Reno Trip Overview Part 2

This post is a continuation from part 1, which you can read here.

Day 3

This was our first full day in Reno and I was really excited about getting out and seeing the sites.  Naturally I was up early and started my day with a run that lead me to downtown Reno.  You can see pictures here.

After coming back and realizing that Shari and her mom were going to be a while in getting ready, I donned a swimming suit and headed down to the Peppermill's awesome pool

Generally in the morning the pool area was pretty vacant of people and the sun was partially blocked by the eastern side of the hotel.  It was also warm enough where I wasn't freezing.  In short, it was perfect weather for idly swimming in the pool or relaxing in the hot tub.  Just about every day I was there, I wound up meeting / talking to someone.  I guess I have that gift of gab.  Interesting to see how many people were from California and the Pacific Northwest.

There were two massive pools and a handful of hot tubs.  The pools definitely were more busy in the evenings, particularly around 5-ish but at night the winds would pick up and people would take off.

By the time I made it back to my room and cleaned up, Shari and her mom were pretty much ready to eat.  I was starving and so we hit up the only place we ever ate for breakfast:  the buffet.

We found that this was the best deal for breakfast.  With Shari's mom senior discount -- which entitled her to a two-for-one buffet.  We tried to time our arrivals to getting in at the breakfast time, but still get there when the better stuff came out for lunch.  

I still preferred Wendover's breakfast buffet to this one, but this clearly had a larger selection of food.  They also had cheese blintzes which I devoured and some great french toast.

After eating we wound up gambling for a bit to let our food settle.  Again, no one had any luck at the Peppermill and it was a costly lesson to learn before I wound up taking my money to other casinos.  In my opinion, the machines were simply very tight and I was happy to leave.

By early afternoon I finally got everyone assembled in the car and we drove to Carson City; about a 30 minute drive.  Luckily there was virtually no traffic and it was easy to find the Nevada State Museum and the government buildings.  You can read about the museum here and the government buildings here.

After the museum jaunt Shari and her mom had no interest in seeing the government buildings, so I let them explore the Carson City Nugget casino.  The Nugget is definitely older but I found they had the loosest machines of any casino we went to.  

While the women gambled, I wound up hustling and got a bunch of pictures in before returning to the Nugget.

I was pretty gun shy about gambling, having taking a beaten at the Peppermill the past twenty four hours.  However, I figured I was "off-strip" and tried a twenty in a Money Tree.  I quickly got a bonus and managed to double my money.  I also played some Robin Hood and again did well on that.  Finally I was winning!

They even had some coin-based video poker.  When I hit a full house on my first hand I expected a ticket out but was surprised to see a slew of nickles pop out.  In fact, we all had good luck here.  I wound up walking around with a pocket full of nickels for the next 24 hours though.

Being we were hungry we decided to head on down to the Casino Fandango.  This is on the south side of town and easy to find, but there was a lot of traffic being that it was right around 5 o'clock. The reports I had read said this casino was lively, had good food and was fairly modern.  It hit on all points.  This casino was fairly large and had a good offering of both old and new games.  I didn't have any luck on their Fu Dao Le's but I did find several Multi Strike Poker games that actually turned out to be quite profitable.  

Mother in law's big hit on Rising Dragon

Their buffet wasn't open but we did wind up eating at their grille.  I had a high-fat meal of fried fish... delicious:

I completely lost track of time as I was playing the Multi-Strike Poker.  Simply put, I could play 25 cents at a time and pretty much remain even or make a small profit.  Shari wound up giving me her player's club card so I could get the minimum amount of points for her to get some free play.  

We wound up killing some more time before making a drive around Reno at night.  Since I had gotten the lay of the land that morning I knew exactly where to go.  I was really surprised with how empty the streets were:

I wound up putting a bet on the Dodgers / Nationals game and wound up losing (of course).  So I wasn't too happy with my run of luck for the day.

Valet area of the Peppermill Casino at night.

Stayed tuned for the next installment...

