The Biggest Little City draws people in during the winter months with various discounted specials and with the temptation of hitting the slopes (no that's not a racial comment). We were no different. Two free nights stay at the Grand Sierra Resort and a $10 food voucher, was a deal that could not be beat. It does require an initial deposit of $25 that is refunded at the end of the stay; pending on how much damage you do the rooms.
Anyway, the drive was pretty quick considering we ate lunch on the way there. Rachel averaged a speed of 90 mph regardless of the terrain. We got there in 4 hours with an hour stop for lunch. There was definitely enough snow to make the average abominable snow man happy. I really wanted to skii, but budget constraints prevented me from exploring this option for recreation.
Once we arrived we were stunned to scale of the resort. It was really "grand". It towered above the neighboring Walmart making it look more like a Family Mart. The hotel had everything you would want from Reno, but in a huge monstrous super hotel. There were restaurants, a casino, a bowling alley, a spa, a pool, a golf course, a go-kart track, an arcade, a theater, and it was topped off with a Starbucks. A person could pretty much just spend their whole time at the hotel and could get a sample course of what it's like to be in Reno.
The rooms were pretty decent. A distant cousin to what you would see at a motel 6, but with a view that gives you a taste of luxury (kind of how people buy Jordans, but can't afford food). The room was pretty clean, but not perfect. The holes in the sheets and the stains on the ceiling made you realize the room was free and that one shouldn't complain.
The strip during the week was empty and there were pawn shops next to the famous casinos which makes a person understand how much gambling can impact a community. There were homeless people lined up at soup kitchen two blocks away from Circus Circus. There were as many pawn shops and places where a person could get a loan as there were casinos. The pawn shops were all stationed right across the street from the casinos breeding a symbiotic relationship.
Anyway, we spent a lot of money playing Carney games that gave us prizes that we could have probably purchased at the local walmart for half the amount of money we spent on the games. People do spend the money for the entertainment value so it's not a total loss. I would rather gamble because of the slight possibility of winning money.
I did gamble in Reno. I played roulette. I ended up betting on the two out of three possible outcomes which paid double when you did get it. I predicted that you had around a 60% chance of winning because you had 2/3s of the board covered with the bet. I ended up winning around $20 total. I really wanted to play more, but everyone else didn't really like gambling.
The trip was a cost effective venture into another state that I would recommend to anyone that has a few days to spare during the regular work week.
