Reno Sights

Reno, NV  High 79  Low 43

The Reno Amtrak Station

The world’s tallest climbing wall located in downtown Reno. Opened in 2011 this wall features a 164 foot climbing wall which is 40 feet taller than the one in the Netherlands. It has 2900 square feet of overhanging bouldering surface.

It has the only official 15-meter speed wall in the United States and has a peak of 190 feet above street level for experienced climbers.

The Reno Arch

The Truckee River

Elvis’s Guns and jewelry (Jan, if you and Bill haven’t seen these, put them on your list.)

This extensive collection of guns is located in Sierra Sid’s Casino which is attached to a truck stop.

The motorcycles are noisy and we are definitely ready to head out tomorrow morning. I still have a couple of posts from this area but I’ll get caught up eventually.

Street Vibrations

Reno, NV  High 59  Low 38

I forgot to tell you about our excitement the day we arrived here in Reno. Jim was cutting up treats for the girls with tin snips and proceeded to almost cut the tip of his finger off. I wrapped a Band-Aid around it very tightly but after two hours it was still bleeding profusely. Found an urgent care not too far away. They cleaned out the cut and determined he didn’t need stitches. They glued some steri-strips on it and because of his diabetes, put him on a five day dose of antibiotics. It’s looking pretty good now. Still sore if he bumps it but healing.

Also wanted to share this picture with you. We came over Lost Trail Pass about two weeks ago. This is what it looked like today. Sure am glad we didn’t wait any longer to head south.

Now back to the Reno area.

Street Vibrations is a celebration of music, metal and motorcycles. They are expecting over 30,000 bikers and have several stages set up for entertainment and major events are planned at Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Virginia City, and Lake Tahoe.

I understand they had some problems a couple of years ago between the Hells Angels and the Vagos gangs which would explain this sign on our laundromat door here in the park.

Lots of toyhaulers pulled into the RV park yesterday and the park is almost full. Rather noisy now with all the bikes. This is one of the nicest parks we have ever stayed at. Very well maintained. Friendly staff.

Huge wonderful dog walks. But those dog walks scare Skittlez to death. Even when there aren’t any other dogs in them. Not sure if she is overwhelmed with all the smells but she refuses to do what she’s there for. All of the sites have fake grass and they really don’t want dogs peeing on it. We try hard to avoid that issue.

That means we have to do something with Skitz. We do have a couple of pads in the house but she doesn’t like to use them either. However, there is a park not far from us that allows dogs on leashes so we make several trips a day to the park. The girls love it.

Sparks Marina Park

Jim and Scooter chasing geese.

This sign made Jim unhappy.

 

Male ducks doing their thing when there’s a female around.

There are a few sailboats at the marina. They also use this lake to practice scuba diving. They sunk an airplane in it for divers to explore.

A Really Big Store

Sparks, NV  High 78  Low 48

When we were in Billings Todd told us they were building a new Scheels store that was going to have a Ferris wheel. A Ferris wheel??

Now we are in Sparks, NV and I discovered that the Scheels store here is the largest sports warehouse store in the world. (The store in Billings will be the second largest.) I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check this out and Jim could look at fishing stuff.

This store is 275,000 square feet of every type of sports gear you can think of along with a lot of different entertainment areas especially designed to keep the kiddoes happy.

When you walk in the door you are greeted by a 16,000 gallon aquarium.

Yes, there is a Ferris wheel inside. No, we did not ride it. Ferris wheels and I don’t like each other very much. It is a 1930’s era of Ferris wheel that has been restored. Scheels wanted it to be in the Nevada store because George Ferris (who invented the Ferris wheel) used to live in Reno.

Or how about a 35 foot tall Wildlife Mountain.

There is a shooting gallery, a sport simulator where you can test your skill at basketball, soccer, baseball and football. Also test out your driving skills in the NASCAR simulator. Also a fudge shop and deli restaurant.

There is a Walk of Presidents. This is Thomas Jefferson.

I loved this row of Frisbees – all the bright colors. (I didn’t realize this guy’s head was in the middle of my picture til I saw it on the computer.)

Near the exit is a small Ferris wheel museum. The original Ferris wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World’s Columbia Exposition in Chicago.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the store and Jim was able to find some fishing stuff he didn’t have.

Family

Reno, NV  High 74  Low 49

Jim needs projects when he’s not fishing or sightseeing with me. Saturday was a lousy day – it was cold and the wind was howling. I made a big pot of hamburger soup and Jim decided to tackle a couple of those things he wanted to do but never got around to.

The end of our power cord was frayed and Jim had fixed it temporarily with electrical tape. Today was a good day to fix it permanently.

 

 

 

 

His second project involved moving the latch on his chair table. He has a chair that has a bracket for a table that folds for traveling. The table kept hitting the slide wall so he repositioned the latch. That kept him out of trouble for a few minutes.

Our daughter-in-law, Michaela, was a bridesmaid for her good friend and she posted this picture on FB. I love this picture of her and Todd.

