My son and I just got back last night from a four day three night
stay in Reno. I've been going to Reno for about 20 years or so
now, and this is the first time I've been able to take in Hot August
Nights. It truly is a mega-event.
They closed off Virginia Street downtown, so we were able to see
hundreds of cars parked there during the day, plus the cruises at
night starting at 7:00 p.m. What REALLY blew my mind was
seeing scores of more cars on display at the Peppermill, Reno
Hilton and John Asquaga's Nugget. After all these years it was
great to finally see the depth of this event and everybody enjoying
themselves.
On the down side, I was saddened to hear about the Golden
Phoenix being turned into condos. I'll admit that, for whatever
reason, I didn't do the bulk of my playing there. Maybe I was a
little apprehensive about their future from the get-go, being they
were a new kid on the block. But it still disturbs me to hear about
small casinos closing. We did use up our accumulated comp.
points, figuring we probably wouldn't be back down again before
they officially closed. We went to the Restaurant At The Top (21st
floor) and had two GREAT steak dinners. (I never did hear
when GP's actual closing date will be.
I was able to get my second royal ever on this trip. We were
taking the tour of the casinos on day two and hit the Sands. We
were in the bar closest to hotel registration where they had
progressive 25ยข JOB. We probably hadn't sat for five minutes
when it hit for $1,020.