Reno Santa Crawl 2009
Experience Date: 12/10 – 12/12/2009
Stars: 5+
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.
Halloween in Reno!
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!
Goodbye, Reno Summer ’09
Reno Summer '09
Summer 2009 has come to an end, which I truly realized when I hit my 200 photo max while posting Balloon Race photos to my Facebook album, Summer Lovin’. I’m not sure what a great job I did of capturing and blogging my summertime adventures, but as always my camera was on hand to capture my memories forever. Take a peak at Summer Lovin’ for pictorial coverage of my Reno-Tahoe summer and the Summer Road Trip album for photos taken on our trip to the California Redwoods and Oregon.
I’m hitting two years of life in Reno at the end of October…I’ve loved almost every minute of my time here and can’t wait for whatever happens next.
La Tomatina en Reno 2009
Experience Date: 8/29/09
Stars: 5+
Yep, I made the front page of the CalNeva blog
My interest in La Tomatina en Reno was instant and intense. CalNeva began promoting the event on Facebook early in the summer…it was to be an August afternoon tomato fight in the middle of downtown Reno, sponsored by the CalNeva and benefitting the American Cancer Society. $10 to get you in to huck 25 tons of tomatoes at your best friends, worst enemies and other random Renonians. I immediately started forwarding the info and updates to my core Reno peeps and kept it going over the next several weeks. After the amazing fun we had a Run Amuck earlier this summer, we HAD to participate.
Kitty assisted with costume prep
Saturday morning Holly and I got up bright and early, inspired by the quest to find the perfect costume for La Tomatina en Reno. This is Reno, land of themed downtown events and since 2008, I’ve bowled in formal-wear, combat gear, and as part of a human rainbow; crawled downtown as a zombie, Mrs. Claus and SuperCop, run amuck as a chola from Wingfield to Idelwild and back… La Tomatina was going to be no different. We were in it to bling it.
2 Wal-marts, Winco, CVS and a party store later we were back at the pad decorating shirts, wristguards and snorkeling masks for ourselves and our noble male friends (who lets be honest were much more interested in throwing tomatoes than the costume making pre-party). We were able to thoroughly entertain ourselves from 9am to 4:30pm solely based on La Tomatina. It was great. Oh yes, and the event kicked ass. Sorry again, City of Reno, for that shower we took in the Truckee Riverwalk fountain…
BEFORE
Food fight!
AFTER
...and the shower, haha!
Be ready for 2010, Reno.
Nada Dada Motel at Reno’s El Cortez
Experience Date: 6/20/09
Stars: 4
This particular Saturday night, Matt and I decided to explore the underground cultural side of Reno, and headed downtown to visit an art exhibit called the Nada Dada Motel held at the El Cortez.
The view down Arlington from Hotel El Cortez 6th floor fire escape
This was the third year for Nada Dada, and our first viewing. The gist of the show is that artists, both local and from across the country, each take over a hotel room at the El Cortez and create a space for their art–whatever it may be. Each room between floors 2 and 5 was completely unique and many really amazing. My favorite artist overall was John Molezzo. Molezzo does these wicked digital murals of Reno–and if I had any extra cash at all, I would have loved to buy a print. (I settled for snagging a couple of his postcards.) Also showing were my friends Jamie Kingham and Rachel Milon, displaying his photography and participating as players in one of the many weekend productions.
always so smiley
The folks over at Reno Passport and Metromix did a pretty good job summarizing the event, so I’ll suggest reading up over there for real detail. My final comments will note that this event was completely free and open to the public, and even cooler because you can bring your own beer (or etc….) and sip as you browse, interact and enjoy. My only disappointment occurred due to my own ignorance–not all rooms are open during viewing hours, so we missed out on some cool stuff.
This is definitely an event I’d go to again in ’10. And I’ll plan to hit it twice.
Reno River Festival & Run Amuck 2009
Experience Date: 5/9/09
Stars: 5+
2009′s Reno River Festival was the perfect kickoff for summer! The weather had been holding out on us Renonians, and Saturday brought with it a little heat wave of joy. A group of friends and I decided to take physical part in the festivities and “Run Amuck” i.e., dress up in costume and relay a 2.5 mile course through downtown Reno from Wingfield to Idlewild park and back.
The icing on the cake that was Run Amuck, was the 60-foot MUD PIT, sponsored by the folks at Sierra Earthworks (link love for my Fuze client!). I’m just happy I made it through that pit alive, since Matt and I were ambushed and wrestled to the ground by Holly and Kelsey.
Reno came out in droves for the entire weekend, and it was fantastic to see so many people downtown.
Definitely doin’ it again in 2010!!!! Enjoy the photo gallery:
