Thursday, July 10, 2008

Reno: where indoor clean air doesn't exist

We are family...okay, okay I won't sing. Lured by the promise of a good family bonding experience, my siblings and I trekked down to Reno for a reunion of my grandma's family. As the oldest of five children my grandma is the only one alive, and might I say, she's just as feisty as ever. Although at 94 she wasn't able to make the trip down so we loaded up two cars with four children and six adults complete with one pregnant sister-in-law for a long car ride to Reno. Did I say long? Let me emphasize that one again.

This was my first trip to the "The Biggest Little City in the World" and true to Lardy family fashion never a dull moment to be had. Highlights of the weekend? Let's see...second day started off fabulous...I woke to a call from my dad asking if I noticed anything odd. "Umm...besides for you calling so early and expecting me to be awake?"

What I had failed to notice was the lack of power in our room, apparently a late night crash had knocked out the power to a two block radius. Well that decided our plans for the day, we loaded up the kids and set off for Virginia City. Virginia City was a brief stop for a train ride through the old mines of Nevada. Half way through the train ride passengers are "robbed" by a couple of reckless cowboys, all in fun and for a good cause we all tossed in dollar bills and change for a local charity. After the train robbery the sheriff and local deputy stop the train...can you guess where this is going? Yup, full re-enactment of a gun battle, it was quite amusing at least for us adults.

Forgetting the curious nature of my 4-year old niece, we were all subsequently interrogated as to why the people were shooting at each other. Hadn't their mommy and daddies told them it wasn't nice to shoot each other? This line of questioning was from the little smart and sassy niece who counts Christmas Comes to Willow Creek as one of her favorite movies. In a desperate attempt to end the questions and satisfy her never-ending curiosity I launched into an in-depth explanation of the ways of the Wild, Wild West. Oddly it worked, curiosity was satisfied and the conversation ended with her remarking, "huh, I'll have to tell my daddy, he probably didn't know that." Yes, Josi you go home and explain how the West was won. I have a feeling my sister may be in for more Western movies in the future than she is prepared to endure.

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