Jackson Rancheria bus trip!
On Thursday, March 22, I took a day trip to Jackson Rancheria Hotel & Casino, an Indian casino in the small city of Jackson in beautiful Amador County. Jackson's home page even describes it as "nestled" against the Sierra foothills, just like Los Gatos (San Jose's neighbour) is often described as "nestled" against the Santa Cruz mountains. *grin*
The trip was by bus, arranged by one of my mom's best friends, FR. It's one of those community center senior bus trip thingies, but anyone can go -- even "kids" like me! ;D Everyone got various promo coupons to use in the casino, including: $2 credit in any of the restaurants, $10 cash back for playing the machines, 10% off in the giftshop, and $5 match plays for table games. The last time I went on this trip, my mom came too, but she didn't feel up to it this time, due to a sinus infection and because her osteoarthritis in her back was bothering her. :(
It turns out only I and TE (my cool seatmate) were in our 30s. There were a few in their 40s, including DW (FR's daughter, whom I've known all my life) and DR (whom I know from prior bus trips and whose parents are friends of FR's). TE is friends with DR, which is how she came to be on the bus. The "kids" sat together in the last rows of the bus, and had a great time! :)
OH, I almost forgot to say I spent a bunch of Where's George bills that I stamped with the Where's George stamp beckerbuns was generous enough to give me a long loan on. ;D Of course, I registered the bills on the website first. In total, there were three $1 bills, a $5, a $10 and even a $20. Hopefully some will end up in the hands of casino visitors from all over California and beyond, and who will re-enter them in the website!
And now, without further ado... to see photos, and to learn if I actually WON anything,
FR went around taking pictures of everyone on the bus. When she got to the back, I asked if she'd also take a pic with my camera, so I could have a copy for my journal. And here it is! :) DR is on the left; I'm in the middle; TE is on the right.
Here's a poor shot of one small section of the famous "wind farm" at Altamont Pass on Interstate 580. Currently it consists solely of horizontal axis turbines, the typical propeller-shaped ones. HOWEVER, I remember at some point in the near or distant past, Altamont also had vertical axis turbines, a.k.a. Darrieus turbines or "egg beaters". I miss those; they were weirdly cool! Click here for a picture. Anyone ever seen an egg beater??
The area at Jackson Rancheria where busses disembark had some very pretty landscaping. Here's one example: a cheerful barrel o' daffodils! :)
More beautiful flowers, including pansies, which are among my all-time fave flowers!
A group of us were going to meet at the casino's Raging River restaurant & buffet at 1 p.m. for lunch. However, when we arrived at 11:30 a.m. I was getting so HUNGRY I could wait! (I ate breakfast very early that morning.) So I went to the food court and bought a slice of pizza. I took a picture because it was the BIGGEST I've ever seen! Unfortunately, between the dim lighting and the fact my hand was a bit shaky (due to hunger), the photo is blurred.
This slot machine was called "Enchanted Unicorn". I found the medieval, mystical graphics equally enchanting! ;) There were also lots of "foresty" images, some of which you can see here. Check out those cool ACORNS!
Hypnotized is a better adjective for how I felt about THIS slot machine, called "Jackpot Party". The bright, intensive colours and amazingly festive images had a major pull on me! Too bad I didn't have a major pull on the machine's money -- I won nothing. *wry smile*
As planned, a handful of us had lunch together around 1 p.m., including my back-of-bus friends TE and DR. In fact, this sprinkl-covered candy apple was TE's; it was just so festive I had to photograph it (there's that word again! *giggle*) Counting this trip, I've been to Jackson Rancheria either three or four times, and the buffet is always great! As for me, I had salad, baked (or broiled) salmon in lemon butter sauce, seasoned rice, sweet & sour chicken with veggies and an egg roll. I was almost going to take some mashed potatoes and gravy (a fave comfort food) but I thought if I did that, I wouldn't have room for dessert! So I skipped the spuds and instead had half a warm apple dumpling with cinnamon/sugar glaze, topped with soft serve ice cream and sprinkles!
I photographed these flowers while sitting in the bus, waiting to depart.
