Reno 911

I spent the final week of 2009 in Reno, Nevada--nearly a week in the Biggest Little City that is both bigger and smaller than I remembered from when we left in 1990. 

You may know that I moved there in 1978 to seek fame and fortune.  I met and married two husbands.  Carly's dad and I divorced before she was a year old.  A couple of years later, I met John.  Two years after that we got married. 

Both Carly and Charlie were born at St. Mary's Hospital and although I didn't expect to darken those doors ever again, I found myself there last Tuesday afternoon.

John and the kids went skiing Tuesday morning.  By the time they got to Northstar (Tahoe), John was feeling poorly.  Combine the flu with altitude sickness and you get delirious and shortness of breath.  And some other stuff too but we won't go there.

John ended up in the St. Mary's ER where they administered some miracle drugs via IV and by the next day, he was almost as good as new.

I am not good with hospitals...or sick loved ones because I am not good at feeling powerless.  I know this is hard to believe but I prefer to be in control at all times.  Thank goodness it was not serious.

We did do some gambling and even though I know that slots are folly, I do love the nickle machines!  It's fun to win a little, which we did.

One night, our friends Mark and Debi Best cooked us a delicious dinner and we enjoyed getting to know their now-adult daughter Amber who was the first girl Charlie kissed (when he was two).  They hadn't seen each other since 1989 but are now Facebook friends...

We also enjoyed a meal with my cousins Doug, Kemble and Trenton Yates who were visiting from Washington, Oregon and Alaska, respectively.  If you get to Reno, we recommend Silver Peak Brewery!

I watched some local news and saw Bill Brown, Mike Alger, Terri Russell and Erin Breen, all of whom were either co-workers or competitors when I was haunting the Truckee Meadows, back in the day.  Better yet was the lunch organized by my pal Denise Clodjeaux that included Carly, Sharon Spangler and her daughter Audrey.  Audrey is a civil engineering student at the University of Nevada/Reno.  Go Wolfpack! 

The last time I saw Audrey, she was smearing smashed banana on the window that separated the assignment desk from the studio at KTVN while her mom anchored the morning cut-ins on the desk just a few feet away.  Good times!    These are some powerful women, y'all.

A big thrill for me was visiting the Sparks Marina.  When I was a much younger, thinner, cuter person I reported news from the "Sparks Bureau" for KTVN.  On air!  (Seriously!)  One of the on-going issues was the dispensation of a gigantic hole in the ground just east of the city center, alongside I-80.  The Helms Pit, as it was called then was more than a hundred feet deep.  A yawning maw in the earth.  Contaminated by run-off from a nearby tank farm.  Ugly.  Useless.  Or so it seemed.

From a city website: "Originally, consultants for the City of Sparks Public Works Department estimated it could take up to three years to fill the quarry and turn it into a lake. The New Year's Day Flood of 1997 made the lake a reality in a matter of hours. One billion gallons of water from the Truckee River and its tributaries filled the quarry as a result of the highest recorded flood event in Truckee Meadows history."

Now, it's rimmed with condos, a ubiquitous Legends shopping complex and even a beach.  Who da thunk it! 

I remain amazed.


Oh and Happy New Year, y'all.

Hope YOU got to kiss somebody...