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Biggest Little City
Apr. 23rd, 2011 12:04 amLast weekend, I took a quick pre-Pesach trip to Reno. Why Reno? Well, it's a convenient base for visiting Carson City and I wanted to check off another state capital.
The first leg of my trip was delayed quite a bit, but I'd scheduled a long layover in Denver, so that wasn't an issue. The Denver to Reno flight actually got in a bit early. I was soon reminded of why I had vowed not to rent cars with Budget any more. Is it really all that hard to get the amount of the taxes correct when you make the reservation? Rental car taxes irritate me to begin with and, while I can afford it, I'd have liked to know up front that the tax was 36%, not 21%. And, of course, I had the usual argument to get the small car I'd reserved. In these days of high gas prices that's a big deal. (Besides which, 2/3 of the parking spots at the hotel were for compact cars. Not that that stops anybody from parking their large cars and taking up two of them, but that's another rant.)
Anyway, downtown Reno is just a few miles from the airport and I had no trouble finding the Silver Legacy. It was late at night, but I still did a quick round of the casino before bedtime.
In the morning, I drove down to Carson City, a pleasant half hour or so drive. I stopped along the way for breakfast at Peg's Glorified Ham and Eggs, which someone had recommended to me. It was a good recommendation and I had a lovely mushroom and spinach omelet which was enough food to last me until dinnertime. The Volksmarch route in Carson City started out through a pleasant enough, but not particularly special, residential neighborhood. I far preferred the part of the route through downtown. That pretty much followed the Kit Carson trail and included the Capitol and various historic buildings. The city was, apparently, only named for Kit Carson at second hand. That is, it was named for the Carson River, which was named for him.
The Capitol itself is a sandstone building, and has what I'd call a cupola rather than a proper dome. According to their historical brochure, it used to have an elliptical dome but it was removed during a 1977 renovation because bats nested there and swooped down on unsuspecting tourists. (Presumably the bats also swooped down on state officials, but they expected it.) There's a frieze on the first floor, depicting various minerals mined in Nevada. There are also the usual portraits of governors. The second floor has a small museum. The most interesting item there is part of the rope used for a particularly well-attended hanging the same day that Mark Twain was giving a just as well-attended lecture.
Other interesting buildings in the historic area included a few churches, the governor's mansion, and several 19th century houses. One of those belonged to Orion Clemens, Mark Twain's brother. There's a sign outside which stretches that connection a bit and refers to it as "Mark Twain's house." (He did visit there, but he was a newspaper reporter in Virginia City at the time.)
Overall the walk was enjoyable, but the 6K route would have actually been a better choice than the 11K, as it would have skipped the less interesting area. I found the same true of the Volksmarch I did in Reno the next day, where the additional distance of the 10K vs. 6K route was pretty much just more parkland along the Truckee River. Again, it was pleasant enough, but there was nothing especially interesting. (The 6K route was mostly out and back along the river, too, but did at least feature a few historic buildings and a rose garden, though this is obviously not the right time of year for it.) Finally, I did a walk in Sparks. That one circled the Sparks Marina before walking through some especially boring residential neighborhoods to Victorian Square. I can see the appeal of the route if you live in the area, but it has little of touristic interest. I should probably have done the Virginia City walk instead.
In addition to walking, I went to a minor league ball game, in which the Reno Aces were clobbered by the Colorado Spring Sky Sox. You can't really beat being able to walk up at the last minute and get a seat on the 1st base line for under 20 bucks. The Aces seem to have some pretty enthusiastic fans - possibly more so than their parent team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. By the way, Wily Mo Pena, who has played for both the Red Sox and the Nationals, was playing for them.
And, of course, I did do some gambling. Reno was the site of my very first casino visit ever, a middle of the night stop on the Green Tortoise coast to coast bus I took back in 1982. I played nickel slots and lost 2 bucks. I lost a little more this time, though I still stayed within my budget. As I have probably mentioned before, I look at gambling as entertainment. I expect to lose and the question is how long I can entertain myself on a set amount of money. If I wanted to get rich by gambling, I'd have to run the game.