National Automobile Museum

Reno, NV  High 68 Low 44

In case you didn’t know, Jim really likes old cars. Reno has a great auto museum downtown so off we went. When we got there I decided I just could not go to another car museum. I sat in their lobby and read while Jim had a great stroll down memory lane.

Now this is a gorgeous car – a 1921 Rolls-Royce

This is a 1994 Roth’s Beatnik Bandit.

Most of the vehicles displayed are from the collection of the late casino owner William F. Harrah. The museum has been named one of the 'Top Ten Museums' by Car Collector magazine.

I also made Jim select the cars to go in the blog post. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

This is the 1949 Mercury driven by James Dean in the movie Rebel Without A Cause.

How many of you remember the 1959 Scimitar produced by the Chrysler Corporation?

A 1948 Tucker

A 1958 Cadillac El Dorado

And the final entry – a 1953 Chevy Corvette

National Bowling Stadium

Reno, NV  High 68  Low 42

When I read about this stadium I knew it was a must stop for us. My dad owned a bowling alley when I was a teenager in Sidney, MT. We went to Florida and to California with Dad when he went to Bowling School. The first trip was to learn how to repair the pinsetter machines. The second trip was when they upgraded the machines and he had to learn how to take care of the new machines. Those first machines broke down on a regular basis and Dad would have to go in the back and reset the pins manually.

This is from their website:

“Bowling is kind of a big deal in Reno. While most cities have bowling centers, we have a stadium. That's right - a stadium. The only facility of its kind in the world, the National Bowling Stadium (referred to as the “Taj Mahal of Tenpins" by The Los Angeles Times) is dedicated to the classic sport of bowling.”

This stadium was opened in 1995, cost $47.5 million dollars and took three years to build.

This three wheel cycle by B.S.A. debuted in 1929. It had a reverse gear, electric started and a top. It also had an air-cooled engine that powered a 3 speed gearbox and front wheel drive. It was donated to the stadium by one of the owner’s daughters.

We were disappointed when we got there because the Hall of Fame and Museum were closed. The signs say they are open daily but the security guard told us that they are really only open when there are tournaments happening. The guard said the only reason the building was open was because they had an event planned for that evening. But he told us we could take a look around and take pictures as long as we stayed off the lanes. (Why anyone would walk on the lanes in regular shoes is beyond me.)

This is not your ordinary bowling alley. When you walk in the door there is a bronze sculpture of a family on their way to bowling. It was given to the Stadium by the Brunswick Corporation.

You can take an elevator or ride the escalator to the fourth floor tournament level.

There are 64 lanes (our bowling alley had 8 lanes).

At one end of the stadium is a separate room with 10 lanes. This area can be rented out for parties if not in use for tournaments.

 

 

 

This section has two lanes more than our bowling alley.

Drinks are not allowed down in the bowling area so they provide these booths with tables for bowlers to use between their turns.

I was totally amazed by this place but this section really caught my attention. I think this area can be converted to a huge theater but it looked really strange to have all this seating at one end of the building with sky boxes.  

It seems a shame to me that they don’t allow public bowling here. It is strictly for tournaments and other special events. Such a waste of an awesome facility.

Trains and Planes

Sparks, NV  High 78  Low 46

Okay where were we? Leaving Twin Falls. I had thought we were going to spend the next night at the Elko Walmart. Not happening. It’s difficult to get in to and the parking spots are not set up for a rig to straddle them. Small rigs would be okay.

We called a couple of RV parks in the area and they wanted $47 for a night. That was not happening either. I knew there was a small city park at Battle Mountain about 70 miles down the road and Jim said he was up to the drive.

Now city park is rather an exaggeration but they did have five RV spots. No hookups but water at a couple of the sites. And best of all It’s free.

We got backed in and settled when all of a sudden we hear this rumbling noise and realize that we are about 100 feet from a railroad track and a railroad crossing. This picture was taken from inside the rig.

Jim can sleep through anything and I am getting better at blocking our some noise. I only counted three trains during the night. However, since we had covered 70 miles that I hadn’t planned on, my plans for the next night got changed. We were going to stay at the Winnemucca Walmart but instead we drove the 216 miles to Sparks, NV.

We parked at Baldini’s Casino and decided we’d spend three nights there before we moved to the Sparks Marina RV Park. We had train noise but it was much further away and no big deal.

But – we were directly under the landing pattern for the airport. And the airport wasn’t far away so the planes were very low when they flew over. The good thing is that they must not let them land between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.

We met up with friends who were also camping at Baldini’s. Went to dinner at the Black Bear Diner. We originally met Diana and Phil at Superstition Skies in Apache Junction. Barbara and Diana are sisters and we also met Barbara and Ron at Skies last spring.

Jim, Sandie, Barbara, Ron, Diana, and Phil.

We have moved to the rv park and I was ready for full hook ups again. We were getting low on fresh water and my computer needed a good charge. Now hopefully I can catch up with blogs, yours and mine.