After our evening in Wendover, Nevada, Jess and I packed up early and hit the long and boring road to Reno.  When you’re driving through Western Utah and Nevada and you need to pee or get gas, even just a little bit, stop whenever you have the opportunity, because there won’t be another chance for many miles.

I’ve also driven to Reno from the northwest, and it’s the same story.  It’s pretty much a big city in the middle of hundreds of miles of nothingness.  Honestly, if you’re going there, I recommend flying.  But if you’re driving cross-country like we were, it’s pretty much the only place to stop.  And it’s not a bad place.

I have happy memories of Reno — it’s where I achieved the rank of Life Master in the ACBL at the 2007 Reno Regional Bridge Tournament — so I booked a night in the same hotel that I stayed in before:  The Grand Sierra Resort.

Following a string of no-star hotels and campgrounds, the Grand Sierra Resort was quite the upgrade.  The room was nice and spatious, the beds were the most comfortable I’ve had in a long time, and the pillows were the best ever.  The only complaint I have about the room is the internet connection.  For one thing, it’s $12.99 a day.  I’ve never stayed anywhere that charged more than $10/day, so that was a bummer, but the biggest nuisance was that it wasn’t wireless — you had to plug into an ethernet cable, which inconveniently would not reach all the way to the beds.  Given that I do most of my internetting before I get out of bed (including all my PT posts!), this was quite the hassle.  Get with the times, Grand Sierra.

Really, though, that’s my only complaint about this place.  It’s got so much else going for it.  I enjoy the casino, of course (which is large with good variety and table limits and has some of the friendliest dealers and cocktail waitresses in Nevada), but for those who don’t gamble, there’s plenty to do.  Grand Sierra has a bowling alley, a super cheap second run movie theater, a shopping mall, and tons of restaurants.  Jess and I ate at the Sierra Cafe, which is the only restaurant I’ve ever been to where you can order a $30 steak dinner, or a short stack of pancakes for $3.95.  (I had the pancakes.  They were delicious!)

The Grand Sierra casino has its pros and cons.  Pro:  low table limits.  Con:  not as many free offers with the comps program as you’ll find in other casinos.  Pro:  really good free cocktails.  Con:  easy to overdo it on really good free cocktails (not that I would know).  All in all, it is one of my favorite casinos, and a great place to stay if you’re passing through Reno.  Hopefully when I’m back there in December for the next bridge tournament, they’ll have wireless internet, too.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 11:05 am and is filed under Attractions, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.