Return to Reno
Aside from my emergency extra trip to Reno to buy a new cable modem on the day I got home, I'd gone no father from home than Grocery Outlet, Walgreens, and the Renown Health Urgent Care clinic since I got home. I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about going anywhere this weekend, but I've recovered sufficiently (including from the leg infection) that it seemed like I should go take care of things. Also, I had a birthday offer from Cost Plus World Market that would have expired if I didn't use it this weekend. So I decided to get mildly adventurous.
I haven't been to any Reno buffets since the pandemic started. Unfortunately, the pandemic killed my favorite, which was the Peppermill's - they've remodeled it out of existence - and the three major downtown hotels ("The Row") have also discontinued buffets. The Atlantic still has a buffet, and it still has a weekend brunch, so I decided to give it a try.
Brunch doesn't start until 9 AM, and I woke up much earlier than necessary, but I killed enough time so that I arrived just after they opened. It was not that crowded, which was a relief. It's not cheap, even after my 10% locals discount. Unfortunately, it turns out that I did not bring a big enough appetite. I don't care for lobster (too much work to crack it; the lobster Newberg was good, though) and I don't drink alcohol, so the free-flowing champagne was not for me. They did have a good omelette, and a fine Asian and Mexican section. But the real issue was that I wasn't nearly as hungry as I should have been for such a huge selection of food. I felt stuffed after far less food than I would remembered getting from places like this. Maybe that's good.
One thing that was good, and partially makes up for the cost of the buffet, is that I was so full that nothing looked appetizing, so I didn't really overspent at Cost Plus World Market or WinCo Foods, the latter of which was nowhere as busy as I'd feared it would be. Between the two I went to the Reno Lush store, because I was nearly out of both of the things I use from them. I was in the UK for so long that I ran through what I'd bought at the Lush at Paddington near the beginning of the trip, although admittedly I bought smaller sizes to reduce how much I needed to carry around.
While I was in Lush in South Reno, I told the staff there about visiting the biggest Lush store I've ever seen, and as luck would have it, one of the two staff members had also been there. He said that apparently there's at least one larger one in Liverpool and another large one in, as he recalled, Amsterdam. The Glasgow Lush on Buchanan Street is four stories tall and very wide too boot. I mentioned later to Lisa (I went by this store shortly after dropping her at Chris off at Glasgow Queen Street for the start of their rail journey) that if I'd had more time, I would have sprung for their one-hour foot spa treatment, after the days in Iceland and London and a lot of time on my feet at Worldcon (albeit less than usual thanks to being sat in those marathon Business Meetings). She told me that she wouldn't have blamed me for doing so.
I was out for about six hours on Saturday, and was a lot more tired than I expected to be. Unless I've done my sums wrong, I may not need to go back to Reno again until Lisa gets back home a month from now.
I haven't been to any Reno buffets since the pandemic started. Unfortunately, the pandemic killed my favorite, which was the Peppermill's - they've remodeled it out of existence - and the three major downtown hotels ("The Row") have also discontinued buffets. The Atlantic still has a buffet, and it still has a weekend brunch, so I decided to give it a try.
Brunch doesn't start until 9 AM, and I woke up much earlier than necessary, but I killed enough time so that I arrived just after they opened. It was not that crowded, which was a relief. It's not cheap, even after my 10% locals discount. Unfortunately, it turns out that I did not bring a big enough appetite. I don't care for lobster (too much work to crack it; the lobster Newberg was good, though) and I don't drink alcohol, so the free-flowing champagne was not for me. They did have a good omelette, and a fine Asian and Mexican section. But the real issue was that I wasn't nearly as hungry as I should have been for such a huge selection of food. I felt stuffed after far less food than I would remembered getting from places like this. Maybe that's good.
One thing that was good, and partially makes up for the cost of the buffet, is that I was so full that nothing looked appetizing, so I didn't really overspent at Cost Plus World Market or WinCo Foods, the latter of which was nowhere as busy as I'd feared it would be. Between the two I went to the Reno Lush store, because I was nearly out of both of the things I use from them. I was in the UK for so long that I ran through what I'd bought at the Lush at Paddington near the beginning of the trip, although admittedly I bought smaller sizes to reduce how much I needed to carry around.
While I was in Lush in South Reno, I told the staff there about visiting the biggest Lush store I've ever seen, and as luck would have it, one of the two staff members had also been there. He said that apparently there's at least one larger one in Liverpool and another large one in, as he recalled, Amsterdam. The Glasgow Lush on Buchanan Street is four stories tall and very wide too boot. I mentioned later to Lisa (I went by this store shortly after dropping her at Chris off at Glasgow Queen Street for the start of their rail journey) that if I'd had more time, I would have sprung for their one-hour foot spa treatment, after the days in Iceland and London and a lot of time on my feet at Worldcon (albeit less than usual thanks to being sat in those marathon Business Meetings). She told me that she wouldn't have blamed me for doing so.
I was out for about six hours on Saturday, and was a lot more tired than I expected to be. Unless I've done my sums wrong, I may not need to go back to Reno again until Lisa gets back home a month from now.