Reno post mortem

Made it through another whirlwind week. Spent three days in Reno this week only to come back to a mountain of work. At least I got to enjoy some of the sights & sounds of Reno this week.


For the brief visit to the Biggest Little City in the World, I thought that Reno was actually pretty fun. A "small" town with a lot of money flowing through it. Located on the western border of Nevada, it is only 2 hours from Sacramento and 4 hours from San Francisco. According to a few of the locals, a lot of their tourist are from the northern California region, although, with the current economy as it is and the recent editions of several Indian casinos in California, Reno is feeling the pinch. That is why, even though this was a business trip, we got a great deal. Couple of days in a hotel/spa/casino for less than $70 per day. I could have scored a spot in one of the bigger casinos (Eldorado, Circus Circus, Harrah's, The Silver Legacy) for less (one rate had it down to $40 per night), but I did not want to stay away from the over used, smoke filled places. You know those places. Hotels built back when smoking was allowed every where and, even if it has converted to no smoking, there is still that distinct feeling/atmosphere. Now, don't get me wrong. I ain't getting preachy about smoking or smokers. Hell, I am no saint when it comes to smoking. I smoked a little bit back in high school and switched to chewing tobacco in college and even migrated to cigars in the Army. I have pretty much given up on those vices (there are so many more to enjoy) except for the occasional cigar, but that is another blog. I am just getting old and cranky and my travels of late have me in many motels/hotels for short stints and I would prefer to stay in non-smoking venues, if given the chance.



Anyway, I picked a nice hotel/casino (Siena Hotel Spa Casino) that is just across the river in downtown and a few blocks from the bigger casinos like Eldorado or Ren-Cal or Harrah's. It was a nice hotel that overlooked the downtown region and located right next to the National Automobile Museum. Great museum that shows the history of autos and I was pissed that our schedule prevented us from touring the museum, even though I ran past it every morning while doing my early morning runs. Speaking of runs, when I am on these supplier audits, I tend to kick it up a notch on my running schedule to try and compensate for the obscene amount of food we typically eat on the road. I like to get up early (aka 0430) and hit the streets before anyone else is out. Reno was a weird/interesting dichotomy at 0430. I actually ran up town through the casino district and they were still open and running at that time. For a downtown region, it was surprisingly clean and neat at 0500 in the morning. I saw very few people on the street except for an occasional homeless person or a group of guys stumbling back to their hotel after losing their collective shirts. I even stopped into a souvenir store where you can get your cheesy dice and Jack Daniels at 0530 in the morning. Was a cold (~32) & dry run, but very invigorating. Reno is at about ~5000 feet in elevation and in the high desert region so there is no humidity and the weather is fairly temperate, for the northern California/Nevada region.



Anyway, weather was perfect while we were there. We did our audit and the second night we had time to kill before we flew out on Wednesday. We tried out the $5.99 sirloin dinner at the hotel (was pretty good) and then decided to walk off the meal by hitting the other casinos. The Siena has a small casino, but nothing like the other bigger places. We walked for blocks downtown and went through several casinos. Having never done Vegas or Reno, we only knew what we had seen in the movies or on TV. While not as glitzy as Las Vegas, the casinos in Reno were huge. Several of there were more than one block long and, in some cases, the hotel/casino covered several city blocks. We went into the Silver Legacy and it was a rush to see all of the slot machines and black jack tables. The legacy even has on working silver mine derrick in the middle of the casino floor that stretches up to 8 stories tall (it is in a gigantic dome) and has projection displays shooting off of the derrick. Of course, most of the patrons were more interested in the slot machines/craps/blackjack tables. Everywhere there were people feeding the machines to try and beat the system. The tables were the most interesting where people were lined up 3 deep watching some young (drunk) blond try to keep her streak alive and bet the line. I never had the courage to try the tables and stuck with the video poker for most of the trip. I will try my hand a few of the cheaper venues, but did not want to wander into the deep waters of the tables where the betting limits were $5.00 minimums and $300 max. Knowing my luck, I would blow through $300 in about 10 minutes. I did try my hand at some slot machines but tended to stick with video poker. The first night in Reno, I won $40 before I quit. The last night, I gave that all back and pretty much broke even. Overall, I'd call the trip a draw - I didn't make or lose a lot of money. I'd recommend Reno to anyone to enjoy the experience/sites. Just wish we had more time to see some shows or more of the area.

$3.99 breakfast