February 25, 2014

Gamblin' Again

By Crabby McSlacker

Gambling seemed like a natural theme for this next camera phone travel photo dump, since:

1. The last similar post was called Ramblin' Again and it rhymes;

2.  We just got back from Reno, a town known as a gambling destination, where we went to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday; and

3.  Life is a crapshoot, right?  You peek at the odds, you roll the dice, and you take your chances. No no matter how carefully you plan--or whether you don't plan at all--there's no way in hell you can predict exactly what's gonna happen.



Healthy and Unhealthy Choices

The interesting thing about gambling towns is the way they facilitate, in a cheerfully nonjudgmental and capitalistic way, all kinds of impulsive activities.


There are drinks sold by the yard, decadent desserts on offer at every turn, and massive all-you-can-eat buffets. You don't even have to leave your hotel room to blow your calorie budget! (Note: these were NOT OUR pizzas.)



There are also strip clubs, proximity to legal prostitution, easy access to guns, and of course all kinds of games of chance.

Some allow you to sit there for hours and not win or lose much of anything...

My new favorite!

But there are other more exciting games that could shower you with life-changing sums or steal away everything you've worked your entire life for in a few dizzying hours of stupidity.


There were lots of these signs around, hmm, wonder why?


Don't have time to read a long sad poignant novel?
A few seconds at a pawn shop window: way more efficient. 

And yet I think it's perfectly healthy to let your hair down and have fun sometimes!


Many who visit gambling destinations stay within their budgets and don't blow their diets or do anything they regret.  And even some who do indeed overindulge or take some chances they wouldn't normally, do so in a non-tragic way.


And they have such a blast that the repercussions almost seem worth it.


Plus, Reno is populated by a lot of hard-working folks who live there to be near the mountains and pursue healthy wholesome activities or to support their families or whatever.




Anyway, the juxtapositions make for interesting rambling around town.  Reno has done a lot to to balance out the seedier enterprises; there is a pleasant River Walk, for example...


And there are various museums and cultural-type things that we probably should have investigated but didn't.


But hey, can you guess where we found this?


It was in the middle of a sporting goods store!  Saying a nice Nevada "neiner neiner" to the Big Dicks in Texas.

Yep, it's not a whole mall, it's just ONE friggin' store with a Ferris Wheel.

And yeah, we tried to balance out healthy and less healthy choices ourselves throughout our stay.

Workout or Slots, which elevator button would you push?

Sometimes it was the casino floor, duh.

But yes, we did indeed sometimes choose the gym. Yay us!

Reno is not as flashy as Vegas; the visuals tend to be a bit more low-tech, but whatever.


For example, I believe the large blurry object pictured above is a fake silver mine. Or it could be the indoor oil refinery needed to power all the neon lights and flashing clanging booming slot machines.

Oh, and speaking of insanely toxic indoor environments, my one quibble with the laissez-faire "everything goes" gambling town attitude is the "hell yeah, you can SMOKE ALL YOU WANT HERE!"

I guess the majority of gamblers must be okay with it, and the casinos don't need to worry about that crazy minority of health freaks who are overly fond of breathing.

Our eyes and lungs hurt and our clothes stunk and we had to take frequent breaks outdoors... but fortunately the weather was lovely and we could escape when necessary.



Wait, Your Mom Turned 80, What About That Part You Self-Absorbed Asshole?

Yeah, an ordinary blogger would have packed this post with family pictures and fond remembrances and life lessons and all that crap.  But I generally have a policy of keeping my family out of blogging as they're fairly private people. And I wasn't in the mood for a whole philosophical post on aging etc.

But I will note that my mother makes very sensible lifestyle choices and balances healthy endeavors and fun stuff, and still plays tennis in the Super Senior League and seems to have many happy years ahead of her. She's an excellent role model for healthy aging.

