The "Fanciest" Hotel, Square-State Homilies

Upon arriving at John Asuaga's "The Nugget" Hotel in Sparks, Nevada, our children were very impressed with the whooping slot machines, the swank 25-color rugs, the tasteful neon, the bleached/leathery/inebreated/ guests with their jeweled sweatsuits, and the fake plants everywhere. "This is the fanciest hotel we have ever seen!" exclaimed Sebastian. We go for the rates and the pool and the fact that it is right at that spot in Nevada where everyone is in danger of bloodsport in the car. How can you argue with a 5-th floor indoor pool surrounded by waterfalls, a plastic grove of Ficus Benjamina, twinlking lights and $7.99 poolside Margeritas? The kids worked out their car-trip malaise by playing tag and assassins.
The poolside bubble tubs are a big hit. So is the hot tub. Rob was sitting there between two bulbous, Tecata-swilling men discussing "politics." The first man, pasty and twiggly-legged, bemoaned the sorry state of the nation. "Yeah," said the orange tan walrus-mustachioed man. "An' purdy soon that Obama will be hangin' out on the front porch of the White House, spittin' watermelon seeds with 14 of his darkie friends..." Ah, the hearty, simple pure folk and good old-fashioned values of the American Heartland....


After leaving Mr. McNiel and Mr. Lehrer in the Hot Tub, Rob foraged for veggies and fried chicken (Solidarity? The power of suggestion?) at a dumpy grocery store, and the poolside meal was delightful even without Margaritas.
Mr. Joss joined the kids for his first-ever swim. He was fine until Sebi splashed him. We all endured the trip through Winnemucca, Battle Mountain (with the big "BM" on the mountain outside of town), Elko, Wendover, Toole, and a gas station in West Valley City that had a surprising selection of Haribo gummy treats. That eased us back home after Austria/California.

Now we are wandering aimlessly among K2-sized piles of laundry and trying to re-claim our house from all of the poo we have dumped out of our suitcases. We might never leave our house again. When does school start, anyway?????

Comments

bostonshumways said…
It makes me want to join you on one of your road trips just to spend some time at "The Nugget".

Good times...

J
6:47 PM
Lois said…
As a proud member of the Tooele community (with cousins sporting various extra body parts to prove it), I have to note the lack of an extra E in that fair city's spelling on your post.
6:06 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mohr im Hemd

Image
I finally got up the nerve to try my own Mohr im Hemd. This was the dish that we always ordered if we found it on the menu. It translates as "The Moor and His Shirt" which is so politically incorrect that it isn't easy to find, even though it is a traditional Viennese dish. It is a steamed pudding, like the Christmas dessert I grew up on and it is very moist and very chocolate, though not as sweet as an American dessert. It was successful enough that Rob had me make it twice more in the same weekend. Happily, after learning how to make it, I feel less guilty about eating the stuff. How often does that happen? Here is the recipe I used, as opposed to the top secret family recipe that I don't even have, or the recipe from my Austrian cookbook that asks for 'gratified butter': MA's Mohr im Hemd 3 bread rolls, crusts removed and cubed 1 c milk 3/4 c unsalted butter 1/4 c sugar 8 oz best and darkest chocolate you can find 8 eggs 1/2 c sugar 1/2 c walnuts,
Read more

The Trip Home: A Report Card

Image
Our Itinerary: Stuttgart to Atlanta and Atlanta to Salt Lake. It was a good schedule, flying out at 11:00am and getting in at 9:00pm on the same day (flying back across 8 time zones too, so about 23 hours of travel door to door). German taxi driver: A+. cheerful, knowledgeable, efficient and with candy for the kids Stuttgart airport: C-. inefficient, poorly-designed, and not very helpful; had to show our passports 5 times in 5 different places. took 1 1/2 hours to process us from curb to gate. ugh. Delta: B-. The flight attendants all looked "rid hard & put away wet" and the bare bones service just can't keep up with their [government subsidized] European counterparts with their dewy-skinned attendants, steaming towels, toys for the kids, and gourmet meals instead of astronaut food served in foil pouches. They got us there and did it on time, but it feels more and more like riding on a bus with a lot of rules. German Family With Four Kids Who Sat Next To Us On The
Read more

Blue and Gold Cake Contest

Image
Have we mentioned that Rob is now the Cubmaster? It was something of a shock, but it has been great for getting the boys excited about scouting (and let's face facts: Rob and I are lukewarm at best on a paramilitary, homophobic, psuedo-Hitler Youth organization, so our boys were destined to embrace it wholeheartedly from the start). One of the first arguments that Rob ever won with his parents was over scouting. They had moved into a neighborhood with no other kids his age, and so his eagle project would have been almost entirely solo (with some help from his younger brother). He proposed that instead of getting his eagle, he work towards becoming a Sterling Scholar in foreign languages at OHS. His parents finally agreed, and he did make Sterling Scholar at OHS, and went on to become the statewide foreign language Sterling Scholar. So my husband is one merit badge and an eagle project shy of his eagle, which just so happens (Freudianly?) to be exactly the same as my brother, Mr. T
Read more