Sometimes in the craziness of life, you just need to take a night and get away from home. Lately things have been busy. My husband and I are in the process of selling our house, so we have been working like mad to get things in order. Since we haven’t had a ton of time to connect lately, we decided to do an overnight trip to Treasure Island Resort & Casino, located in Welch, Minnesota.

TI was nice enough to offer us a free night stay, but we chose to upgrade our room to a whirlpool suite. We arrived at 3pm for check-in and the line was minimal. We received our room keys and went up to inspect our room. Upon walking into the room we were happy to see that we had a living room which a couch and television, kitchen table, and mini kitchenette with refrigerator and microwave. Each fridge has free water and regular, as well as diet, Pepsi. You are left coffee, popcorn, and some small packages of Oreos. I found this gesture to be very kind since it seems so seldom that hotels offer free food and beverage amenities anymore.

The bedroom was separated from the sitting area by a set of white French doors. Inside was a king size bed, another television, and our whirlpool. There was also a vanity with sink and mirror outside of the bathroom as well as inside. The shower curtain in our bathroom was kind of yellow and old looking, but otherwise the room was clean. There was also a second bathroom with stool and sink in the entryway to the suite.

After stowing our items in the room, we decided to go check out the buffet. We have eaten at TI’s buffet on several occasions. While my husband loves this buffet, I only like certain things about it. The coffee is great; I cannot get enough of it. They have a great selection of desserts. The food, however, can be hit or miss. Last time I visited, the ribs tasted great but were cold. This time they were hot but tasteless. Neal always gets the Pad Thai, which has been pretty consistent.  They have great potatoes, pizza, and pot roast. If I could change one thing, it would be that the food would be consistently hot. I don’t like cold food; I see no excuse for it.

After dinner we did hit up the casino for a little fun. If you are non-smokers, they now have a great non-smoking section, which has its own bar. This section was newly added in February and they are currently using the bar located in this area to test different beverages and wines on customers to see what people like. They usually have a signature drink and so far, of the two we have tried, they have both been tasty.

The bed and pillows in our room were quite comfortable, once I got everything adjusted. The only problem I ran into was that apparently our mattress cover had ripped and was completely bunched up under the sheets when I got into bed; I found this to be slightly irritating, but minor. I slept well and awoke feeling quite rested after my time in the whirlpool and a good night’s sleep. We were not disturbed at all by the neighbors, which was also a win in my book.

Overall I give Treasure Island a 7. The buffet is decent but not always consistent, and we have run into issues with our rooms missing light bulbs and having broken items a couple of times. This resort does have great amenities though. We have never checked out the water-park or bowling alley, but we plan to on a future visit. We always have fun at TI and we will definitely visit again.

For more information on Treasure Island Resort & Casino, please visit: http://www.ticasino.com/