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Trip to Reno

September 29, 2013

We are on another road trip to attend NV OES Grand Chapter in Reno. We left San Pedro at about 0900 on Saturday. There are three main north south routes from LA to Northern California.

The quickest by far is I5 that starts in San Diego and continues through LA and then up through California’s Central Valley. There are huge farms that produce much of the vegetables that everyone consumes in the USA. Without stopping, we could potentially make it from San Pedro to Reno in a little over 8 hours. However, the ride is oh so very boring.

The second route is up US99 a bit east of I5. A little bit longer and just as boring. One goes through the major farming towns of Bakersfield, Fresno, and Stockton. Eventually you reach Sacramento and then head east on I80 to Reno.

The most visually interesting trip is on US395 that runs between the Sierras on your left and the CAL-NV border on your right. Lots of mountains, lakes and streams.

That was what we had intended to take. Best case should take 9 hours without factoring bathroom stops, gas stops, etc. But i screwed up in loading the GPS and we headed up I5. By the time we figured out my mistake, we were almost to Bakersfield. So we headed east to pick up US395.

Not so simple though. We ended up on SR14 that took us on a twisty windy road through Kern County and the Kern river canyon. We stopped at a place called Walker Pass to stretch and take a couple of pictures. This is some of the most desolate parts of California. It was also super clear on Saturday. The blue sky in those pictures was not photo-shopped.


So we eventually got on to US395 and continued our journey north. We were way behind schedule. Driving this road when dark is very challenging. Paula had me stop for a few seconds so that she could smell the ponderosa pines. She said she could actually see stars. You don’t see many stars (the astronomy kind) in LA. Of course I didn’t see stars, I was trying to see which way the road was going.

We eventually arrived in Reno at about 10PM. We got checked in and luggage up to our room. We had a gin and tonic and went to bed.

Next post will be about our experience at the Peppermill Resort and Casino.

Later…

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:S Virginia St,Reno,United States

Categories: California, Travel
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More on Hotels

August 5, 2013

During our trip last week we stopped at several different hotels. All of the hotels were mostly mediocre. We generally paid about $100 per night.

The worst hotel was the Primm Valley Resort and Casino (see my previous post on the subject.) We also stayed in two La Quinta hotels and one Best Western.

I made reservation for the La Quinta directly on their web site. The reservations for the Best Western and Primm Valley using Hotels.com and Travelocity.com. Hotels.com and Travelocity.com are both aggregators. This means that they take the reservation and payment from you and deliver it to the hotel. Down side is you pay for your hotel stay when you make the reservation. They then pay the hotel when you check in. So if say, you make the reservation 30 days ahead, hotels.com has your money for thirty days.

When you make a reservation directly (ala La Quinta), you don’t get charged until you check in.

Of course, (as we found out) that dealing with an aggregator, there is more chance for a screw up. ie. more people involved in the transaction.

La Quinta seemed to do pretty good on the basics. Both rooms were clean. Beds were comfortable. The free breakfast was rather meager. Though nothing would compare with the breakfast at the hotel we stayed in Memphis last year. Breakfast consisted of Krispy Kreme donuts (Max 2 to a customer) and coffee.

Breakfast at LQ consisted of cold cereal, toast, waffles, yogurt, juice and coffee. The Best Western had all of the above plus scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits & Gravy.

All of the hotels we visited had WiFi, but the speed was generally putridly slow. Never exceeded 1Mb download speed. Most of the time it was about .5Mbps.

Of course, Primm Valley didn’t have WiFi. They don’t want you playing on the internet. They want you playing in the casino.

Later…

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Categories: Reviews, Travel
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HotelCasino is a dirty word

August 2, 2013

Remind me never to stay in a HotelCasino in Nevada ever again. What a massive Fxxxup. More about that later.

First, we drove 450 miles today from Salt Lake City to Primm, Nevada. Straight shot down I-15. We got off at about 10:00am. Took some doing to get Mary K loaded with her luggage. Off we went.

We stopped for a break at about 100 miles. Then stopped for lunch at Cedar City. We went into a Denny’s. Denny’s is usually dependably average. We sat down. The waitress asked “One check or separate?”. Paula and i said one check, but Mary K says “put mine on a separate check” Mary K had yet to pick up a meal tab during the trip. So she decides to pay only for her meal. Not the whole check. Grrrr. This particular Denny’s was particularly bad. Several menu items were unavailable because they were waiting for the delivery truck.

So we take off on down the highway. We stopped for gas north of Las Vegas. It was an ARCO station the wouldn’t take my credit card because I didn’t have a PIN. So had to use my ATM card.

