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it was a marvelous vacation
June 28, 2016
I really enjoyed myself. The Reno/Lake Tahoe area is gorgeous, the weather was splendid (80s and low humidity), and the hotel was ASTOUNDINGLY good. Room, bath, view, housekeeping, valet parking, bell desk, concierge, indoor pool, outdoor pool, hot tub, restaurants, gaming, and O.M.G.--the SPA. I take back anything negative I said about the spa.
It was tremendous, and left me feeling brand new. Amenities, facilities, therapists, and
atmosphere were all A+++. I really can believe that it is one of the ten best spas in the world.
It was certainly the best I have ever visited.
The traveling days were a bit arduous--long waits at the airports, and a fair amount of
bumpiness from the heat and some storms. But going out, we had amazing service from
Southwest--they presented us with a bottle of champagne, and the flight attendant took the
middle seat in our row "out of service" on both legs of the trip, so we could be comfortable
and not have to share. (Apparently, a little bird had told them we were celebrating our
anniversary) They even put our champagne to chill during the flight!
The 1st layover at McCarren wasn't too bad, although we had a long trek between concourses
and it was hot and stuffy in the terminal. Well, when it is 116 degrees out, it's hard to keep
things cool. We ended up at the gate directly across from the Ethel M Chocolates store, so we
were pretty happy about that!
Reno/Tahoe was a delight of an airport. Small, easy to navigate, and from the time we
deplaned till the time we drove off in our rental with the luggage, I think it was all of about 15
minutes. Try that in LV!
Coming home, we were crammed full for the 55-minute flight to LAS, and delayed about 1/2
an hour at the gate for the Milwaukee flight. But the up side? 143 seats on the plane--and 26
passengers. That was not only enought room for each person to have their own bank of
seats--it was damned near enough for every person to have an entire 6-seat ROW to them
selves! And since it was the red-eye into MKE, we were all delighted to stretch out and
snooze on the trip.
In between the travel days, though--rest & relaxation, luck & luxury.
By the time we got checked in on Monday night, we were both exhausted and starved, so we
went to the excellent deli in our hotel and had enormous and delicious corned beef sandwiches.
Tuesday, I did the spa in the morning, spending a couple of hours before my session making
use of the fabulous showers and top-shelf amenities, the brine inhalation room, laconium (not
as hot as a sauna, not as humid as a schvitz, and tremendously relaxing), seething hot tub, icy-
cold plunge pool, "experiential shower" (my particular favorite was the "ice fog", but the
waterfall, thunderstorm, and tropical rain were pretty wonderful, too). Then it was time for
my Swedish massage, followed by a whole-body exfoliating sugar scrub, a shower-off, and
then...the Cleopatra Milk and Honey Body Wrap. Drenched in emollients, wrapped up snug,
and floating weightless in a special anti-gravity spa bed. Phenomenal!! (The salon was booked
up, though, so I couldn't get my mani-pedi like I wanted. I know--"first world problems",
right?)
While I was spending my morning indulging myself, Spouse did the same--blowing a small
fortune at the local cigar purveyor. He had a good time hanging out there, puffing away and
chatting with other customers. When we re-connected at lunch time, he'd picked up a lead
on a good place to eat in the downtown area, so we checked out the Silver Peak micro-
brewery, and had a good lunch and some excellent beers. Followed by some slot play, and a
nap before dinner at the outstanding hotel buffet. Followed by more slot play, so Spouse
could get in a stogie.
Wednesday, we got up and went down to the pool when it opened at 6. I got in a great swim,
we did some time in the hot tub, and then went up and got going for the day. We had
breakfast at Peg's Glorified Ham & Eggs; a local favorite that looks like hell, but the food is
heavenly. I had smoked salmon eggs benedict, and it was simply divine. We did a little
exploring downtown (Silver Legacy, Circus Circus), and went to the National Automobile museum (formerly the Harrah Collection). That was a delight for me, because in addition to a wonderful collection of cars, Harrah also managed to put together a marvelous collection of
Victorian and Edwardian clothing and accessories! Right up my alley, and I enjoyed it a lot.
The museum is in a beautiful spot right on the Truckee River.
After we got done downtown, we took a ride out to a local chocolatier that Spouse had heard
about, and he picked up a box of chocs for his boss. Once we got back to the hotel, we just
kicked back and relaxed in the room for a while, then got ready for our "anniversary dinner"
at the steakhouse.
Yeah, that's a 4-diamond restaurant, too. Impeccable service, an elegeant-yet-relaxed
atmosphere, and the food was pretty damned amazing. We started with an amuse-
bouche from the chef of chilled lobster salad--that was quite a treat. Spouse started with
the French onion soup (sans cheese) and a cocktail called a "French 75". I had a grlass of
really good Pinot Gris and the house salad, which was spring greens and romaine with various
yummy goodies and a sherry vinaigrette dressing. That was followed by pan-seared diver
scallops with sweet corn risotto and crispy leeks for me, and an American Kobe strip with
garlic mashed potatoes for him. All of which was brilliant.
After all that? I was stuffed, but still couldn't resist trying the "321 Below" ice
cream, prepared tableside with liquid nitrogen. It was lemon-blueberry, and it was delicious.
They also brought out a happy anniversary dessert of house-made Neapolitan ice cream, so
Spouse got afters too! The coffee service was beyond anything I've ever seen, as well--not just
cream and sugar, but also rock-candy stirrers, real lump sugar, both white and Demerara,
whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and cinnamon sticks!! Blew my mind!
