Squaw Valley USA

I spent every weekend from February to April at Squaw Valley USA learning to snowboard.

As such, I didn’t spend any time blogging or preparing specific posts for various Squaw establishments such as Blue Coyote Sports Grill, Trilogy Spa or High Camp (which all kick ass).  I just played and played and played.

So, today I put together the below list of my favorite things about Squaw Valley USA and all the Squaw amenities I happened upon.

In no particular order, I love:

• Living 20 minutes from Truckee, 45 from Squaw … hop on the freeway at North McCarren and GO.
• Getting to Squaw late on a Saturday, still finding excellent parking near Far East chairlift and being on the mountain within minutes of arrival
• The huge gondola buggies (Funitel as they call it at Squaw) and resulting short lines
• Bluebird days
• Hella-snowy days
• That biggie Squaw chair! Where will it be next?
• The onion rings at Blue Coyote
• Tailgating
• Broken Arrow
• Huge open bowls
• Browsing Tait’s Boardshop
• Hearing various European tourist accents
• Solitude’s fluffy snow, little jumps and trees – perfect building a novice boarder’s “skills”
• Tailgating
• Never having to get bussed from a faraway parking lot (ahem, Northstar)
• Amazing views of Lake Tahoe
• Deciding what terrain to board next and stating “Surely we’ll go to Shirley”
• The weirdo cable car operators and their perfectly memorized schpeel
• Cheap beer and food at Dave’s Deli
• Tailgating
• Clif bar, Stride gum, Girl Powder and all the other vendors that gave away free samples of good stuff
• High Camp swimming lagoon and spa people-watching
• Amazing days spent with great friends
• Couples massage at Trilogy Spa (and free champagne)
• Really, really, really, really comfy beds at the Village hotel
• Excellent medical staff at the on-site Truckee Tahoe Medical Group (subsequent appointments to my Orthopedic specialist confirmed they popped my shattered radius right back in to place…no surgery needed!)
• The corn-on-the cob stand, classic – and I don’t even like corn
• Yummy hamburgers at The Dining Court in Olympic Plaza
• KT-22
• Steeps
• My amazing snowboarding mentor and “coach” Matt Zander
• Spending May through November discussing, planning and looking forward to next season at Squaw with my buds…

Boarder Grrrl

See ya next winter, Squaw.

With Love,

Crystal Rose

Well, I was unlucky enough to break my wrist while learning to snowboard at Squaw Valley on January 3…bummer.  This unfortunate turn of events left me starved for fun outdoor weekend activities to replace my dream winter as a Squaw snowboard bunny.  Fortunately (for me) many of my friends don’t have a resort season pass this year and we began spending time snowshoe-in’ the Sierras.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Association puts together planned snowshoe hikes for various Saturdays and full moons throughout each season.  Though we’ve tried, my buds and I never seem to get to the location in time to hike with the group!  So I guess you could call us the Tahoe Rim Trail groupies, as we’ve now unsuccessfully hiked with the group, but had a great time on our own, at two separate Tahoe locations: Mt. Rose Meadows and Page Meadows.  I just always seem to be at least 30 minutes late to anything…

Mt. Rose Meadows (Ophir Creek Trail)

On Mt. Rose Highway 431, just southwest of the summit

Any hike at the Mt. Rose Meadows results in a gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe.  Following established snowshoe trails, one can expect to hike anywhere from 1 to 3 hours easily up an incline through the trees to get to the view.  So far this season, we’ve hiked it twice – once on New Year’s Eve in the moonlight and a second time January 9.

New Years Eve ~ Photo by KC Mares

This is a very awkward position to be casted in! Thanks for the support, buds!

Our Snowgal

I highly recommend snowshoein’ Mt. Rose Meadows for the Tahoe view alone! Always different, the lake is beyond beautiful.

Page Meadows

From Reno, take I-80 to 89 to Tahoe City (then keep going around the lake). Around 2 miles from the highway junction turn right on to Pine Avenue. Then turn right on Tahoe Parks Heights, drive .07 miles to the top of a hill and 4 way intersection. Take the middle road, Big Pine, and proceed 0.25 miles to a left hand turn onto Silvertip Drive, follow till the end of the road where it dead ends to the meeting spot.

