Ah, Reno. It’s a city chock full of memories for us. You might say it’s one of our hometowns. We took our honeymoon there, and at nearby Lake Tahoe. Later, after we began touring nationally with our theatre company, we stashed our belongings there in a storage unit. Because of this, we also put together a new show there every spring. And we performed for the local library system many times over the years, beginning with our very first year in business. And after we already had established ourselves as Reno regulars, Kimberly’s parents moved there to retire, so we had another reason to swing by whenever we were in the vicinity.

Every May, we would set up shop in their garage for pretty much an entire month, assembling our new production — working on the set, the costumes, the props, and doing rehearsals. (And having a heated discussion or two about the shows, thanks to our both being a bit pig-headed). Now that’s all behind us, and we just came to visit her parents, as well as her brother, niece and nephew. Oh, we still had plenty of tasks to take care of. Like trying to learn the Khmer language for our impending return to Cambodia.

But we also had more time than we ever did in past years to get out and about in Reno. And one thing we had to do was go to a certain corner and check out a certain electrical thingamajig (they’re technically called signal boxes). Because it was beautifully painted by none other than our niece Jenny, a gifted artist. (JennyJustPaints on IG) She was selected as a participant in a program called Art Signals, which offers local artists the chance to put their designs on these signal boxes all around the Reno area. Kudos to the City Of Reno for having the vision to convert mundane objects that were purely functional into works of art — and at the same time providing an opportunity for artists to have their work viewed by a larger public. (In a similar vein, we just learned that the city of Bogota, Colombia, which we visited not long ago, replaced all its traffic cops with mimes; whereupon traffic fatalities dropped by 50 percent. And some former traffic cops trained to become mimes themselves. Seriously.)

We were able to spend some time with Jenny, and with her brother Joey, who is the tech whiz in the family (our go-to guy whenever we have a computer question or tech problem). He came putting in on his motorcycle, which we’d never ride, but don’t mind posing with. Kimberly’s brother Chris is much more into cars, especially tiny ones — he has a huge collection of them all over his wall.

The beautiful Truckee River runs right through the heart of Reno, and attracts nature lovers, whitewater enthusiasts, fisherpersons, and sometimes even bathers. We took a hike along it in Mayberry Park, where we did a photo shoot three years earlier on the occasion of our 30th anniversary. Next to the park is a center called River School Farm, where, also three years earlier, we filmed a video to be offered as virtual performances during the coming year, since we were unable to do any live presentations because of the pandemic.

Later that day, Kimberly, her mom and Jenny had a girls’ day out; while Dennis dropped in at Circus Circus. No, not to do some gambling, but to catch some circus acts in the new (to us) and much improved performance space.

That night, we went with Jenny and Joey to the Reno Improv. As former theatrical professionals, we’ve always been big fans of improv (we are in awe of the troupe on “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?”) and catch performances of it whenever we can. (More on this in the next post.)

We also dropped by Reno Night Market, which is held during the summer months (this is a new development since our days of spending time in Reno), an open-air marketplace of arts, crafts, foods, and so on, complemented by entertainment and a really cool assortment of genuine vintage neon signs.

From bustling casinos and night life to special festivals to arts and crafts to nature and scenic splendor, Reno has it all. When we climb up on the hill near the home of Kimberly’s parents (as we always do almost daily when we’re there) we’re rewarded with a sweeping view that takes in all of these diverse worlds in one panorama.

7/24-8/2/2023