The trip back was uneventful and then I threw myself into Pesach. Now I need to throw myself into catching up on the household paperwork I ignored because I was cleaning for Pesach.
The first leg of my trip was delayed quite a bit, but I'd scheduled a long layover in Denver, so that wasn't an issue. The Denver to Reno flight actually got in a bit early. I was soon reminded of why I had vowed not to rent cars with Budget any more. Is it really all that hard to get the amount of the taxes correct when you make the reservation? Rental car taxes irritate me to begin with and, while I can afford it, I'd have liked to know up front that the tax was 36%, not 21%. And, of course, I had the usual argument to get the small car I'd reserved. In these days of high gas prices that's a big deal. (Besides which, 2/3 of the parking spots at the hotel were for compact cars. Not that that stops anybody from parking their large cars and taking up two of them, but that's another rant.)
Anyway, downtown Reno is just a few miles from the airport and I had no trouble finding the Silver Legacy. It was late at night, but I still did a quick round of the casino before bedtime.
In the morning, I drove down to Carson City, a pleasant half hour or so drive. I stopped along the way for breakfast at Peg's Glorified Ham and Eggs, which someone had recommended to me. It was a good recommendation and I had a lovely mushroom and spinach omelet which was enough food to last me until dinnertime. The Volksmarch route in Carson City started out through a pleasant enough, but not particularly special, residential neighborhood. I far preferred the part of the route through downtown. That pretty much followed the Kit Carson trail and included the Capitol and various historic buildings. The city was, apparently, only named for Kit Carson at second hand. That is, it was named for the Carson River, which was named for him.
The Capitol itself is a sandstone building, and has what I'd call a cupola rather than a proper dome. According to their historical brochure, it used to have an elliptical dome but it was removed during a 1977 renovation because bats nested there and swooped down on unsuspecting tourists. (Presumably the bats also swooped down on state officials, but they expected it.) There's a frieze on the first floor, depicting various minerals mined in Nevada. There are also the usual portraits of governors. The second floor has a small museum. The most interesting item there is part of the rope used for a particularly well-attended hanging the same day that Mark Twain was giving a just as well-attended lecture.
Other interesting buildings in the historic area included a few churches, the governor's mansion, and several 19th century houses. One of those belonged to Orion Clemens, Mark Twain's brother. There's a sign outside which stretches that connection a bit and refers to it as "Mark Twain's house." (He did visit there, but he was a newspaper reporter in Virginia City at the time.)
Overall the walk was enjoyable, but the 6K route would have actually been a better choice than the 11K, as it would have skipped the less interesting area. I found the same true of the Volksmarch I did in Reno the next day, where the additional distance of the 10K vs. 6K route was pretty much just more parkland along the Truckee River. Again, it was pleasant enough, but there was nothing especially interesting. (The 6K route was mostly out and back along the river, too, but did at least feature a few historic buildings and a rose garden, though this is obviously not the right time of year for it.) Finally, I did a walk in Sparks. That one circled the Sparks Marina before walking through some especially boring residential neighborhoods to Victorian Square. I can see the appeal of the route if you live in the area, but it has little of touristic interest. I should probably have done the Virginia City walk instead.
In addition to walking, I went to a minor league ball game, in which the Reno Aces were clobbered by the Colorado Spring Sky Sox. You can't really beat being able to walk up at the last minute and get a seat on the 1st base line for under 20 bucks. The Aces seem to have some pretty enthusiastic fans - possibly more so than their parent team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. By the way, Wily Mo Pena, who has played for both the Red Sox and the Nationals, was playing for them.
And, of course, I did do some gambling. Reno was the site of my very first casino visit ever, a middle of the night stop on the Green Tortoise coast to coast bus I took back in 1982. I played nickel slots and lost 2 bucks. I lost a little more this time, though I still stayed within my budget. As I have probably mentioned before, I look at gambling as entertainment. I expect to lose and the question is how long I can entertain myself on a set amount of money. If I wanted to get rich by gambling, I'd have to run the game.
The trip back was uneventful and then I threw myself into Pesach. Now I need to throw myself into catching up on the household paperwork I ignored because I was cleaning for Pesach.
