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My wife, Julie, took me to the Lake Of The Torches Casino, in Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin (about an hour and a half from here), for Valentine's Day, and all I got for her was a heart-shaped box of chocolates.

We celebrated the feast of Saint Valentine a couple of days early, leaving early Friday evening so we could stop on the way for a nice dinner. We stopped at Lane's Cottage Inn, where I had a steak sandwich and french fries -- and a couple of bottles of cold Budweiser to wash it down, of course. We allowed enough time for a relaxed dinner at this rustic Northwoods supper club, and we were welcomed with good food, friendly service and a roaring fire in the fireplace.

We arrived at Lake Of The Torches just in time to pick up our tickets and find our table, and as Julie went to the bar to get a couple of beers, the lights came down and America took the stage. It was a great show, with my only complaint being that it was too short (less than 90 minutes). They've got so many good songs that they couldn't possibly play them all, but they did play most of my favorites, saving "Horse With No Name" for the encore. America was founded in 1969 -- they're celebrating 30 years, this year, with a new album called "human Nature," and they played a couple of songs from that album as well.

Julie only had to get beers that one time, after that a coctail waitress came around and got us another. Sitting at a table and being served sure beats standing in a crowd, like last week at Bases Loaded. I'm going to have to pay more attention to who's coming up -- it's a good venue, and after the show you can feed the machines.

While I did feed a couple of rolls of quarters to two very hungry one-armed bandits, that wasn't why she took me to the casino. It may not be like Las Vegas, but the Indian casinos, which have sprouted up on reservations all over Wisconsin in recent years, bring in entertainment to draw in more people. If your urge to gamble isn't strong enough to make you take the trip to the casino, you may make the trip to see a band you like -- and then maybe, as long as you're there already, drop a few bucks on a game of chance.

It didn't take me very long to lose the $20 I had allotted myself for that purpose, and it was time to head for home. The only thing that could have made the evening any better, would have been to have hit a jackpot -- oh well, maybe next time.

I can't say as I've ever received a better valentine. Next year I'll have to get Julie a bigger box of candy.