Day 81: Eugene to Portland

Last day of my trip :(. I woke up around the crack of noon and met Ben and a couple of his Seattle friends who were in town for lunch. I just caught the tail end of the meal before Ben had to return to work. Then I got in touch with Wes and caught him a couple hours before he was leaving town so we walked to Dutch Brothers and had a nice mostly film related chat. I had a couple more hours to kill before meeting back up with Ben so I went to Market of Choice just to admire some of my favorite Eugene specialties like Euphoria Chocolate and Eugene City Bakery. I then drove to Hendricks park with the intention of hiking a bit but only made it as far as the parking lot before I got distracted my a call from Jessica.

Ben had plans to meet up with another friend at Burrito Boy for dinner so I invited myself along. Turns out he had the time wrong so we had an hour to walk around campus first. That's the library in the distance.


Oh the Pioneer Father. So many memories. I stuck around and watched some X-Men cartoons until Ben went to bed around 11 and decided at the last minute to head home instead of staying another day. Ben had to start packing for his Japan trip and I had decided to commit to house sitting for him while he was gone so I'd have plenty more Eugene time then. The two hour drive from Eugene to Portland seems lightning fast at this point. Everyone was asleep when I arrived so it was a quiet homecoming. But sleeping in your own bed is quite nice!

Next: I'll be house sitting for Ben from 7/20 to 7/28 so there may be an few bonus adventures.

Day 80: Reno to Eugene

I stayed up into the wee hours gambling (again) so I slept in until shortly before checkout. I tried the new pan Asian place at the Eldorado- Pho Mein for lunch. The pho was probably not anything special but it was exactly what I was in need of at the time. I was seriously considering staying in Reno another day just because it was about 2pm at that point but I knew I would probably lose more money than I would be ok with losing if I stayed so I hit the road with no clear idea of where I would be stopping for the night.

The last time I was in Tahoe I took I-80 to Sacramento/I-5 so I decided to go 395 to 89 through Lassen and Shasta National Forests this time. I think this photo is near the Nevada/California border.


Lassen National Forest was very wet and beautiful. I was really digging the greenness.


This is the best photo I got of Shasta. It was hidden from view for most of the drive. By the time I hit I-5 it started pouring rain so there wasn't much to see.


This is near the California/Oregon border, a little bit north of Weed. Once I crossed into Oregon I managed to get in touch with Ben G. and found out he was in Eugene (I caught him between his San Francisco and Japan trips) so I decided to drive straight through to Eugene.

I caught the moonrise in my rear view around Medford. I got into Eugene around midnight. I could have kept pushing and gotten into Portland around 2am but I wasn't quite ready to be done with my trip so I was glad Ben was around.

Day 79: Off to Reno

I had a nice relaxed last day in Minden. Grace had the day off so we caught up on some TV shows we both like and I finally got a massage! I wanted to stay another night but I knew the longer I stayed the harder it would be to leave. So I decided to drive up to Reno for a night in an effort to build up some momentum. And I needed to get back home in time for Breanna's baby shower.


I managed to get a room at the Eldorado for $32 (I may have had to gamble for a few hours to get that rate but oh well...) and it was by far the nicest room I've stayed in for under $50 on this trip.
The room was in the top corner of the older shorter tower. This was the view, you can almost see the Reno sign.


It was a budget room so it was tiny but adorable. I didn't do much except sleep there anyway.


I realized in all the years I been staying at the Eldorado I never get photos of the ridiculous interior. This is the main lobby area... sort of.


And here is the garish fountain on the way to The Silver Legacy. I had planned to going to La Strada for dinner but apparently they are closed Wed/Thurs (which seems super random to me) so I ended up at Brew Brothers instead. I had a grand old time staying up way too late gambling and losing more money than I planned to but it's hard to hold onto when you have tons on cash in hand and no good way to hide it from yourself. It's probably a good thing that I don't live in Nevada...

Day 78: Still in Minden

I don't think I did anything very interesting today so here are some photos of Max the Lizard:

Day 77: Recovering from a late night of Gambling at JT Basque

I didn't get home from Harrah's until about 7:45am so I got to see what the area looks like early in the morning.
The mountains are quite lovely in the morning light. Since I was up so ridiculously late I spent most of today sleeping. When I got up I went to the Sugar Plum bakery for a sandwich. The place definitely has personality but I'm not sure if I like it. Grace and Greg had stayed up at the lake and spent more time at the beach while I was sleeping and got back around the time I had finished outing. They were both pretty tired from the night before so I decided to take them out to Grace's choice of restaurant for her birthday. She chose JT Basque which is an interesting place. For $25 you get unlimited soup, salad, beans, chicken and rice, cheap red wine and bread plus one of five entree options. I always get the steak.

After dinner they made it about 10 minutes into a movie before passing out. Since I had only been awake for a few hours I went to the local casino and managed to make $60 last 5 hours. It was great fun but I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late again.

