Reno, Nevada: $4 Million Dollars of Taxidermy at Cabella's

MLA and I spent most of today taking care of a few 'administrative' issues and as a reward decided to stop at the enormous Cabella's located a few mile from us in Verdi, Nevada, off of I-80. If you don't know, Cabella's is a huge outdoor hunting & fishing emporium. They bill themselves as the World's Outdoors Outfitters. And they are not kidding.

Hunting equipment & clothing, fishing equipment & clothing, archery, guns and ammo, fishing boats/kayaks, hiking equipment, exercise clothing and equipment, food court, archery range, shooting arcade, etc. It just goes on & on.

However the most amazing part of the store was entirely free, at least free to Cabella's customers. They have assembled a huge collection of stuffed animals. No, not the fabric ones stuffed with cotton, these were (once) real live animals that had been processed by taxidermists.

One whole collection was on African animals: elephant, lion, rhinoceros, zebra, water buffalo, wildebeest, hyena, etc. They had several prong horned or twisted horn animals I've never seen before, even on television.

One whole collection on animals from North America: deer, cougars, black bear, grizzly, mountain goats, Dall sheep, musk ox, fox, lynx, moose, etc. And all kinds of birds from all over the earth scattered around the store.

The animal exhibits were very well done. Supposedly Cabella's spent ~$4M for the exhibits. Not sure if that's true or just an urban myth in these parts however it's clear Cabella's spent a lot of time and money collecting animals for the exhibits. Wow!

Plus a huge aquarium with lots of big fish that people fish for in this part of the country.

I mentioned the deli. You know how they advertised the deli? A sign pointed out they had Elk, Bison, Ostrich, Wild Boar and other standard deli meats. Couldn't get MLA to sample any of the more exotic meals. In fact she went with her standard pulled beef BBQ. So boring.

In any case, MLA and I have been searching for a couple of those 'zero gravity' outdoor recliners and we found them at Cabella's. Set them up this evening and one of them works flawlessly: I feel asleep in less than 3 minutes. I'll have to test the other one tomorrow....

Perfect napping environment, looking up at the mountains, listening to the birds and other wildlife, comfortable recliner and bingo, perfect nap.

BTW - I was having serious sushi withdrawal pains since I have not had sushi for well over a month. Found a sushi store while shopping so I let MLA shop at Coldwater Creek (one of her favorite stores) while I slipped out for a little sushi. Awesome.

Tomorrow we will meet Marcie & Terry and ride the motorcycles to Truckee, which is up the mountain about an hour from here.

See Ya!