Fall in Reno

 We enjoyed lots of small family gatherings and events in the fall and since the season is just about to turn to winter I thought I would shre a few fall memories. Roughly in chronological order:

Sarah's birthday

Colts on the Run

Garrett's birthday

Sylvan's Jog-a-thon

Afternoon with the Wrights in Roseville

Calvin's birthday

Enough rain to create a rainbow

Nick's Birthday

Fresh squeezed lemonade on Veteran's Day

and a lunar eclipse seen only every 600 years

Thanksgiving 2021

 Thanksgiving 2021 was a busy day.  We got up early and drove to Truckee to try a new Christmas tree cutting area. It proved to have an abundance of trees that were easy to cut and carry. I think Calvin and I were the last to pick a tree and we were probably back at the car loading the tree in 20 minutes.

We spent a little time taking pictures...

Then headed back to Reno to get ready for our "pot luck" Thanksgiving dinner

Then we followed dinner with a birthday celebration for Sylvan with a not so traditional turkey birthday cake.

This Thanksgiving, like every Thanksgiving, I am thankful for such a wonderful family.

Wrights visit Reno

 The Wrights made a quick visit to Reno and we got to spend some fun fall days with our Santa Barbara grandkids. The big excitement of the trip was when James lost his first tooth.

We took the kids to Jurassic Experience which has some cool animated dinosaurs and about a billion kids all trying to ride the same "rides" which turned out to be mostly bounce houses.  The rides were a bust but the dinosaurs were cool.

We had a fun afternoon at the Village Green playground while all the Reno kids were still in school.

And almost as much fun just trowing rocks down the gully with Grandad

Hope Valley Wildlife area

We found a sunny day to go into the eastern Sierras and do a little leaf peeping. It was really a little past prime color but it was still a delightful morning stroll.  We went to Hope Valley Wildlife Area North Unit.

From the parking lot we took a paved trail which was probably at one time highway 89. It is highlighted in yellow.

The trail from the parking lot crosses the west fork of the Carson River,and then across the valley and up through aspens and finally a pine forest.  It probably ties in to the current 89 at some point, but the trail was snowed over and we didn't get to the top.

My great great grandmother, Lucy Nutting Ferguson, camped in Hope Valley August 25, 1848 on her way from the California gold fields to Salt Lake City. I love it when I get the chance to walk in her footsteps.

The valley was also along the Pony Express Route

We noticed a curious thing when we started looking at the carvings in the aspen trees. "J + B" had carved their initials in the trees almost every year between 1991 and in 2012, but the later years had been "crossed out."  There is a story waiting to be told here.