I did not take the photo below on this trip. I took it the last time I went to Jackson, with Tony, when we afterwards took a side trip to the rural town of Pioneer. As you might suspect from the shape of its flowers, this plant is in the pea family. :) Specifically, it's the perennial pea (Lathyrus latifolius), a vine that grows just about anywhere (the link I just gave is from Illinois!). Also called everlasting pea, it blooms profusely for many months and is very hard to get rid of, once established.
As the bus drove out of town, I saw the following amusing sign on the local Elks Lodge.
I just LOVED this scene: craggy oak trees, a grassy meadow, weathered rocks strewn around, a rustic fence and oak-dotted hills in the background. Note the bright orange California poppies in the lower right corner; I didn't even see them when I took the picture! :)
Another typical California landscape with oak trees and rocks. SO BEAUTIFUL! I wish the bus hadn't moved when I took the picture!
These are cherry trees in bloom. There are always some trees that grow taller and faster than the others, as you can see in the photo. I call them "cheering cherries" because their upstretched vertical branches look like they're giving a cheer! ;D
FR likes to have the bus stop at Louie's "Frutta Stand" on Hwy 88 in Stockton on the way back, if there's time, and there was time this time. (how redundant!) Here I am playing with Lily, a very sweet and friendly West Highland white terrier who was traveling in a pickup truck with her own. He wanted to visit the fruit stand and she wanted to take a potty break! heehee
Check out this vintage fire truck! I don't know why it was parked by the fruit stand, but I had to photograph it. Its headlights remind me of googlie frog eyes or fish eyes. %-) LOL! But seriously, does anyone know how old this truck might be?
FR enjoyed filling a shopping cart of produce and other goodies at the large fruit stand, which sold far more than just fruit!
Here's a shot of the stand from the bus.
While sitting on the bus, waiting to depart the fruit stand, I photographed this tree. Look at the gnarly pollarding job! From the trunk, it looks like it might be a mulberry, a tree that's very commonly pollarded, but mulberry branches generally develop big "knuckles" when pollarded. Oh well. :)
And finally, we were already entering San Jose when I saw the Goodyear Blimp from the bus! I had no idea why it was in the area, but someone else told me there was some type of big NCAA basketball tournament going on at the HP Pavilion in San Jose that day. I don't follow basketball and couldn't have cared less -- I was just excited to see the blimp! ;D Too bad my camera doesn't have a good zoom, but you can still make out the yellow letters on the dark background.
The trip was by bus, arranged by one of my mom's best friends, FR. It's one of those community center senior bus trip thingies, but anyone can go -- even "kids" like me! ;D Everyone got various promo coupons to use in the casino, including: $2 credit in any of the restaurants, $10 cash back for playing the machines, 10% off in the giftshop, and $5 match plays for table games. The last time I went on this trip, my mom came too, but she didn't feel up to it this time, due to a sinus infection and because her osteoarthritis in her back was bothering her. :(
It turns out only I and TE (my cool seatmate) were in our 30s. There were a few in their 40s, including DW (FR's daughter, whom I've known all my life) and DR (whom I know from prior bus trips and whose parents are friends of FR's). TE is friends with DR, which is how she came to be on the bus. The "kids" sat together in the last rows of the bus, and had a great time! :)
OH, I almost forgot to say I spent a bunch of Where's George bills that I stamped with the Where's George stamp beckerbuns was generous enough to give me a long loan on. ;D Of course, I registered the bills on the website first. In total, there were three $1 bills, a $5, a $10 and even a $20. Hopefully some will end up in the hands of casino visitors from all over California and beyond, and who will re-enter them in the website!
And now, without further ado... to see photos, and to learn if I actually WON anything,
FR went around taking pictures of everyone on the bus. When she got to the back, I asked if she'd also take a pic with my camera, so I could have a copy for my journal. And here it is! :) DR is on the left; I'm in the middle; TE is on the right.
Here's a poor shot of one small section of the famous "wind farm" at Altamont Pass on Interstate 580. Currently it consists solely of horizontal axis turbines, the typical propeller-shaped ones. HOWEVER, I remember at some point in the near or distant past, Altamont also had vertical axis turbines, a.k.a. Darrieus turbines or "egg beaters". I miss those; they were weirdly cool! Click here for a picture. Anyone ever seen an egg beater??
