Reno/Lake Tahoe

Reno/Lake Tahoe Trip - 2019

Saturday, November 30^th , 2019:

We arrived in Sacramento on time, but we had a little trouble with Budget Rental getting the car. They are slow and then the car they rented us had a low tire pressure light come on when I headed to the exit. Then instead of adding air, they made me trade cars, which was another long delay. The road to Reno was a bit slippery in spots due to the heavy snow that was falling, but we were able to make it without having to put chains on the car tires.

We got to Harrah's, by around 3 and were able to check in right away. We then ate lunch and rested until that evening for the Broadway Play, A Christmas Story The Musical. It was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM in the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. Harrah's is only about 3 blocks from the theatre which is why I chose to stay there. My printout of the purchase of the ticket did not include the actual ticket I found out so we had to do some negotiation at the pick up window, but eventually we got our seats and still had time for a chardonnay before the start of the show.

The performance was very good. This is the Christmas Story where the boy wants a BB gun for Christmas. We sat near the orchestra pit and could see the musicians perform too. A different view than I ever did before.

Sunday, December 1^st, 2019 :

My schedule for the Masses at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral that I had down loaded from their web site showed 7:30 and 9:30 Mass times, so we headed out at around 8:00 but first went to take some pictures at the performance center before we headed to the church (It was on the way). When we got to the church the Mass was already in session so we only caught the end of an apparent 8:00 AM start. I guess a winter schedule was in effect and web site was not updated. The next mass wasn't until the evening so we decided to head to Lake Tahoe and see if we could catch an evening mass at our Lady of Lake Tahoe.

Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts

We stayed for the last reading and the Eucharist. Then I took some pictures of the inside of the church. On the way back to Harrah's we saw a breakfast special for steak and eggs at the Top Deck Restaurant in the Club Cal Neva Casino on 2^nd Street. We decided to try it out. For $5.99 how could you go wrong. We didn't the serving was big enough for 3 meals.

We went back to the room and watched the weather prediction. Even though it was snowing pretty heavy in Reno, it looked like we could get to Lake Tahoe if we left early, so we did. The trip was a little slippery but chain requirements were not in effect and the further south we got the more it was rain/sleet instead of snow. Since it was expected to change to snow there, we stopped a Raley's grocery store and bought some food items before we headed up the hill and checked in at the Ridge Tahoe. Since a bottle of Chardonnay was included in the grocery necessities that we purchased, we were able to relax with a glass of wine at the outside hot tub as we watched it snow quite heavily.

We ate some of the leftovers for dinner and there was still enough for another meal. We didn't have to venture out in the snow covered roads. The other visitor's kids were playing in the snow and were able to build some snowmen. The snow was coming down very hard.

St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral

Monday, December 2^nd, 2019:

Monday morning Marilou made us a ham and cheese quesadilla from the groceries we purchased yesterday as we looked out the window to view the snow that had been falling all night. After eating our fill we bundled up and walked around in the snow at the resort. It was quite pretty and rather deep. No way I was going to drive on the snow filled highway to town.

Ridge Tahoe Snow Scenes

So we took the Resort shuttle to Mount Bleu Casino. I Donated $60 to the casino on the black jack tables before we decided to eat lunch. Marilou wanted a hot dog so we asked at the Cafe Del Soul Restaurant if she could order that there. They gave her the kids menu with crayons and coloring book and said have at it. I ordered the clam chowder in a bread bowl. She didn't color her pictures. I enjoyed the chowder.

It was raining in SLT but snowing at the Ridge. So as the shuttle driver got closer to the Ridge, the road got slipperier. Once we were safely back at the Ridge, we tried the outside Hot Tub. It was quite hot, so you had to control how long you stayed there or you overheated, even in the snow.

Outside Hot Tub View

Tuesday, December 3^rd, 2019:

The weather wasn't so bad during the night. It rained more than snowed last night I took a few photos at the Ridge.

Ridge Tahoe Snow Scenes

We then did the normal drive around the lake as we do every time we visit. The road was mostly clear, however, most of the normal pullovers were snowbound. We did get some pretty good lake view photos, just not at all the normal stops.

When we got back to the Ridge, I reserved snowmobile ride for the next day. Then we did the hot tub at the other end of the building. Had it to ourselves. Still couldn't stay too long. The water temperature didn't allow you to spend too much time in there.

Lake Tahoe Views

Wednesday, December 4^th, 2019:

It started snowing heavy around 3am. The road looked pretty bad and I heard that chains were being required to go up the hills. So I moved the reservation for our snow mobile ride to Friday and I added Geneviv and Olga to the reservation. I didn't think I twisted my ankle on the icy path to the room too bad, but it swelled up big time and I had to keep my weight off it. Just rested it this day.

Later we took the shuttle to Montbleu Casino and walked to the Magic Fusion show at the Loft. Robert Hall put on a pretty good performance. There was a large group of real estate people there who seemed to know each other pretty well. They heckled the comedian a bit, but he handled it well.

Ridge Tahoe Night Scenes

Thursday, December 5^th, 2019:

I tried to book horse rides at Heavenly Hoofprints near Carson City, since it looked like the roads would permit us to get there, but the horse riding place said they were super fogged in and didn't expect to do any rides that day. So we had to re-think our plans for this day.

Instead we took the shuttle into town to allow Marilou to do some shopping. I believe we found some ear rings that sort of matched what Marilou was looking for and I believe she got some other gifts for grand kids. I'm not much of a shopper, I pretty much buy what I want not look for what I might want to buy.

We also visited Harrah's Casino and I got back the money I lost at Montbleu the other day.

Lake Tahoe Scenes

Friday, December 6^th, 2019:

The roads were a lot better today because it mostly rained instead of snowing; especially at the elevation of the lake. That made for a rougher snow mobile ride since the trail was pretty icy in spots.
Geneviv drove us there since she had a 4 wheel drive SUV. She needed to put it in 4 wheel mode to get up their driveway. The GPS request Gen put on her phone left us about a mile short of the destination, their web site description could use some improvement. We had to call Lake Tahoe Snowmobiling Tours to find their actual location.

Marilou and I rented the full snow suit whereas Olga and Geneviv only got the pants because their Chicago clothing was a bit warmer than anything we brought with us from Texas and California.

It was an interesting ride. The last time I did a ride like this the guide, wanted us to bunch together and keep up to his speed. This time we were encouraged us to keep our distance and ride at whatever speed we were comfortable with. They had several spotters to keep us on the right path. In spite of the roughness of the trail I enjoyed the trip. The two hours ride went by really quick.

Since Geneviv and Olga weren't going to be going this direction the rest of the week, I had her drive to Emerald Bay so she could see some of the overlooks. She was reluctant to pull over at some of the possible overlook locations, but did pull over at Emerald Bay for some photos.

LakeTahoe Snowmobiling Tours

Saturday, December 7^th, 2019:

The weather was predicting a blizzard of 3 to 6 feet of snow in our direction so I booked a room near Sacramento and we left the area early in the morning. I had researched a Church on the way so we first found St. Patrick's in Placerville.

St. Patrick's church in Placerville

I took some pictures then we went to eat lunch a Mel's Famous Diner.

Mels Famous Diner

We still had a lot of time before the Mass so we drove around town and then followed some signs to a Gold Mine Museum. The museum had some pretty interesting displays pertaining to how gold was mined in the area. My ankle was still pretty sore so we didn't do the self-guided tour of the mine, but looked at the displays in the museum area.