Diana, Holly, Patrick, Matt, Crystal & Jessie

Such Cutie Pies

Hiking Page Meadows on January 16 was fun, as our group ambled through the snow aimlessly paying no attention to the established trail but happening to find our destination anyway.  (I do NOT recommend this method!) I was a little disappointed that the hike did not result in a splendid Tahoe view (you come to expect it living here!), but from what I have read Page Meadows is very pretty and alive with wildflowers in the springtime.  We met quite a few cross country skiers on our trek, so this area I assume is quite suitable for both sports.

Three more weeks until I get my cast off…

2009’s Reno Santa Crawl wasn’t just a Saturday night of pub crawling for my friends and I, but truly a Friday through Sunday experience (dubbed the Reindeer Games by some, we’ll see if that catches on).  Thursday through Sunday if you count the costume-making get together we had before the weekend really even started.

Friday: Santa Crawl Pajama Ball

At The National Bowling Stadium

Santa Crawl Pajama Ball

This charity fund raising event was held at the National Bowling Stadium downtown (and I thought I’d never get to bowl there!)  Two games and shoes for $15, with proceeds going to Hashimoto Widows and Orphans’ Fund for families of fallen police officers in the Reno/Sparks area, was a fantastic deal.  If that wasn’t reason enough, it was Holly’s 27th birthday and this was the perfect setting for her celebration.  We honestly arrived first, literally had bells on, and I think somewhat scared the less-than-organized volunteer staffers with our enthusiasm.  Our group was even interviewed by Channel 4 News (would love to get my hands on the segment) and had a blast bowling and of course taking about a gazillion photos.  I hope this event comes back in ’10.

Saturday: Santa Pub Crawl

Jingle Ballers

Foregoing the Mt. Rose Santa Crawl skiing extravaganza for another commitment (Reno Passport photo shoot), our group headed downtown around 7 to get settled in to our rooms at the CalNeva (thanks again for the $10 room offer to crawlers!) and avoid getting stuck somewhere along the way in the snowstorm.  When dressed, ready and flared to the max, we opted for the classic Reno budget dinner of Awful Awful and then began our night.

The crawl took us all over downtown Reno on Saturday night; the snow and slush did not stop us!  Santa Crawl 2009 brought out a whole new breed of creativity with costumes ranging from the giant gingerbread man, to a polar bear and a myriad of Dick-In-A-Box dudes.  Crawlers amassed at the arch at midnight and the night went on and on and on from there.

Sunday: We Don’t Stop

Sunday Morning Angels

Having had the CalNeva hotel rooms, we woke up downtown Sunday morning pretty much still in full crawl gear.  My little sis was in town visiting, and in true Blahnik vacationer spirit, she had a cocktail in hand within 15 minutes of opening her eyes.  I followed suit, as did the rest of the team by the time we reached our morning breakfast spot at the Eldorado casino.  We decided during breakfast that the crawl was not over and proceeded to march around downtown Reno for the rest of the morning, hitting the ice skating rink, one of the many fine liquor stores and finally finishing at Sierra Tap House (on Patrick’s dime, thanks bud).

All in all, there was a wonderfully positive energy this year at the Reno Santa Crawl, and in keeping with most all other things we do…we tore it up nonstop with grins from ear to ear.

Gotta get a pic under the Reno Arch

Reno is a community that constantly invents reasons to dress up and interact.  I couldn’t have picked a better place to relocate after finally getting out of Michigan.  Halloween in Reno is of course no exception.

Halloween 2009 in Reno was a total blast.  Friday night we started at Patrick’s house, getting ready together and eating pizza and preparing to roll out for a hellafun night.  The evening took us downtown Reno to participate in the Reno Zombie Crawl, a great bar crawl event founded by fabulous Ed Adkins.

210 North

We only managed to hit Imperial (one drink), Divine (a dance or two), Silver Legacy casino (various running around) and 210 North.  We stayed at 210 most of the night dancing away.  I’m not gonna lie, the crowd at 210 has in the past scared me a bit (and not just on Halloween) but as of late the club seems to attract a bit nicer crowd (maybe all the social media workin’ its magic?) and I’m no longer afraid of mean girls trying to fight me.  210 also has the nicest restroom attendant ever, tip her ladies!

