Skiers and snowboarders, adults and kids, come to the UNR Ski & Board Swap to score discount ski gear and clothing for the upcoming snow season. According to the swap website, we're talking serious discounts, like 30% to 70%. You'll find both new and used items, including alpine and nordic ski gear, snowboarding equipment, and a variety of apparel for the slopes. The money you save may be needed for those pricey lift tickets at Reno / Lake Tahoe ski resorts. Even if you're not a skier, you may find equipment to enhance a day at one of our nearby snow play areas.

The UNR Ski Swap is the weekend of November 13, 14, and 15. Swapping will be at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center Exhibit Hall, 1350 N. Wells Ave. in Reno. Parking is free. Hours are 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Friday admission is $12 for adults, $6 for children 6 to 12, and free for kids 5 and under. Saturday and Sunday admission is $7 for adults, $4 for children 6 to 12, and free for kids 5 and under. Get a $2 discount on Saturday and Sunday by bringing a non-perishable food item to donate to the Food Bank. If you really want to get first crack at stuff, $25 will get you in at 5 p.m. on Friday, an hour ahead of the rush. 20% of all sales go to support the UNR ski team. For more information, call (775) 825-6555.

If you've got gear to sell, get details on how this works on the UNR Ski & Board Swap Sell Your Stuff page or call Jessie Turner at (775) 825-6555.

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Reno's Veterans Day Parade is on Wednesday, November 11. The parade route is along S. Virginia Street in downtown Reno, starting at Court Street at 11 a.m. and running north to 5th Street. Along the way, the parade will stop on the Virginia Street bridge to drop a wreath into the Truckee River in memory of the fallen men and women of our Armed Forces. The parade will include veterans groups, high school marching bands, civic organizations, and patriotic citizens.

No Fees for Vets on Veterans Day - Veterans and active duty military personnel, along with their families, will pay no recreation-related fees when they visit federal recreation lands on Veterans Day. The fee waiver always applies on November 11, even if the official observance of the holiday is on a different day. This program started in 2006 and applies to lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Forest Service.

In the Reno / Tahoe area, numerous public lands are available under the program. To learn more, visit the Nevada Bureau of Land Management, the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, the Tahoe National Forest, and the Nevada Fish & Wildlife Office.

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Truckee Meadows Trails is a new guide to some 68 pathways throughout the Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County region. Each listing provides a trail description, including length and difficulty, allowed uses, trailhead amenities, trail map, and how to get there. It tells you whether or not dogs are allowed and about leash requirements. Whatever you are looking for in a local trail - easy walking, dog walking, hiking, biking, horseback riding, cross country skiing, or snowshoeing - you'll find it in this excellent little book. It is divided into five sections, making trails near you easy to find - Eastern Sierra, Virginia Range / Truckee Meadows, Pah Rah / Sparks, Peavine / Northwest, Truckee River.

Your free copy of Truckee Meadows Trails is available at the Washoe County Regional Parks & Open Space office, 2601 Plumas Street in Reno, from the Scheels store, and at most every park facility in the area. You can also download a copy from the Washoe County website.

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Rembrandt: The Embrace of Darkness and Light is opening Sunday, November 8 at the Nevada Museum of Art (NMA) in Reno. The exhibit includes around 130 prints from copper plate etchings that span Rembrandt's artistic life. There will also be a recreation of his studio, complete with marble busts, taxidermy, a Cabinet of Curiosities, and more. Rembrandt is being brought to Reno through the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts. This unique exhibit will run through January 17, 2010.

NMA hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday. The Nevada Museum of Art is located at 160 W. Liberty Street in downtown Reno. For more information, call (775) 329-3333.

Source: Nevada Museum of Art.

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Have an expensive skiing habit to pay for and need a job? If that describes you, the Squaw Valley USA Winter Job Fair may be your ticket to relief on both counts. The resort will be hiring around 800 seasonal employees to service the slopes during the 2009-2010 ski season and one of them could be you. Jobs to be filled include lift operators, mountain hosts, ticket sellers, parking attendants, ski and snowboard instructors, cable car operators, rental shop technicians, and more. Applications, job descriptions, and other details are available online from the Squaw Valley website.

