Reno 911!

I know it's been way too long since my last blog (sorry Mara!), and we have been up to quite a lot lately! Back in April Jason and I headed up to Reno with Mom for a big big big bowling tournament. It's the United States Bowling Congress Women's National Tournament. Which is probably not the correct official name, but it is BIG. It runs for about 3 months in Reno at the national Bowling Stadium and features people from all over the country. Mom was bowling Team with some other wacky ladies from Brentwood. Us three decided to go up early by ourselves, for a little pre-tournament fun & gambling!

Of course we had to stop along the way for a little geocaching. We had a little trouble finding a few, since a lot of spots were still under snow. Jason prevailed here:
I found the geocache at this site, which makes me disproportionately happy:

The vista of Donner lake in the clear spring air was absolutely beautiful. Anyone hungry??(In Mom's defense here, although she is pretty short, I think I was standing uphill of her.)

Geocaching is always a great way to break up a road trip! We made it to Reno and checked out the National Bowling Stadium, all ready for the big tournament.

Mom was pretty excited...........
............as was Jason.
Together they scoped out the competition:

Let me tell you, it is really hard to get good pictures in a bowling alley. Especially when you're not allowed to use a flash. It might distract the bowlers!

We had a few days before Mom was scheduled to bowl, so we spent the time checking out the local sights (Jason had never been to Reno before), eating at buffets, drinking watered-down drinks, gambling, and just soaking up the overall classiness of Reno.


Mom played some Omaha Hold-Em (keeping her sunglasses on of course), Jason ruled the 25 cent roulette table, and I found $3 blackjack at the Cal-Neva. I learned some great tips from the dealers there and came out $5 ahead after playing for two nights!

The tournament day came, and Mom and her team were ready to roll. Literally!

Check out Mom's form!

Unfortunately Jason and I had to leave before they were finished bowling. Mom claims she didn't bowl as well as she would have liked, but she's pretty competitive and hard on herself (gee....that didn't get passed to any of us kids right?). We'll have to wait till the end of the summer to see how her team stacked up.

All in all, we had an absolute blast! Reno was cheesey and skeezy, just like it should be. It was so much fun to spend a couple of days with Mom, especially to see her in her element! Thanks so much for taking us -- we will definitely do this again!!!!!!