My friends and I were ready to rally again on Saturday night, and opted to join a larger group and get a room in the Tuscany Tower as well as skip-the-line accommodations to Peppermill’s Edge Nightclub.  Edge was just ridiculously packed, but it was a blast to see all of the people in costumes lining up as early as 9pm to get in (even better to pass right by them with our host.)  Saturday night is fuzzy, but I do know that I should have entered the costume contents (c’mon Matt and I were WWE wrestlers and we even had a routine! We’d have killed it.) we ate late night snacks at Peppermill’s casual dining option, Coffee Shop (I passed out for a bit at the table, but-YUM), and enjoyed some much needed sleep in the comfy Tuscany Tower room.  Great show, Peppermill.

Pre-party at Peppermill

Looking forward to the next big Reno dress-up event…Reno Santa Crawl!

How cute is this table?

Experience Date: 10/11/09
Stars: 4

Made it to the brand new bar Rack & Pinz last weekend!

Matt and I were inspired to stop by on Saturday afternoon after finding coupons for a free game of bowling, a free game of pool AND a free order of wings while browsing the Reno News & Review that morning.  I am a girl that just loves coupons.

The Pinz

We rolled in mid-afternoon to a very laid back atmosphere featuring sporty decor, 6 lanes, a slew of billiards tables, biggie wraparound bar and flat screens throughout.  Rack n Pinz reminds me a places I’ve been to in other cities that are bars that happen to have a few lanes versus the other way around (as it is obviously intended to be.)  The staff were all quite friendly, especially our waitress.  I really appreciated that, as my previous experience with the Cadillac Ranch staff (I’ve discovered Rack & Pinz and Cadillac Ranch are sisters) was horrible.  I’m glad this Legends conglomerate is redeeming itself somewhat to me.

82. I blame it on lane 6.

We bowled one game, neither of us breaking 100… Something to note is that we got lane 6–you do not want lane 6.  Because the bowling area is so small in comparison to the entire bar space, the outside lanes are crammed right to the walls.  Therefore, avoid also lane 1.  I maintain that I bowled an 82 soley because with every ball toss down the lane my left hand hit the half wall to my right.

Rack ‘em

Matt the Shark

Not wanting to miss the RACK of Rack & Pinz, we redeemed our coupons for billiards and wings and got a couple of games in before we called it an afternoon.  I can now say I HIGHLY recommend all things BBQ at Rack & Pinz–oh my, the BBQ wing sauce was delishish.

To conclude, I hope Rack & Pinz does well! I will fo sho be back! But I make this recommendation to the owners of Cadillac Ranch and Rack & Pinz: Keep the coupons coming–love it…but PLEASE hire an agency and get a marketing strategy.  Your ads are a mess.  You can’t be everything to everyone…And that’s A-okay.

Reno Bowling Series - Rack & Pinz

Update 12/11/09: Went back to Rack & Pinz to grab a drink and play a game of pool after shopping last weekend.  Found out that Rack & Pinz charges (or attempts to charge) patrons $10/hour to play pool.  WTF? We left annoyed without buying anyting.

Well a random series of events led me to think this exact thought.  And the thought turned in to my very first “Door Art” project.  Exhibit A:

There is no Exhibit B...

But, “What does it take to get there?” you may ask.  “Can I afford it?” “Do I really have enough time, enough talent?”

The answer: Hell yes, you do.  Because I’m sharing my secret to creating fabulous door art.

Door Art: The Idea is King

Get some Supplies

What you need-

• (1) door
• (1) can of spray paint in the color of your desire
• assorted acrylic paints
• assorted art sponges
• painters tape
• some killer music for inspiration…for this project, I chose The Prodigy
• an idea…

Drawr some Drawrings

The idea is your king.  All hail the idea.  You may have a door, paint and music readily available or as close as a Wal-mart run away, but the idea is central to any and all door art.  I decided on a giant martini glass after my original idea of recreating The Scream or The Starry Night seemed doomed for failure.  I think that their may also be something to be said for simplicity in your idea as well, at least for your first foray into Door Art.

