Category: Reno

Weather in Del Webb’s Sierra Canyon in Reno

Last November I wrote a blog about what it is like to live in Sierra Canyon a Del Webb’s over 55  active adult community in Reno. Today I got a comment on my posting  asking about the weather here. Shirley, the commenter is from Washington state near the Canadian border. She asked about snow, cold, heat and dreariness. Here is my reply to her.

I
suspect you would really like Sierra Canyon. You asked about snow. It
really is not bad at all. This is my first winter in Reno but
apparently we have had a lot more snow than usual this year and it
doesn’t seem like all that much to me. I think we have had 5 or 6
snowstorms and the snow has melted in between them.To me we had just about the right amount of snow. We had the beautiful snow
experience but it didn’t last or block the roads for very long.

If you haven’t picked a house here yet you might consider getting a
south facing driveway. It had never  occurred to me  but
the snow melts in our south facing front yard much faster than it melts
on the yards across the street from us. It is amazing to drive down our
street a couple of days after a snow storm. The yards on the right have
no snow and the yards and driveways on the left still look like winter
with lots of ice and snow. 

It gets cold here but it is nothing like living in the midwest. We
spent quite a bit of time in Iowa this winter and there is a big
difference between temperatures in the 20s and 30s like  we have in
Reno and temperatures around zero like we experienced in Iowa.

You asked whether it is gloomy here. Just the opposite. Reno is
high desert and as a result we have a lot of very sunny days. It is one
of the things I really like about living here. Because it is desert it is also very dry here. We run a humidifier quite
often. Living in a  wetter climate like
Washington means that because ] it is wet it is very green. I suspect that
the thing you would miss most about Washington is the beautiful lush
green vegetation. If I was picking a color to describe western
Washington it would be green. My color for Nevada would be brown.

You may wonder about all the snow in my snowshoeing pictures. We
are right up against the east side of the Sierras. Most of the moisture
from the Pacific hits the Sierras and is dropped on the west side of
the mountains. If you drive 30 miles west from here there is still a
lot of snow. Here there is none.

One other thing about the weather in Reno that you didn’t ask about
is the wind. Especially where Sierra Canyon is situated right up
against the mountains we get a lot of wind. I kind of like it but I
know it drives some people crazy.

I am probably not a good person to ask about the heat in the
summer. We didn’t move up here until the beginning of July and I didn’t
start living here until late August. I spent a good part of last summer
taking care of my Mom who died a the end of July. My husband Duke says
that there were very few days that he turned on the air conditioner.
These houses are VERY well insulated. Don’t get me wrong, Reno can have
very hot weather but as I understand it extreme heat is not the norm. I
think there is a big difference between Las Vegas and Reno. We are more
than 400 miles farther north.

Weather can make a big difference to your state of mind.
But I think the  gorgeous scenery and the abundance of bright sunny
days make Reno a great place to live.

Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know.

Marion

Reno Senior Winter Games – snowshoeing

Yesterday I competed in the snow shoe race for the Reno Winter Senior Games. The race was over a 5km course at Northstar Ski Resort. We went pretty much up hill through the trees for the first half of the race and down hill for the second half. I finished the race in 56.08 minutes which was fourth overall and first in my age group (55-60). Of course there were only 12 people participating in the race and I was the only one in my age group. I think next year they will promote the event more so that they have more participants. I had a lot of fun and I plan to do it again next year.

There was a photographer there from the Sierra Sun. You can see her pictures including a close up of me here.

A couple of other people used my camera to take pictures. Here are some of them. You can see the rest on my Flickr account.

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What its like to live at Sierra Canyon by Del Webb

A couple of times I have received emails from people who are thinking about moving to Reno. They have read my blog and are wondering what it is like to live in a 55 and over community like Del Webb’s Sierra Canyon. Recently someone asked me the following.

"We also thought about living in a retirement community but felt it may be full of
really old people and lifeless. Can you tell me more of your experiences of
retirement living in Reno and at Del Webb?"

I thought others might find my response to him interesting so here it is.

"Thanks so much for your email and kind comments about my blog.

When I told my girls that we were moving to a Del Webb community they
were horrified that we would move to a place for "old people". Before we moved here we could never see ourselves living in an active adult community. But when we started looking for a place to live in Reno Sierra Canyon seemed like a good place to live since the houses are very nice and the rents are so reasonable.

We moved last July and it has been a great experience. I am sure there
are lots of old sedentary people here but the people we have met have been
just the opposite. If you have  looked at my blog you have probably seen all
the hikes the hiking group takes. We have a lot of fun. The people in the group are really great, interesting, active people that I have enjoyed getting to know. In addition to hiking Sierra Canyon has lots of other activities
too.

The gym always has people in it working out and I really love the yoga
class. There are also Pilates classes, water aerobics classes, dance classes and lots more.

The people in our neighborhood organized a wine walk last week. We each chipped in $10. Thirty of us visited 8 houses (including ours) and
tasted wine. It lasted from 1 until 4. Anyone visiting the neighborhood at 1
on Saturday would have been surprised to see people coming out of houses
all at the same time carrying wine glasses. We met a lot of new people and had
a lot of fun.

I want to join the bridge group
and my husband and I often play pool. There was a tournament last Saturday.
I hear that the photography group is great and the several of the people
we hike with are in the book club.

The very best part about living here has been the people. I have never lived any place where it is so easy to get to know your neighbors. I mentioned this to a friend in the hiking group Monday and she said most people who move here tend to be social outgoing people.  I think that is true.

The down sides of living here are that you do pay homeowners dues
(actually our landlord does) and the homeowners association is pretty strict
about what you can and cannot do with your house. Of course this does protect
home values.

My husband and I chose Reno because we wanted to live some place
cheaper than California and Reno was a convenient place to rent while we waited
for our house to sell. We haven’t decided whether we will settle here permanently but we are seriously considering it. Reno has been a very pleasant surprise. It is a beautiful setting and there is sure a lot to
do. Some of the people we hike with volunteer at the art museum. The museum sounds wonderful and working there sounds like fun so I want to check
it out.

If you have any other questions please let me know."