Visitreno

[mjames1229]

From an iPhone (so be understanding of typos).

Landed in Reno on Tues at Noon, checked into Harrahs and the right to the Nugget for an Awful Awful. Picked up friends at the airport (later flight) then drove to Yellow Roadway freight depot to get our bowling balls. After dropping them off, my wife and I headed to Virginia City.

The problem was that we got there just before 5:00 and the town rolls up it's wooden sidewalks at that time, so we mostly just walked up both sides of the street and window shopped. We did go into the Washoe Club and paid the $2 each to go the haunted tour. It was worth the $2 to watch my wife (who believes in that garbage) freak out when we went onto the crypt.

We then went into Carson City to hit casinos for my $1 chip/coin collection and played $1 craps at the Carson City Nugget. My wife played for a buck while I played for my normal $5. The dice got in her hands and by the time she was done I was up $150. Then across the street to Cactus Jacks. They only use chips for poker (and there was no game last night) but the cashier as nice enough to open the safe and sell one to me.

Upon getting back to Reno we ate at Men Wielding Fire (have the fried cornbread and thank me later) and then the wife went back to bed. I ent to the Eldorado poker room with a bowling buddy and got caught in the crossfire of three agressive players at the No Limit game... I guess I played OK (once I stopped betting and just folded every hand).

And so ended Day 1. Today I bowl at the National Bowling Stadium at 2:30 PM, so not much is planned for today on either side of the bowling.

Lily - need any soccer bets?

[remano]

Thanks for the update, much appreciated. You just missed a stretch of cold, windy weather - supposed to be pretty nice for the next few days. How long are you in town? The river fest at the whitewater park is this weekend, which is usually good for a short diversion but the kayak tricks pretty soon start to look all the same. Don't forget to report on the Hash House a-go-go. Do you have any free time for a meet-up?

[Shooty]

mjames, I'm really looking forward to your reports, from what I've you've written here in the past we share an approach to Reno (except for the bowling bits).

Have a blast!

[mjames1229]

Our flight back to Las Vegas (one more night, as one of my buddies couldn't get there for the pre-bowling Vegas portion [my wife and I spent three days in Vegas before coming to Reno] and my buddy wants to treat me to the seafood buffet at the Rio) is Thursday at 8:15 PM. I bowl tomorrow at 9:20 AM, then will come back to Harrah's to shower, change, check-out and then have lunch at the Hash House. Meet up time is limited, as I promised the missus that we'd do a coupon run for the match plays and such that the bowlers get at the Circus Circus, Silver Legacy, Eldorado and Peppermill.

With all that said, here is how today went (I really can't believe that any day of a Vegas or Reno trip ends around 10:30 PM, but sometimes the wife wins)....

Actually, we didn't do much. Went to brunch at the Eldorado Buffet (not bad, I am not an egg eater) and they had lots and lots of other stuff to fill me up. Then went to Silver Legacy for some losing Pai Gow Poker (my wife isn't a big fan of table games, but to her, Pai Gow Poker is non-threatening. She likes craps, but will only play it if there are only one or two other people at the table.)

We bowled at the stadium at 2:30, and without trying to get to bowling-y, I kicked some butt. Of the 10 bowlers in our group, I was high by about 100 pins for three games. I made a lot of pot game money, though the rest of my team stunk up the joint. Looking forward to six games tomorrow and a nice big fat all-events score.

After dinner, 8 of the bowlers plus three wives went back to Brew Brothers at the Eldorado for dinner (this is the second year that I've had most of my hotel stays comped at Harrahs but spent a lot of time at the Eldorado). My luck kept on, as I ordered the 22 oz wheat beer, and the bartender screwed up and poured two of them (as Charlie Sheen would say "WINNING!"). I had the reuben sandwich and it was pretty good. The beer was great. Got a little choked up, however, when we drank a toast to a bowling buddy (find and read last year's trip report.... I don't feel like searching the internet from Harrah's Business Center) who has cancer. Last year, he came to Reno - he didn't bowl - but did some bucket-list things. All winter his cancer was in remission and he was planning on coming along again this year, however about two weeks before we planned to leave, they found three lesions in his brain. Not only could he not come along, but he doesn't think he's got six more month in this lifetime. What started as a "To Grap!" toast, became a few grown men shedding tears.

