The Outdoors
If you like the outdoors, you will like Reno. There are fantastic mountain biking trails 5 minutes from campus. Lake Tahoe is 45 minutes away, and skiing, biking, hiking, paddleboarding, and climbing opportunities abound. In the winter you can ski on a powder day before going to class. In the summer you can go climbing, biking, or running after work. It’s almost always sunny, but rarely too hot. It snows just enough to be nice, but not obnoxious. There are very few other cities in the US that can compete in terms of access.
Skiing the Dana Couoir, Yosemite. 3 hr drive.
Mtn. Biking Peavine after work, 5 min to TH.
Skiing Kettle Peak with colleagues, 3 hr drive.
In the City
Reno is big enough that we have everything you might need right here in town. But it’s small enough that everyone is friendly, and it’s easy to get to know people. The Truckee River runs right through town, and there’s lots of beautiful parks along the river. In the summer you can tube down the river to cool off in the heat of the day. There’s some great coffee shops in town (The Hub, Homage, Coffeebar), good restaurants (Centro, Shwarmageddon, Brewers Cabinet), breweries (Lead Dog, Revision, Great Basin, Occidental), and amazing all you can eat sushi. All summer long there’s festivals (Art Town, Food Truck Fridays, River Festival, Hot August Nights, the rodeo, etc.). If you’re into the arts, check out the Generator, where much of the art for Burning Man is made. The Patagonia outlets hosts weekly outdoors and conservation themed movies and science talks. And the Discovery Museum has fun science related activities for adults and kids alike. If you like the casino scene, it is there, but it is also easy to ignore. Most of the city is relatively flat, and it’s easy to get around by bike.
Downtown Reno, River Festival
Idylewild Park, Food Truck Fridays
Technology
Reno is a growing hub for technology. The Bay Area (Silicon Valley) is only 3.5 hours away.. close enough to drive for a weekend, but far enough that we still have a comfortable small city life. Companies like Tesla, Apple, Google, Switch, and others are starting to put in offices and data/distribution centers. We have a growing start up culture, with companies like Flirtey, which develops autonomous drone delivered AED’s.