Wonderland, as in ‘wonder’

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

There are two kinds of people in Reno: Those who think winters here are hard, and those who don’t. (What do you think when people generalize? People either love that or hate that.) I’m not a big outdoor winter sports guy, but my warmest coat is a green cotton and corduroy thing that I’ve been wearing so long that the cuffs have disintegrated. That’s one of the great things about coming from a real winter state—it never seems cold here. Or not for very long, anyway.

I’m originally from Nebraska. I got here in August 1984, and I went to work up in the mountains a month or two later. I’d never previously seen 30 feet of snow come down in a day or two, but I have now. The sad thing, though, was I didn’t learn to ski until I was in my 30s, so I never developed the habit. Alpine skiing just seemed like one of those expensive habits that I’d drop the instant some new moving target catches the light and captures my attention.

Now, I wish I’d gotten into the habit, mainly because Hunter should learn. I mean, he’s been building head-high snow forts since he was a little kid. He likes the snow, and I think boarding or snowshoeing might be to his liking, too. Oh, well, I guess as R.V. Scheide points out in the first piece of the Winter Guide, it’s never too late to begin. I’ll bet a lot of our readers would also point out that it’s never too early to begin, either.

At any rate, as Kat Kerlin and I sit here in the world headquarters of the Reno News & Review, hoping against hope that the predicted big winter storm actually comes to pass, it’s pretty balmy outside. We’ve got to wonder if winter is ever really going to hit. In fact, today, Wednesday, Dec. 5, as the issue’s deadline is upon us, I might just go home and get the bike out for an evening ride.

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And here we are, ready to go to press on Dec. 12. I’ve still got four inches of snow on my deck. I guess winter has finally arrived.