This last December, my friend, Natalie, and I went to Reno to visit two of our really good mutual friends, Sarah and Fiona. We also went for the Santa Pub Crawl! I've been planning on doing a crawl for a while and finally committed. Really, I just love any excuse to get dressed up and drink.
On our first night in Reno, we all went to dinner at 775, a gastropub (which apparently is closing...so sad!). It was so friggin' delicious, partially because I was starved at this point, but also because it was actually really delicious. We hung out for the rest of the night and just caught up with everyone.
The next night was the Santa Pub Crawl! We got dressed up in our best ugly sweaters and jingle bell bracelets. It was freezing outside; snow and ice was covering the ground, but the bars were warm, and the alcohol did help. They had special mixed drinks at certain bars, with cute holiday themed names (e.g. the red nosed). I tried my first Fireball shot at another bar, and it was super spicy...like WOW. Embarrassingly, I did start choking on the cinnamon. We moved onto a wine bar, Java Jungle Vino, that had super yummy spiced chai shots. Probably everyone's favorite stop of the night, the bar was super chill and relaxed, a nice change of pace from the fratty bars that made up most of the crawl map. I think everyone in our group was the most drunk/buzzed/not sober at that point, as well.
The next night was the Santa Pub Crawl! We got dressed up in our best ugly sweaters and jingle bell bracelets. It was freezing outside; snow and ice was covering the ground, but the bars were warm, and the alcohol did help. They had special mixed drinks at certain bars, with cute holiday themed names (e.g. the red nosed). I tried my first Fireball shot at another bar, and it was super spicy...like WOW. Embarrassingly, I did start choking on the cinnamon. We moved onto a wine bar, Java Jungle Vino, that had super yummy spiced chai shots. Probably everyone's favorite stop of the night, the bar was super chill and relaxed, a nice change of pace from the fratty bars that made up most of the crawl map. I think everyone in our group was the most drunk/buzzed/not sober at that point, as well.
The next morning, (err - afternoon) we ate at Pegs for brunch. I got the Veggie Bene and oh, my gosh. So good, so filling. The staff was super friendly too, which is definitely always a plus. Later, we dropped Natalie off at the airport (where her flight got delayed, a common theme in this tale). We went back to Sarah's for the night, where we watched The Great Gatsby and marveled at Leo's unfaltering beauty.
The next day we popped by the UNR campus for a quick cup of coffee (I got my winter staple: peppermint mocha). When Sarah had to go into work, I got ready to hang out with Fiona. We picked up some yummy Chinese food from Caie's Oriental Cafe and vegged out in front of the TV.
The next day we popped by the UNR campus for a quick cup of coffee (I got my winter staple: peppermint mocha). When Sarah had to go into work, I got ready to hang out with Fiona. We picked up some yummy Chinese food from Caie's Oriental Cafe and vegged out in front of the TV.
My last day was so sad because a) I hate leaving, and b) I hate airports. We went to see the movie Frozen (so good), in the morning. Then we took the sad trek to the airport, where I got patted down, and my flight got delayed for two hours. Yay. No frets, I got an overpriced small coffee (but the barista was really sweet and picked change up off the counter and used it to help pay for my drink). All I'll say is, thank goodness for free wifi! Another weird thing: the person who sat next to me on the flight, in the middle seat (I hate full flights!), just sat there the whole time. Doing nothing. Just sitting. He did eat the complimentary snacks, but then immediately went back to just sitting. I never realized how much someone sitting there doing nothing would bother me, until it did. Once we finally landed, our bags got stuck on the belt at the carousel for a good 15 minutes. Alone, that's not much to complain about. But when your flight was already delayed, and you're starving, you don't really care.
Safe to say, I stuffed my face when I finally got home. That whole flight fiasco did not dampen my overall experience, thankfully. And it's already funny to retell, just a couple months later. I had such a fun time visiting my friends; it's always so refreshing to get away and catch up with them. The days went by too fast, just as I had expected. But in between working Thanksgiving, state inspection, and Christmas, I definitely needed (dare I say - deserved) these much needed days away.
Safe to say, I stuffed my face when I finally got home. That whole flight fiasco did not dampen my overall experience, thankfully. And it's already funny to retell, just a couple months later. I had such a fun time visiting my friends; it's always so refreshing to get away and catch up with them. The days went by too fast, just as I had expected. But in between working Thanksgiving, state inspection, and Christmas, I definitely needed (dare I say - deserved) these much needed days away.