Visitreno

[LilyJDragonfly]

Thanks to all my slot play during our last trip, Harrah's comped us a room on a Saturday night, so we headed up to Reno yesterday morning. Eased off of I-80 and got mired in some chaos on Virginia St and other points downtown; turns out there had been some sort of a parade and the rodeo had been in town.

After a harrowing 15 minutes or so of detouring and merging traffic downtown, we pulled in to Harrah's and handed off the car, checked our bags with the bellhop (checkin isn't until 4pm and it was only about 10am), and cruised over to El Dorado to do the card swipe thing.

Nothing good from that swipe (and the Eldo is still missing an exterior door - over by the Reno arch - but a guy was busy polishing the brass over the missing door area...) We went in to Brew Brothers for some nachos and beer. The Dog recommends the Wild Card Wheat as an excellent hefeweizen. I got the Carano - light, just slightly bitter, and refreshing.

We eased in to Silver Legacy, swiped at The Mansion - got nothing of note, though later this weekend, The Dog scored a "Legacy Collectible Tin of Mints" - and I commenced to playing slots. The Dog wanted to go scope out a guitar store called Bizarre Guitars, so he grabbed a cab and we met up later.

So I love slots (and yeah, I know, they're the worst thing for payback , etc) and I screwed around a bit with Hee Haw, Wheel of Fortune, and a few others. Then I came upon Davinci Diamonds. I first encountered DD down in Biloxi at Isle of Capri a few years ago. I enjoy the "cascading reels" wherein when you win, the winning symbols explode and more symbols drop down. I put in 20, then 20 more, then a cash-out ticket of 80-ish and still NO BONUS FEATURE. But then I hit something (I think it was Five of a Kind Diamond symbols) for $350.00 - unbelievable! Played it down some and finally cashed out for $400. I did manage to hit the bonus after the five of a kind, too.

The Dog had returned to Silver Legacy and played blackjack for a couple hours. In honor of the rodeo, Silver Legacy played country music throughout the casino and all the dealers and cocktail waitresses had on country-themed attire.

I blew some more cash in the slots and grabbed The Dog to go cash out from Blackjack. He was up so we went to the cage and got a real unfriendly guy - just short-tempered and not kind. We did not tip him. (usually we give a couple bucks to the cage girl/guy when we cash out for more than $50)

At this point, we needed lunch/dinner, so we went to The Nugget and scored a couple Awful-Awfuls to go. We ate in the plaza at Harrah's in very brisk winds that finally blew our last half-pound of fries from our hands and into the winds for the birds to enjoy.

We checked in (east tower, 7th floor). The room was decent - particularly for free - but I must say the rooms at Circus Circus are larger, particularly the bathrooms. We took a nap for a bit and by 7pm, headed back out to the floor.

The Dog stayed with blackjack and I went again to the slots. Within an hour, one of those Harrah's people was at my back asking if I wanted some free buffets. Sure! The Big Brother thing is a bit off-putting, but hey, I appreciate them hunting me down to give me free stuff without me having to leave my seat. Around the same time, The Dog got free buffet comps, too.

We availed ourselves of the buffet around 9:30pm. The waitress dropped off our water and never returned. Eh... it was late. Neither of us even finished a whole plate of food. We went off to bed not too long afterward.

We woke up around 5:00am this morning (Sunday) and let me say - I appreciate that Cal-Neva does not turn off its lights at night. Circus Circus does.... anyway, we decided to use a comp at Cafe Napa at Harrah's.

We ordered a Belgian waffle, two eggs over medium/bacon/toast/hash browns, and two coffees. THE VERY WORST COFFEE I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE was served to me. They even took it back and poured me a "fresh" cup. Still dreadful. Then the waitress said she would "fix it" for me. She added hot water which diluted the mess, but I left it unconsumed. For $2.75/cup, Harrah's should be very ashamed of this. I'm not a Starbucks junkie, but after that fiasco in Cafe Napa, I actually went to the Starbucks in Harrah's and bought coffee there.

So here's the dining tip - if you have to eat at Cafe Napa and want coffee, just go over to the SB right outside the door of Cafe Napa and spend $1.70 and get a decent cup of coffee. The eggs were decent and the Belgian Waffle was excellent, but the bacon was eh, the toast was not hot, and the hashbrowns.... well, I don't recommend them. I had asked for grits, but the waitress said they didn't have them, but she neglected to tell me that Harrah's DOES have grits on the breakfast buffet!!

Being as how it was only 6am, The Dog decided to go sleep off a bit more of his hangover and I gambled some (scored more free buffet comps) and then went back to bed for a few hours. When we got up, we decided to use the buffet comps for the Brunch Buffet. I got me some grits and some bacon and few other items. A decent breakfast buffet all in all.

We checked out of Harrah's after breakfast, gambled a few more bucks, went to The Nugget to cash in a leftover ticket and I doubled my 20 on Davinci Diamonds.

Over to Eldo to swipe (nothing again) and then The Dog played blackjack and I lost more in the slots.

We scoped the local pawnshops for camera lenses for me (none to be had) and then did one final stop in at Silver Legacy to clear our marker and play a few more slots. Man, those chairs are comfortable!!

So we ended the trip down overall, but not as down as the last trip and certainly not as bad as the ass-whipping we took in Biloxi a while back.

We're planning to come to Reno again in August for a four or five day stay and I will use those breakfast suggestions from my "Pancake" post on another thread. Any other must-do things/casinos in Reno/Sparks area and suggestions are greatly welcomed....
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