Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 54
Today is the final day for the Terry, Louise, and Cindy so I thought we’d like to have breakfast away from the larger casinos this morning and perhaps take a drive out to Sparks to one of the smaller, local casinos called Rail City for breakfast. Many times, you can get the best comfort food at these local places and best of all at the best prices.
Rail City was one of the very first Terribles’ casinos and when they sold all of their casinos to Affinity Corp, all of the Terrible logos and names were removed. However, the casino remains the same. We enjoyed a great breakfast and fortunately, because I still had a lot comps left with the Terribles group, it was free. Before leaving, we sat down and played some Keno for five bucks with no success, but a lot of fun.
Terry, Louise, and Cindy with me at the Rail City cafe enjoying our last breakfast together
We next went down the street to a very large casino but sort of lost in the shuffle, which is called The Nugget (yes, another one). We pulled into the parking garage and as we walked into the casino, we were surprised as just how large this hotel and casino is and that it gets so little publicity or recognition. There are also some great VP games here including 9/6 Jacks in nickels and quarters as well as 8/5 Bonus. I believe this is about the only place left with full pay video poker in nickels and dimes. Again, we put in $5 in keno and again, we lost; however, as I’ve mentioned before, this is a very cheap way to have some entertainment at a low cost but with a high return if you get lucky. There is one more casino here called the Bourbon Casino, but it’s still be remodeled and was closed.
This solid gold Rooster sits in the lobby of the Nugget--not sure of the theme here, but it was purdy.
It was getting time to take Terry and Louise to the airport for their flight back to Denver. It was a sad goodbye but we had a great time and really a full three days. We’ll be catching up again with them at Black Hawk hopefully very soon. I had mentioned that we were lucky with the weather as it was just perfect and that we pretty much covered this entire region having visited Carson City, Reno, and now Sparks…there’s not a lot left to see here.
Cindy and I then headed back to Harrahs as I needed to speak with a host to book my four days for the Gift Wrap week at Caesar’s this November and to answer a couple of questions about benefits. I talked with the Host of the Day, Mike, and he took down the information and said he’d call me with the confirmation numbers. After spending a little bit of time resting up, Cindy and I were off again but this time to the Peppermill Casino, which she had not seen yet.
David hanging out (so to speak) in front of the valet at the Peppermill
Outside in the parking lot were a lot of the cars that are going to participate in the Hot August Nights event that officially begins tomorrow, but have been pouring into town for days. It’s difficult for me to describe the magnitude of this event. There are three staging areas (Peppermill, Atlantis, Grand Sierra) where the cars park and prepare for all the different festivities and pageants and I’m not talking about hundreds of cars, I’m talking about thousands of antique, meticulously souped up, brightly painted and detailed classic automobiles from around this country and Canada that come here to participate and compete.
Here are just some of the cars on display for the Hot August Nights event:
My older brother used to have one of these...my personal favorite
The Peppermill was just one of the venues allowing parking for the classic cars
Cindy really liked this one...not really sure why...
After spending some time enjoying just a few of the cars on display, we again drove back to Harrahs as the plan was to take one more shot at the Deuces at the Atlantis and then enjoy a drink in the Diamond Lounge and finally a quick dinner and on to the airport. However, we had to play Keno for the traditional $5. This time, Cindy caught 6 for 6 and after playing a bit more took home an additional $75.
A nice win by Cindy to go home with...
One last pic of the Peppermill, which I call The Neon Jungle
The hour spent at the Silver Legacy was terrible. Not only did I lose VERY fast at full pay deuces wild, but also at Keno and we even waited over 45 minutes for drinks that we ordered. We went back to Harrahs and were first in line when the Diamond Lounge opened and it’s a good thing. As we sat at the bar, we were followed by dozens of senior citizen Diamond holders who headed directly for the food, which was only finger sandwiches, chips and nuts with some fruits and veggies. It was a pitiful spread, in my opinion, but you’d think all these folks were after their last meal. I asked Cindy how it felt to be in a room where she was the youngest person—by far!
After our drinks we took the car back out of valet and headed towards the airport but not before stopping at a local Mexican restaurant for a dinner of chicken quesadillas, which were excellent. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to Harrahs to call it a night. This is my last night in Nevada for this trip and the final week of this adventure ends in three different cities in California where there are a few casinos yet to be reported on. Oh yes, Mike, the host who was supposed to book my trip and get back to me, never called or left a message.
More tomorrow.