The area at Jackson Rancheria where busses disembark had some very pretty landscaping. Here's one example: a cheerful barrel o' daffodils! :)
More beautiful flowers, including pansies, which are among my all-time fave flowers!
A group of us were going to meet at the casino's Raging River restaurant & buffet at 1 p.m. for lunch. However, when we arrived at 11:30 a.m. I was getting so HUNGRY I could wait! (I ate breakfast very early that morning.) So I went to the food court and bought a slice of pizza. I took a picture because it was the BIGGEST I've ever seen! Unfortunately, between the dim lighting and the fact my hand was a bit shaky (due to hunger), the photo is blurred.
This slot machine was called "Enchanted Unicorn". I found the medieval, mystical graphics equally enchanting! ;) There were also lots of "foresty" images, some of which you can see here. Check out those cool ACORNS!
Hypnotized is a better adjective for how I felt about THIS slot machine, called "Jackpot Party". The bright, intensive colours and amazingly festive images had a major pull on me! Too bad I didn't have a major pull on the machine's money -- I won nothing. *wry smile*
As planned, a handful of us had lunch together around 1 p.m., including my back-of-bus friends TE and DR. In fact, this sprinkl-covered candy apple was TE's; it was just so festive I had to photograph it (there's that word again! *giggle*) Counting this trip, I've been to Jackson Rancheria either three or four times, and the buffet is always great! As for me, I had salad, baked (or broiled) salmon in lemon butter sauce, seasoned rice, sweet & sour chicken with veggies and an egg roll. I was almost going to take some mashed potatoes and gravy (a fave comfort food) but I thought if I did that, I wouldn't have room for dessert! So I skipped the spuds and instead had half a warm apple dumpling with cinnamon/sugar glaze, topped with soft serve ice cream and sprinkles!
I photographed these flowers while sitting in the bus, waiting to depart.
I did not take the photo below on this trip. I took it the last time I went to Jackson, with Tony, when we afterwards took a side trip to the rural town of Pioneer. As you might suspect from the shape of its flowers, this plant is in the pea family. :) Specifically, it's the perennial pea (Lathyrus latifolius), a vine that grows just about anywhere (the link I just gave is from Illinois!). Also called everlasting pea, it blooms profusely for many months and is very hard to get rid of, once established.
As the bus drove out of town, I saw the following amusing sign on the local Elks Lodge.
I just LOVED this scene: craggy oak trees, a grassy meadow, weathered rocks strewn around, a rustic fence and oak-dotted hills in the background. Note the bright orange California poppies in the lower right corner; I didn't even see them when I took the picture! :)
Another typical California landscape with oak trees and rocks. SO BEAUTIFUL! I wish the bus hadn't moved when I took the picture!
These are cherry trees in bloom. There are always some trees that grow taller and faster than the others, as you can see in the photo. I call them "cheering cherries" because their upstretched vertical branches look like they're giving a cheer! ;D
FR likes to have the bus stop at Louie's "Frutta Stand" on Hwy 88 in Stockton on the way back, if there's time, and there was time this time. (how redundant!) Here I am playing with Lily, a very sweet and friendly West Highland white terrier who was traveling in a pickup truck with her own. He wanted to visit the fruit stand and she wanted to take a potty break! heehee
Check out this vintage fire truck! I don't know why it was parked by the fruit stand, but I had to photograph it. Its headlights remind me of googlie frog eyes or fish eyes. %-) LOL! But seriously, does anyone know how old this truck might be?
FR enjoyed filling a shopping cart of produce and other goodies at the large fruit stand, which sold far more than just fruit!
Here's a shot of the stand from the bus.
While sitting on the bus, waiting to depart the fruit stand, I photographed this tree. Look at the gnarly pollarding job! From the trunk, it looks like it might be a mulberry, a tree that's very commonly pollarded, but mulberry branches generally develop big "knuckles" when pollarded. Oh well. :)
And finally, we were already entering San Jose when I saw the Goodyear Blimp from the bus! I had no idea why it was in the area, but someone else told me there was some type of big NCAA basketball tournament going on at the HP Pavilion in San Jose that day. I don't follow basketball and couldn't have cared less -- I was just excited to see the blimp! ;D Too bad my camera doesn't have a good zoom, but you can still make out the yellow letters on the dark background.