A break from driving today is what the doctor ordered. Two nights in one place is a luxury when we're traveling across the country.
Weather at 9 am, when we started our 10 km University of Reno Nevada/San Rafael Volksmarch, was 78 degrees. The National Automobile Museum hosted the walk box which is where we picked up our directions. Thankfully, we were allowed to park free in their lot.
The first section of the walk took us through downtown Reno and then onto the University of Nevada Reno campus. School is not in session, so the campus was deserted.
A blocks-long Biggest Little City Wing Fest was taking place downtown that had food trucks, vendors, and entertainment. Our interaction with the festival consisted of three blocks. For three blocks, we minimally interacted with the festival; walking behind the stalls and food trucks so we wouldn't be tempted by stuff and food we didn't need.
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The National Automobile Museum in Reno was
the start point for our walk. |
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| The Truckee River in downtown Reno. |
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| Vistro has creative-sounding food. |
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| Painted parking garage in downtown Reno. |
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Painted parking garage next to Lincoln
Alley in downtown Reno. |
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| The Amtrak Station in Reno, NV. |
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A rock-climbing wall goes all the way
to the top of the W Hotel!! |
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| More parking garage art. |
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| A climber on the rock-climbing wall. |
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| The National Bowling Stadium. |
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| Silver Legacy Resort & Casino. |
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University of Nevada - Reno was
founded in 1874. |
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| We walked 3/4 of the way around Manzanita Lake. |
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| Manzanita Lake. |
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Manzanita Hall - one of the oldest buildings
on campus. |
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| Manzanita Lake. |
When we got 3/4 of the way around the lake, we were supposed to "go up seven steps and follow the sidewalk to street, passing the library." Well, that didn't work! We had trouble finding the seven steps, and then we couldn't find the library. Construction was going on around the area where there was a street off the sidewalk that would take us a very short distance to the library door. I had to get out my phone. A UNR campus bicycle map did not show the library! We walked around trying to find the library. Apparently, it was on the Quad.
After 5-10 minutes, we finally saw a small sandwich board in front of the Mackay Mines building that said "Library." That was harder than it needed to be! From there we picked up the trail.
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Mackay Mines building. Do you see the tiny
sandwich board to the bottom left of the statue?? |
The statue in the photo above is John William Mackay, 1831-1902. The sculptor was Gutzon Borglum, the artist who designed Mt. Rushmore and sculpted Stone Mountain in Georgia.
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| The Quad and Morrill Hall. |
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"High Hopes," a bronze sculpture by
Michael Simpson. |
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Mathewson - IGT Knowledge Center,
University of Nevada - Reno. |
In the following photo, the inscription below The Shepherd reads, "A tribute to our parents, who were among the many Basque immigrants whose courage helped to shape the American West. Their Old World values of hard work and honesty set the standard and America provided the opportunity." ~John and Rose Ascuaga, August 4, 1998.
The history of this sculpture is fascinating. The late John and Rose Ascuaga, original owners of the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, Nevada, commissioned artist, and Reno native Douglas Van Howd, to sculpt the Basque statue for the opening of the casino's Basque-themed restaurant, Orozco, in 1998. The statue was donated to the University and its Center for Basque Studies by the Nugget Casino Resort in 2017. On May 27, 2020, the statue was relocated to the University campus. [Information about this statue is from "Nevada Today," Arts & Culture, by Lisa McDonald, September 9, 2021.]
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| "The Shepherd," by Douglas Van Howd, sculptor. |
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Mathewson - IGT Knowledge Center,
University of Nevada - Reno. |
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| E. L. Wiegand Fitness Center. |
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Joe Crowley Student Union, University
of Nevada - Reno. |
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| Lawlor Event Center, University of Nevada - Reno. |
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E. L. Wiegand Fitness Center,
University of Nevada - Reno. |
At this point in the walk, we exited the university and headed uphill to the San Rafael neighborhood. Uphill, downhill, uphill - we entered Rancho San Rafael Regional Park.  |
| A lovely home just off campus. |
We were in for quite a surprise in the park at the Wilbur May Arboretum: beautiful art. Wandering the trails during the day was gorgeous, but we timed it right for "Night Glow," without even knowing it was a thing. Keep reading.
Dragonflies: There are more than 5,000 species of dragonflies and most of them reside in tropical regions. While modern dragonflies have wingspans of only two to five inches, fossil dragonflies have been found with wingspans up to two feet. Because of this special feature, the exhibit designer and artisan put extra thought into the design of the dragonfly wings. Some wings are a dark blue color while others are light green, white, or bright yellow. The different colors are used to represent different species.
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| Dragonflies. |
Toucans: The toucan stands out as one of the most unique birds with its bright beak making up a third of its body. While you might think that beak must be a burden, it's quite light and useful. When a toucan sleeps, the bird tucks its beak beneath the feathers, which helps regulate body heat.
The spiritual symbolism of the toucan is strongly tied to mastery of language. People with the toucan as their spirit animal are often chatty and not afraid to take roles that require showmanship.
