kevin_standlee | Helicopter at the Hugo Site

Today, Lisa and I went to Reno to do errands at the bank, have brunch at the Peppermill, and get grocery shopping done to restock things for her while I'm away in the Bay Area for the next two weeks. To our surprise, we were attacked by a helicopter while at the Peppermill.

After brunch, as is our usual practice, we went for a walk around the second floor function space of the Peppermill. That takes us over to the ballroom where the 2011 Hugo Awards at Renovation were held. There was obviously some sort of event going on, and we spotted this helicopter inside the ballroom.

It turned out to be the 2016 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Reunion, and one of the members told us that the exhibits and dealers area were open to the public and that we were welcome to come on in, which we did.

This UH-1 "Huey" helicopter was on display at the event, having been brought up from Sacramento where it is kept, if I understood the placards correctly. After we saw that they were allowing people to get in the seats and handle the controls, Lisa (who once studied for a fixed-wing pilot's license and has 86 hours of logged flight time) took advantage of this.

Here Lisa sits with

travelswithkuma at the controls of the Huey. Lisa was very pleased.

Meanwhile, I had a look in the other ballroom section. This is approximately the area where the stage and front seating was for the 2011 Hugo Awards, now set for the VHPA farewell banquet, as the reunion wrapped up this afternoon.

Lisa was very happy to have had a chance to view the exhibits and talk with people at this event. It was a bit of letdown for her to have to leave and have us finish our shopping and go home, but it was still nice to have stumbled onto it in the first place.