All the bowling guys split up after dinner and my wife and I walked from the Cal Neva back to Eldorado with the video portion of the video camera. Won't know how it looks until I upload it to the PC at home, but there seemed to be a lot more foot traffic on the streets (and not just panhandlers) than last May.

We got back to Harrahs and decided to play a little more Pai Gow Poker, and if you know that game, you know that heaters are non-existent. But I got on one. I bought in for $50 and played the minimum $10 for a few hands and won all of them. Pressed to $15, won and lost a few, up to $20, then $25. After 30 minutes of play, I cashed out for $205... a $155 win at a table that I walked up to just to kill time.

Because we are flying to Vegas tomorrow, and won't get back to Milwaukee until after midnight on Friday, I probably won't have an update until then. Or maybe I might... depending if I can sneak my wife's iPhone while she was sleeping (like I did this morning).

Glad you guys enjoy the updates. I am having a blast out here. I already can't wait to come back in 2013.

[stan_allen]

We're hanging on your every word! There just ain't a lot of trip reports these days; must be the economy or something...

Sounds like a winner all around this time, though I'm sorry to hear about your friend - well, a toast that ends in tears is a catharsis of sorts, and what better to wash it down with than alcohol??

And good work on the bowling - being up by 100 over whatever number of games sounds pretty good to someone for whom 100 was essentially a baseline score! Haven't played in years - does Wii count?? I can do pretty well in that...

[LilyJDragonfly]

As The Dog discovered, that Pai Gow can be fun and profitable at times.... and tell us about your LV experience, too. We're considering a trip there in June to go see Motley Crue at Red Rocks if we can get good tickets....

[BC Dave]

All right MJames! Great to hear some trip reportin' from the Biggest Little. Sounds like a fun time!

[mjames1229]

After six days in Nevada (four in Las Vegas and two in Reno) I slept most of today. Now it is bedtime and I'm not really tired. I better get this sleep schedule straight soon, as I have to go back to work on Monday.

Thursday was my last day in Reno, first bowling at 9:20 AM (and lets just say that Wednesday was much better to me) then back to the freight depot to send the bowling balls back. I dropped a buddy at the airport, then my wife and I went to Hash House A Go-Go for lunch around 2:00 PM. I had been to the Sahara location twice prior, but both trips were for dinner. Their lunch menu wasn't nearly as varied, mostly some sandwiches and burgers. The sandwich sizes remained wastefully large, so quantity of food wasn't the issue. Could have used more options, though.

My wife had the Hand Hammered pork tenderloin sandwich (of which she finished maybe half). I had had the pork tenderloin for dinner previously, and I was going to try something new, so I had the 1# roasted red pepper and grilled mozzerella cheese burger... and I finished it! Maybe not my biggest accomplishment of my life, but certainly one of my proudest!

Then it was onto the Nevada Historical Society for a $4 walk through their museum, and it was really a nice way to kill 90 minutes or so. It took a little while, though, to get my mind straight... I was in Reno, and much of the beginning stuff was southern-Nevada related (A-bomb testing, Hoover Dam, etc). The stuff was good, and once I got it out of my head that it wasn't a Reno museum, I was fine. I kind a glazed over the Paiute and Asian influences (truth in fairness reveals that I don't give a hoot about Native American or Asian influence in Milwaukee, either).

The last quarter of the museum building was a history of Reno that was also very interesting, but I would have expected far, far more photos, exhibits and memerobelia of casinos. (Let's be honest, to an outsider with even an open mind, what do we think of in Nevada? Gambling, "sinning", marrage and divorce, and if you stretch it, Hoover Dam to the south and mining in the north. And desert. So why such little focus on the stuff that gave the rest of the world the impression on them?) One other noticement, not a mention of the National Bowling Stadium. Is it a big deal? Not really, but they have artifacts on Reno Air, Hot August Nights and the Reno Aces, something that takes up two acres in the middle of downtown which is allowing RSCVB to fork over millions of dollars to keep the casinos full of bowlers for the next few years would merit some photo or something.

