cheerfulOur first stop was Mill End Fabrics, where we were looking for a non-Chinese-made fabric measuring tape, and we found one, to our surprise. While waiting in line, we noticed the girl in front of us buying a couple of yards of lovely gold fabric. She said she was making "costume armor," and we asked more. She showed us the reference photo, and said it was for a costume she's making for Reno Pop Culture Con, an event I admit to not having heard of before. I introduced myself as a former Worldcon chair (albeit not of the Worldcon that was held at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center) and bragged about some of Lisa's costumes.
We got all of our errands done, had a nice dinner at the Peppermill, which is more crowded than usual (we had to park on the top floor of the parking garage, which is rare), and got home by 7:30 PM. There was a bit of a detour in Sparks because the main exit (Pyramid Way) is closed on account of all the Hot August Nights events tying up downtown Sparks, but it wasn't too bad. It certainly wasn't like that awful accident-related backup a week ago that obliged us to detour up to Pyramid Lake.
When we left Fernley, a series of thunderstorms were blowing through the area. We could see the ominous dark clouds from Reno, but the storms didn't come to the west. But there was evidence of them when we got home.
My camera can't shoot wide enough to get the whole thing in one shot, but there was a complete double rainbow visible from the front porch of the house shortly after we got home. It was very nice.
The rain made it muggy, but it did cool things down somewhat as well, which was a welcome relief from temperatures in the mid to high 30s C.
With luck, the only time we have to go to Reno again during Hot August Nights is on Sunday morning as we drive through on our way to the Bay Area. But that does remind me that it's in our best interest to get away as soon as we can on Sunday to avoid the worst of the traffic coming back to California from the event.