And our family gathering, which I was a bit nervous about because I was mostly in charge and we rarely get together at all let alone in large numbers, went wonderfully. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and we're all looking forward to a return engagement when my mom turns 90, because once a decade is about as often as we can get it together to gather. But fortunately, plenty of classy venues seemed available!


So what about you guys, are you sensible when celebrating or do you sometimes like to go for broke?

31 comments:

  1. Strip clubs, prostitution and gunz. How did you know about the theme for my 10-year wedding anniversary? A girl's gotta role play. Ya know?

    Happy 80th, momma!

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    1. Oops, didn't see you sneak in here Josie, you are quick! But will relay your birthday wishes to my mom and love the anniversary theme. :)

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  2. OK, this post took for f--cking ever because I was having insta-gram envy but didn't want to deal with signing up for it so instead spent hours and hourse playing with the buttons on my windows photo gallery. Anyway, got to run to the gym and do something about stinky piles of laundry but will be back later today to get properly caught up with everyone.

    See ya soon!

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    1. Just to clarify, I am not doing my nasty laundry at the gym. Those are two separate chores!

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    2. But why don't gyms have laundromats? The ones that have locker rooms, anyway. Think how efficient.

      Mary Anne in Kentucky

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  3. What fun!!! Thanks for taking the Cranketeers along for yet another wonderful, virtual journey! Oh - and I think a gym that includes an onsite Laundromat would be a FINE idea!!

    First off, it's EFFICIENT! Next, it has the potential to produce a myriad of timing conundrums for customers! ("I have 25 minutes left on the treadmill, but only 15 in the dryer!!") And, if it was in Reno, it could include slot machines! (Which - would give gambling folk a presumably non-smoking venue for gaming!) It's a "win-win-win" (bad pun intended, of course)
    Anon

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    1. The Sweat and Stink Laundromat/Gym, what inspired idea anon! :)

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  4. Had to go to Las Vegas for a business meeting last year. I had not been there since I was too young to be allowed into the casinos. I don't expect to be back any time soon. Like you say, it smells bad. You can hardly walk down the street because it's so crowded. There are people every 100' or so trying to push Girls! Girls! business cards on men and women alike. But then, a few miles out, there is Red Rock Canyon - spectacular, open, clean. And even in town, there are all those Cirque du Soleil shows. Then I visit an office in Reno every year, and you would hardly know the casino neighborhood was even there. Hey, even the Death Ride comes within a couple of miles of Nevada. Nevada is one confusing state.

    Glad you had a happy birthday celebration for your mom! Great families can have great times everywhere.

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    1. So it's not just the Lobster and I who get the gross girly ads thrust at us? I thought it was because we're big ol' butch gals who might be seen as part of their market, did not know that the hetero women were fending off flyers too, DRG.

      Fortunately Reno was more sedate than Vegas in that respect, although there was a fairly offensive large rotating display of women in provocative poses visible to all passers by at one club, yuck.

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    2. Well, as you now know, my hair is quite short and I don't exactly go all girly much of the time...but then I was walking with my husband. I didn't see any discrimination, though. They seemed to be coming perilously close to pushing their cards into children's hands.

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  5. Can I just say how much I love the photo in the glasses? THE BEST.

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  6. Thanx for letting me live vicariously. LOL Sounds like a blast. My favorite photo is the elevator button. hehehe. I can't wait to check it out. I'll be heading out to Arizona in April, I just might swing by Nevada for fun. So not Reno, maybe Vegas or Laughlin. I do love to play craps.

    Happy Birthday to your mom. the big 8-0. We are the same age and my mom is 75!

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    1. I'm too chicken for craps Bob Ben, ( though I love saying it). My mom is a big fan and can often be found at the craps table if she can find a place with a low enough minimum bet. Have fun in April, and hope ya win big!!!!

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    2. I too look for the lowest minimum bet table. It's just a matter of knowing what the good bets are and what the sucker bets are. I'll bet your mom knows. Ask her.