Day 76: Grace's 30th Birthday

Grace's celebration of choice for this milestone birthday was a kegger in the woods. Her friend Jill got us three campsites at Zephyr Cove which you would think would be enough space for a noisy party except that this particular campground was tightly packed and sold out. So there were several families camping within 30 feet or so of Grace's party.


Supposedly kegs are against campground policy but this employee didn't seem to mind and even drove it up to our campsite for us (there was not a lot of parking nearby).


Tapping the keg. Mirror Pond Ale I believe.


It seemed like every couple minutes someone would say "Oh I forgot to bring this!" so I volunteered to drive into town and pick those things up. I also wasn't quite ready to start drinking and it would give me a good excuse to hit up the Mont Bleu Casino. I did not do very well there but I did manage to kill a couple hours. When I got back they had been to the beach and back so I missed my second opportunity to see Zephyr Cove. One of these days...

Greg said he had found the umbrella with lights in a dumpster a while back. It was a lovely find, really added some atmosphere.


Grace blowing out the candles. Things started to get pretty rowdy at that point and the campground had quiet hours that started at 10pm. There was essentially one girl at the party that Grace didn't know very well who wouldn't quiet down and I could see things might start getting ugly so I took off around 11pm. I was glad it had always been my plan to not stay overnight anyway. On the way back I stopped at Harvey's and Harrah's because I had all of those winnings burning a hole in my pocket. I thought I'd only be there for a couple hours but ended up staying until a little after 7am. I was doing alright for a while but in that last hour or two I made some very poor decisions because I was feeling loopy. It was definitely interesting to observe the different crowds that filter through the casino throughout the night. I almost considered driving back to the campground because I was pretty sure Grace would be awake to say hi but thought it better that I get to sleep myself.

Day 75: Emerald Bay State Park and Winning

Another late start today but I did manage to go on a hike.

By the time I got lakeside Grace was between massages and was able to join me at Sprouts (again) for another one of their delicious salads. Just look at that thing.


After lunch, while Grace did another massage, I drove over to Emerald Bay State Park which is on the southwest corner of the lake. It was a Saturday afternoon so there were tons of boats in the bay. After finding parking by the road there is a one mile hike down to the water where you find Vikingsholm (A viking style mansion built during the depression by a super rich widow) and several other trail heads.


I bought a tour ticket to see the inside of the place and ended up being the only one on that tour so I got the ranger all to myself. It was rustic looking inside but they put a lot of money into replicating the viking style antiques and architectural techniques.


After a quick hike along the lakeside I took the short hike to Lower Eagle falls which were roaring because there is so much snowmelt this year. I wish I could have gone farther but I was wearing out at this point and knew I had a mile hike uphill to get back to the car. I tried to meet up with Grace and Greg at the Lakeside Casino on my way back but caught them just as they were leaving. I'm glad I decided to stay there without them because I had a delicious dinner there followed by my second big win.


$1,875.00!! On a 100 Times Pay slot machine. I got two purple 7s and a 100x pay symbol. Now I just need to manage to hold onto it!

Day 74: Driving Miss Grace and Puppies!

I let Grace use my car today to drive up to work in South Lake and tagged along. There has been construction near the Kingsbury grade summit for a while and on this particular occasion we had to wait for a while so we pulled out my sun shield to cool off. While Grace worked I did some grocery shopping and hung out at Starbucks for a while and caught up with the internet.


On the way back home we stopped at Grace's friend's house to visit and see her puppies. The friend was not in be we managed to find the puppies. They were adorable. And liked licking my legs.
This photo really needs some captioning.

Shortly after Grace was off to her second job at Wasabi's sushi in Minden. Greg and I went there for dinner and since it's an all you can eat menu I ate way too much. That pretty much did me in for the evening.

Day 73: Disc Golf and Nevada Beach at Elk Point

Drove up to the lake with Greg to join Grace at the Disc Golf course. Grace was fairly exhausted when we got there so she showed me a couple ways to throw a disc before we left Greg there and went to Sprouts for some great salads. She had another massage to get to so I dropped her off and went to the beach. I thought I was going to Zephyr Cove but actually ended up at Nevada Beach at Elk Point (right before Zephyr Cove).


The view from the shoreline.

I saw several opportunities for artsy photos.


The water was clear and enticing but I don't think I had my bathing suit with me so I just got my feet wet.


The sand was very rough and gritty, a bit like large rock salt. It felt like a free foot scrub. It was hard to walk around in it because you sink into it easily.


The replanted forest near the shoreline one my walk back to the car.

Day 72: Attempting to see Zephyr Cove

Grace drive me up to South Lake in my car so she could go to work and I could go visit the water's edge at Zephyr Cove. At least that was the idea for the day.

As we drove into the city there was a thick yellowish cloud covering the whole area. At first I thought there might have been a fire. But Grace explained that is was pollen from the pine trees. I've seen heavy pollen in Oregon before but nothing quite like this.


Grace did a massage at the same hotel we lounged at on the 4th, it's called 968 Park. It started raining when we got there so I ditched my idea about going to the beach and spent an hour at Harvey's instead. While I lost money I'm glad I was inside, it poured while I was there. There were little streams of yellow pollen on the street after the downpour!



