Enjoy a free day at the state parks, canoe rides

CCMS One-Act Play Competition

Four one-act plays will contend for first place during the spring Churchill County Middle School One-Act Play Competition.

Churchill County High School thespians serve as directors for the middle schoolers in “Another Cinderella” by Robert Fontaine directed by Emma and Jacob Bake, “Hubbub on the Bookshelf” by Alice Woster directed by Valarie Hennessy, “The Lighthouse” by Craig Sadaro directed by Bailey LaFluer and Kasey Johnson, and “Seeing Beyond with Myra Fantasma by D.M. Larson directed by Megan Wittington and Andrew Pettit.

The students will show off their talents on April 17 at 6 p.m. in the CCHS Theatre. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for high school students and $2 for younger students and senior citizens.

BEST OF NEVADA VOTING

Nevada Magazine’s 18th annual Best of Nevada readers’ poll is underway, and votes are continuing to pour in.

The survey allows Nevada lovers to vote for their favorite restaurant, hotel, museum, bar, and more. This year, family-friendly categories have been added. One lucky voter will win a complimentary Nevada travel package, which includes a hotel room, cruise, buffets, and more. Voting closes April 17, and results will be published in the July/August issue of Nevada Magazine.

This year’s Nevada travel package offers one lucky winner two nights in a one-bedroom condominium suite at The Ridge Tahoe, two sightseeing tickets on the Heavenly Lake Tahoe gondola, two-hour lunch cruise to Emerald Bay for two aboard the Tahoe Blue Wave, a sleigh ride or carriage ride for two, and dinner for two at the Hard Rock Café Lake Tahoe. The grand prize winner will also receive a Hard Rock Hotel swag bag.

In an attempt to highlight more family-friendly Nevada happenings, Nevada Magazine has added several new categories to this year’s survey. The new categories include family-friendly attraction, family-friendly museum, family-friendly restaurant, and family-friendly show.

Voting can be completed by visiting www.nevadamagazine.com.

COWBOY POETRY

Nevada’s oldest town announced the sixth annual Genoa Cowboy Festival will take place from April 30-May 2

Previous Cowboy Festivals have attracted thousands of visitors to the community located at the base of the Sierra Nevada.

This year’s event will feature performances by some of the best-known entertainers in Western music and cowboy poetry, including Lacy J. Dalton, Gary Allegretto, Mike Beck, Belinda Gail, Richard Elloyan, Sourdough Slim, Larry Maurice, “Bimbo” Cheney and The Western Flyers western swing band.

Other festival events include: Chautauqua performances; a birding nature walk at the River Fork Ranch; a “Birds and Buckaroos in the Carson Valley” photography show at The Nature Conservancy’s Whit Hall Interpretive Center; and a dinner and barn dance on Thursday evening, April 30, at Trimmer’s Outpost in the Town of Genoa.

This year’s event is free to the public and also features cowboy mercantile crafts and clothing, Western art exhibits, pioneer and Old West living history re-enactors, and a variety of delicious food from popular local eateries.

For tickets to evening concerts and more information go to www.GenoaCowboyFestival.org or call 782-0326.

nORTHERN NEVADA railrOAd

Fascination with the Wild West will never die, so thankfully there are many windows to this colorful and rugged period still thriving in the heart of Nevada.

The Nevada Northern Railway in Ely provides a bona fide window into the old west, and it opens for the season April 11.

Rides on the authentic steam and diesel trains are scheduled every weekend through the fall, and daily during the summer. The April 11 kickoff also includes lodging options, where guests can stay the night either in the historic caboose or railroad bunkhouse.

Regular rides include caboose and engine rides, the steam excursion train (a 90-minute train ride on a train pulled by a century-old steam locomotive toward Ruth Mine), as well as the opportunity to ride with the engineer. Diesel train excursions and reenactment train robbery rides are also available on certain weekends. In May, there’s Rockin’ and Rollin’ (a geology-themed outing May 16); Star Train (view the wonders of the galaxy with expert Dark Rangers from Great Basin National Park, May 22); Wild West Limited ride (a ride to Keystone Gulch with desperados, May 23, Memorial Day weekend); and Restoration Rails (May 30).

For information and a complete schedule, go to www.nnry.com.

V&T railrOAd

With a rhythmic choo-choo the Virginia and Truckee Railroad will come alive this Mother’s Day weekend as the vintage diesel engines offers a chance to take a trip back to the Wild West. (http://vtrailway.com/)

Anyone can take mom to brunch, but there are extra points for style. These special edition train rides from Nevada’s capital, Carson City, to the 1860s boom-era mining town of Virginia City, will provide Mom with a long stem rose, Old West history, storytelling, shopping and dining in Virginia City to go along with the spectacular scenery.

The special diesel train will run Saturday, May 9 and Sunday, Mother’s Day, May 10.

