Last year I wrote a blog entry about adjustments we made while living in the west Texas desert. These included things like regular border patrol stops, hundred mile drives to get a pizza, and all the other wonderful and some less wonderful things we got used to at Big Bend.
A truism we have come to learn, and certainly expected, is that when you go to new places you will find new things. It is just that, so far having been at this for just a year and a half or so, it still can be a be a bit of a surprise or smiling reminder that you’re in a new place!
So, some northern Nevada adjustments.
If you notice in the picture above, there is a short vowel sound above the first ‘a’ in ‘Nevada.’ It turns out people here are a bit touchy about the way one pronounces the state name. We, and we think most people out of state, pronounce Nevada as the first ‘a’ being an ‘ah’ sound. Well, they get angry here and have a whole state campaign to correct outsider’s ‘misinformation’. Locals pronounce Nevada as Ne-vadd-a with all short a’s. If you want some help practicing, here’s one of many websites you can go to for this important issue!
http://www.wikihow.com/Pronounce-Nevada
From a distance us on the east coast have heard about the crazy gas prices in California. Unfortunately, and we were a bit surprised by this, while Nevada is not California, it’s pretty close – you can leave Reno and be in California in 10 miles. So, when we hear the national average price for a gallon of gas is $3.68, we long for such prices. We have seen prices as high in our travels as $5.49! That was on our way to Yosemite and in a rural area, but trust us gas is high here. The average price is $3.99 to $4.19. But if you look, and we certainly do, we have found such bargain prices as $3.71, $3.89, and such. This is how bad it is, in our travels to Yosemite we were ‘excited’ to find gas for $4.05.
By the way, we have become major fans of gasbuddy.com. If you are not aware, this is a free app you can download to your phone and check gas prices near you or for certain locations. There are other apps for this and if you know a better one, please pass it along.
We like to run as a way to stay in shape and running shoes are easier to carry in the van than a treadmill or elliptical! On our way here, we hoped we would be living near something that was somewhat flat. In Big Bend we were on the side of a mountain which made running a real workout, whether or not you wanted it. Well, when we got here we found out we are living on the ‘Highway to the Clouds’ the tallest year-round maintained pass at over 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. So much for running paths anything like flat. After a week or so of running down and then back up the mountain road, we decided it was time to buy some trail running shoes!
We live in a ranger house in the woods on US Forest Land with trails literally out our doorstep. (The visitor center that we work at is a short 10 minute walk down one of the trails. We are located about 15 miles south and west of Reno. Reno is at 3,500 feet elevation and we are at 6,500 feet. ) There are more than 30 miles of trails just in the park we work and live in. And trail running is a more fun way to go up and down mountains, at least we think so, than being on busy pavement roads. Fortunately, Sierra Trading Post, a large national mail order company for all things outdoors is located in Reno. We now are proud owners of trail running shoes and do so each morning to start our day!
Certainly there are and will be other adjustments as we continue to experience living in northern Neva︣da, these are just a few!
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