New Adventure

Well, I’ve thought about starting this blog for a long time! After the 5th person told me I should write a blog about my new adventures in Nevada, I finally made it my new year’s resolution to start writing. And here we are in June. Oops.

But, what better way to start then on your one-year anniversary of moving to a new place! So here starts my blog journey.

It all started with a phone call. My husband has always wanted to try living in a different state than Texas, but I never wanted to leave my family. He was recruited by a great company and all the stars aligned for us to take a chance and move across the country. To Reno, Nevada.

Now when I first heard “Reno”, a lot of images came to mind. None of which were accurate (you probably just did it too). Never having been to the area, what I pictured was a smaller, seedier Las Vegas. Location-wise I also thought it was like 30 minutes from Las Vegas… Oh contrare. This is actually a misconception I hear from people all the time when they think I live near Las Vegas. The two cities are 7 hours apart driving time. Las Vegas sits at the Southern pointy tip of Nevada, and Reno sits where the Western border turns to go straight up.  I also watched Reno 911 when I was in college. This show doesn’t bode well for the area (it wasn’t even filmed in Reno though). So I told my husband no thanks. But he talked me into coming along to his interview and seeing what it was like.

Fast forward to opening my eyes to a whole new world. For one, the flat Nevada desert I was imagining in my head is full of mountains. That’s one side of Reno. The other is the Sierra Nevada range, which is basically like being in the Rockies. (So that is why I sometimes post pictures in mountains with no trees, and then the next day I’m posting pictures that look like Colorado. We live in a valley and have about a 10 minute drive to either alpines, snow and bears, or dusty mountains, sagebrush and wild horses.)

Fun fact: Nevada is the most mountainous state in the country. (I had no idea)

Reno sits on the California border. Did you know? I didn’t. I live probably 12 miles over from the Nevada/Cali line. A lot of people come to live here because you get the California living vibe but you don’t have to pay state income taxes. San Francisco and Napa are just a few hours drive.

But probably the best part about Reno: proximity to Lake Tahoe. Reno sits just northeast of the lake. We are about a 30 minute drive to the water. And the lake is every bit as gorgeous as you imagined.

So for all these reasons, my interest grew upon visiting, and after a lot of weighing out the pros and cons, we decided to go for it. There was no better time than now. (I did however insist Brandon sign a contract that we would eventually move back to Texas when I was ready, so that’s that.)

So my plans for this blog are to chronicle my new experiences in Nevada, subsequent travels and probably anything else that pops into my mind. 🙂 Read along if you’d like!