Tuesday

YAY! It has only taken 3 tries to get these to post.

So Tuesday, after breakfast, we took off because of hubby's tee time. Headed north on Highway 49, with no stopping....except for construction. And the smoke. See the smoke in the photos? We left home with the world in a haze and it just seemed to get worse...

I think this rarilroad bridge is probably really beautiful when you can see it. In fact - that was the mantra on our trip - boy, I bet this is beautiful - if you could see it! There were times that you could jsut barely see beyond the edges of the highway...
So hubby is playing golf at The Resort at Squaw Ridge. Tried to get a room there without success. So I drove back to look at the Donner Memorial, only to find it is a state park and you have to pay jsut to park....so I left. Drove around Truckee only to find out that you have to pay to pack everywhere - $1/hour and it only takes coins and credit cards. Not about to use a credit card and I didnt have enough coins....So I drove into Squaw Valley to mail something at their quaint post office. Beautiful area. Expensive homes. Then I drove to Tahoe City and got my first glimpse of Lake Tahoe. And I was not impressed. Maybe it was the surroundings....maybe it was all the smoke in the air but I didnt see any blue lake at all...and no beaches there, just moorings. Oh well. So I went back to the parking lot near the golf course and read. It really is a beautiful setting.

And after he was done, we found out our brand new GPS system was no longer working. Great. No maps with us (yes, hubby use to be a boy scout once upon a time) but we know which way to head. Called daughter and asked her how to get to the Peppermill....

And here is a lesson for everyone...if the front desk clerk does not know where your room is located, it is time to leave. She printed out the paper - asked if we knew where it was - and when we responded that we had never been there before - I knew we were in trouble. Cause apparently she didnt know where the room was. B ut she got a mpa and faked us all out very well. Showed us on the map where to go and told us how to get there. Which we repeated back. And we headed off. Ended up where we were supposed to be - according to the map and her directions - and no room. Tried another way - no room. BAck tracked - no room.

So found a hall phone - and the operator put me thru to housekeeping, which was no help at all. She then transferred us to security and the very nice man on the phone sent someone to us. Who immediately told us we were not even in the right building and didnt understand why the person had sent us there - even asked for her name so he could talk with her (I still havent recieved a response from The Peppermill - but am not holding my breath either0. So he took us to our room....out of that building...into a carved up parking lot....adjacent to the fence that was somewhat containing all the contruction...through the parking lot for the construction workers....and into the building at the far far back of the complex. Made sure the room was okay...oh, and on this trek, even helped to carry our luggage for us! So, altho we probaby will never go back nor cn we recommend it, if you are ever there and see a Security person named Thomas, jsut know tht he is really a knight in shining armour!

So here is a picture of what was outside our room. Yes I know people dont go to Reno for the view but...

The casino there is actually very clean. The food - yuck. Ate at the buffet of course (why do men love buffets so much?) - the bread was all stale; the fruit consisted of canned peaches, cantalope and honeydew; very little in the salad bar; the dessert bar was a laugh - the selection and tast bad - c'mon, mini donuts for dessert????? Were they leftovers from breakfast???

So after hubby had fun at the slots and I got tired of walking in circles, back to the room and to bed....to be awakened at 5 AM - yes, you read it right - FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!!!! - by construction! If the sun was up, we couldnt tell because the smoke was so very very bad. C'mon, in places with casinos people are supposedly jsut going to bed at 5 AM, not being awakened by construction!!!!

We finally gave up and....