Foothill stopover

We are at the Red Hawk Casino, along US 50 in Shingle Springs, California (map). The casino here is brand new, built in 2008, and neither the casino nor its dedicated US-50 ramps appear on Google's satellite view yet.

I am not a morning person, so we opted to make our dinner stop in Los Banos at 5:00 -- early for us -- so that we could make more progress last night. Dinner was very good, by the way, and we can heartily recommend the M&M Italian Restaurant to anyone passing through there. We made a quick fuel stop at Flying-J in Ripon, and rolled in here before 9.

We did cruise through the casino just to check it out when we arrived, and also to check in with security. They have several nice looking restaurants, including a steakhouse, a buffet, Mexican-American and Asian themed venues, and a fast food outlet. The place was packed for Saturday night. Free beverage stations were located throughout the casino, and most of the restaurants are located on a lower level that features a non-smoking gaming area. A first for us was encountering a special table game area featuring incredibly loud music and very scantily clad female dealers, targeted at the young male demographic. We wondered if casino dealers can file a Cal-OSHA claim for hearing loss.

The RV parking is in the same row of angled back-ins that the tour buses use, adjacent to the enormous 8-level parking garage. It suited us fine, but those with slides would have to keep them retracted. It was pretty quiet, but the busy Saturday night meant plenty of activity in the garage, and I am guessing the valets are mandated to honk at every ramp and turn, because I could hear distant honking constantly from the upper levels, reverberating through the structure.

In a few minutes we will dig out our ski gear and head up the grade to the Sierra At Tahoe ski area. We've agreed to meet friends at the rental shop at noon, and we'd like to have already been fitted with gear.