Thursday, November 02, 2006
John Ascuaga's Nugget, Sparks, NV
September 9-11, 2006
So we set out early in the morning on our way to Lake Tahoe via Reno. I had forgotten to mention how lovely the desert landscape of Nevada really is. It was completely overshadowed by the clouds (ar ar ar). Take this mountain, for instance. Doesn't it look like the one in the Paramount logo? Except it's real! This is Pilot Peak, I'm pretty sure. I used to know, but that was two months ago.
We also saw some rock formations that looked like they were taken from the set of Planet Of The Apes or something. You may think that these look similar to pictures I have placed in other areas of this blog, and, probably, you are right. But, oh well! You read my blog, you get sucked into my obsession with landscapes. Fortunately for you, I drove some of the way, and so was unable to take more photos of our journey across Nevada.
Zorah entertained herself looking at books, and listening to music, as shown here. Awwwww!
We approached Reno feeling pretty hungry, so we decided to stop off at the first casino we saw and eat. That would be John Ascuaga's Nugget. Who is John Ascuaga? Why would he want his name in front of Nugget? This word might inspire thoughts of gold in some minds, but in mine, it puts me in mind of the toilet. Anyway, we had a great dinner and decided to take a break from trailer life as we awaited Evan's call. So we got a hotel room! Hooray!
It was really nice to have some of the things we took for granted before being on the road. A hot shower with good water pressure which you don't have to walk outside to use. A bed you don't have to crawl into literally. Lots of room to walk around. Room service. LOL. The pool in this place was really nice. It was heated to a temperature where it actually felt heated, and had these little pools around the main one which had spa jets without the heat. Hot tubs always make me feel like I'm suffocating. Zorah had lots of fun in the little pools, and also in a little waterfall nested between the minipools.
On Sunday night, I went down to the poker room with Brian for a little while. Apparently, there was a special visitor in town, who made their little $3-$6 Limit poker table quite the exciting place to be. Chuck was a guy from Arizona who comes up to Sparks every three or four months to throw some money around the casino, entertaining or irritating those who end up at the same game. He would raise, call, and bet without looking at his cards at all until the hand was over. Sometimes he would win; most times he would not. When I was there, he would look at his cards at least by the last card to be dealt. He told Brian that if there was one thing he shouldn't do, it was to swear in front of a lady. Of course, pottymouth Brian did on many occasions while I was at the table, which bothered Chuck to no end. At about 2am, he decided to go back to his room, and asked me if I would like to push his wheelchair up there for him. I politely declined. Quite a character, and one of the more interesting ones we have encountered on our trip.
Evan met us at the casino on Monday. We had lunch, then headed to the pool area. Seated in the doughnut-shaped jacuzzi were about five older gentleman, with more in the bubbly minipools. They all seemed to be together, and I couldn't help thinking they should all be smoking cigars. It was like a scene from a mafia movie. I wanted to take a picture, but there was no way to do it without being obvious. Instead, I got a picture of Evan, Ian, and Brian a little later.
We made plans to leave the Nugget the next day, to go to Lake Tahoe. I have a feeling this entry was a bit boring. Sorry. Not much happened here, I guess. Not that I remember.
So we set out early in the morning on our way to Lake Tahoe via Reno. I had forgotten to mention how lovely the desert landscape of Nevada really is. It was completely overshadowed by the clouds (ar ar ar). Take this mountain, for instance. Doesn't it look like the one in the Paramount logo? Except it's real! This is Pilot Peak, I'm pretty sure. I used to know, but that was two months ago.
We also saw some rock formations that looked like they were taken from the set of Planet Of The Apes or something. You may think that these look similar to pictures I have placed in other areas of this blog, and, probably, you are right. But, oh well! You read my blog, you get sucked into my obsession with landscapes. Fortunately for you, I drove some of the way, and so was unable to take more photos of our journey across Nevada.
Zorah entertained herself looking at books, and listening to music, as shown here. Awwwww!
We approached Reno feeling pretty hungry, so we decided to stop off at the first casino we saw and eat. That would be John Ascuaga's Nugget. Who is John Ascuaga? Why would he want his name in front of Nugget? This word might inspire thoughts of gold in some minds, but in mine, it puts me in mind of the toilet. Anyway, we had a great dinner and decided to take a break from trailer life as we awaited Evan's call. So we got a hotel room! Hooray!It was really nice to have some of the things we took for granted before being on the road. A hot shower with good water pressure which you don't have to walk outside to use. A bed you don't have to crawl into literally. Lots of room to walk around. Room service. LOL. The pool in this place was really nice. It was heated to a temperature where it actually felt heated, and had these little pools around the main one which had spa jets without the heat. Hot tubs always make me feel like I'm suffocating. Zorah had lots of fun in the little pools, and also in a little waterfall nested between the minipools.
On Sunday night, I went down to the poker room with Brian for a little while. Apparently, there was a special visitor in town, who made their little $3-$6 Limit poker table quite the exciting place to be. Chuck was a guy from Arizona who comes up to Sparks every three or four months to throw some money around the casino, entertaining or irritating those who end up at the same game. He would raise, call, and bet without looking at his cards at all until the hand was over. Sometimes he would win; most times he would not. When I was there, he would look at his cards at least by the last card to be dealt. He told Brian that if there was one thing he shouldn't do, it was to swear in front of a lady. Of course, pottymouth Brian did on many occasions while I was at the table, which bothered Chuck to no end. At about 2am, he decided to go back to his room, and asked me if I would like to push his wheelchair up there for him. I politely declined. Quite a character, and one of the more interesting ones we have encountered on our trip.
Evan met us at the casino on Monday. We had lunch, then headed to the pool area. Seated in the doughnut-shaped jacuzzi were about five older gentleman, with more in the bubbly minipools. They all seemed to be together, and I couldn't help thinking they should all be smoking cigars. It was like a scene from a mafia movie. I wanted to take a picture, but there was no way to do it without being obvious. Instead, I got a picture of Evan, Ian, and Brian a little later.
We made plans to leave the Nugget the next day, to go to Lake Tahoe. I have a feeling this entry was a bit boring. Sorry. Not much happened here, I guess. Not that I remember.