Don't spray the Tree

After the idea, the rest falls right into place.  Draw out several design executions and then tape out your favorite directly on to the door.  Haul your door to a location safe for spraypainting, shake up that can and let loose.

When the door is dry, use the sponge and acrylics to fill in the design.  When the acrylics dry, peel back the tape and wahoo! Your Door Art masterpiece is complete.  Have a dinner party and enjoy the barrage of compliments from your guests.

Bring on that snow!

Being a newbie in the Northwest Reno area, I’ve been slowly getting out and exploring the neighborhood’s dining, shopping and extracurricular activities.  This could be a good time to point out that process should not take much time because Reno and Sparks have essentially the same experience over and over (ie, this area is overrun with Chili’s, Kohl’s, Wal-mart and Best Buy stores).  But happily, we enjoy our own bowling alley in Northwest Reno–and Sunday night we took a 2 minute drive and gave ‘er a run.

Bandana Bowling

I thought it best to call ahead to inquire on leagues or special events, and was glad the employee on the other hand was honest and advised we don’t show up until after 8pm.  There is no better way to ruin bowling plans than to show up to the lanes during leagues.  We rolled in around 9:30 to a mostly empty alley.

The best point of our night was a direct result of my nerdy tendency for online research.  I’d discovered that Starlite was recently taken over by the chain AMF and that the chain had an ‘e-club,’ which I immediately signed up for.  “Yes, I want to know about special events at my local lanes!”  Well–mere minutes after hitting submit, my email inbox was graced with a ‘free game’ coupon for me and my closest 9 friends.  Pretty cool gift for turning over my email address.

We marched up to the counter and claimed our prize, shelling over $4 each for shoes.  Since I’d only brought 3 of my closest friends, I even shared the love and the 2 guys in line behind us also bowled for free.  The night was shaping up well.

That's Sherrif Bandana Blahnik to you!

The evening down point occurred about 20 minutes later.  We’d gotten our lane, figured out how to enter our names, scored a pitcher of beer and had started the game.  The bartender waltzed over and told us it was last call.  Over a full hour before the posted closing time of 11pm.  We looked at our mostly full pitcher and decided it wasn’t worth the cash to go for another that would simply sit there and get warm while we nursed the first.  Before the game was over, we all wished that maybe Starlite be a little less lame and push last call to say 1/2 hour before closing.  15 minutes if they wanna get crazy.

Reno’s Starlite Lanes, all in all:

• Clean bowling alley
• Spankin’ new AMF-branded shoes
• Most of the staff is friendly
• They at least have beer, even if they don’t feel like selling it after 10pm
• I had a coupon
• We, as most always, had a great time!

By the way, I came in third place.  And I maintain that THIRD PLACE was not SECOND TO LAST.

Starlite Lanes Contact/Location:
775.747.3522
1201 Stardust St.
Reno, NV 89503

Hours:
Mon-Thurs 9am – 11pm
Fri-Sat 9am – 1am
Sun 9am – 11pm

Get your bowl on, Reno

I am not a good bowler.  And neither are any of my friends.  We fall into the category of bowlers in which 100 is a pretty damn good score. When strikes occur, everyone is required to slam the rest of their drink.  Gutter balls are the norm.  Sometimes, our lane mysteriously breaks and we have to be moved.  We almost never show up to the lanes not in costume…

With that said, Reno has several fine bowling alleys, and is even the home of the National Bowling Stadium, known as the “Taj Mahal of Tenpins.” —what an honor. With Autumn upon us, I’ve decided to start a series of posts dedicated to this sport.  Coming soon will be some fine reviews of:

• Starlite Lanes
• Grand Sierra Bowl
• Rack N Pinz
• High Sierra Lanes
• Coconut Bowl at Wild Island

Until then, enjoy these photos, taken over the last year or so of theme bowling nights:

Rainbow Bowl

Athletics Bowl

Red Carpet Bowl

Golden Bowl Birthday Bash

Luau Bowl

Big Red Bowling

Combat Bowl