The Road from SMOFCon, Day 6: Trains Sold Out
Not being able to use hotel carts meant that it took three loads to get our stuff down out of the Palazzo hotel room to the van; however, Lisa's parking-fu last night scored us a spot very close to the elevators, so we minimized delays there, and we were able to use video check-out to save another trip to the front desk. We were on the move about half an hour later than planned; however, traffic was light and we made good time going the "wrong way" back down to Boulder City to the Nevada Southern Railway Museum.
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Although we weren't able to ride the trains today, we did stop at the Railroad Pass Casino and have brunch. We concluded that this turned out to be the best price-value buffet of the trip. They had a better omelet bar (including crab and shrimp) and better hash browns (almost as good as Waffle House), for a better price than the fancier places at which we dined earlier in our stay. Oh, and as we were leaving, we saw the NSRM train pulling in as the first half of the next hour's excursion. It's a shame that they can't figure out a way to make it possible to start your trip from either end of the line, possibly riding down to the Casino, spending an hour or two there, then riding back to Boulder City.
Although our original schedule was toast, that was not a problem, inasmuch as today's trip was the relatively short Las Vegas (revised to Boulder City) to Tonopah, only 235 miles according to Google Maps.
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Lisa drove all day today, as she has all the way from Albuquerque, and I'm grateful for it, as I haven't really felt very alert most of the day. But even Lisa was showing the wear of fifteen days on the road, and we were really happy to pull in to the Tonopah Station Hotel about 4 1/2 hours after we left Boulder City.
Although our room here at the Tonopah Station is an ordinary room, we did get a sort-of upgrade: they gave us one of the three standard (non-handicapped-configured) rooms in the hotel for which you do not need to negotiate stairs. This allowed us to use their luggage cart without having to haul bags up a flight or two of steps.
Tomorrow is the final day of the trip. We like to travel, but we're going to be glad to be home.
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Although we weren't able to ride the trains today, we did stop at the Railroad Pass Casino and have brunch. We concluded that this turned out to be the best price-value buffet of the trip. They had a better omelet bar (including crab and shrimp) and better hash browns (almost as good as Waffle House), for a better price than the fancier places at which we dined earlier in our stay. Oh, and as we were leaving, we saw the NSRM train pulling in as the first half of the next hour's excursion. It's a shame that they can't figure out a way to make it possible to start your trip from either end of the line, possibly riding down to the Casino, spending an hour or two there, then riding back to Boulder City.
Although our original schedule was toast, that was not a problem, inasmuch as today's trip was the relatively short Las Vegas (revised to Boulder City) to Tonopah, only 235 miles according to Google Maps.
( Collapse )
Lisa drove all day today, as she has all the way from Albuquerque, and I'm grateful for it, as I haven't really felt very alert most of the day. But even Lisa was showing the wear of fifteen days on the road, and we were really happy to pull in to the Tonopah Station Hotel about 4 1/2 hours after we left Boulder City.
Although our room here at the Tonopah Station is an ordinary room, we did get a sort-of upgrade: they gave us one of the three standard (non-handicapped-configured) rooms in the hotel for which you do not need to negotiate stairs. This allowed us to use their luggage cart without having to haul bags up a flight or two of steps.
Tomorrow is the final day of the trip. We like to travel, but we're going to be glad to be home.