Out of town

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Last weekend, Margot and I loaded the kids in the fam van and struck out south. We were headed to the wedding of my good friend Dave Pomeranz, an ex-Reno guy who’s now an emergency doc down in Bishop, California. He and his lovely bride, Moriel, had a beautiful ceremony at a gorgeous spot overlooking Rock Creek Lake, in the Sierra. And yes, the wedding was so nice I feel fully justified in using the adjectives “lovely,” “beautiful” and “gorgeous” in the same sentence.

We made a weekend of it. Mama Margot and the older kids rode mules along mountain trails. (I stayed behind with the baby.) We visited Bishop’s Mountain Rambler brewery and had a few beers with the proprietor, my good friend Joe Lane, another ex-Reno guy who has done well in Bishop. If you’re ever in Bishop and want a beer, head there.

But the wedding was the highlight. Dancing under the stars, dogs and children swarming around, good friends, great food, even better booze, the effects of which were intensified by the high elevation (over 9,000 feet).

At the wedding dinner, we sat next to an older couple, Darla and Bob, who mentioned that they had lived in Reno for a few years during the late 1980s.

“What was the best thing about living in Reno back then?” Margot asked. (She grew up in Pennsylvania, and, although I lived in Reno for much of the ’80s, my primary concern was, “What time does Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles start?”)

“Well, back then, and I think it’s probably still true, the best thing about living in Reno was how easy it was to get out of town,” Bob said. “Most urban places, it’s surrounded by more urban places. From Reno, it’s really easy to get out of town and discover some beautiful natural places.”

Yep, that’s still true.