With the check came chocolate mints, from that same local chocolatier we'd visited earlier!
And you would think that would be enough...but when we left, they presented us with little
packages of their homemade coffee cake, to have the next morning! All in all, it was quite the
experience.
Spouse wanted a stogie again after dinner, so I went to the room and dropped off the coffee
cakes, changed out of my skirt, and went back downstairs--almost skipped going back to the
casino, but I didn't want to be a party pooper, so I made myself go. And I ended up being
very glad I did, because when I sat down at a penny slot to kill some time at 40 cents a pull--I
won nearly $300.00. The slots treated us pretty good this trip, in general. We were up or even
the whole time. But that little win was particularly gratifying. And you should have seen
Spouse's face when I showed him the ticket!
After that, I was done for the night--no way was I going to pump that little windfall back into
the casino's coffers.
Thursday was road-trip day--we got up and dressed, then had coffee and our coffee cakes, had
the car brought around, and took off for Tahoe.
What can I say--it was a bucket-list thing. I've always wanted to go there, and now I can say
that I have. Gorgeous, beautiful place...what you could see of it. Like so many beauty spots in
this country, it is now largely hidden behind the man-made barriers of high-end vacation
homes and businesses catering to tourists. I think part of the problem was where Spouse
chose to go--there are way more beautiful areas around the lake than Tahoe City, I'm sure. But
we drove up 89 into the state parks, and found some stunning views up near Emerald Bay.
Unfortunately, Spouse was kind of a low-level dick about it, and took a major down on the
whole place. He's a big-time California hater anyway. We had intended to have lunch
overlooking the water, but he got pissy and and I didn't press. I got most of what I wanted
out of the visit, and didn't want to ruin the experience by starting a fight.
We cruiesed back the way we came, but because we were hungry, I looked up someplace to
eat on my phone, and since Spouse wanted Italian, I found a local place that had good reviews
and was near the hotel. La Cucina wasn't too fancy, but again--the food was amazing! Neither
of us felt a pressing need for meat, so he ordered the spaghetti marinara and I had "Fresh
Pasta Primavera Perugia": House-Made Fresh spinach-lemon pasta with roasted mushrooms,
artichokes, Sundried tomatoes, asparagus, arugula, garlic, olive oil, shallots & white wine.
It was even BETTER than it sounds, and it was only $12 for a big plate of all that goodness.
With a side of garlic bread to share and a couple of iced teas, it made for a fantastic lunch.
His mood improved drastically after he got some food in him, so I can only assume that a lot
of his morning negativity was hunger-driven.
We explored non-commercial Reno a bit, and found a little park up on a mountain that gave
beautiful views of the city. Then we spent some time by the pool in the afternoon, and just
kind of kicked around the hotel for a while. By the time we thought about dinner, we were
really just in the mood for a sandwich, so we tried the Italian cafe in the hotel. I had a club-
sandwich panini, and he had a meatball bomber. And followed up with the biggest bowl of
gelato I've ever seen in my entire life. Damn, it was good, though. I had Almond Joy--
chocolate gelato with coconut, almonds, and chocolate chips. Spouse had his usual raspberry.
But I ended up flushing a good bit of mine, because it was just too much.
Since we were going to have a long day on Friday, we turned in after dessert. Got up, packed,
showered dressed, and had breakfast in the coffee shop, then went downtown to buy
souvenirs, followed by a trip out to the GSR resort to check it out (Meh. very MGM-y) and a
run out to the burbs to fill up the rental car and split a Jumbo Jack at Jack-in-the-Box. We
were not particularly hungry, but I've been listening to him bitch about never getting any
Jack-in-the-Box for 30 friggin' years, so I MADE him stop. And it was really good--but
personally, I'd have preferred to go to the In-N-Out Burger. Because of his anxiety, we ended
up at the airport HOURS too early. So early we weren't even allowed to check in yet. We had
to sit and wait for an hour and a half just to check our bags, and then we had another four
hours before we boarded. I get kind of fed up with his ridiculous over-doing of the
punctuality, since it usually causes more problems than it solves. I miss so much stuff because
we are too early, and he won't wait--at least at the airport, he has no choice.
We got home about 2:00 am, after lots of waiting at two airports, two plane rides, getting the
luggage sorted out (Spouse's bag came in on an earlier flight, strangely, and I had to get it at
the baggage desk), the car retrieved and parking paid, and the drive home from Milwaukee.
Weighing everything, it was a great trip, and we are now officially in love with Reno.
One more thing I should probably mention in this post, since I haven't updated in a while--
Spouse took the job. He starts the 11th. Money-wise, this constitutes a 30% raise in pay for him. Yes, that is what I wrote--THIRTY percent.
I wish I felt better about the whole thing.
Reading: I stopped at the legendary Renaissance Bookshop on the way through the airport on Monday (one more thing to love about MKE--how many airports have fabulous used bookstores?!), and picked up some fresher copies of Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, because my paper copies were completely shot. And because I like paper books when I'm on vacation.
Listening:Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Cage the Elephant, Vance Joy, The
Cranberries
Inked Up: Making a point of using my Duragraph (Pelikan Brilliant Brown) and my Metropolitan (R&K Solferino) this week; they both need the exercise. But full disclosure: I just ordered two new pens from Levenger. They are closing out their "Facets" line, and yesterday they had them for 80% off--$19.00 apiece! The selection was a little thin, but I was able to get a fine nib in the Onyx, and a medium nib in Olive. Total, with shipping--$44.00.
How could I resist?
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