Reno: Surreal suburbia

Come along and join me for a bite of my favorite muffin, won't you?

All jokes aside, there's a surreal sort of nature to Reno that we discovered during our stay. There's the familiarity, of a city being somewhat akin-to-but-not-quite like our hometown, yet there's the weird throwbacks to the 80's and 90's that linger, giving an age to the city not unlike the crow's feet cracking through the thickly caked on makeup of your diner waitress clinging to decades past. We weren't finished with the city, not yet, as we still had a couple of errands to run while we were still surrounded by some vestige of civilization. On top of the usual things, like getting some snacks, vehicular fluids and checks, there was the shuffling of finances and additional fluids to purchase. Rather than try to keep driving through the dense forest of traffic cones that seemed to crop up once we left the downtown touristy area, we opted to walk to our next destinations. This allowed us the opportunity to appraise an area outside of the main drag, which is always a good idea for getting the true feel of a city beyond its neon-spackled traps.  I suppose I can see why many of my peers opted to go north and settle in Reno, but it's still a little too-close to Vegas for me to feel like I've truly escaped the vortex-like nature of the city...but for those who find this affinity appealing for nostalgic purposes, it's quite the nice touch, I suppose. 

Reno, like many cities favored by millennials, is growing. There are more little artsy-fartsy coffee shops popping up, along with multi-megaplex apartments that offer everything you could ever want or need in a residence, from gyms to pet parks. It's still a little city trying very much to feel like a bigger one, so for people who want that, it's got it in bounds. Reno isn't a bad place, not at all, and there's a lot of things to be said for consistent sunshine and cheap food and booze. Once we'd stretched our legs and tended to our various errands, however, we returned to our vehicles to strive outward and onward. While Reno certainly made for a nice pitstop, we weren't planning to settle here any time soon. 

Reno: Further explorations downtown

To be honest, Reno really does have a lot going for it. Most of the same entertainments and vices anyone could want from Vegas, like fancy dining, gambling, card games, cheap questionable meal deals, booze and slots, along with the natural beauty and outdoors entertainment of the natural splendors surrounding in both the high desert and northern california. Lake Tahoe is pretty close, I guess. Given that you're quite a ways farther north than Vegas, there are more options for skiing and snow play available, though that's not to say that Vegas is entirely lacking in those things. 

In Reno, there are vices you can fulfill and tantalize that aren't as readily accessible in it's bigger brother down South.  

These days, Reno is the closest approximation to my hometown I have available unless I wish to jump on a plane to Vegas (which would end up costing me less in the end). It's still quite a trek, however, to step foot on Nevadan soil. Maybe this should sadden me, but it doesn't, not yet. Maybe in time some aspect of the irradiated desert and it's desiccated expanses will call to me, but for now, this is more than enough pleasant nostalgia.  Suffice to say, Reno has most of the things Vegas has to offer, without the excessive crowds and much more enjoyable weather. There's still the spun-out homeless lingering in alleys, a profusion of booze flowing throughout the city and illicit substances in the veins of it's downtrodden. You can also get a $5 steak! And a hooker! You can even rock-climb the hotel you're staying in! And there's plenty of snazzy street art and beer gardens and other hip, happening things to pass the time and add to the sense of surrealness. 

Reno: Strolling the Truckee River

If you happen to find yourself in the glamorous little city of Reno, Nevada, and only have a limited window within which to try to take it all in, may I recommend taking a stroll along the Truckee River. It's famous! It's wet! Water runs through it! There's even some pretty psychedelic space whale art floating around, for your photographic enjoyment and posing potential. The Truckee river itself is the heart of Reno, the literal life-spring from whence the city sprung up and around, and now it's a scenic city center with ample entertainment and dining options to choose from. During our visit there were hardly any people out and about, though the weather was a bit grey and dreary so maybe it picks up more in more appealing conditions. We quite enjoyed our explorations, and it was pretty peaceful with the absence of any large crowds. Most of the restaurants and bars lining the waterfront were still just beginning to open for the day, shuffling chairs and signs about at a leisurely pace. I can't blame them! Reno is, for better or worse, still something of a small town and smaller towns generally just move a little bit more languidly than their bigger brethren.  

There was a time when Reno was renowned as the world divorce capital, perhaps given its close-ish proximity to the city where many people haphazardly committed to marriage, plus the long drive-time from Las Vegas proper gave people the time to sober up and caused them to reconsider their vows? Whatever the reasons behind the end of the marriage, the Truckee River has long been a popular destination for the recent divorcees to visit, flinging their cursed rings into the river as a symbolic ritual of closure. While Antho and I have had a commitment ceremony (with Batman, in Vegas) we don't have any plans to get divorced, so there was no ring tossing from us. Did you know that millennials are getting divorced at much lower rates than our parents? Of all the things millennials have been blamed for killing/ruining/destroying, that's probably one of the best, right? I'm certainly not going to be sitting around pining over the loss of Applebees, but I digress. 

Overall, we quite enjoyed our visit to the Truckee River. Stretching our legs felt great, especially after sleeping in the vehicles the night prior. If we had more time we might have grabbed something to eat, but we had a long drive ahead yet and I was eager to get back to it, so once we were satisfied with our laps around the neighborhood we popped back into our vehicles and prepared for the next stretch of our adventure. 

On a surprising note, we found a bag of weed while we were walking around, relatively fresh from the dispensary! Huh. Thanks, universe!

