A year into our move to Reno/Sparks - our thoughts. (Las Vegas: homes, find a job)

[SUPERCHIC]

I don't have kids but sure others on here do. I have friends that do. Most kids play inside in the summer since it is way too hot. The Boys and Girls club is awesome and something you may want to check out.

[KevinJPPark]

Wow, I was surprised to see this thread still up. I'm glad so many are still finding it helpful. I didn't go into employment, which I see a lot of people mention in critique of my post, in follow up posts.

Frankly I wouldn't recommend moving to any city in this economic climate without employment lined up. I wouldn't want to comment on something in a general sense... which frankly... is largely tied to personal experience, skills, and preparation.

A year later after my original post on this thread... I still agree with everything I said.... two years in, we now have a house and still love living here.

[tanmctee]

Originally Posted by KevinJPPark

Wow, I was surprised to see this thread still up. I'm glad so many are still finding it helpful. I didn't go into employment, which I see a lot of people mention in critique of my post, in follow up posts.

Frankly I wouldn't recommend moving to any city in this economic climate without employment lined up. I wouldn't want to comment on something in a general sense... which frankly... is largely tied to personal experience, skills, and preparation.

A year later after my original post on this thread... I still agree with everything I said.... two years in, we now have a house and still love living here.

YEAH! Another person loving Northern Nevada : )

[BusyMtnMomma]

Originally Posted by Euodia

Thank you for the great post. I'd read another about Reno recently which really got me down in the dumps about it but your restored my hopes that it may be a good move for us out there. My question for you is: do you have children? We have two school aged kids and I'm concerned about their quality of life. They have quite a bit of freedom where we currently are: loads of neighborhood kids to play with, large, green lawns and plenty of areas to play. Do you have any input about that? Thanks.

I'd say drive around potential neighborhoods on a Saturday afternoon and you'll get a good idea. I have two kids, 12 and 14, and we live near Rancho San Rafael park in a neighborhood that's about 30 years old. We've been here about 6 years, and we're the relative newcomers to the street - we still have some original homeowners around here. My typical day this summer started when one of the neighborhood kids would ring the doorbell early to call my son out to play, and then I'd only see him sporadically for the next 8-10 hours when he'd run in for a snack or track his progress as they moved from house to house, yard to yard, along the street. My kids ride their bikes, walk the neighborhood, and I feel safe. During the school year, you know when the nearby elementary schools and middle school have released because most kids walk home. I know it's not necessarily that way all across the area, but watching my kids grow up on this street has reminded me a lot of neighborhoods when I was a kid in the 70's.

Also, if you don't camp, learn to! After several years here, we bought a fifth wheel trailer and over the last five years, we've camped all over northern Nevada. We've gone and camped in the middle of the desert and explored old ghost towns and mining camps. At one point, we met a surveyor who clued us in to an old gravesite not on any map and it was like stepping back in time. Drive for a few hours in any direction and there are great places to explore. Even my hard-to-please 14 year old daughter gripes if we don't do enough camping in the summer!

There seems to be a lot of people who like to dump on Reno. I think it's what you make of it. The economy has hit us hard; my husband lost his job and searched long and hard to find one making substantially less and I'm at the university where my job has been tenuous for years now. But we really don't want to leave the area; we like it here.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by BusyMtnMomma

My typical day this summer started when one of the neighborhood kids would ring the doorbell early to call my son out to play, and then I'd only see him sporadically for the next 8-10 hours when he'd run in for a snack or track his progress as they moved from house to house, yard to yard, along the street. My kids ride their bikes, walk the neighborhood, and I feel safe. During the school year, you know when the nearby elementary schools and middle school have released because most kids walk home. I know it's not necessarily that way all across the area, but watching my kids grow up on this street has reminded me a lot of neighborhoods when I was a kid in the 70's.

Heck. Your description of life in your neighborhood reminds me of my childhood. And that was in the 50's. Sounds like a great place, to me.

[kathiguam]

AlohaReno: I read your post from 2010 (in reply to Kevin's post). I am originally from Oahu. How do you folks like Reno to date? Any additional feedback would be appreciated; I am trying to decide on a move to Reno.

[tiredofraininwa]

If I lived in Oahu - I wouldn't leave!

[Johanna Patterson]

How does one find out about all those free events and places that were mentioned?

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by kathiguam

AlohaReno: I read your post from 2010 (in reply to Kevin's post). I am originally from Oahu. How do you folks like Reno to date? Any additional feedback would be appreciated; I am trying to decide on a move to Reno.

Will try to keep this thread alive so anyone living in the area could give you feedback. There are a lot of good threads filled with tid-bits of facts about the area. Hopefully, some of the Reno residents will share with you.

Originally Posted by Johanna Patterson

How does one find out about all those free events and places that were mentioned?

You can always google "things to do free in Reno" or "free events in Reno." I did and came across this example.

Visitreno.com, A Guide to Reno, Nevada

[Johanna Patterson]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

You can always google "things to do free in Reno" or "free events in Reno." I did and came across this example.

Visitreno.com, A Guide to Reno, Nevada

ummm, hate to have to tell you this, but that link did not have a single free thing listed

Well, free coupons for $ off, but that's not the same as a free event.
I've used google a lot, and been to some things in Reno. But none of them were free and nothing I've found has ever been free in Reno.