Today is the final day for the Terry, Louise, and Cindy so I thought we’d like to have breakfast away from the larger casinos this morning and perhaps take a drive out to Sparks to one of the smaller, local casinos called Rail City for breakfast. Many times, you can get the best comfort food at these local places and best of all at the best prices.
Rail City was one of the very first Terribles’ casinos and when they sold all of their casinos to Affinity Corp, all of the Terrible logos and names were removed. However, the casino remains the same. We enjoyed a great breakfast and fortunately, because I still had a lot comps left with the Terribles group, it was free. Before leaving, we sat down and played some Keno for five bucks with no success, but a lot of fun.
Terry, Louise, and Cindy with me at the Rail City cafe enjoying our last breakfast together
We next went down the street to a very large casino but sort of lost in the shuffle, which is called The Nugget (yes, another one). We pulled into the parking garage and as we walked into the casino, we were surprised as just how large this hotel and casino is and that it gets so little publicity or recognition. There are also some great VP games here including 9/6 Jacks in nickels and quarters as well as 8/5 Bonus. I believe this is about the only place left with full pay video poker in nickels and dimes. Again, we put in $5 in keno and again, we lost; however, as I’ve mentioned before, this is a very cheap way to have some entertainment at a low cost but with a high return if you get lucky. There is one more casino here called the Bourbon Casino, but it’s still be remodeled and was closed.
This solid gold Rooster sits in the lobby of the Nugget--not sure of the theme here, but it was purdy.
It was getting time to take Terry and Louise to the airport for their flight back to Denver. It was a sad goodbye but we had a great time and really a full three days. We’ll be catching up again with them at Black Hawk hopefully very soon. I had mentioned that we were lucky with the weather as it was just perfect and that we pretty much covered this entire region having visited Carson City, Reno, and now Sparks…there’s not a lot left to see here.
Cindy and I then headed back to Harrahs as I needed to speak with a host to book my four days for the Gift Wrap week at Caesar’s this November and to answer a couple of questions about benefits. I talked with the Host of the Day, Mike, and he took down the information and said he’d call me with the confirmation numbers. After spending a little bit of time resting up, Cindy and I were off again but this time to the Peppermill Casino, which she had not seen yet.
David hanging out (so to speak) in front of the valet at the Peppermill
Outside in the parking lot were a lot of the cars that are going to participate in the Hot August Nights event that officially begins tomorrow, but have been pouring into town for days. It’s difficult for me to describe the magnitude of this event. There are three staging areas (Peppermill, Atlantis, Grand Sierra) where the cars park and prepare for all the different festivities and pageants and I’m not talking about hundreds of cars, I’m talking about thousands of antique, meticulously souped up, brightly painted and detailed classic automobiles from around this country and Canada that come here to participate and compete.
Here are just some of the cars on display for the Hot August Nights event:
My older brother used to have one of these...my personal favorite
The Peppermill was just one of the venues allowing parking for the classic cars
Cindy really liked this one...not really sure why...
After spending some time enjoying just a few of the cars on display, we again drove back to Harrahs as the plan was to take one more shot at the Deuces at the Atlantis and then enjoy a drink in the Diamond Lounge and finally a quick dinner and on to the airport. However, we had to play Keno for the traditional $5. This time, Cindy caught 6 for 6 and after playing a bit more took home an additional $75.
A nice win by Cindy to go home with...
One last pic of the Peppermill, which I call The Neon Jungle
The hour spent at the Silver Legacy was terrible. Not only did I lose VERY fast at full pay deuces wild, but also at Keno and we even waited over 45 minutes for drinks that we ordered. We went back to Harrahs and were first in line when the Diamond Lounge opened and it’s a good thing. As we sat at the bar, we were followed by dozens of senior citizen Diamond holders who headed directly for the food, which was only finger sandwiches, chips and nuts with some fruits and veggies. It was a pitiful spread, in my opinion, but you’d think all these folks were after their last meal. I asked Cindy how it felt to be in a room where she was the youngest person—by far!
After our drinks we took the car back out of valet and headed towards the airport but not before stopping at a local Mexican restaurant for a dinner of chicken quesadillas, which were excellent. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to Harrahs to call it a night. This is my last night in Nevada for this trip and the final week of this adventure ends in three different cities in California where there are a few casinos yet to be reported on. Oh yes, Mike, the host who was supposed to book my trip and get back to me, never called or left a message.
More tomorrow.
