Reno at Dusk

Our goal today: take pictures of the lights of Reno at dusk. But first, Peggy discovered an ad for a place that offers hot air balloon rides over the lake and she thought we should take one tomorrow. I called, made reservations, and we have to present ourselves in Truckee at 7:15 tomorrow morning. We are very excited! But I brought with me 2 dresses and a pair of shorts, and I suspect that ain't gonna cut it in the cold mountain air. So we were on a quest for warm clothes for me...and whatever bargains Peggy could get.

I decided to drive around the west end of the lake so Peggy could see Emerald Bay. The drive itself was beautiful. We put John Denver on the CD player and didn't say much as the scenery whizzed by, both of us singing softly with John. Peggy had me open the sun roof so she could hold the camera up and try to get some photos.

There is a lot of road construction/repair going on all around the lake, we discovered. We were stopped for a long time just outside Tahoe city, waiting in a long queue, which eventually started inching forward slowly behind a truck with "follow me" hanging from its backside.

But we eventually arrived at Emerald Bay and stopped with all the rest of the tourists to ooo and ahhh and take some pictures.


Photos don't do nearly enough justice to the grandeur of the mountains, the trees, and the blue of the lake.

We eventually left and continued on to South Tahoe, where we found some factory outlet stores and Peggy bought some stuff, then on through the casinos on the Nevada side and in to Carson City, where we had lunch at a sub shop (not very good; Peggy went and bought Rolaids afterwards; we both had some). A stop at Mervyn's got some warm clothes for me to wear ballooning tomorrow.

Next stop: Reno.

Reno by day is pretty unimpressive. It looks old and tired and a bit on the sleazy side. We parked the car at the Fitzgerald's lot and did a quick tour through Harrah's, where in 2 minutes we together lost the equivalent of 2 hours salary for me. We agreed that neither of us is a gambler and the machines held little appeal for us. But we needed a validation for our four free hours of parking, so we went to Fitzgerald's. Again, too noisy, too crowded, too depressing. People sitting at electronic machines plunking in coin after coin, expression unchanged whether they win or lose. We just passed through on our way to the escalator.

We checked out the sports bar, on O's suggestion, but found nothing of interest, and continued on to the Fitzgerald's buffet (all you can eat for $7.77). Dinner was fine. We didn't eat a lot, since we had had a late lunch. As we were finishing up and preparing to leave we realized that we were probably the youngest people there. We were giggling about that when we passed a man who was probably in his 90s, hobbling toward the restaurant with his walker. We suppressed gales of laughter as we beat a hasty retreat out of the casino.

But we did get "Reno at Dusk photos before returning to the condo.

Now our alarm is set for 5 and we're about ready to embark on our next adventure...