Reno, NV

I just got back from a two day bachelor party in Reno for my friend Blake. Being that it was a bachelor party, by definition, it was a lot of fun (I am finding that any and all activities that do not involve human beings under the age of eight are more fun than ever). We gambled (I got killed), ate, hung out, slept late (9:30!), ran (at least I did), gambled, checked out Reno and did I say gambled?

I cannot even describe Reno. Words simply fail me. I'm not sure I could ever recommend it but at the same time, it's something everyone should experience -- once. I am not even sure how or where to being: it's like the devil offspring of Vegas. Vegas is all glitz and glamour. Reno is all honky and tonk. It's like Atlantic City though transposed to a beautiful locale, and it is pretty darn redneck to put it mildly. We went walking from hotel to hotel yesterday and they were all the same: darn and dank. Another thing I noticed is that in Vegas, you get rollers and you get people who are in town looking to have fun. In Reno you get degenerate gamblers who carry with them a whiff of desperation. I was sitting in the sports book watching the Michigan game (about the smartest thing I did all weekend was NOT bet on Michigan, though I was very, very tempted) and you could tell that some of the people sitting near me were losing their shirts. It would have been entertaining in a weird sort of way, if it wasn't depressing.

Anyway, as stated, it was fun and something I'm glad to have experienced -- once. I will say that the road home up and over Lake Tahoe features some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen this side of Highway One up the coast to LA.