Louise Speaks: Luckily today was another clear day, and we were able to come out from under the snow. Since we didn’t see Reno on the up to Lake Tahoe, we decided to take a day trip today and see this town since it is in Patricia’s book, “1000 Places To See Before You Die”. The ride up was an adventure in itself. We had decided to leave the snow chains on the car as we didn’t know what kind of weather we would face. There was snow on the ground as we were leaving Lake Tahoe but once we reached the main freeway the roads were clear. Since I have never driven with snow chains, and since I figured Thelma is from Iowa, she should know how to drive with snow chains. Well as you probably guessed, you’re not suppose to drive with snow chains when there is no snow. So since that is what we were doing, the chain on the passenger side broke and what a racket it made as we are driving 60+ miles an hour. So we pull over and take the chain off and we’re off again. Of course at this point, we think the chain just broke because they were cheap Wal-Mart ones and the plan was to take them back. Well we were not on the freeway more than 5 minutes when the other side broke. We pull over again, take that one off, and away we go. While in Reno we did go to Wal-Mart, and there were signs every where saying you can’t return or exchange snow chains once they’ve been used, I guess what happened to us must happen to others..so a lesson learned.
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 225,221. It is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Reno sits in a high desert valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Reno is famous for its casinos and is the birthplace of the gaming corporation Harrah’s Entertainment
They call Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World”. In fact there is an arch across main street that says just that. The “Reno Arch” was erected on Virginia Street in 1926 to promote the upcoming Transcontinental Highways Exposition of 1927. The arch included the words “Nevada’s Transcontinental Highways Exposition” and the dates of the exposition. After the exposition, the Reno City Council decided to keep the arch as a permanent downtown gateway, and Mayor E.E. Roberts asked the citizens of Reno to suggest a slogan for the arch. No acceptable slogan was received until a $100 prize was offered, and G.A. Burns of Sacramento was declared the winner on March 14, 1929, with “Reno, The Biggest Little City in the World”.
Reno is a miniature Las Vegas downtown, without all the glitz and glamor. I for one was NOT impressed. We did walk around town, because, of course we had to look for post cards. It was a week day so people were working in the downtown area, and there was traffic, but it seemed very dirty to me. Of course they had just had a blizzard a few days ago so maybe they hadn’t been able to clean the town up…regardless I was not impressed.
There were only two stops in Patricia’s book so we headed on our way to stop number one. This was the “Nevada Museum of Art www.nevadaart.org which was located right in town. The Nevada Museum of Art, is the only accredited art museum in the state of Nevada that serves as a cultural and educational resource. The museum participates in the Scholastic Art Awards program by providing secondary school students from northern Nevada a place to exhibit their works. A museum school provides various art classes to help develop art related skills for artists and teachers. You all know by now how I feel about museums, and this was no exception. I just don’t like them. The lobby had several pieces of art and paintings, and they wanted a $10 admission fee to see the rest. I personally had better plans for $10 than to go inside the main exhibit. I just don’t know how these places makes Patricia’s book. Of all the things one could have seen in Reno, this would not make my book.
The next place was the “Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center ” www.planetarium.unr.nevada.edu . It is located on the campus of the University of Nevada Reno, and had they beaten the U of A, I would have been more impressed to be here. The planetarium offers public star shows and large-format films showing daily in the dome theater, and public star observing courtesy of the Astronomical Society of Nevada. The planetarium was built-in 1964 and originally called the “Fleischmann Atmospherium-Planetarium.” This was the first planetarium in the world to project full-dome movies of time-lapse clouds and weather phenomena. After recently undergoing upgrades, Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center is now one of the first of a handful of planetariums around the world to utilize the Spitz SciDome digital projector, a high-resolution, state-of-the-art immersive visualization tool that produces extraordinarily bright and colorful 3-D images. The new projector is also adaptable to a number of disciplines and uses, supporting collaborations among the planetarium, other University departments and programs, and community organizations. The planetarium’s uniquely shaped building, officially termed a “hyperbolic parabaloid,” was designed by famed Reno architect Ray Hellman, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
Again this was another “museum” type attraction, and it just didn’t impress me. Maybe if I was interested in astronomy I would have oooed and awwed, but seeing that I’m not, it was a very short visit.
In my opinion, neither of these places would be on by list of things to do while in Reno. In fact unless you really have reason to go to Reno, I wouldn’t even make it a stop. That being said, I’m giving Reno and it’s attractions a D…don’t bother.
The trip back to Lake Tahoe was yet another adventure. We stopped at O’Reiley’s Auto Parts to see about getting more snow chains in case we would need them going over the pass to Sacramento. While we were getting ready to leave, we discovered that Thelma locked the keys in the car. So we waited patiently for a locksmith to come to our rescue. So not only was I not impressed with Reno and what it had to offer, I must say the journey to and from Reno was more interesting and adventurous.
AM…page 733
Thelma Speaks: