I hit all of the casinos in St. Louis this week and all I can say is that the gaming commission must have them in a head lock. They are all very paranoid about the creeping crud including sanitizing seats and all touch areas after each patron leaves. One place even took your temperature on entering. Masks were worn by everyone at all times. They even had rules that if you were smoking you had to put the mask back on between puffs. One surprising thing was Ameristar's poker room had 7 seats but no dividers between the seats. Another sign of the times, at Ameristar you had to go downstairs to the cage to buy chips for your game. If you ran out you had to go back down to get more. I made way too many trips to that cage over the two days I was there. At a BJ table they made you take some hand sanitizer when you first sat down. Still don't really understand that idea. At least Casino Queen, where I was staying, had $10 BJ tables unlike most places with $15 minimums.

Overall I was really surprised at the total destruction this disease has caused to many businesses. I had not been to La Cledes Landing in 30 years and was hoping just to see all of the small shops and have a nice lunch there. The only restaurant open was Spaggetti Factory and almost all of the small businesses were not only closed but the stores were totally empty. Finding a restaurant in town that was open with your GPS was almost useless since many are still (or permanently) closed.

Despite everything I still had a great time playing poker and BJ for the first time in a year and a half. I also hit many of the antique stores in town but did not buy anything.