll just take a moment. 

*Me enjoying that Margarita.*

Boys, they're just so sweet, aren't they? Always looking out for the women they love. 

We spent the rest of the day at Margaritaville and it was an absolute blast. This hotel was really nice, and honestly mirrored something you'd probably see in Vegas. 24 hours in Shreveport wasn't enough time, and we will definitely be going back. Not to mention Helene recommended a place called Straun's, that she refers to as an institution we must visit! No restaurant left behind, that's always been my motto.