My Backyard - Hometown

Hi Friends!

The other day I was in the airport leaving my day-and-a-half trip to Vegas, because I work for the coolest company that has an annual company conference in Vegas.  Although I was still an 8 hour drive from Reno, I thought I'd finally make this post I've had in mind for a while.

I constantly see people post pictures on their blog of this magical land called "Tahoe."  They then proceed to talk about where Tahoe is and how beautiful it is.  Every time my comment to those posts is "that's my backyard!!"

I'm from Reno, NV.  Born and raised.

Via

I tell people this and they usually give that, "Gross" look.  It's not gross, unless you go downtown.  Then it's gross.  But Reno is lovely, especially if you're outdoorsy.

So welcome to my Hometown Backyard.

We have Santa Pub Crawls 

We have Wine Walks

We have Balloon Races and Dawn Patrol

We have Night in the Country and amazing sunsets #NoFilter

We have Donner Lake and backyard rock climbing

We have TAHOE

Via

I could go on and had to limit the pictures I used, but Reno really can be a fun city.  Not to mention the Doughboy Donuts rock ANY donut shop here in Portland.

Sweet Home Reno

In July, boyfriend and I made a journey back home to RENO! 

My friend Robin (Theta Big Sister) was getting hitched, so it was a great excuse to go home and see the family.

Boyfriend and I drove two cars down so he could return his Corolla to his mom (he recently bought a new car).  We brought the pups though so I had my Polly with me and we rocked out to country music the entire drive down!  I'm certain Polly loves country music as much as me :-)

... and boyfriend had Ibo with him.

It was nice seeing family and friends.  Boyfriend visited his family on Saturday while I spent the day with my Grandma, Aunt Julie, and Mom.

We got to see my dad up at Donner!

We attended an AMAZING wedding!

Funny story:  Boyfriend was among some of the single men to catch the garter.  I'm not sure why, but Melissa randomly started chanting "Aaron, Aaron, Aaron.." and got a few more people to chant.  My friends are only looking out for me :-)  So Aaron is in the front row and I was standing off to the side with my glass of champagne.  Bryan (the groom) flings the garter which soars through the air and bee-lines is straight toward ME.  I reach up and grab the garter.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I caught the garter.  Since Alex caught the bouquet, we decided that she and I would make a lovely couple.  Sorry boyfriend - you're off the hook for now.

 

I saw Lina briefly (she cried, we cried, it was a good reunion).

We ate Port of Subs.  Doughboy Donuts.  And Sushi Pier.
I have yet to find donuts in Portland that are as good as Doughboy!  So good! 
And Sushi Pier 2.  Where do I begin?  Portland only has the conveyer belt type of sushi, or $15/roll type of sushi.  I die.

... it was heavenly.

It was a nice visit back home!  But far too short.  The drive home was nice since we got to drive together.  We used to always road trip during the summers, so it was like old times.  It felt good to finally have a weekend together.  Boyfriend's days off are Tuesday and Wednesday, and I have Saturday/Sunday off, so it's rare we get to spend a "weekend" together. 

If you can't tell, we can't get enough of little Polly

 Boyfriend caught me sleeping

 

 And since I'm a light sleeper, the camera click woke me up.  Busted!

 

 Then I caught him sleeping with Polly perched on his shoulders.  What the...?!

 

The Weeeeeeebo