Day 4...Reno

Today we could have gone to Boomtown then to Meadowood Mall with the bus, but we decided to walk around Reno.  We used to fly down here quite a bit for a 3 or 4 night stay and a couple of times we took the express bus and came down, but we haven't been in Reno for many years, since they no longer have the flight packages they used to have.  It was nice to walk around town and see how things have changed and the casinos that are still there...a trip down memory lane!!

The Colonial is where we used to stay when we took the bus down.

 The Hotel El Cortez has been here forever...we never stayed there, but know people who did.

The Cal Neva used to have a bacon, egg & hashbrowns breakfast for $.99 and they always had the best Canadian exchange rate if you changed money on the floor when you were gambling.  The last time we were here we got $16 US for $20 CAN.  That's 80%, this time it was 70% so about $14 US for $20 CAN. We didn't change any money this time!

 

Silver Legacy.  Inside the dome is a model of the machine they used to extract the silver ore.

Day 3..Canyonville to Reno

Earlier start today.  Baggage pull at 7am and leave at 8am.  We weren't very hungry so made coffee in our room and had some snacks with us, so had that for breakfast.  Down I-5, crossed into California then turned off at Mount Shasta and went through Susanville to Reno.  Lots of snow on the sides of the road.  It was pretty and was neat to watch for deer or other wildlife footprints in the snow.

At one of our stops today we saw this Tesla charging station.

Checked into the Silver Legacy in Reno.  As we were getting off the bus there were some more charging stations. Silver Legacy, Eldorado and Circus Circus  are joined together by a walkway.  Sometimes it gets confusing because the same casino card can be used in the three casinos, but if you play in Silver Legacy you have to cash out your ticket in Silver Legacy...the same for Eldorado and Circus Circus.  Some of our food vouchers were good at any of the 3 casinos but there were a couple of them that could only be used in Silver Legacy...sure did keep the brain active,  to say the least!

Day 2 Marysville, Wa to Canyonville, Or.

We were up early. Our baggage pull was set for 8 am and the bus leaves at 9 am.  We went for breakfast, (we each had a food voucher) then checked our room to see that our bags were gone and got on the bus.

It was nice to drive through Seattle on a Sunday...not so much traffic and because Bart was doing the driving we could look out the windows and see the scenery.  It's been several years since we've driven through Seattle so really enjoyed it!  We usually stop for two "coffee breaks" (30 minutes) and a "lunch break"(1 hour) then stop for the night. Coffee breaks were usually McDonalds or something like that. Today's lunch stop was a Ilani Casino. 

They had neat seat guards on their toilets.  You push a button and a clean plastic sleeve slides around the toilet seat.  We first saw these years ago when we were on a Riverboat Casino in New Orleans.

 

Our stop for tonight is Seven Feathers Casino in Oregon, again very nice rooms.

Hit the Jackpot...Bus Tour...Day 1

Last December we received a brochure from the company we went to Haida Gwaii with.  The tour that caught my eye was a 14 day tour to southern Nevada and Arizona and back...a big circle.  We booked it and so did my cousin who lives in Chilliwack.  It'll be nice to spend some time with her.

The cab came and picked us up and took us to the bus, my cousin and several other people were already on board.  Stopped at the West Coast Duty Free store at the truck crossing and picked up the rest of the people who would be travelling with us and our Host.  Stephen is the same fellow who hosted our Haida Gwaii trip, so we're looking forward to a great holiday.


Our first overnight is at the Tulalip Casino.  They have beautiful big rooms with a fridge and an interesting shower with 3 showerheads!

They also gave each of us a $15 food voucher and a $20 slot play.

My and my husbands' dinners....yummy!

 My cousin had a light dinner but splurged on dessert!

Gambled for a bit, we were both up a little bit, then went to sleep in our very comfortable king size bed!

Snow Bound - Keeping Busy

The snow has certainly kept us busy cleaning our sidewalk and stairs and even raking some of the snow off our roof so it doesn't break the gutters.  When we lived in the old house the snow was wet and heavy...out here it's dryer and lighter, plus we get quite a bit of wind so it tends to drift and accumulate in certain spots.  Half our roof can be clear...the other side has all this snow piled on it.

When we're not clearing snow we do a lot of jigsaw puzzles.  Here's two that we started at Christmas and finished recently.

Lots of Snow

We had such a sunny, spring-like winter, I was beginning to think that we'd missed winter, but February made up for it big time!!!  Our neighbour cleans all the driveways in the neighbourhood, which is very much appreciated.  One day his tractor slid into the ditch.  He hooked his truck to it but couldn't tow it out.  Next thing we know Quiring Towing is there.  It was so neat how they got it out, but then, they are true professionals.  They are a local company but you may have seen them in action on "Highway to Hell", a series on TV that shows them clearing all sorts of wrecks off major B.C. highways.

Winter