We woke up today, got our stuff ready, and head out to the Amtrak Station. We would be heading back to San Francisco today, on the very last day of our honeymoon. A bit sad for us, but we had a night booked in San Francisco, and a very nice dinner planned at Foreign Cinema.
Well, the day didn't work out quite as planned. We got to the Amtrak station, found out that ALL westbound trains were cancelled. Alright, bit of a bummer, we had really looked forward to this portion of the Zephyr going through the Sierra's, but not a huge problem. As long as we can get to our reservation in SF and our hotel, we would still be happy.
They had us all scheduled on busses, so it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the person in front of us was the last person to get on the 8am bus, and we found out that we would need to wait until 11am. We got pretty bummed about this. It meant we wouldn't be getting into San Francisco likely until around 5-6pm because of some transfers and delays. That means it would already be getting dark by the time we got it. Bummer.
Luckily, we hadn't checked out from our hotel room and check out wasn't til 11am. Less luckily, someone was already cleaning our room when we got back. What followed was one of the most confusing conversations of the trip, with the lady really
really wanting to stay in the room with us.
We ate some food and tried to figure out a plan for the day, and some backups in case things got worse on the Amtrak front. Ryan decided to head down to the Amtrak station again to clarify the timing on when we would be able to get into San Francisco. Well, the Amtrak Station said that all Westbound Service entirely was cancelled now. The bus that left at 8am didn't even get as far as Sacramento, and had been turned back. There was a huge mudslide that was causing some big issues as far as transportation went.
Back to our hotel room again. Now, we
really had to make a plan. Our non-refundable hotel in San Francisco, the last, and most expensive hotel of our whole honeymoon, wasn't going to happen now. Our reservation at Foreign Cinema, missed. Well. This sucks. Stuck in Reno. No hotel, and blowing a ton of money in San Francisco without enjoying it at all.
We called Foreign Cinema and cancelled our reservation, and then hoped that maybe our hotel in San Francisco might have some mercy on us. After a quick call, they fully refunded our hotel, and wished us the best of luck on our honeymoon night in Reno! Incredibly nice service at The Park Central. There is a reason they are just about our favorite hotel.
After pouting for a bit about how our trip wasn't going to go as planned, we remembered that we had booked our whole trip on a credit card because it offered some trip interruption insurance. After calling up Chase to find out exactly what that entailed, we found out that we were covered for up to $500 of expenses per passenger for a trip delay of over 12 hours. After clarifying, we found out that acceptable expenses include hotel rooms, restaurants, toiletries, necessities, and food.
Needless to say, we were cautiously optimistically excited. After a few calls, we found out that the Silver Legacy had another Spa Suite on the 33rd floor available and booked that. After we checked into our new room, we saw that our extra night in Reno might not be all that bad thanks to Chase. Our view was amazing. The hot tub was amazing. Somehow, this room was even better than our last!
We decided to take a look at some of the places we could get lunch and dinner at, and to make a plan. We decided that Sierra Street Kitchen & Cocktails was the place to go for for lunch. It was rated #1 on TripAdvisor for lunch, so we figured that would work pretty good. We went down there, and ordered some of the most delicious tapas of our life. Credit well spent in our opinion!
Since we would obviously need to be walking around Reno all day now that we were going to stay here another night, and it was raining and Conor's shoes had holes in them because she loves her shoes too much and never wants new ones, Ryan was this time able to convince her to get new ones.
Pretty Pink ones!
So a quick Uber to the local shopping mall to re-up on some DC Shoes. Again, credit well spent!
We went back to the room, and yup, you guessed it. Champagne, Cheese & Crackers in the Hot Tub. You know... because... honeymoons!
After some more R&R in the room it was getting close to time for dinner. We took an Uber to our reservation at The Atlantis Steakhouse. Upon arriving, we were escorted to our reserved table with our name placard on it. We were greeted and asked about what our special occasion was, and they were very excited that it was our honeymoon.
Nearly immediately, they came back with some appetizers that had ready for us as we looked through the menu and ordered a bottle of wine and our actual appetizers. As soon as we were finished with the first appetizers we were given, our wonderfully friendly waiter brought our bottle of wine. As soon as we had had a moment to enjoy a taste of our wine, our delicious pork belly lollipops were brought to the table.
The whole evening went like that, a non-stop incredible experience. The second we had finished with our last meal, the next thing was brought to us. Not a moment of downtime. But not in a creepy way either. Just a naturally occurring flow of events leading us from tasting to tasting on a delicious journey.
Naturally for our meals we had both ordered delicious steaks. They had the 2lb option, but we decided we didn't need to get that outrageous with it. The people at the table next to us did. A 2 pound steak and lobster combination, is just ridiculous. That is all.
Conor's steak was actually cooked next to our table, with a experience full of flames and excellent showmanship. After devouring our delicious steaks and scallops, we barely had room for anything else. But of course, this incredible dining experience had already made us a fancy desert with congratulations written on it in chocolate just for us.
Incredible. Dinning. Experience.
After some quick craps at the Atlantis, we got a ride back to our hotel and called it a night. Such an amazing, and incredible day. Huge thanks to Chase for their trip protection. If you are not using a credit card to book your trips with trip delay protection, you are messing up, so go get on it! Simply incredible. An amazing way to spend our last day in Reno.
We woke up today and well, present Conor & Ryan were pretty concerned that we wouldn't be able to get out of town, but the roads were now open, and although a little sketchy, we should be able to leave! Yay!
We kept on driving and eventually the packed snow turned to slush, and then faded away and we were back driving on normal roads. We stopped in Idaho Falls, for what other than the Potato Museum! We saw the worlds (sadly, broken) potato chip, and learned all kinds os spuddy stuff.
Naturally, then we had to get a baked potato! So we stopped at Martha's Cafe in Idaho Falls (we both highly recommend the baked potato experience there!).
At this point, we were running a bit short on time, and since we wanted to make sure we took a look at some of the nightlife SLC had to offer, we made our way to Johnny's on Second after a bit of indecision. Johnny's on Second was an excellent place. We highly recommend the $4 "Shot & a Beer", and the chicken quesadilla wasn't half bad either!