I snapped this awesome (but sadly out of focus) photo on the drive back to Grace's after she was done working. Back at home we rejoined the parents and went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant Grace hadn't tried yet. The carnitas were very good.


The sunset was moderately spectacular that evening because of the rain clouds.

Day 71: Laying low in Minden

Didn't do much today, it was nice. I met up with Mom and Grace (who had just finished birthday shopping) in Carson City for some good Mexican food for lunch then came back to Minden and lost a bunch of money at The Carson Valley Inn Casino. We were actually there at the right time for a drawing with cash prizes. Mom's name got picked for the 7pm drawing but unfortunately I was the only one there at the time so she missed out on somewhere between $50-$2500. On the brighter side, Dad finished fixing the red truck today (the main impetus for getting the folks to meet me here) so once they register it tomorrow Grace will finally have a working vehicle again.

Tomorrow: Hiking near Lake Tahoe and/or bumming around South Lake

Day 70: Fourth of July in South Lake Tahoe

The family went to Sharkey's Casino in Gardnerville for a hefty inexpensive breakfast in the AM while I slept in. Apparently the cook was overworked and pissed off so the food quality was a lot lower than usual. Once we were all together we headed up the hill to Stateline for the day. By then it was lunchtimes so we hit up the Fat Burger inside Harrah's for lunch as well as throwing a couple dollars into the slot machines.

Properly fed we headed to the Heavenly Gondola for a ride up to the peak. They were completely enclosed so it felt like being in a hot little greenhouse on the way up and down.


The first stop is a viewing platform with fabulous lake views.


The final stop is the Heavenly ski area with shops and restaurants which, being a holiday, were all closed up. I accidentally stepped into a stream of snow melt while we were up there so I got to do some impromptu stomping around in the streams. It was chilly but refreshing. Back down in Stateline we decided to park the van at a hotel where Grace works and wait out sunset there by the pool. I was the only one who got significantly wet because the water was pretty cold. We ordered a pizza for dinner and were able to 'buy' beer from Jessica, the receptionist/bartender at the hotel who likes Grace enough to let her whole family use the hotel's pool. It was a pretty sweet deal. The hotel is also located right by the beach.


Grace had gotten us a beach pass from Jessica that allowed us access to a private beach that had a very good view of the fireworks show. It was crowded but the view was still good.


The show was great. There were quite a few fireworks I hadn't seen before (smiley faces and odd colors) and it went on for quite a while. All in all it was a pretty cool fourth. The only minor disappointment is that I didn't get to light a single firework all day!

Day 69: Elko to Minden, NV

I drove pretty much non-stop from Elko to Reno, just fueling and stretch breaks. I did stop for a bit in Battle Mountain for my last chance to load up on fireworks. Since I had a lot of cash lying around I splurged on some heavy duty looking artillery.

There were some really long stretches between tiny towns. It was scenic, not barren, but all started looking the same after a while.


I think this was another salt flat.


I arrived in Reno around sunset and there was a chicken wing cook-off going on in the streets. They were just finishing up so I didn't get to try any. The 'strip' looked a lot like the last time I visited except there is a new concert venue across from The Cal-Neva called The Knitting Factory.

I visited The Eldorado, my Reno stomping grounds, for about an hour and left about $5 or $10 dollars richer. Then I drove the hour long stretch to Minden in the dark and was greeted by Grace, Greg, Mom and Dad.

Next: Fourth of July with the family

Day 68: Salt Lake City to Elko, NV

Since I decided to stop in Elko for a night a break up my trans-Nevada drive into two days I had more time in Salt Lake to poke around. I went up the the Utah Capitol building first. It looks a lot like many other state capitols on the outside. The inside was very grand and I like the marble or granite that they used for most of it.


It was Saturday so while the doors were open, the senate, house and court chambers were all locked up and no-one seemed to be working there to ask about tours.


Next I walked down to Temple Square to the Joseph Smith Memorial building, formerly the Hotel Utah, for some lunch at the Cafe Nauvoo. It was much grander than I was expecting. The stained glass ceiling was done by Tiffany. The cafe was very nice, they hand carved the meats for your sandwich!
That's the Mormon Temple behind me. Since it was a Saturday in July I walked by no less than 4 wedding parties.
Once I hit the road I passed through the Bonneville salt flats. They were long and barren but not as bad as Kansas. I stopped in West Wendover, NV for some border town gambling and didn't do very well.
Then I got to Elko and did much better. I stopped into what looked like the center of town at the old looking casinos and didn't do very well there either. Supposedly the nation's largest Basque Heritage Festival going on while I was there but I must have missed the festivities. I went back to the Red Lion Casino which was next door to my hotel and got some dinner and did a little more gambling. I'm glad I did because I won $1,350 on a $0.75 slot pull. Only downside is that in addition to the cash they handed me a W-2G form so I will be paying taxes on my winnings. Never had to fill in that part of my taxes before...

Next: Reno, breifly, and on to Minden to meet up with the family.