Our Thursday trip to Reno for free play was thwarted by colossally horrible weather. The highway between Carson City & Reno had chain requirements - definitely a first since we've lived here. That road is a major highway - it is one of the first to get plowed and NDOT does a great job of keeping roads as open and passable as possible.
One thing we have noticed this year is they aren't brining the roads as much. The last two winters you'd know some serious weather was happening because the roads would be striped with brine - a super salty water mixture that helps stop ice on the roads.
I did a Google search and it sounds like NDOT is having a very hard time finding staff...so they are doing more snow plowing vs. preventative brining. Makes driving anywhere a bit more stressful because you're never sure if ice will form or not.
We made it to Atlantis yesterday and it was not a great day in terms of play return. There was lots of play and we had a really fun time but....slots were tight.
Our Christmas Eve was very low key. I did manage to (finally) wrap a few very small things we got for B. so by the time I went to bed, there were packages under the tree.
I slept in until a smidge after 9 (!!!) and was thankful to see the almond croissants I had taken out of the freezer to rise had been baked by J. - coffee and a croissant was a great start to the day.
Around 10:30, our casino host messaged me and asked 'are you on your way'? I replied 'no, because our dinner time is 2PM'. I asked 'can we come early - is there space at earlier seatings' and she said 'just come now and ask for me at the check-in desk'. We had a very narrow window of when we would be able to get there and back - the forecasts for weather showed intense snow in late afternoon - so if we couldn't get there early, we wouldn't get there at all. It all worked out.
I had emailed her yesterday to ask if there would be any way we could get a third seat - up until yesterday, she had replied 'sorry, it's completely sold out'. Yesterday, she didn't reply at all - and I took that as a 'maybe'. When we were at the casino, she came by to say 'hi' and said a party of 8 - a family of really huge gamblers - had cancelled and she was really bummed about it. They were coming from the bay area and the weather was keeping them away - we are pretty sure they had cancellations all over the place.
We made it to the buffet, three seats waiting for us and the best part was instead of using our comps to pay, the casino picked up the tab. I pointed out an issue a couple weeks ago - an issue that happened the same way last year when I made an issue of it - and our host offered to do anything she could to make it right. So she comped all of our buffets. Saved us close to $300 so that was very nice.
The Special Events staff does such an amazing job - it was so beautiful. I loved all the small details - like colored lights shining onto the top of the glass chandeliers (not pictured) giving them a subtle green and red 'glow'. Perfect for the day! It was really lovely.
First time ever I was at Atlantis and didn't play a bit. We ate and ran. Headed home and while there was a bit of snow, it was mostly blowing snow and very dry. We'd hit the road at the best possible time. We were home a little ahead of when we would have been leaving for our 2PM reservation - and it started snowing buckets. In a very short time, everything outside was covered with a couple inches of fresh snow.
We watched a Harry Potter movie. B. wanted to watch all the movies from #4 on so we hunkered down in the living room to do that. The cats are blissfully happy about people sitting with them on the couches. Lots of purring and snuggling.
We made some deviled eggs for 'dinner' and there can also be bacon sandwiches. I'm about to go make some saltine cracker candy - looks relatively easy and we could all use something sweet.
Didn't hear from H. but didn't really think we would. I ponder 'will we ever hear from him again?'. Not sure we will.
B. will wing his way back to Nashville on Thursday. Our neighbors reached out yesterday to say they are staying in California for Christmas - but we've arranged to meet for dinner on Monday night - so nice of them to make time to spend time with us when B. is visiting.
It's been a truly White Christmas and while low key, it's been lovely. It's nice just hanging out together and it's been wonderful having B. here.
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