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| Toucans. |
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| A playful lemur. |
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| Watch out for that praying mantis! |
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| Praying mantis. |
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| Praying mantis. |
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| About the wisteria tunnel. |
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| Wisteria tunnel. |
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| Wisteria tunnel. |
Cuban Blue Scorpion: The Cuban Blue Scorpion is an endemic species, one of 36 different types of scorpion found in Cuba. Its name "blue scorpion" comes from the blue tone on its tail and stinger. It can live in different environments and ecosystems and has been found in forests as well as semi-desert areas.
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Scorpio in front of a Cuban Blue
Scorpion. |
Cobras are venomous snakes related to taipans, coral snakes, and mambas, all members of the Elapidae family. Snakes in this family cannot fold their fangs down, as vipers can, so the fangs are generally shorter. They kill their prey by injecting venom through their fangs.
The Venus flytrap is a meat-eating plant that uses a pair of jaw-like leaves to capture insects. When an insect or even larger prey such as a frog or mouse brushes against the trigger hairs on the flytrap, the leaves snap shut. This whole process takes a mere third of a second. The trapped prey is held between interlocking spines and undergoes digestion over a period of approximately ten days.
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| Venus flytraps. |
Poison dart frogs are no bigger than a paperclip. They have a long, sticky tongue that darts out and captures their prey. Their feet contain four toes, each with a flattened tip and a suction cup pad used for gripping and clinging to vegetation in their habitat.
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| Arboretum waterfall. |
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| So colorful!!! |
I told Bob that this exhibit must light up at night. I can only imagine how pretty that would be!
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| We look like we're doing the hula. |
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| Awesome exhibits! |
We continued through the arboretum displays and came to the central area where "Night Glow" happens. Here, there are food trucks and interactive exhibits.
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| Oh, dragon, how I love thee!! |
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| All about the arboretum. |
Guess what? All of those gorgeous, colorful exhibits are part of "Nature Glow," and we happen to be in town while it's here! I'll be back tonight, for sure. Bob not so much. He was happy with his ball game last night. The "Nature Glow" AKA Dragon Lights is my thing.
On the way out of the arboretum, we passed the May Center Museum. Onward we went through the neighborhood on our way back to downtown.
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| Yard humor. |
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| The City of Reno, Fire Station #4. |
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| These sunflowers are about 7-8' tall! |
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| Thanks for the cute photo, Bob! |
We only have a short distance left on our 10 km Volksmarch which has taken us hours to do because of the cool stuff we've seen. Back downtown, we saw some new things and then decided it was time for lunch and a movie ("Oppenheimer"). |
| Silver Legacy Casino in downtown Reno. |
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"Space Whales" was formerly displayed
at Burning Man. |
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The old United States Post Office is now
filled with shops. |
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| The Truckee River in downtown Reno, Nevada. |
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| Truckee River. |
Our walk directions instructed us to cross the bridge you see in the photo below to an island and a park. Unfortunately, the bridge was closed because there was an event on the island. We retraced our steps to the last bridge. That's when we decided it was time for lunch. There were a number of restaurants along the river and we decided on Smith and River. |
| Lunch at Smith and River. |
We had an hour until "Oppenheimer" started in the Cinemark Theater across the street from the restaurant. Bob and I shared the baked brie and the butter lettuce salad. He also ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with fries.
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Top: Grilled chicken sandwich and fries.
Center: Baked brie with Russian rolls, apple slices,
and candied pecans.
Bottom: Butter lettuce salad with peaches, strawberries, feta
cheese and white balsamic vinaigrette. |
Bob took half of his sandwich and some fries in a to-go box. Our truck (with a cooler and ice) was only a couple of blocks away. We walked over to the National Automobile Museum parking lot and he put his food in the cooler. I got rid of my walking hat, sunglasses, and a water bottle holder. Bob changed his shirt and changed his glasses. Then we returned to the theater to watch the movie. It was 2 pm.
When it came time for the movie, I must admit that after all that walking and a full tummy, I conked out for a good part of the movie. Bob enjoyed the depth of the movie and the complexity of it. The movie lasted three hours!
After the movie, we finished the remainder of the walk.
Second thought, what if there was an alarm? Hmm.
Third thought, call the towing company listed on the sign outside the gate. We didn't know if the towing company was for vehicles inside or outside the gate. Bob called the towing company. They couldn't help us because they hadn't towed our truck.
That left option 4, call the Reno police number on the sign. Bob did that and spoke to dispatch. They would try to get someone there, but they couldn't say when because the police were out dealing with REAL emergencies. A police officer called us back. He was on the other side of town and it would take him a while to get to us.
Bob asked him if it was okay if we crawled under the fence or went over it. The officer said that was okay. Both Bob and I tried to get under the gate. No go, we didn't fit. Then Bob decided there was a tree he could climb and then let himself down into the lot. Of course, I was there worrying my head off. I was afraid he'd fall or get stuck on the pointy top of the fence.
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| Yay! Bob got our truck out! |
He made it over and retrieved our truck. He only had scraped palms from the tree. Yay, Bob! Then he called the officer back to let him know we got the truck. All is well. We were able to give Sunnie his insulin on time!
To be continued in Part 2.
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