We’re not much for gambling. In fact, we don’t gamble at all, but we kind of like casino’s. Plenty of casinos around the country welcome RV’s to park and stay overnight, and we’ve stopped and overnighted at a few. Having passed the Morongo Casino a few times in our roaming around Southern California this winter, we decided it was time to check it out. It’s a tall, architecturally interesting building in the rural area filled with windmills along I10, out near Palm Springs. It turned out to be a Vegas style casino hotel resort and spa with a wide selection of restaurants and bars too.
When I called the casino to check if RVers were allowed to park and stay, an actual human being answered the phone. She was very nice, and reported RVs were welcome and they have a space designated for us. When we pulled in, we found an assortment of other RVs there and felt comfortable we had found our spot for the night.
Taking advantage of the opportunity for what we surmised might be a nice date night out, we took ourselves to check out the facilities. We walked in the door and found a fairly typical casino with plenty of one armed bandits and noise, but didn’t feel as dark or cheesy as many. Strolling a bit, wanting to see the place, we found the door out to the pool area. It was after dark and, probably as much due to the time of year as to the time of day, the pool was closed, but we took advantage of the lack of crowds to meander and see all around it. The space had a definite resort-ish feel with cabana tents, lounge chairs, lazy river around a visually interesting pool shape with trees and other greenery. We couldn’t try out the pool or spa, but they both looked very nice. After our pleasant stroll in the cool night air, we imagined we enjoy an afternoon here, if we’d had the opportunity.
Back inside, the bells, lights, and raucous casino noises assaulted the peace from our poolside stroll, but we next found our way to the restaurant on the top floor and it was a more appropriate follow up to our stroll. This top floor restaurant, Cielo, is certainly going for an elegant style. It is, expectedly, a bit pricey, but has a great view for sunset. They serve stylish, vintage cocktails and use titles for the customers, harkening back to the Las Vegas of old. Our time there felt just like the quiet, classy sophistication they were going for.
Downstairs there are multiple options for restaurants and bars. Wanting to see more of the place, we continued with our lap around. We found a bar specializing in craft beers. We found a not quite as classy, but still very nice bar in the high-rollers room. We also passed the ubiquitous casino buffet and felt duly impressed with their efforts to classy it up a bit. After martinis, enjoying each other’s company, and a less romantic stroll across the parking lot, our tour ended with a late night snack at the diner in the Bowling Alley Casino across the parking lot and closer to the RV Lot.
Some of the casinos we’ve stopped at are too quiet and sleepy, but this one is clean and comfortable and had plenty of activity. The parking lot for RV’s has a passably pleasant field behind it and a nice mountain view. We got to wake up to that and then headed off to our next adventure.