      The odds are free and that's what makes craps great. My daughter won $500 on her first trip to Vegas, because a friend taught her to play craps.

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  7. Love the trip to Reno. In my view one is either sensible or one celebrates.

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  8. Thank your phone for me. It did a good job. The arts district would have sucked me in at once--are all the arts confined there or are they allowed to roam?

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

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    1. Yes Mary Anne, there is a law that imposes severe penalties for any act of expression or creation that is sophisticated, "arty", cultural, or anything other than hideously tacky within 100 yards of a casino. Apparently.

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  9. Reno or Vegas wouldn't be for me, I'm a nature girl but I do throw everything I have into play when I get the opportunity. Got in trouble this morning for having a pool noodle pincer fight. We started out cleaning up discarded noodles, then tried to carry noodles by using two noodles as pincers and then it got fun! It's not like we were having a sword fight or anything.
    Mom is 80 and plays tennis? My Mom is getting there and she used to be an aerobics & racket ball instructor but I just can't get her to go to the gym. I have to fool her somehow into trying something physical and maybe social. She is just consumed by worries of what people will think of her.

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    1. OMG Cindyb, I love the idea of the nooodle-sword fight!!!! I think it's awesome you were having enough fun to get in trouble, glad you didn't get the overly self-conscious gene from your mom.

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    2. You have never had a noodle sword fight? You have had the center roll of the Christmas paper sword fight surely? Do you know how to make a proper wet towel for a towel fight?
      I need to know. I may need to do my community service and write up an article. Crabby, you won't last 5 minutes during a zombie or rotten nephew attack without help.

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    3. If I pretend I have never had an xmas paper sword fight, a wet towel fight, a pillow fight, a water balloon fight or a food fight, and maintain that I have never been pushed nor pushed anyone else into a poo or learned the art of what we called Indian Rope Burns, will you PLEASE PLEASE enlighten me with a guest post? Heck, on any subject 'cause you crack me up.

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    4. I will write a guest post but it won't be this month. This is our crazy time of the year at work.
      Maybe I am only funny when I am half crazed with lack of sleep!
      Anyway! Keep up the awesomeness Crabby! I'm a big fan!

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  10. Sounds like a great time was had by all! Happy birthday to your mom - what a great example of not using age as an excuse! I hope I'm playing tennis (and running) at 80!!
    I loved seeing the pictures - I've been to Vegas several times but not to Reno. Fun to see all the different areas! That ferris wheel in a sporting goods store is awesome!!!

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  11. The Lobstah is such a celebrity she needs sunglasses inside. Nice You guys look like you are having a blast!

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  12. Mostly sensible, and that includes not gambling. The only way i'm going to double my money is by folding it in half and putting it back in my pocket!

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  13. Happy bday mom!!!!!! I love the fun pics - love!!!! I am not sure what I would do if I had money to make non-sensible choices! ;)

    So glad you got there for family stuff!

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  14. Looks like an awesome time!! I like that outdoor gym - very cool.

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  15. Have never been to Reno, but did go to Las Vegas to be maid of honour in a friend's wedding. I have zero interest in gambling, so that was not an issue. We probably did eat and drink too much, but we did so much walking every day, I like to think it evened out.

    Okay, I was too busy having a good time to worry about that kind of thing. :)

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  16. I always think Reno's casinos are the 10th circle of hell: no windows, smoke, bright flashing lights, constant irritating noise. What is the draw? That you could win some money before you lose it again? I often stop there, though, because the hotel rooms are so cheap! But I've never explored Reno--I'm always too excited about reaching the beautiful Sierra Nevadas.

    LynM

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  17. The less the lyrics, typically the much better typically the prayer.

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  18. Happy Belated Birthday to your mother! I never knew that anyone actually lived in Reno. Now I know.

    Love all the pics as always. I like to go for broke when I do things, but I think all the smoke would have kept me far away from the casinos. More dessert for me!

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