Sacramento by Bus

Next stop: Sacramento, California. It was in full spring bloom. We were going to stop at Sutter’s Fort but it was not open. We still got to walk around the 1846 fort with walls 2-1/2 feet thick and about 15 feet high. The prettiest part was the Camellia trees outside.

Saturday Morning...or was it still Friday night?

Friday night, we skipped the dance, watched “The Princess and the Frog” in our hotel room. Then we went to bed early. It was the best thing we could have done. By Saturday morning, seven out of our group of thirty were sick with a stomach bug. The bus to San Francisco left at 5am! Along about sunrise we could see Donner Lake and crossed over Donner Pass elevation 7085. It was too dark for my camera, so I borrowed this from the world wide web. It was this breath-takingly beautiful.



Oddly enough, there are no restaurants a top Donner Pass. Seems like someone is missing out on a great opportunity!

Doubles

Friday was the Doubles competition. L and C bowled first. They took third in their division. Both bowled extremely well.

In the afternoon, it was our turn.

Buddy bowled his butt off again and carried me. I could not keep up with Mr. 224. We still managed to win another silver medal. And had a great time in the process!

Team Competition

Thursday the team competition was held at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno. This $50.2 million dollar facility has been nicknamed "The Taj Mahal of Tenpins".


The stadium is enormous with 80 (!) state of the art bowling lanes. It was overwhelming and nothing like our little Mom and Pop alley back home. Above each lane are 8 foot by 11 foot high definition scoring screens.


The C&R Express was pumped and ready to bowl. L and I did not do as well. But Buddy and C bowled like maniacs. C had his best game EVER. Their efforts secured us a second place win in out division. Medals do not mean anything to me...but the smiles on their faces were priceless!

Tooling Around

The next stop: Harrah's Auto Museum. It was amazing to see the progression. I am not sure how they made it around on the dirt roads on nothing more that bicycle tires. With none of the modern conveniences like shock absorbers.

Buddy looks good in a hat!

They had several movie cars including this on from "The Spy Who Shagged Me"

1933 Austin

1928 Red Bug

1921 Rolls Royce

1901 Franklin

1899 Locomotive

Chow Mein Breakfast?

I would not say that I'm totally anti-social and a loner, but I am not big on group activities. Prime example why was our next stop: lunch. Granted, it is hard to seat and feed a group of 30 at lunch. And when in a group, you have to do what the group does. The group leader decided ahead of time and made the required reservation at a mexican restaurant. I love mexican food. Buddy will NOT eat mexican food. So the whole lunch, each of the other 28 people would ask: just Sprite? isn't he going to eat ANYTHING? would he eat some of my ___ ? If I thought he would possibly eat it, trust me, I would have ordered it. I did try ordering their cheese dip. But it didn't look like normal cheese dip. It was not creamy textured, it was oily and hardened upon cooling. Buddy was not happy. And after answering the same questions 28 times, I was not too happy either.

The rest of the trip was better. We were generally left on our own for food choices. Reno has a McDonald's and they have lots of buffets. The breakfast buffets there include a taco bar and lots of chinese food!

Hmm, an eggroll for breakfast. Not my idea of yummy. But 90% of the tourists are asian. So I'm sure that is why you can eat asian food 24/7. Thankfully for Buddy, we found a great all-you-can-eat buffet that had macaroni and cheese,pizza and ice cream on the lunch and dinner buffets. Buddy got his moneys worth. I did too. That same buffet had prime rib and peel and eat shrimp. Yummo!!

Tahoe

Just outside of Reno, the landscape changes to rocks and scrub brush.



And then about an hour and a half up into the mountains is Lake Tahoe. K said “It is where the rich people live and the poor ones drive by.” Fortunately, we did not just drive by, we stopped and had a sleigh ride. I must admit that they are not as romantic as you might think. Sitting behind a horse’s behind when a horse has to do what a horse has to do. Not pretty! The people in the front row, their eyes were watering! But all in all, it was picture perfect.








Jeannie was a hoot! She's from Mississippi and I never knew if she was serious or not. She saw tracks in the snow. They looked like dog tracks to me. According to the guide, they were coyote tracks. But you couldn't convince Jeannie of that. She was sure that they were bear tracks: "them those little bears"! Hard to say who was right about that one!

On the way back to Reno, we drove through a small tunnel. Jeannie said that it wasn't a tunnel, it was a "love cave" and that you were supposed to kiss your sweetie.

Waking up in Reno

We finally made it to Reno. It was warm (60's) and sunny. I was surprised at how diverse the scenery was. Part of Reno (the Virginia Mountains) look like the foothills of Denver where I grew up.


And then there is the infamous strip. Reno has really been devastated by the economy! The big casino “Fitzgerald” pictured here is all boarded up. The artisan shops that my friend, Ellen, visited a couple of years ago are gone. The mom and pop shops are gone too.

Just the tshirt shops, pawn shops, and giant casinos remain, and I do mean giant! We stayed at Circus Circus, which seamlessly connects with the Silver Legacy and the El Dorado to take up three enormous blocks. They contain over 5000 hotel rooms, along with restaurants, shopping, shows, and of course, gambling! It was like a mini city. It is obvious that they want to draw you in (with your money) and keep you content (until all your money is gone)!

Apparently not enough people have thrown pennies into this fountain that honors "the god of fortune"

I saw a lot of people gambling (they prefer the word "gaming") but honestly none of them looked very happy.

Travel time

Buddy and I have been bowling on Sunday afternoons with other athletes in the Special Olympic unified bowling competition. Buddy and I along with L and his son, C, make up the C&R Express team. Several months ago, we won first place in our division at the state competition. Winning state qualified us to bowl in the national tournament in Reno, Nevada.

Monday (15th) was icky. It had rained and sleeted and made a mess of the roads. County schools were closed and there were wrecks everywhere. By Tuesday morning, the roads were even worst. Cletus was wonderful and got up early to drive us to the airport! We needed to be there at 5a. Due to the weather, several major roads with overpasses were closed. Did I mention that I don't do mornings? I was a nervous wreck that morning. Poor hubby! He got us there on time, hugged us, asked if I had everything and left. He did not get too far before I called him back. I forgot my carry-on in the backseat. Yes, he did ask before he left if I had everything. He is married to a space cadet. Sometimes I am just a left-hand turn off of the information superhighway! Or just blonde!! I cannot remember anything, especially in the morning and especially when I am a nervous wreck.

The flight out of here was late taking off due to de-icing procedures. So, the minute we landed in Dallas, we were supposed to be boarding our connecting flight. Thankfully, they held the plane for thirty passengers dashing breathlessly through the airport. Did not know we were doing circuit training:fly run fly. Thankfully we landed in Reno safe and sound with all of our luggage. That does not always happen when you have 30 bowling balls!