They’re not getting ‘Move B*tch Mac & Cheese’ like travelers in Atlanta, but despite lack of a Ludacris restaurant there’s still much to be excited about in Reno, Nevada. The Biggest Little City in the World is upgrading their airport, and they’re doing their best to make it one of the best around.

In total airport officials have secured lots of cash to upgrade and update, and it looks like they’re planning to spend around $40 million to spiff things up. Bulldozers and construction crews have already arrived at Reno-Tahoe International Airport as of this week, and the overall plan is to give the airport more of a Lake Tahoe feel and theme. Workers will be at the airport doing their thing for at least a year, as the grand reveal isn’t expected to arrive until April of 2013. ]]> kjb 2012-01-06T09:42:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/1/4/13216/43306
A snow-covered part of the Grand Canyon

”Why are you flying to Albuquerque?” were the words on most people’s lips last week when we told them we were cutting short a trip to Vegas to hit New Mexico.

Why Albuquerque? Well, to start with, for the flight—one of the most spectacular ones we’ve ever been on.

From Las Vegas to Albuquerque we were looking south, and got a prime view of the snow-covered high desert, mountains and miniscule trees poking out of the snow. All very beautiful, except we heard the pilot announce that “on the left, you’ll see the Grand Canyon.”

So on the way back, we swapped sides to face north, and were greeted by snow-covered mountains, snow-covered plains…and then, yeah, the Grand Canyon. We flew pretty much all the way along the Grand Canyon—from 40,000 feet we picked out the famous South Rim, less famous North Rim and, we think, possibly the West Rim, too (though we didn’t see the Skywalk). ]]> juliab 2012-01-04T15:23:45-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/27/92052/8728

We may not have been so impressed with Reno, what with its tattoo shops-slash-wedding-chapels, but there’s no denying the landscape around aint half bad.

Here’s a view of the Reno valley – aka the Truckee Meadows, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Look how green it is for a desert! How lush! How beautiful!

We took this on Highway 341, which climbs up, up and up some more (as far as 6789ft at the Geiger Summit), before inching its way down to a mere 6220ft at Virginia City (which is, by the way, a delight), and then winds down to Carson City. ]]> juliab 2011-09-27T09:30:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/22/101621/723

Things that go with marriage like a horse and carriage: love. Devotion. Bravery. The barfing of your single friends out back.

Oh, and if you’re in Reno, tattoos and discount liquor and cigarettes. How romantic!

They all share a building with the Arch of Reno wedding chapel on Virginia Street. Just the kind of place you’d want to pledge your troth.

If you want something more, uhh, classic, you can go for the Antique Angel wedding chapel, a block further down. It has nice views of the Truckee River! ]]> juliab 2011-09-22T15:45:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/20/144849/934

It may not be as famous as the Golden Arches, but here’s an arch we always wanted to see: “The Biggest Little City In The World” on Virginia Street in Reno.

We always wanted to go to Reno to check it out as a grubby Vegas but were sold on the idea when we came across a postcard from the 1940s of Reno, with old cars passing under this glorious arch. And we knew we really had to go.

The Reno Arch was built in 1926 in advance of the Transcontinental Highways Exposition the following year, but it was only in 1929 that the slogan was coined, after a competition (the winner got $100 for inventing the phrase). ]]> juliab 2011-09-21T11:07:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/19/94016/5088

So you expect things to be a little bit backward when you leave the bright lights of Vegas for the expanse of nothingness that is the Nevada desert—but 30 years backward? 40, even? That comes as a surprise.

But that's just about how old these postcards of the Las Vegas Strip are that we found on sale in Beatty, NV. Two hours northwest of Vegas on the 95, Beatty's best known for its proximity to Death Valley, its neighboring ghost town, Rhyolite, and its brothels.

What we didn't realise till we got there is just how tiny it is. Scarily tiny. Bad-things-might-happen-to-you tiny. Luckily, a Reno native had advised us to stop at the candy store, so we did. The candy store, by the way, is called Eddie's World and has a massive photo of Eddie the owner on the gas pumps outside. FYI.]]> juliab 2011-09-19T10:49:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/14/104623/745

Much has been written about the Shady Lady Ranch, one of the most famous of the Nevada brothels and the place that played brief home to the one and only prostidude.

So you can imagine our innocent excitement when we realized that our Vegas-Reno roadtrip would not only pass several brothels, but the very Shady Lady itself.

We have no idea how the girls of the Shady Lady make a living because it is miles out in the middle of nowhere. Beatty itself is about 2 ½ hours northwest of Las Vegas, and the Shady Lady is another 31 miles north of that.

Maybe people come for the view? Because the 95, which runs pretty much parallel to Death Valley at that point (it’s just the other side of the mountains, here) is pretty spectacular. ]]> juliab 2011-09-14T10:46:23-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/