Retracing the famous Comstock-era right-of-way, the historic diesel train travels the same silver route paved by miners of that time. The ride features scenic vistas of the Carson River and majestic Sierra Nevada, with engines passing through two tunnels, abandoned mine shafts, old cemeteries along countryside where sightings of wild mustangs are routine.

Tickets are $41 for adults, $38 for seniors and Veterans and $25 for children ages 3 to 16. Toddlers and infants are free when they sit on a parent’s lap. Tickets can be purchased online at www.vtrailway.com or 877-724-5007. The train leaves the depot at 10 a.m. and returns at 4:15 p.m. with a stop in Virginia City.

Reservations began April 1 for the regular V&T season, which steams ahead Memorial Day weekend, May 23-24. Round-trip steam trains begin full operation.

Weekend trains feature a 1916 Baldwin Consolidation 2-8-0 or a 1914 Baldwin-Built Mikado 2-8-2 steam engine leading three 1914 Pullman cars. Private group discounted charters for 20 or more passengers are also available.

Trains depart Carson City to Virginia City on Saturday and Sundays at 10 a.m. Tickets are $52 per adult, $48 for veterans and seniors 65-plus, $32 for children ages 3 to 16 and toddlers and infants are free.

The Carson City passenger station is at Eastgate Siding on Flint Drive off U.S. Highway 50 East, and has a gift shop with various V&T souvenirs to keep the memories rolling. For the latest train updates or to purchase tickets, visit www.vtrailway.com or call 877-724-5007.

Wilbur D. Day Museum exhibit

The Wilbur D. May Museum is proud to present the upcoming exhibit — “Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body” through April 26.

Kids of all ages will love discovering the answers to all the questions they have about the mushy, oozy, crusty, scaly, and smelly biology of the body.

This science-in-disguise exhibition features dozens of animatronics, imaginative games, and interactive elements to take visitors on an up close tour of the body functions that most people don’t like to talk about!

Take aim and launch dirt balls into a larger-than-life nose to discover how boogers are formed.

Play the “Gas Attack” pinball game with bumpers dressed up as food items that cause gas.

Mimic the build-up of acid indigestion by causing the “Burp Machine” to release a giant belch.

Visit the “Vomit Center” to learn the many reasons humans vomit.

Take a ride on the GI slide to discover how food becomes waste.

Scale a skin climbing wall where the hand and foot holds are pimples, warts, and scabs.

Discover other mysterious ways the body’s biology does what it needs to do to keep us healthy!

Cost is $9 adults, $8 for children snd seniors. For information, call 775-785-5961.

FLEISCHMANN PLANETARIUM

Fleischmann Planetarium at the University of Nevada, Reno hosts several breathtaking immersive theater experiences this spring through June 30.

Fulldome planetarium shows are open to all ages. For show details, admission, program and membership information, call the Fleischmann Planetarium at 775-784-4812 or visit www.planetarium.unr.edu.

Admission for all shows: $7 teens and adults/$5 children 12 and under and seniors 60 and over and free for Planetarium members. Museum admission is free for all. Call the Fleischmann Planetarium at (775) 784-4812 for details or visit www.planetarium.unr.edu.

WE CHOOSE SPACE! is for audiences of all ages who dream of space and wonder about human spaceflight after the Space Shuttle! Join Astronauts Scott Parazynski, Tom Jones and Gene Cernan and veteran space reporter Walter Cronkite as your tour guides on an adventure to the International Space Station and to the past and future moon. Showtimes for WE CHOOSE SPACE! and SpaceNow: Daily: 1, 3 and 5 p.m., plus 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays

Ultimate Universe will take you on a grand celestial tour from the outer reaches of space through wondrous galaxies to the majesty of our own galaxy. This fulldome show uses the latest 3-D animation technology to reveal the awesome power of the universe and its most provocative secrets. We’ll also see what’s up in the springtime sky in SkyTonight.

Showtimes for Ultimate Universe and SkyTonight: Daily: 2 and 6 p.m..

Black Holes is back again by popular demand! (Our visitors love this show!) Few mysteries in the universe have the power and awe of the black hole. Only now are we on the verge of understanding their true nature. This new immersive digital theater program incorporates some of the most intense 3-D visual effects ever created on the subject.

Showtimes for Black Holes: Daily: 4 p.m.

Family Show: Larry: Cat in Space (recommended for young children, but fun for all ages!), is a playful cartoon presentation tracing the adventures of a VERY inquisitive cat who takes a stowaway trip to the Moon.

Showtimes for Larry: Cat in Space: Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and WCSD break: 11 a.m.

Family Show: Attack of the Space Pirates, with amazing sound effects by George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound, features the Starship Intrepid as it travels through hyperspace in this fun and exciting adventure, where you and the crew will put real science into science fiction and solve numerous challenges along the way. For children in grades 4-6 but fun for all ages!