Squaw Valley USA is about 11 miles south of Truckee on Highway 89. For more information, call the personnel office at (530) 581-7112.

Squaw Valley pictures: I've got a couple of Squaw Valley photo galleries you may find interesting. One set of pictures is from Squaw Valley in winter and the other is riding the Squaw Valley cable car in summer.

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A good part of the historical accuracy of Amelia the movie is thanks to Reno author, former commercial pilot, and world traveler Elgen M. Long. His book, Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved, is based on years of exhaustive research that involved hundreds of interviews and collecting thousands of photographs and documents. Long's conclusion about the fate of aviatrix Ameila Earhart, despite all the conspiracy and other theories, is that she simply ran out of gas and was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island, one of her last refueling stops before completing her around-the-world flight.

Amelia movie makers purchased rights to Long's book and consulted with him extensively to help make sure the script was historically accurate for aviation as it existed during Amelia Earhart's era.

Amelia, starring Hilary Swank, is currently playing at these Reno movie theaters - Century Riverside, 11 N. Sierra St. in downtown Reno, and the Century Summit Sierra, 13965 S. Virginia St. (in the Summit shopping mall).

Sources: Reno Gazette-Journal, Elgen Long website.

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Street musician in downtown Reno...
Photo © Stan White

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Here's your chance to visit one of America's top 10 automobile museums for free. The National Automobile Museum in downtown Reno is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a day of free admission on Thursday, November 5. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Regular admission prices are $10 for adults, $8 for those 62 and over, $4 for children 6 to 18, and free for kids 5 and under.

The National Automobile Museum collection is comprised mainly of vehicles from the original collection of casino mogul Bill Harrah. The first museum in Sparks opened in 1962. Following Harrah's death, his collection was sold to Holiday Corporation, which then donated about 175 cars to continue the museum. A non-profit corporation was formed in 1981 to preserve the collection, which resulted in today's museum being opened in 1989.

The National Automobile Museum is at 10 S. Lake St. in downtown Reno, across from the Siena Casino Hotel. There is free parking for museum patrons. For information, call (775) 333-9300.

Sources: National Automobile Museum, Reno Gazette-Journal.

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The Washoe County Health District has been giving H1N1 (swine) flu vaccinations to those identified as being in high risk groups. These are people more prone than the general population to either become seriously ill or to infect others. The vaccine will be made available to the rest of us when people in those groups (who choose to) have been inoculated, and when additional vaccine is received in Washoe County. When that information becomes available, you'll read it here.

Despite assurances from the Washoe County Health District, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and other agencies, there are those who, for various reasons, will refuse to get the swine flu vaccination. What are you planning to do? After answering the poll, please leave a comment and let us know how you feel about it.

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Masonic Building (center) next to the Truckee River in downtown Reno, Nevada.
Photo © Stan White

Over the last few weeks, crews power cleaned and painted a couple of downtown Reno's more unsightly old buildings. It's about time. They've been dirty and covered with peeling paint for years. However, the facelift doesn't fix the awful architecture. I guess it was cutting edge in its day, but that day is long gone. When the economy improves, it sure would be nice if the owners updated those things. Meanwhile, I'm not complaining about a little less city center blight.

The structure in the center of the picture is the Masonic Building, which is less than a block from City Hall and had been moldering by the river for I don't know how long. Last spring, Reno Murals put a beautiful Nevada scene on the west side of the building facing the new Palladio condos. Now, the rest of us are at least relieved of the grimy pigeon poop and graffiti look.

The other spiffed up building is behind those in the picture, at the corner of 1st and Virginia Streets. A new owner had placed big For Lease banners on it, but there don't seem to be any takers so far. Perhaps they will have better luck now that the place looks like someone actually maintains it. Many moons ago, before urban sprawl sent such businesses scurrying to the suburbs, one of the original tenants was JCPenney.

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