The Gentle Side of Reno

We made an impromptu trip to Reno, NV last Saturday – after heavy rains lashed-out the Bay Area on Thursday and Friday – to pump up our sagging adrenaline levels and to try our luck in the numerous casinos there.

Downtown Reno, including the city's famous arc...
Downtown Reno, including the city’s famous arch over Virginia Street at night. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The trip was smooth as silk and the weather was simply spectacular. In three hours, we were already playing our favorite slot machines in Boomtown in nearby Sparks. We moved on to downtown Reno later on in the afternoon.

Reno was noticeably not particularly busy on that gorgeous weekend. The Indian casinos must have taken a very large bite out of their lucrative business. Casino habitués were not flocking to this mini “Sin City” like they used to –specially on a very nice weekend like that one.

For us, it was a welcome relief. Traffic inside the main strip was very light and going from one place to another was easy as it could get. Parking was incredibly hassle-free (specially with the use of my ‘temporarily disabled’ parking card — note: in Indian casinos, these privilege parking spaces seem to be always full) and going in and out of the casinos was without the usual hustle and bustle. In was an exceptionally relaxing weekend in an otherwise stressful place.

As an aside, we also dropped-by our favorite Filipino eatery in Vallejo – Andrea’s – where we picked-up all our food for the entire trip. These included “chicken adobo” and the saucy “beef kaldereta” with rice. For dessert, we had the “taho” (a food/drink made basically of curdled soy beans) with lots “arnibal” (syrup made of brown sugar and vanilla) and “sago” (tapioca pearls).

Of course, the package won’t be complete without their irresistible and delightfully crispy “lechon” with the mildly spicy liver sauce.

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