Showtimes for Attack of the Space Pirates: Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and WCSD break: 12 noon

Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd’s legendary rock masterpiece, is presented in a stunning fulldome music and light show by Starlight Productions with amazing HD animation and mind-blowing surround sound! Please note: mature lyrics/themes.

Showtimes for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.

STREMMEL GALLERY

Stremmel Gallery presents works by prominent California artist Charles Arnoldi.

The exhibition captures his work over a 30-year period, ranging from his iconic Chainsaw series to his current paintings. Known for his brightly-colored, abstract works that incorporate the use of wood as an expressive medium, his pieces are held in the collections of the Chicago Art Institute, New York’s Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many other significant collections.

“Arnoldi” runs through April 18.

Inspired by his close friendships with esteemed architect Frank Gehry and distinguished artist Richard Serra, Arnoldi’s latest work touches on architectural themes with a limited color palette, focusing on deep blues and subtle industrial hues. The paintings range in size from 20” x 16” to 100” x 92”.

“Arnoldi is ‘a natural,’ has always been ‘a natural,’ has always been told that he was, in fact, ‘a natural,’” famed art critic Dave Hickey once wrote. “As Robert Rauschenberg (who should know) once explained to him, once you are regarded as ‘a natural,’ no matter how hard you work, no matter how much you struggle and sacrifice, people will always think it’s easy for you. And, in a sense it is, since work is not labor.”

NEVADA VISITORS GUIDE

The 2015 Nevada Visitors Guide, now available for free online and at area visitors’ centers, is designed with the road warrior in mind.

More than 29 million vehicles entered the state in fiscal year 2014, prompting the Nevada Division of Tourism to restructure the Visitors Guide to meet travelers’ needs.

“Personal auto is the top mode of transportation in Nevada, and this new guide is designed for those travelers,” Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Director Claudia Vecchio said. “We designed this to be user-ready, complete with hotel contact information and distance guides so travelers can stash it in their glove box and use it throughout their trip.”

Road trip itineraries along the Loneliest Road in America, the Extraterrestrial Highway, and the Las Vegas Strip are just a few of the routes mapped out in the new guide.

The state’s Scenic Byways and popular motorcycle routes also are included.

New this year are note pages interspersed throughout the book, making it easy to jot notes while planning a trip or on the road, as well as a savings card for discounted admission to state museums.

The Visitors Guide also includes sections on ghost towns, railroads and cultural sites — all big draws to the state’s rural areas. The 120-page guide includes a suggested road trip play list, photo opportunity recommendations, event listings, and information on what’s new in Nevada.

The Nevada Visitors Guide is available free of charge at area visitors’ centers or by ordering through TravelNevada.com.

The Nevada Division of Tourism is part of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and is responsible for promoting and marketing Nevada as a travel destination to domestic and international travelers. For more, visit www.TravelNevada.biz.

NAT GEO MUSEUM EXHIBIT

A new National Geographic Museum exhibition, Monster Fish: In Search of the Last River Giants, features the work of the University of Nevada, Reno’s research professor and host of the television show Monster Fish, Zeb Hogan. It opens March 26 at National Geographic’s Washington D.C. headquarters and runs through Oct. 12.

For more information about Zeb visit www.unr.edu/science/zeb-hogan and for more information on the exhibition visit http://events.nationalgeographic.com/exhibits/2015/03/25/monster-fish-search-last-river-giants/.

“This fascinating exhibition is a trip around the world with one of Nat Geo’s favorite explorers in search of bizarre and extraordinary species of freshwater fish,” said National Geographic’s vice president of Exhibitions, Kathryn Keane. “Zeb Hogan shows us that despite their size, these fish are an increasingly fragile link in some of the most important freshwater ecosystems on Earth.”

Hogan is a National Geographic Fellow and faculty member of the University’s biology department in the College of Science. He travels the globe finding, studying and protecting the world’s largest freshwater fish - megafish like six-foot trout in Mongolia, rare spear-tooth freshwater sharks, huge wolf fish and electric eels or 14-foot-long stingrays in Thailand. He chronicles his travels on the Nat Geo WILD television show Monster Fish.

Nearly 20 of the fish he studies and profiles on the show will be featured in the 6,000-square-foot interactive exhibition.

“The University’s College of Science values scientific curiosity, discovery and ambition, and we encourage our students to see themselves as global citizens and our faculty to contribute solutions with global impact. Our educational partnership with the National Geographic Society for this exhibit is an ideal fit with these values,” said Jeff Thompson, dean of the College of Science.

“This endeavor will inspire young people to pursue interests, degrees and careers in the environmental sciences and contribute to a better understanding of the fragile health of fresh-water ecosystems around the world.”

The museum exhibition, which will travel over the next five years to other museums around the United States, aims to educate visitors through the use of photos, videos, animations, interactives, sculpture, and text.