So we finally pulled into the Primm Resort & Casino. I had reserved two rooms with Travelocity. Primm only had reservation for one room. I would have let it go seeing as they had available rooms. But the rooms were prepaid through Travelocity, so I would have been out $45.

So the lady at the reservation desk at Primm says call Travelocity and have them fax the reservation again to 702-679-5159. So I get on the phone to Travelocity. Finally get through to them. Explain the situation. Give them all of the trip codes and reservation codes. I give them the FAX number. Only the Primm lady gave me the wrong fax no. It should have been 702-679-5195.

So after 25 minutes on hold the first time and 25 minutes on hold the second time we finally get it straightened out. Almost.

We get the second room. We asked for it to be close to the original room. He says sure. We ask for location on the room map. It couldn’t have been further apart. Well it was on the same floor. I asked him do you think these two rooms are close together? huh? I was out of fight.

So we have a sandwich at the sandwich shop. At off to the room to go to bed. We gave Mary K instructions on when we would meet for breakfast.

So tomorrow we have another 250 miles to get home. We will be happy to get home. Paula and I have sworn to each other that we will NEVER, NEVER, EVER travel with her again.

I truly hate hotel casinos. You have to go through the casino to find the check in counter. The noise is deafening. HotelCasino NEVER NEVER NEVER again.

So bottom line. Travelocity sucks and Primm Resort sucks too.

There I feel better already.

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Location:Primm, NV

Categories: Reviews, Travel
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Tuesday

July 30, 2013

Late start today. Neil is working nights and gets home about 8-9am. So Neil and the gang came over to our hotel around noon. We decided that lunch ought to be the first order of business. We decided to go to Ruth’s Diner up in Emigration Canyon. We first found out about Ruth’s Diner from the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives TV show on the Food Network. Also check out the free app on the iTunes Appstore. Excellent food.


We had a table outside. Beautiful location. They have biscuits to die for.

Next, we headed up the hill to Park City. Park City is resort area. Skiing in the winter, camping, biking in the summer. Beautiful condos and real estate all around. None of which any one of us could afford.

We then went up to the Olympic Village. The Olympic Village was the site for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The site continues to be used for olympic training for ski jumping, luge, bobsled, etc. We didn’t do the tour this time. We did that last year when we visited. See my blog post from last year,

Here are the pictures.


Paula, Mary and I watched some videos on the 2002 Olympics. Then we went out to watch the kids practice ski jumping into the pool. The big structure in the back ground is a climbing wall. Lose your grip you fall into the pool.


Here’s a video of one the more talented ski jumpers.

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Categories: Travel
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And a few more things…

July 29, 2013

Just a few more things to add that I forgot to write in yesterday’s post.

We’re staying at a Best Western in Elko. Decent room but one problem. There’s no coffee maker. What is wrong with these people. I expect a few things in a hotel room. They are free wifi, tv, plugs for my ipad and iphone and a COFFEE POT. So this morning I had to walk down to the front desk to get two cups of coffee. What a PITA.

We had a light dinner at a local restaurant last night. Actually it was a restaurant/casino/hotel. The one armed bandits are everywhere. you can’t seem to avoid them. And you have to walk through the casino part to get to the restaurant part. They encourage you to stop and drop a few quarters. The noise is truly annoying. But the food was good. We shared a salad and a small pizza. I had a martini, Paula had a gin & tonic.

So we have about 250 miles to do today. We ought to arrive around 4pm including the time zone change (lose an hour). More desert today. Long straight hiway with 75 mph speed limit. I always struggle with spelling of the words desert and dessert. Spellcheck doesn’t help. So I will have dessert in the desert.

I am way behind on my crossword puzzles. They are piling up in my crossword app inbox.

We will find out how Mary K did on her flight from LAX to SLC. Big attaboys to Mike and Neil for doing the airport shuttle duties.

Later…

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Location:Sharps Access Rd,Elko,United States

Categories: Travel
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And the Adventure Continues…

July 29, 2013

Much to tell. Yesterday started with OES Reception for the Grand Organist. That was in Rancho Cordova (East of Sacramento), That lasted until 4pm. Then off to Chico for reception for Grand Ruth. Ninety miles up and ninety miles back, We got back to our hotel at 12:30am.

So up today at 7:00 am and off at 10am. Heading east on I80 towards NV. First stop was at Donner Pass. Elev 7056′

The Donner pass is named for the Donner Party who perished in November 1846 after getting snow bound by early winter storm. Read the Wiki entry for more detail than you ever needed. See link above.