Reno: Downtown Reno on a grey day

Reno! It's, uh, kind of like going to Las Vegas except the weather's (arguably) better and it's a lot smaller? We didn't spend an obscene amount of time in Reno, unfortunately, so we can't attest to much of the city's greatness beyond it's uncanny similarities to our hometown, down to some of the same casinos (hey, Harrah's and Circus Circus, I'm looking at you),  though the proximity to Northern California and Southern Oregon are also perks and likely attract their own set of regular visitors. Some of the food specials advertised were markedly cheaper than I recall seeing the same basic meal-deals advertised for in Vegas proper ($5.99 prime rib, baby), and that's including Fremont street and the downtown area which are generally viewed as being the more budget-friendly option as far as Vegas goes. Reno, for me, is largely uncharted territory, so I've really only just dusted the surface of what the city and it's essence is. I know that it is, or at least was, a popular college choice for my peers who wanted to get away from home without going so far as to need to a flight or risking having to pay out-of-state tuition or confront that alien and alarming concept of closing-time at a bar. It's north enough of Vegas that it was noticeably cooler outside of our vehicles during the daytime, and we definitely had to add some additional layers to our comfy driving ensembles to confront the weather during our stroll.  

After paying for parking, we just started to kind of wander around the downtown area, though we did have an eventual aim in mind. Antho is a bit familiar with Reno, as he'd lived not-too-far-away in the town of Elko, once upon a time and would visit sporadically. It's not exactly next door to Reno, but it's a shorter drive than it is coming from Vegas, that's for sure! And let's be real here, most of Nevada is wide open desert and there's a lot of driving to be done to get from most cities in the state to the next, or even the nearest big cities. Whether that's a pro or a con is up to you and your preferences on the matter. The area was pretty quiet without much activity during our visit, but it was an overcast weekday so that's probably not something that should elicit alarm. It was nice being able to amble around and take in the sights without feeling imminently hurried. I'd set an alarm on my phone to warn us prior to our parking's expiry, so away we went to explore downtown Reno!  

Reno: Driving in towards the city

Once we were properly stretched, situated, and caffeinated (given I'm a hopeless coffee fiend, while Antho has only started to dabble in the beany-brew quite recently) we returned to the road. We were grateful for the daylight, as our drive in the wee hours of the night had taken us down some back-country roads where we were anxious about stopping despite being bleary-eyed with exhaustion, lest we awaken to find an angry farmer banging on our window. The scenery directly outside of Vegas is quite familiar to us, too, so we weren't especially heartbroken about missing out on the scenic views further south, but as we were rapidly stretching into new territory and it's far more interesting to be able to watch the scenery evolve as you travel! Antho took the camera for this stretch of the road, so he caught some shots of my old Volvo rolling along, as well as his own co-pilot's nest. I had Ollie riding along with me, while Antho kept our sweet girl Buttercup with him for the duration.  Her cage was only a temporary solution, as she was previously living in the big mansion of a cage that had housed all of our ladies and was impractical and illogical to cram into either vehicle. Normally we travel together and only take one vehicle when we go out and about on day to day adventures, so having our fuzzy company helped take some of the edges off of going it alone. The walkie-talkies helped quite a bit, too, as we could communicate immediately with one another about road conditions, a guy riding our butts, a strange burnt out abandoned structure off to the side of the road, what-have-you. If you ever find yourself traveling an extensive way as part of a caravan, I absolutely and emphatically recommend getting walkie-talkies to stay in touch with your fellow drivers! Not only will you be able to communicate with everyone in your party (crucial), you might get to pick up on some random conspiracy chatter as you hurtle across the landscape. We caught some serious government conspiracy rants breaking through our channel somewhere around here, which added some unexpected intrigue to the proceedings. 

Reno: Wild horses and gliders in the city limits

Since most of our drive through Southern and Central Nevada happened at night, we didn't see much of the landscape until we awoke the next morning in a small town just a short drive from the city limits proper for Reno. We'd made a fair bit of distance for leaving so late in the day, but we still had quite some distance left yet to cover so we didn't want to dawdle in our campsite for too long. Upon waking, however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we had some four-legged company grazing not far from our vehicles. We were able to get some photos of the crew, what seemed to be a small family unit with a youngling in toe. There's a lot of wild horses throughout Nevada, but they're not something you encounter much when you're in Las Vegas, you've got to get a bit further out. We weren't in the total boonies here, either, which made our guests all the more of a wonderfully unexpected delight to see! 

Antho, in his typical fashion, was up around sunrise and exploring the area a bit. I was so wiped out from driving late into the night prior that I slept closer to 8am, landing me about 4-5 hours total sleep. It's not easy hauling across the country on a set time frame (places to be, job interviews to attend, that sort of business), and we were only in the first stage of a thousand-plus mile journey! Given that circumstance, we did a quick stretch and vehicle check to make sure we were ready to go before preparing to embark out for the day. For the drive, we had walkie-talkies in each of our vehicles, allowing us to stay in immediate communication without having to manhandle our phones while on the move. Don't text/navigate/call and drive, guys! For real! It's dangerous out there! My car has an updated stereo to sync with Bluetooth, allowing me to drive and listen to the map directions without having to hold my phone...most modern cars are going to come with that sort of thing standard, but my car is over 25 years old so she came with a cassette tape deck and AM/FM radio. Old school, baby. 

So after admiring our four-legged friends in the desert, and looking up to catch someone gliding in a strange fan-powered chair set up. Quite the exciting start to the day, and we'd barely just gotten started!