Outdoors

Best neighbor

It may be a little bit self-serving to offer this award, but one RN&R staffer is very grateful to LeRoy Pendleton. To honor his late wife, Joyce, he donated 12 acres of land between Cashill and Skyline Boulevard to the Nevada Land Conservancy. As the homes creep up the mountains around our little valley, this area, within the McCarran loop, will forever remain home to wildlife and a visual balm to those who came here to enjoy the area’s natural beauty. Red-tailed hawks, galloping raccoons and the pet-loving coyotes can’t thank LeRoy for making Reno a better place to live, but we can.

Best dog park for your pooch to leave relatively clean, happy and not bitten by angry dogs with bad manners

Sure, the dog park at Sparks Marina is nice, but it just doesn’t have the huge heavenly pasture that Rancho San Rafael has. And the Virginia Lake dog park, well, it’s better than nothing, but it’s basically a fenced in dog-litter box. Rancho rules.