West side of the Sierras are verdant and the east side is arid. All of the moisture from the Pacific stays to the west of the Sierras. We stopped for lunch and then stopped at a rest area at Button Point in NV.

Bathrooms were the worst we’ve seen in all of our travels. Took a a few pictures. Notice all of the green is gone. All you see is sand, salt flats, and sage brush.


Button Point is part of the Humboldt River basin. Here’s the Wikipedia entry.

Finally after driving 435 miles today we arrived at our hotel in Elko, NV.

By the way, Mary safely made it to LAX to fly to SLC. Mike took her to LAX and Neil picked her up. We will be in SLC tomorrow to visit with Neil and his family.

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Location:Elko, NV

Categories: California, Travel
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California Dreaming

July 27, 2013

Today we are up in the Sacramento area to visit friends and attend some OES receptions.

Yesterday, we drove up north from LA on Interstate 5. Once we get through the Grapevine we get into California’s great Central Valley. Perhaps you remember a post I did a few months ago on the Grapevine. The Grapevine is the pass that goes through the Angeles National Forest.

Once you get out of the Grapevine you see this great vista of farmland as far as the eye can see. Here is a picture that I took from a vista turnout about 100 miles south of Stockton.


The green is cultivated farmland, the brown is what the land looks like without water. The water is provided by the California Aqueduct. I-5 is a long straight boring drive.

Okay, enough about the Central Valley. Now for my California gripes. First is speed bumps. It seems that every shopping center lot is loaded with speed bumps. I know they are necessary to keep speed in check. Nevertheless, a PITA.

Second, is four way stop signs. It seems to me that California is the land of four-way stops. They are everywhere.

We visited Davis today. My lovely wife went to school at UC Davis. We visited with old friends and drove around campus. We had lunch at the “Burger & Brew“. I had a Jalapeño/Bacon Cheeseburger and a pint of Guiness. Very Tasty.

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Location:Folsom Blvd,Rancho Cordova,United States

Categories: California, Travel
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Boston to LAX

May 23, 2013

Yesterday was travel day. Bought gas for the rental car. They make it very painful for you to bring it back empty. We had lunch with Vicky at Friendly’s in Stoneham. Another New England tradition.

We arrived in plenty of time to turn in the rental car. Pointed out the damage to the right door. Filled out accident report. Check-in agent said not to worry that we had damage insurance so no issue.

Checked out bags and got through security. We had one last Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. American Airlines changed gates on us with bothering to tell us. the hint was no aircraft at the gate. Then we learned that flight was delayed. AA didn’t give a reason. Later, we asked a stewardess. She said air traffic issues. So finally we were wheels up one hour later than scheduled departure.

It was a pretty comfortable flight except for the jerk in the window seat next to Paula. First he asked her if she would like to switch seats. Paula politely said no.
After takeoff he had to get out to get his tea and talk with some of his travel companions. Then he proceeded to take his shoes off and rub his feet. Stinky feet are not a good thing.

Stewardess treated us good. We got discount on the sandwiches. She gave me two Chivas nips for the price of one. So I was suitably medicated.

Inflight WiFi was out of service. Oh well, saves me $15. I had sent a text to Mike before takeoff to let him know about the delay.

We got into LAX at about 8:30PM. Struggled to find our bags. Announced that baggage on carousel 2. 15 minutes later no more bags coming down the chute and no bags for us. Sigh. I head over to the baggage service office to make claim. Long line and only one staff person taking the paper work.

Called Mike to let him know of delay. Paula finds our luggage on carousel 3. No announcement, no sign. Totally pissed at this point, but we had our bags.

Time to call Mike and get him to pick us up. Pickup traffic at LAX was AFU’d. 9-10pm is a very busy time to arrive at LAX. So half hour later Mike arrives from Cell Phone Lot. Load up and off to San Pedro. Poor Jonathan was not a happy camper.

And finally to bed. It was a great trip. We had a wonderful time.

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Location:San Pedro, CA

Categories: California, Travel
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San Diego Zoo

March 23, 2013

Mike had Friday off yesterday and he had invited Paula and me to join them for a trip to the San Diego Zoo.

We left San Pedro at about 8:30AM with Mike, Theresa and Jonathan in Mike’s Honda. He’s going to be needing a mini-van sooner rather than later. Paula was in the back seat making silly with Jonathan.

We made decent time down the 405 and the 5 to San Diego. Arrived at about 10:30AM. Paula says “too bad you didn’t bring your HP placard”. But says I “but I did, it’s in my pack in the trunk”. So we found an HP parking space and avoided parking in the back forty.

