Visitreno

[BC Dave]

BC Dave's Trip report Oct 6th - Oct 10th, 2019

Day 1 --- Saturday evening Oct 5, 2019 - The long drive to Sea-Tac

It ain't easy gettin' to Reno from my location in Keremeos in South-Central British Columbia.
I left my home around 7:00 pm on Saturday Oct 5th. Drove over the curvy mountainous Hope-Princeton Hwy on a (thankfully) moonlit night. About 20 minutes out from home I realized I had not packed my camera. I did have an iPad mini though and that would do for some shots. Didn't want to turn back. Drove across the border at the Aldergrove crossing at 11:00 and got down to Bellingham at about 11:30. I was running ahead of schedule so I paid a brief visit to one of our old hangouts - the Silver Reef Hotel and Casino. Played $5.00 on one of their strange video poker machines and cashed out with $20.00. A good omen?

Day 2 -- Sunday, Oct 6th, 2019. The flights and arrival in Reno!

Left for Sea-Tac and got down to Extra-Car (an airport park and ride) still quite early, but they happily took my key and shuttled me over to the airport in no time. Sea -Tac at 3:00 am is a pretty quiet place and I found a chair to curl up in and watched YouTube videos.

The first leg was a Southwest flight to Oakland and after a short stay there another flight had me in Reno's airport by 9:45 or so. Watched the sun come up on the first leg and had a brief look at the San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate bridge as the plane lifted from Oakland on it's way to Reno. The Harrah's Shuttle picked up 4 of us weary travelers and had us at Harrah's at 10:10 am.

Check-in was fairly quick and I started up to the room. I was on the 16th floor of the west tower. I noticed the hall carpets were pretty worn and not too clean. The room, too, was showing signs of wear and certainly in need of some renovations. But, it was OK enough, the bed was good and I rested before heading out.

But I couldn't rest long - now could I? Before long I was over at the Cal_Neva plugging a couple of $20s into a bar video poker machines. How's my initial luck? Well, let's just say my $40 beer was OK. Called John and we met in the afternoon. John solved my camera predicament by loaning me his Casio Exilim (a really great pocket-able but wide zoom camera). We went on to have a late lunch/early dinner at Oceano at Alison's castle (some people call it the Peppermill). We both had a shrimp and fries basket that was seafoody perfection! Later a quick visit with Charlie and Higgins topped off my first day. John drove me back to Harrah's and I played a little VP before calling it a 'way too overly looong day'. But hey, objective realized, I was in Reno!!!



To be continued ...

[SeahawkSiren]

Great start to your trip report, BC Dave. And it includes visits with John, Charlie and Higgins? Awesome!

Harrah's may not be the best place to stay but I LOVE this first photo you posted. I take it that's the view from your room? I see my green castle in the background waiting for me. Less than 2 weeks until my trip to Reno. Looking forward to your next installment.

[BC Dave]

I wasn't really surprised the Harrah's has allowed it's hotel (or, at least, that part I was in), to go downhill, but it's such a shame to see in this pioneering Reno property. I've heard that William F. Harrah had meticulous standards for the beauty and cleanliness of his operation in his day.

Yes, I did have a nice view of the Reno Arch, the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus. (Now known popularly as the row.)

And, to continue, and without further ado .... Presenting Charlie and Higgins!!

[BC Dave]

Perhaps it was my weary eyes, maybe I'd been away too long or it could even be that the Cal Neva has upgraded their signage to LEDs. Not sure which one of those explains it, but
the Cal Neva looked really extra great from the outside at night.



and



Much more to come!

[john]

Great to see you again after all these years. It's always fun to meet up with our guests from the north. Charlie and Higgins send their best "Squawk!". Looking forward to the next installment.

[BC Dave]

Great to see you and the Birdies too! Hey, didn't we have a blast playing the Triple hand video poker at the Pep! Those were some pretty durable nickels!

[BC Dave]

Got the day off to a good start with the Eldorado's buffet breakfast. Lots to choose from and all fresh and good quality eats. At $18 it set me back a lot more than it did 5 years ago when I had a gold card. I walked around town a bit and strolled up to the University. Beautiful grounds and nice brick buildings. Some pics from my hike ...

University grounds ..



The Old Horseshoe casino sign ..



Some modern 'art' thingy near the Sands ..



A reminder of some good old times. This sign is still up!



In the early afternoon I boarded a bus to go get a few things from Walmart, Ross, and Walgreen's. After those necessities were taken care of I stopped in at the Atlantis and played some V.P.
A couple of four of a kinds always lifts one's spirits!





I met John later at the Peppermill's Fireside lounge. We drove down to the Eldorado and both had a Tortellini dinner at La Strada. I highly recommend this place for a great dinner, but you might want to scan the Italian language dinner menu and have Google translate interpret it for you. Later we played a couple of slots and our money lasted a while, but no life altering wins came our way. John headed on back home and I played some V.P. at the Legacy and Harrah's. Called it a night after that.

