Gambling on Tahoe & Reno plus the Cali Capital

We got out of California for a bit and went to South Tahoe and Reno, Nevada. California has treated us well for the past two months but gosh, it’s expensive. Gas and food in particular. We both agree that it is the prettiest state we have traveled overall but darn expensive. We were told their gas taxes alone are a $1/gallon. Hence, why we‘ve had to hit a Costco for $5.40/gallon while thinking we got the bonus plan. We saw well over $6.00/ gallon in many-many gas stations in Cali. So, headed East to South Tahoe

( which is still 1/2 in California and 1/2 in Nevada) and Reno.. We went from gas at $5.40/ gallon to $5.20. Yay! Haha...........Not!

Hey, it is what it is gas price wise. We were looking at average gas prices throughout the country and Calif, Nevada, and our next two destinations in Oregon and Washington have the highest prices in the nation. We're still doing our thing though. It is what it is. Who would have known? We try to adjust our budget accordingly but Cali was a tough one.

South Tahoe was a very cool town. It had a lot of personality, beautiful beaches, wonderful scenic mountainous views and the lake was magnificent. We had no idea the lake was as massive as it was. The second largest lake in America. Beautiful blue waters, sandy beaches with snow capped mountains in the background. And speaking of snow, we got three inches the day before we left. That was a first for us during our travels.

We have down the whole below freezing temperature thing but snow? Jeepers-Creepers! Heck, we’re New Englanders so for us it was a piece of cake but we didn’t anticipate snow in Northern California in May. Brad climbed up on the roof of the RV and cleaned off the snow and scraped the car. We did get lucky, by the time we were leaving for Reno the roads were clear.

The campground was very woodsy as you can tell from the pic above. Pretty rural! They had special locks on the dumpsters to keep bears from opening them.

We dug South Tahoe before the snow. Our first day in town we took a scenic tour around the lake and headed north through town to the Nevada part of Lake Tahoe. The border of both states is split after a ten minute drive from our campground and into town. We went to Pope and Nevada Beaches, Logan Shoals Vistapoint Overlook, Lake Tahoe State and Cave Parks and to Zephyr Cave Resort. We’ll let the pictures tell the story.

We picnicked at Cove Rock which was splendid. Kathy made a homemade chicken soup we took in a thermos and chow-boned overlooking the lake and snow-capped mountains.

On the way back to the campsite we stopped at the Boathouse on the Pier for a refreshing beverage. It was beautiful! Some kid left a hand-written note calling out Brad for not pulling the car into our parking spot far enough. Kathy thought every f-bomb he threw out was hysterical accented with another smart—allick curse word. Brad was pissed, smoking mad, steaming. He probably forgot when he use to do stuff like that when he was a kid. The kid was a talented writer.

The next day we went into town. It was a very eclectic, swanky, ski resort looking kind of town. Quaint, country type shoppes, stores, bars and restaurants. The casinos were about 5-7 more minutes up the road on the Nevada portion of South Tahoe. Believe it or not, we didn’t even go into one. Everything outside was too pretty and inviting. We drove past them a handful of times but only admired from afar. The next day was Mother’s Day and Kathy was losing patience with Brad committing to a place so she decided we go celebrate her at a BBQ place called the Beer Beach Cafe. It was underwhelming, but, Kathy felt the love intended while all the kids are 3000 miles away.

That’s when it started to snow. Brad made fried chicken for dinner and did the cleanup and we played 500 gin rummy and watched the snow fall. It was pretty! Off to Reno the next day. It was a 166 mile trek that took us about three hours or so to get there.

We stayed in Sparks NV. which is about ten minutes outside of Reno. The place was immaculate. Extremely well groomed. It had a gym, hot tub, laundry room (they all do) and a concrete pad (as opposed to gravel). As soon as we got there we did a tour of some of the Casinos. We checked out the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino (GSR), The Peppermill and Atlantis Casinos. We liked the Peppermill the best. It didn’t smell like smoke as the other two did and it was the cleanest and classiest. The casinos in Reno are really a mere shell as compared to Vegas. It’ a whole different animal. No comparison! Vegas is Vegas but it was fun to see the difference between the two.

That night we went to a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurant called the Washoe Publick House. Brad had Elk for the first time and Kathy had a Tomahawk Pork Chop after starting off with a splendid charcuterie board. Yum-yum, that Guy Fieri never steers us wrong. Ever!

The next day we went to the National Auto Museum. The $12 admission would have been worth it if they charged us double.

We took a day trip to Carson and Virginia Cities. Carson City is the Capital of Nevada and boy-oh-boy Brad loves his Capitals. They had a driving tour on the Carson City app that had like 25 historic sites to see. Most of them were only okay but we stopped at all of them. it was fun, a bit anti-climatic, but worth the time and energy.

After our 25 stop tour of the Capital City we took a drive into the mountains to checkout an old-school western mining town called Virginia City. It was a hoot! We walked around town, bought some candy, stopped in some cool-weird shoppes and stopped at the Bucket and Blood Saloon for a finish to the day.

Our next stop on the tour is Sacramento, Ca. Yep, back to Cali this time to its Capital. We stayed at the California Expo which happened to be right next store to a huge 20,000 person outdoor country concert. We bought tickets for the Sunday show that featured Cole Swindell, Russell Dickerson, Lauren Alaina and a few more. The goof is we were never country music fans until we started on this journey and Brad knew all three of the headlining acts. It was an awesome time. We never saw more girls wearing cut-off daisy duke shorts and cowgirl boots in our life. Chubby girls, skinny girls, it didn't matter they all wore them with pride. The music was awesome. The atmosphere was cool. We brought our lawn chairs and partied down with all the cowboys and cowgirls.

We took a couple rides down to old Sacramento. Once in our car and a second on a 22 mile bike ride. The old town was cool. It was a combination of an old Texas town and a tourist/party place for families along with the young and old. The bike ride was awesome. Brad took a one and a half foot fall off his bike going up a walking ramp. Boom! He crashed to the brick street level with the bike on top of him. He jumped up immediately, a Dude helped pick up the 70lb bike and they continued the bike journey.

The Capital building was enormous. It housed many of the city offices as well as the Governor, Secretary of State and municipal appointees. A good portion of it was under construction and it was late in the afternoon so almost all the offices were closed but it was cool seeing the Ronald Reagan tributes and pictures of other past Governors. The exterior and interior of the building was very stately, with huge doors, lots of crown molding and huge winding staircases.

Part of our bike ride to Old Sacramento also took us to the Capital Park and Gardens outside the Capital building.

We’re heading to Redwood National Park. To break up the ride we planned an overnight stay at Testa Vineyards for a Harvest Host stay in Calpella, CA. It was pretty but wait till you see the pictures from RWNP. All we can say is wow, wow, wow! Thanks for reading down this far. Wishing everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend! Thank you to all that have served and god bless the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation. God bless America. Brad and Kathy