The SD zoo is a wonderful place. They have animals that I had never heard of. In addition of course to the usual stuff like elephants and tigers and bears.

Theresa brought her real camera. I just had my trusty iPhone. Here are some of my pictures.


Camel resting (it seems the animals are always resting).


Llama.


Vultures.


Elephant getting a Pedi. One of the other elephant handlers was feeding the elephant at the other end to encourage cooperation.


Pretty red flower. That’s all I know.



Paula with a polar bear. The real (live) polar bears were not available for the photo shoot.


Black and White and Red all over.


Panda (always popular)


Leopards.


Jonathan at our afternoon break. He was having a great time playing with the empty iced coffee containers.

Finally, we got to closing. Mike and I were waiting at the exit, while Paula and Theresa went through the gift shops. I was dumbfounded that neither of them bought anything.

Then we did dinner at Harar Ethiopian Restaurant. A nice little bistro on the Boulevard. Friday night was buffet night. The good news was that we got to try most everything. The bad news was I had no idea what I was eating. But it was all good. Here is a picture of Theresa’s plate. (Roberta told us about this place).


After a fine dinner, we stopped at McD’s for an iced coffee for Mike and bottles of water for Paula and me. Then home and to bed.

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Location:San Diego, CA

Categories: California, Reviews, Travel
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Hotels

August 22, 2012

We were on the road for twenty days for more than half of those days we stayed in hotels. Some good, some bad, some very good, some very bad.

Typically we would stop around 4pm and figure out where we would plan on staying for the night. Sometimes we could find area guides in rest areas, other times we would use our maps and travel apps on my iPad. One useful app was “the Road Ahead”.

Usually we would use highway signage identifying brand name hotels at upcoming exits. Sometimes there bill boards advertising motels. In Evanston, there was several billboards for Best Western with restaurant and bar. It was one of the really good hotels that we stayed at.

There are many nationwide brand hotels and there are some that are more regional in scope. eg. Drury Inn’s is mostly south (seen in MS, MO, and KS).

The things that we cared about were free wifi, coffee pot in room, free breakfast, king size bed and restaurant/bar in walking distance. (After driving 400 miles, I was in no mood to go looking for a restaurant.)

Very Good

Drury Inn. Had nice clean comfortable rooms. Free hot breakfast and free snacks and drinks in the evening. Free WiFi. Coffee pot in room.

Best Western, Evanston WY. It had restaurant and bar. Free WiFi. Didn’t have free breakfast, but did have coupon for free pancakes. So breakfast cost about $10 for my eggs and bacon. They had real glassware and real coffee mugs to go with the coffee pot.

Very Very Bad

America’s Best Value Inn, Memphis, TN. We ended up paying $160 for two nights. When we went into this place we should have turned around and gone out to find someplace else. First clue was we had to deal with the front desk clerk through a security screen. Perhaps one could understand at two AM, but 6pm? I don’t think so.

No wifi, no coffee pot. The free breakfast was a small cup of coffee plus a krispy kreme donut (limit two to a customer). I could write a whole post on Krispy Kreme. Don’t like them, too sweet. Okay the TV worked and it was king size bed. Side furniture was uncomfortable. Cheap junk.

The hotel once was a TraveLodge. I knew this because the logo was painted over on the room doors. We were happy to be on our way. We skipped the complimentary breakfast and had a decent breakfast at a Denny’s at a truck stop in Arkansas.

The word “value” to me means “Good stuff cheap”. In this case, the opposite was true. Cheap stuff expensive.

Good

Comfort Inn. Reasonable price. WiFi, coffee pot, decent breakfast. Not fancy but good.

Hampton Inn. West Jordan UT. Stayed for five nights in Utah. Real nice experience. Breakfast was free and decent. They responded to my complaint about the desk chair and replaced it with what I though was the manager’s desk chair. Convenient location, about half mile to Neil’s place. I would stay in a Hampton Inn again in a heartbeat.

Bad

Days Inn. No WiFi. Reasonable price. Room opened to outside corridor. Corridor and elevator were filthy. Room was adequate. Breakfast was adequate.

And finally, Las Vegas.

We ended up staying in an older hotel/casino in Jean, NV. Price was reasonable. Room was adequate. No WiFi, but they did have coffee pot.

I really abhor walking into a casino. You are looking for the hotel reg desk and all you can see is slot machines. The noise is so annoying.

Downtown Vegas doesn’t give discounts unless you stay at least three days. There aren’t any hotels without casinos. To get a hotel in CA would have been at least another 1.5 hour ride.

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Location:San Pedro, CA

Categories: Travel
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