[BC Dave]

Up and out for a walk to the Sands. Bright and sunny - a warm day ahead! Walked thru the 'Row' then headed west for the Sands. Here's some pics from that hike ...

This sign is practically a Reno Landmark. And like this part of Virginia street it could use some sprucing up ...



I guess I could have just had some of these Eldorado treats for Breakfast ...



Sam's Mail Wagon ...



Camel racing at Circus Circus ...




At Mel's diner ...



Mel's had a weekday special on Steak and Eggs. Had that and it was great!



Got a new Sand's player's card and plugged it and some cash into various machines. All I got to keep was the card.

In the Afternoon I did my traditional epic walk - And not just to the Peppermill but all the way to the Atlantis.

Virginia street was something of a maze.



But I made it to the Atlantis.



Played some Video Poker there with OK results. Then I made my way to the Peppermill and met John for dinner at the coffee shop. I had the Clubhouse. It was large!



Not wanting to crack my jawbone, I disassembled it and kinda turned it into a Turkey dinner. Still very good.

Later we ventured out onto the casino floor and tried various kinds of money losing apparatus. We finally settled on a couple of machines that offer triple play poker and must have played them for an hour or so.



That pretty much rounded out the evening. We had another visit with the birds and checked out each other's favorite YouTube videos. John then shuttled me back downtown. I played some more VP at Harrah's before calling it a night.

[BC Dave]

Had Harrahs' Breakfast buffet. There's a good selection of breakfast related items all hot and fresh, but the place was deathly quiet and hence seemed lacking in atmosphere. I don't think they even had any 'Muzak' playing. It was a couple of bucks less than the Eldorado, but although the food was OK, I wouldn't really recommend it. Did some Video Poker gamblin' but the results were less than spectacular. Then some more hiking thru the downtown casinos making donations along the way.

John met me downtown in the afternoon and with my wife on the phone we tried to get a screen-shot of us under the arch. Though we waved for the webcam it didn't quite work out as planned. That's us two scrambling to get out of the way of approaching traffic. Gotta try this again next time.



Once that was completed we drove to the Atlantis. Made our way across the SkyBridge and ended up in the Purple Parrot Cafe for some Jack Daniel's Ribs. I'm not normally a rib eater and the huge pile of ribs was quite intimidating. But, after some seriously messy gnawing I actually still felt like having a piece of cheese-cake.

John had savagely devoured his ribs ... I think I should of taken the picture a few minutes earlier - before his carnivore instincts took over.

[john]

I think them there ribs are the best in town. Mmmmmm

[BC Dave]

Oh yeah, dem bones, dem bones ...

[john]

Tuesday night I was a bad boy and ordered ribs to go from the Purple Parrot and had to share them with one of my parrots. Charlie ate almost a quarter of one of them. That would be the equivalent of me eating a third of a small cow. Well, maybe an eighth.

[BC Dave]

So, if I've done my math correctly, Charlie's about twice the size of Higgins now?

[BC Dave]

Last day already. Steak and eggs at the Top Deck Restaurant @ the Cal Neva. Man, me and the Cal Neva go way back. (To 1985 actually). I remember when the Top Deck restaurant was enlarged and refurbished. Another favorite eatery was the cafeteria style Hof Brau - A great place to get your 99 cent breakfast in a hurry. Anyway the Steak and Eggs were pretty good. Shortly thereafter I was back in my room packing up the last of my things then downstairs to checkout.

John picked me up and we headed for Carson City. Nice to get out in the Nevada countryside for a short bit. Our aim was to have lunch at the Carson Nugget's coffee shop. To my disappointment they had chopped the cool old cafe in half and modernized. Must have just happened recently. We waited for a while to be seated, but they seemed disorganized so we went across the street to Cactus Jack's. Glad we did. Their eatery in just a few stools around a counter where the waitress is also the cook. Our waitress was gruff, but actually very friendly gal who had us laughing and served up a couple of really good burgers.

Played some video poker there and Da Vinci Diamonds. No luck. Later we headed back to Reno. John dropped me off and I thanked him for being such a great host, good company, lending me his camera, visits with the birds, etc. etc. Wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without ya boss! Thanks again!

So long Reno!



The return trip went like clock-work. Harrah's shuttle, Southwest to Oakland, then Southwest to Seattle. Drove my car away from Extra-Car around 12:30 AM. I was still pretty wired, so drove all night and got home about 7:00 AM. Just in time to find an irrigation line had busted from icy overnight conditions. Man, park the car and right back to work!

[john]

It was great seeing you again after a twentieth of a century. Hope to see you again in the near future. Next time, we'll win big money in the casinos.