Who'da Thunk it?!

Of all the places in the world that I thought I would ever say, "What a cool town!," Reno would not have been one of them.

I must, however, admit to the world that Reno -- outside of the casino and neon scene -- is delightful, progressive, quaint, fun, and beautiful! (I think that hurt a little).

Fuego and I (and Emjay and Ginger) visited some seminary friends in Reno two weekends in a row (bookending our trip to camp). On the first visit, we were surprised to find that Reno was so much larger than just the cityscape of neon signs, casinos, and cheap (and dirty) hotels. The residential part of town where our friends live was quiet, scenic, and reminded me of some parts of Laramie Wyoming (a quaint little town where my great-aunt used to live). We had some amazing food, found one of the coolest pet-food stores I've ever found (I will be looking for the grass tile when I redo the kitchen in our future house-to-be), and, on a tip from DogFriendly.com, went to Wild Oats Market, which turned out to be one of the best natural foods stores I've found in years (at least as cool as Whole Paycheck but without the visible dent left in your wallet). Our friend's home was quite beautiful, with an awesome terraced backyard full of native flora and a serene feeling that comes with a well kept and intentionally calm oasis.

On the way home, we stopped again, this time to have lunch with another seminary friend at a different but equally as tasty restaurant. Then we took Ginger to an amazing dog-park that used to be a ranch. She had a blast and was exhausted enough to sleep for the whole ride home. We'll be going back at some point to check out another dog park that has it's own lake (zoiks!), and to spend some more time checking out the river in the historic downtown area.

I'm as surprised as anyone to be saying that Reno is a beautiful town... I guess you just have to know where to look!