Reno Day 3

Sunday afternoon we drove about 80 miles east of Reno-Sparks, out beyond Fallon to the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge. As we had read in an outdoor newspaper that there had been a bird festival the weekend before, we were relatively sure that we would see a goodly number of birds. The day was pretty hot, nearing 90 degrees. The refuge is flat terrain, with shallow ponds, a couple of lakes, and many parcels that are dry. So there is habitat for different kinds of birds. The first birds that we saw were foraging in a field, great egrets, snowy egrets and white-faced ibis. We spent nearly five hours driving down different roads. All told we saw 30 species. Most unusual were American avocets and stilts, neither species that we see in Washington. Near five in the afternoon we came upon another small lake that had white pelicans, Forester’s terns and Caspian terns. During the day we did not see one other car on the refuge until we were leaving.

On the way home we stopped at John Ascuega’s Nugget to have our final dinner in the Oyster Bar. I chose bouillabaisse, which I found to be full of seafood but a little bland in taste. I much prefer the lazy man’s cioppino, which has all the clams, crab and mussels already shelled, thus the appellation ‘lazy man’s.’ A nice ending for our stay in Reno.

You have probably surmised that Anna and I are not big gamblers. Our hotel gave us ten dollars a day on a guest card. I put that $20 in a slot and took out $30. That and a few dollars worth of Keno was the extent of my gambling. But we manage to have a very good time every time we visit the "Biggest Little City in the World."