I thought a few of you may be interested so here is my TR covering
our 4-night stay in Reno/Sparks. We also visited San Francisco,
Lassen National Park, Crater Lake National Park and the Oregon coast
on this two week vacation.
07/23 Another breakfast @ our San Francisco hotel before departing
for Sparks. We made the 4 plus hour trip with only one pit stop for
defueling and a 99-cent 42-ounce coke @ Mickey D's. We arrived @ John
Ascuaga's Nugget too early for check-in so we had lunch at the Silver
Club's Town Square Café: Ms. Westie - BLT and coffee, Westie =
grilled ham & cheese and water- (Entertainment coupon). We then
purchased Listerine, a cooler, soda and water at a nearby Target. I
stood in line at check-in for 15-20 minutes and was assigned room 840
in the West Tower overlooking the railroad yards. Big mistake our
room was at least 7 miles from both the casino and covered parking
lot. Dinner was @ the Silver Club's Anna Maria's using an
Entertainment coupon. We had the nonsmoking section pretty much to
ourselves and service was excellent. I chose osso bucco with risotto
and asparagus a house specialty and now one of mine ($14) - yes
that price is correct. My better half went with the evening's
special, another wise decision fresh halibut in a sherry cream
sauce with risotto and asparagus - $10.95 yes folks an evening
special for under $20. The house salads baby greens, hearts of
palm, sundried tomatoes, fresh mushrooms in a zinfandel vinaigrette
at $2 each were a bargain as was the Woodbridge Zinfandel - Old Vines
at $14. Surprisingly, but not mistakenly, our waiter deducted the
most expensive meal from our bill after we tended our Entertainment
coupon.
7/24 As soon as the slot club opened I dropped by to pick up my free
buffet coupon for earning 10 points within 24 hours of sign-up. The
breakfast @ Town Square Café (Entertainment) included 3 eggs, toast,
hash browns and ham/bacon. My poached eggs were overdone, but Ms.
Westie's easy over were as requested. No we didn't finish the meal.
We spent the remainder of the day lounging in the hotel and/or
playing video poker. Lunch at Gabe's Deli, using comp points, was
turkey on a roll (shared) dry as a bone. Ms. Westie picked up a
free buffet coupon later in the day. The specialty night buffet on
Sundays features king crab and prime rib. The buffet is relatively
small, but still many (most) items suffered from sitting too long on
the steam table. The crab could hardly be considered King perhaps
Prince would be more appropriate. I would avoid this buffet in the
future unless comped. We walked over to the Silver Club and sat in on
one set by Louis Fontaine and the Rockets. Louis was fun, but the
Rockets are misnamed perhaps the Burnouts would be more
appropriate. We learned we were a week too early for the Hot August
Nights celebration Rock N'Roll and classic cars - damn!
07/25 I did a complete inventory of the Nugget's 9/6 JOB machines,
submittied to the VPFree administrator, some of which are soooo old.
How old you ask? They were so old a few arrived via Conestoga wagons.
The Nugget has a card of the day promotion M-F. Naturally I could not
seem to time my 4OAKS I got the 10's the day following, ditto for
the 9's and double ditto for the 8's. Typical me a day late, a quad
short. We drove downtown to the Silver Legacy for the breakfast
buffet using a 2/1 coupon I received in a trade. This was a below
average buffet with a limited selection of fruit and no cooked to
order items. Next stop was a SAS store that did not carry Ms.
Westie's size (super narrow) in sandals. Since I accidentally packed
a couple pairs of her socks, we also shopped at Macy's which did not
carry my regular brands so I went with a 3-pack of cheapo socks (i.e.
one wash and toss). We then drove most of the East Coast of Lake
Tahoe, which suffers from over development. The West Coast was more
to our liking and we stopped to take a short hike to the shoreline.
We also stopped at the beautiful Emerald Bay overlook where Ms.
Westie purchased a one-of-a-kind necklace for the bargain basement
price of $10 from a Native American boy did we take advantage of
that guy. After returning to our hotel, we spent the remainder of the
afternoon in the Jacuzzi and indoor cement pond.
We decided to dine at Café Soleil using a restaurant.com gift
certificate after getting lost using mapquest.com directions, we
located the place only to find it is closed on Mondays grrrr! Our
hastily formed back-up plan was Lexis-on-the- River in the Siena
Casino. Our table overlooked the ever present Truckee River and we
watched the cave swallows return to their nests as we waited for our
meal. We both ordered the herb-crusted halibut on sautéed spinach
with crimini ravioli and white truffle beurre blanc I hope your
drooling because it was delicious. A certified bargain using an
Entertainment coupon.
07/26 Drove to the Reno Hilton for their breakfast buffet, which
included a nice assortment of fresh fruit and cooked to order omelets
(ACG). We stopped at the ever fashionable Baldini's casino in Sparks
for a little 5 cent 8/5 bonus poker. They have a continuing
promotion, for the past 5 years at least, where you get a six pack
for each 4OAKS or better. Our haul after an hour of play was (2) 6-
packs of water and (1) of Pepsi. Ms. hit a straight flush and made
some money, my soda was a bit more expensive than charged at the
local 7-11. The remainder of the day featured Jacuzzi, pool, bed and
a book. We dined at Joe's Oyster Bar using comp points. The service
was atrocious and it was quite obvious the restaurant was
understaffed a common problem at the Nugget based on our
experience. Unlike pan roasts in Las Vegas, the combination roast was
more like a broth and rice was not included just awful. A very
modest gratuity was left.
07/27 Our last morning in Sparks so we needed to burn off some more
points since they expire after 12 months. After about a half an hour
wait, we were seated at the Farm Shop. Again, service was painfully
slow because of understaffing. We each had the Big Bertha, aptly
named after a now deceased elephant 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon
and 2 sausages. We received a $5 off coupon at check-in, but they
would not accept it with our points. I gave the coupon to another
couple as we exited. The trip had now entered its eighth day so it
was time to visit the local laundromat situated just a few blocks
away. Last stop was to purchase 2 ham and cheese sandwiches, 2
desserts and a large potato salad at Gabe's Deli using our remaining
comp points. It occurred to me while I may have left my heart in San
Francisco, my money remains in Sparks.
BTW We stopped on the way to Lassen N.P. to eat our sandwiches and
potato salad. They were just plain awful. The desserts polished off
later in the trip were excellent.