The last paragraph may make it look like I am bytching, but I am really not. It was a good museum, I just noticed myself waiting for - then missing - what wasn't there.

With only a couple of hours before needing to get to the airport, we didn't have time for a proper coupon run, so we just headed to the Peppermill as my wife had never been there, and it was also close to the airport. We sat down at a Pai Gow poker table. At one point, I decided to bank and was dealt a six heart K-high flush with a 7 of diamonds. and I set it wrong. I should have played the 7h and 7d on top, but instead I whiffed and played the Q-high flush and the Kh and 7d on top. I pushed all hands instead of a clean sweep.

But the gambling gods were fair to me, as on the way out we used a blackjack match play for a $5-$25 bet. I am not a big blackjack player, but I found a double-deck table and laid out a $25 chip (I can still hear my wife gasp). I was dealt a K3 and felt my heart sink until I saw a dealer 6. I immediately stuck my cards under that green chip and did a prayer. The dealer flipped a 6, a 4 then another 6. Quick math... 6, 12, 16, OHMIGOSH 22! I took my $50 off the table, toked the dealer a red chip and danced out of there.

By the way, remember my quest for a 2011 Reno calendar? Last year I found a 2010 calendar in a souviner store for a buck. This year I found a 2011 Lake Tahoe calendar for $.97, but no Reno calendar could be found. Contrast that to the Las Vegas calendar hunt, in which I found a 2012 calendar for $1.98. Am I the only one that ever bought the Reno calendar?

From the first three-day Vegas leg (in which I arrived in Reno -$600 in gambling) I used Reno as an ATM for $410 and mitigated the losses. Its not likely that I will get to Reno next year, but I will get there - God willing - in 2013.

[LilyJDragonfly]

Yay!! Thanks for the final update on your trip.

And I totally get your point about the museum... yes, it's a NEVADA museum, but still it should have a good lineup of all things Reno, too. Even though I am not a bowler, when we first arrived in Reno last summer, we assumed everyone in the bowled and/or gambled!

So did you get something written up about your Vegas experience? The Dog and I are booked in for Red Rock in June to see Motley Crue and NY Dolls and then buffered that on either end with comped stays at Bally's... however, we are planning on a stop in to Reno en route to Vegas to cash in that BCS Bowl winner ticket (The Dog bet $10 for Auburn to win BCS last July.... it's now worth $300!) and we are going to stay a night in Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, too.

[mjames1229]

I'm going to work on a full trip report (with links and photos) which will take a few days, as I assume I will be putting in some long catch-up hours in the office.

But I will post the link here so you can read the whole thing. Don't be alarmed, though, if I copy-and-paste much of what I posted earlier into that report.

By the way, I did notice Shooters while I was there, and it even had a sign welcoming bowlers. I might have stopped by, but my wife is afraid of everything and so I didn't even suggest it.

[BC Dave]

You can't make it in all of 2012? And you write such good trip reports. We are looking forward to your graphical report.

I'll have to check out the N.H.S. museum. Sounds interesting. My wife and I toured the Nevada State Museum, in Carson City, years ago and it was great, (except everything was getting old.)

Though I have ventured through it's doors more than a few times. Shooter's is a place that it's wise to be wary of, the atmosphere can change from friendly to UNFRIENDLY really quickly! Like when Jerry , John and I went there.

[mjames1229]

My 6500 word trip report is done.

Tomorrow I proofread it one more time and then post it.

[mjames1229]

[LilyJDragonfly]

As soon as we realized it was a winner, The Dog called Cal-Neva - we have a year to cash it in.... though it was mighty tempting to try and find a weekend home for the children and race up there with the chains on the tires!

Plus we have reservations for Harrah's at Lake Tahoe that night so we'd be driving through anyway en route to Las Vegas.

Nine hours of desert... I'm glad I like who I'm traveling with!

[mjames1229]

T-10 days to Reno!

As I always like to do, about this time preceding a trip I like to review old trip reports. Although I'd done a previous trip report or two, I like this one so I decided to bump it.

Before a trip, I also like to start watching movies, like Kingpin and Dreamer. I'll also take some time to look for Reno footage on YouTube, like this and this.

Finally, I begin to re-memorize what is quite possibly the worst song ever.