On the Road To Reno - Day 68

I just returned from the El Doroado casino here in Reno, NV. Having arrived late and hungry, I decided to take on the buffet for $12. I ate 47 different things, and surprisingly about 40 of

them were quite good. The worst was the stuff from the meat carving table, and the best came from the Mongolian BBQ chef, who took the bowl of fresh items I selected, added some decent beef and a spicy sauce and sauteed them expertly. That alone was worth the price of admission. The soft serve ice cream was inedible, but the Mandarin cheese cake was quite edible. I gambled for an hour and made 2 bucks.

Wow, it really feels great to be back on the road, seeing new things, enthused, adventurous, and productive. And I had all of them on the trip today.

I was roused at 6AM by my 2 year old niece calling out just for attention. By 6:30 I was in the Prius headed for Lake Tahoe. California traffic is as bad as Jersey, and I seemed to hit 4 different rush hours before passing Sacramento. But at least everybody takes it in stride; there's no honking, no aggressive lane switching, no driving down the shoulder, no flipping of the finger, no mob hits.

(BTW, did everybody see the ending of the Sopranos? (spoiler ahead...) I only saw the last 10 minutes, and I thought it was masterful. Do you think the guy in the Members Only jacket killed Tony? Was anyone besides Buz angry at the last 5 seconds of dead air? I predict, we get one more spell of them in the future, maybe not another season, but something creative like a pre-quel, or an HBO movie.)

Anyway, after Sacremento, I drove up for the next 50 miles or so, crossing 7000 ft in elevation. One rest area had a good quarter mile hike with info on how glaciers formed the whole area. Pretty good.

I then spent the next 4 hours skirting the rim of Lake Tahoe and taking in the views. And there are lots of views. But many of them are State Parks, and I didn't want to pay as I am waiting to take advantage of my National Parks annual pass. But I found that the free views are pretty comprehensive.

I was disappointed to find out the Heavenly Gondola was out of service for the day, in preparation for the big Summer opening weekend. But because it was closed it prompted me to drive up a route called "Grade". It went to an ending spot of the gondola ride. So so. But it also led me to a Vista hiking trail where I was able to take an uphill trek to a few spots with great wide views of the lake. Breathtaking: both the views and the high altitude hike.

From there, I took the short road to Reno.