Well alll right …by hugely (un)popular demand here goes.
TAmmy hatched a plan starting last month whereby we will do a overnighter once a month just to get out of dodge.
Luckily i work (or unluckily depends on how one sees it) so I don’t feel cramped by the new covid lifestyle of lockdown , not being able to go see movies, not eating in restaurants, no gyms, etc. Life that we are seeing here in the “real” world (Taiwan not being part of the “real” world in this instance). Since about March 2020.
It does feel hemmed in. Tammy feels hemmed in because she hasn’t seen the inside of a classroom since about that time. She is on zoom but its not the same. And only a handful of friends does she actually meet in real life because of covid fears. And besides where is one supposed to meet anyways since everything is closed for the most part.
Well things have loosened up a bit california wise and and some counties are able to have sit in meals again , up to 25pct capacity. There is talk that some gyms have opened (ours have started charging me again but is not actually open). Even some movie houses are thinking of opening.
So i think things may be moving in the right direction again, hopefully anyways.
Now back to her plan. So things are more relaxed in nevada, in that they have had restaurants sitting up to 50pct while we have had ours only for take away. So last month we went (because we have three cats now and i work so only a quick over niter) to Reno and stayed once again at the Aloft by the airport. Our second time. Its a nice new clean simple business hotel part of a major chain. Rooms are nicely equipped and there is no pet fee. So we took Ollie (one of our three cats) but it was not a success. He didnt once use his liter box or ate anything and decided at 430am that since he was up the entire hotel may as well be…very bad… Had to take him outside for near an hour. So he’s not part of the excursions now.
Anyhow Aloft Reno, recommended , at about 120 a night or so, changes daily.
And highly recommended Italian restaurant , good decor, excellent food and fair pricing at about 20 for an entree … LA CUCINA … 3600 lakeside drive, reno
Ok that was last month, mostly forgotten now.
Back to this month…
Just came back from Tammys first overnighter in Lake Tahoe, previously we never stayed there because she insisted on taking Gendut (who sadly is no longer with us) and there was not one establishment in lake tahoe that takes cats, some take dogs but no cats.
So we stayed at a quite nice hotel for bout 105. The Azure, right downtown South Lake Tahoe , minutes from the Heavenly Gondola and where all the activity is concentrated.
Didn’t know where to eat, so of course Tammy’s google-fu soon came up with a top ten and apparently numba one on the list is the Edgewood Resorts top restaurant appropriately named The Edgewood… wallet fleecing for sure. I agreed because I saw online a menu showing entrees around 35 dollars but seems it was a dated website…One should have looked at the hotels actual website which shows entrees at 45 to 65 dollars (OUCH).
Well i decided since i had a big lunch (plus i lost most of my appetite facing those daunting entree prices) I would forgo the entree and just order a soup (15 dollars for a lobster bisque with a ball of corn in the middle) and an appe-teaser for 23 dolares of EXACTLY TWO scallops in some sauce…it was so fresh there still was some sand in them. And like true haute cuisine…the plates were HUGE as was the bill while the actual food was tiny.
Her highness had a caesars salad for the pauper price of 12 buckerones and a MONKfish (never had one before ) on some sort of italian risotto for 48 pesos americano. Polished of with a cafe-cino for myself and a Rishi premium Camomile tea for the lady figure.
The view was fantastic, viewing out on to the lake and the service was impeccable. With careful attention to not overspending managed to get out of there with only 160 pesos americanos lighter…whew.
The hotel has a rather famous golf course attached and the grounds are not open to the public, one had to be either playing golf with a reservation, staying at the resort or had a restaurant. And the guard at the gate actually checks for your reservation before letting you in. Perhaps some rich and famous like staying there? But i didnt see any luxury cars there? So our prius C was not at all out of place. We self parked in the Valet Parking area and were promptly kicked out…Had to park back towards the gate and had a two min walk back to the restaurant. thats ok, builds up an appetite.
I neglected to wear something suitable as i only had on a pair of jeans and jogging shoes and a heavy jacket (s. lake tahoe is cold and snow is expected tonight in fact). But seems others were similarly in a state of casual dress.
The experience was great so we went back there for bfast to day to enjoy the grounds. Right on a beach in Lake tahoe, snow capped mountains in the distance. extremely windy because a storm was coming in. But fun.
Then a 220 miles drive back home in the prius C Which does well except for the climb up to the donner summit at 7200 feet. I had to stay close to 60mph for the climb in the truck lane. Otherwise its all 75 to 80 mph. The C is not really an interstate sort of vehicle. There was some light snow at the summit as we went by with temps down to 2c, once back in concord we had 20c.
Next month I think we will head back down to our usual haunts in the Monterey area because thats only about 120 miles each way versus 220.
its sort of like driving to Ktown from taipei for an overnight. But the drive is much more scenic though going through I80 up to 89 and then down to North Lake tahoe and taking the calif side down to South late tahoe. The calif side is more scenic than the nevada side. Which we took coming home today. Up the nevada side to 89 back up to 80 and home via 80.
Back to work for me tomorrow and Tammy back to her zoom classes… The cats were fine at home over night and everything was fine, no accidents …no misplaced turds outside the litter box.
Will post some pics shortly