Reno Trip Overview Part 1

Introduction

I'll be honest, I write a lot of these trip recaps for myself. This blog is more or less a diary of things I do that are noteworthy.  I know in time, my memory will fade, and I'll forget all the little things and the reasons why I do certain things and this blog serves as a poignant reminder of what I've done, what I've accomplished and why.

This entry will cover the entire Reno trip in a bit more detail, so if you find it interesting, awesome. If not, you can skip it.  I just know that years from now I'll look at this entry and go "Yeah, I remember doing that"

This trip had me really excited.  As a fan of all things Nevada, the opportunity to drive along highway 80 and see the scenery, experience some of the tiny towns (in passing mostly) and getting a chance to look at western history was a dream come true.  At the beginning of the year I made it a goal of mine to explore some new territories in Nevada, so this was mission accomplished.

This trip was taken by my wife Shari and her 80-something mother.  This posed some interesting challenges and often times tested my patience.  I can certainly get around pretty quickly but an octogenarian?  Not so much.

Day 1

We took off to Nevada heading west on I-80 on Sunday August 9th.  We left around noon and our first stop was Elko, about a 3 and a half hour drive.  We had reservations at the Red Lion Elko.  The Red Lion continues to treat me VERY well.  I had been given a slew of coupons as well as free room so staying there proved to be a welcome respite.  It would also give my mother in law a chance to gamble and see something new.

I had rented a Toyota Camry because I didn't want to put miles on my car.  In total, I would drive about 1200 miles in a week.  I liked the Camry and it got fantastic gas mileage.  There was plenty of room in the car as well.

Our first stop was at the Salt Flats in Utah for a bathroom break.  Normally we are going to Wendover and since Wendover is only about 4 more miles from the rest stop, I've never stopped.  However, loading and unloading a senior citizen takes time -- lots of time (on average about 10 minutes) so stopping in Wendover simply to use the bathroom wasn't going to fly.  

The rest stop was populated with a ton of people who were enjoying the salt flats.  This is truly an amazing place:

After using the bathroom we were able to make it all the way to Elko.  I had full intentions of hiking in Lamoille, but I really didn't feel comfortable leaving Shari and her mom by themselves at the casino and I had to check in, lug all the luggage to the room, etc... I also had $25 in free play to use and I was sort of hungry as well.

I am normally somewhat suspicious of free play as I sometimes wonder if the machines know you are playing with free play and simply just gobble it up.  This was the complete opposite.  Anytime I played with free play, I won and I generally won pretty big.  If I used my cash, it was it flushed away in no time at all.

As usual, I played a lot of fu dao le and by close to dinner time I was up nearly a hundred bucks.  However, after eating, everyone's luck changed for the worse and by night's end I was about $60 in the hole.  Not a big deal, since the room was free.  I did win $25 on a baseball game, successfully picking Pirates over the Dodgers:

I did manage to read a bit by the Elko Red Lion pool.  They really need to install a hot tub out there.  

I had set a budget as I knew that I'd be gambling a lot this week so once I was about $60 in the hole, I decided to call it a night.

Day 2

I soon found out that traveling with my mother in law required a LOT of extra time.  Usually it took about 2 to 3 hours from the moment of waking until she was ready to travel.  That tested my patience a great deal as I tend to be a get up and go go go type of person.

I wound up eating a bit over at the Gold Country Inn's Jr's Restaurant.  They are pretty good and their service is lightning fast. I have yet to be disappointed there.

I gambled a bit as well, dropping another $20 or so.  I also got to use my free play (another $25) and managed to make up a bit for the previous night as a result.

Around 10 am or so we took off and headed towards Reno on I-80.  I hadn't been past the California Interpretive Trail Center (about 10 miles west of Elko) before so I was totally enthralled to see the passing scenery.

9 out of 10 people would likely find the trip incredibly boring.  It is just dry, desert landscape with mountains looming in the distance.  I loved it.  It really sparked my imagination and I couldn't keep my eyes off of it -- wondering what trails lay ahead and what it must've been like for pioneers back in the day.

