Sunday, March 13, 2011

Uh oh, Vacation Blog

Is there some unwritten blogger rules of etiquette?  If so, I might just be breaking some rules because today's post is full of vacation pictures.

Our original plan was to drive down to Reno for a few days and check out some land around there, as we'd like to eventually get some vacation property somewhere a little drier than Western Wa.  Sadly, the snow and ice last week got me a little hesitant to take off to Reno in my little two seater car  (I'm pretty sure you can't even get chains on the thing.)  Filling up the truck with diesel cost $122 last week, so that was out too.

We made a last minute decision to fly to Las Vegas (it looked to have the best weather at that point).









Wow.  Thats all I can say about Vegas. 

Actually it would probably be "Wow!" cough, cough cough.

I guess I've gotten used to the no-smoking-in-public thing we have up here in the NW, and I was, of course, getting a sore throat and cold!

I found a horse on our way to check in.



Since we are probably two of the last people on earth to have never been to Las Vegas, I won't bore everyone with the details of what we saw there.   But I've decided its moniker of "Sin City" might be replaced by "Excess City".

After two days we were desperate to get out!  Reno is nice right?  We headed North.

Beautiful countryside.  I love the wide open spaces landscape.







Interestingly, the Ozarks have nothing on Nevada when it comes to old trailers and dead cars.  We had decided they must not have scrap yards here.  Later we did see one though, so I'm not sure whats up with the car collections.



We pulled into Reno about 5pm on Wednesday.  Whew!  It looked like a 'normal' city!  It was clean!  We had awesome Thai food at a place called Bangkok Cuisine!



We ended up meeting up with a friend and her daughter that had moved from Castle Rock to Reno eight years ago and had some ice cream at a place called Biscotti's inside the Peppermill Hotel.

That night we headed down to the Casino and I played Blackjack.  Well, I tried.  The guys at the table were all older and helped me a little.  I am NOT a card player- but it was really fun!  I won $85 dollars and got to actually go to the cashier's window.  Sorry, no pictures- they are a little paranoid about that at the card tables.

The next morning we headed out towards Washoe Valley and Carson City.  It was WINDY!!!

After a brief stop in Virginia City, so I could get a t-shirt with a horse on it, we headed back towards Vegas.



Friday, we were basically killing time until we could fly home.  Todd managed to find the last slot machine that pays out in actual coins instead of tickets, unfortunately he won more than the $20 coin limit!







I'm almost embarrased to admit that yes, we did wait in line to get in the Pawn Stars Pawn Shop.  Funny huh?  Its much smaller than it looks like on TV.



Now we are home, its raining :(

I'm glad to see my horses though :)

6 comments:

AareneX said...

You know, you COULD have gone to Reno during the AERC convention--a horsey/Reno vacay! And yes, Vegas is...a bit much, in my estimation.

You might explore my friend Funder's blog--she's an endurance rider living just outside of Reno, with lots to say about the climate and other horse-related stuff: http://fundersgoodidea.blogspot.com/

See you at HOTR...right? 13 days and counting down.

AareneX said...

p.s. are you doing the 50 at HOTR? It'd be great to see you on the trail...especially since Fiddle actually LIKES your mare!

CG said...

A 50??? Ha! No- we're strictly LD here :)
Actually I may try a 50 at some point this year, but Dazz is 17 years old and I don't want to push her too hard.

We'll be cheering you guys on for the 50 though!
I'm jsut trying to figure out a good couple of desserts to bring. Do you think mint Oreos count? (Just kidding). Cooking is not my forte.

Funder said...

Reno > Vegas. Bangkok Cuisine is one of my favorite Thai places! South of town (Washoe Valley) is always a bit windier than north of town - that's one reason I like my area so much. When the wind blows my fences over I just think "Well it would've blown more of them over if I were south of town..."

Glad you won some money. I rarely do!

CG said...

Hey Funder- The lady at the tack store told us to check out Lemmon Valley, I think that is north of town too. We are planning another trip down some time over the summer. I'd love to go the Hot August Nights thing but imagine that its probably a mad house in town during that!

Funder said...

Yup, Lemmon Valley is where I live. It's a good compromise, high speed internet and not a bad commute to town. If you don't need high speed internet you can get more acreage further north for about the same money.

We moved to Reno during Hot August Nights. We didn't realize it for a couple days - we just thought that people in this town sure have some nice cars and they really keep them clean.

August is the worst looking month. No pretty snow on the hills, everything is all dead and dried out. If you like Reno in August you'll like it any time.

Let me know if you want to meet up next time you come back. There's a couple other endurance bloggers in Reno, and a TON of horse people in general.