I got to catch glimpses of Carlin, Battle Mountain, Golconda, Valmy, Beowawe and other map dots as the morning drew on.

We did stop at McDonalds in Winnemucca (about half way) for lunch.  I normally loathe McDonalds but we needed a bathroom break and it was quick.  I am happy to report, I survived and this was a "good" McDonalds -- at least as far as they go. 

Winnemucca Mountain

As the trip progressed I went through a ton of lonely counties: Churchill, Pershing and others.  More map dots came and went and got to see Lovelock, another mini salt flat, Fernley and other small clusters of civilization that didn't seem to bare any names.

Traffic got heavy just outside of Reno.  They were doing construction on the freeway north of our hotel and I almost got rear ended by someone with New York plates (figures).  There was some incredible scenery as well in the pass between Sparks and Reno.  

I didn't have any problems finding the hotel and Reno was basically pretty easy to figure out.  I did miss the numeric streets like we have in Utah, but overall throughout the entire trip I was never lost or scrambling for a map.

We stayed at the Peppermill Reno.  They own a lot of the properties we patronage in Wendover and they've treated us pretty good.  Also the hotel / resort got some great reviews.  It is off strip but easy to find and has plenty of amenities: a beautiful pool, a buffet (of course), a big casino, and tons of restaurants.

The hotel is in an Italian flavor -- much like Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.  There are Italian statues and lots of marble.  Overall, the entire hotel was classy and elegant yet unpretentious. The architecture was similar to that of their Wendover properties and you could tell they used the same designs and material for their properties.

Must remember to hold the camera straight...

View from a hallway window

Night bar

The first room we got didn't meet Shari's approval.  I guess the beds were supposed to be "queens" but they were sized fulls at best.  Also the room was a bit tiny for us 3 so we wound up upgrading to the Tuscany Suites.  These rooms are luscious.  They did set me back an extra $35 a night, but the room was spacious and featured an awesome bathroom.  Also the beds were kings and the three of us were able to co-exist without stepping on each other.

What was cool was that the bathroom had its own TV and there was a two-headed shower (so much for water conservation).  The internet connection was also pretty good as well.

View from our Room

Walkway to the Tuscany Towers

After settling in we opted to hit the buffet.  I always compare any buffet experience with that of Wendover's Oceano, which is my favorite (for the price).  This buffet ranked up there, but for the price I'd rather be in Wendover.  In fact, I kept mumbling to myself, "I'd rather be in Wendover".  I did make do though and I certainly didn't leave hungry.

They didn't have a lot of premiums (like crab legs) but they had a huge selection.  The food was hit and miss.  Some of it was well cared for and good and others you could tell it had been sitting for a while.  The desserts in Wendover are of higher quality but the Peppermill had more selection.

They had an awesome selection of gelato and we all fell in love with the bubblegum flavor.  

The buffet's decor was that of a Rain Forest (ala the Rain Forest Cafe).  Every 15 minutes or so, there'd be mock thunder and lightning.  Kind of hokey but at the same time added a certain charm.

Bubblegum flavored Gelato -- yum!

Sampling of some of the desserts

After eating I did manage to check out the pool, which would be my morning hangout for the next week:

Of course we gambled a bit.  There was no shortage of slot machines in this mighty casino. However, I found all of them extremely tight.  I don't think I ever won much at this place.  And I knew it was going to be tight. 

For instance, on Fu Dao Le, you gamble, say a buck.  In Wendover, the jackpot goes up a few pennies as a result.  Here, you'd gamble $10 and it would go up a few pennies.  Consequently the jackpots were always near the minimums.  Also, I never had any luck whatsoever.  I think over the course of the week if I had taken my money and flushed it down the toilet, I would've gotten more satisfaction than what I got at the Peppermill.  Luckily I wised up and did my gambling elsewhere...

Stay tuned for the next installment....