Reno and Tahoe and animals

We've spent almost a week in Tahoe and we'll be here until the end of next week. It's been nice staying in one place for a bit and there are so many trails to hike and bike and so many places to swim. I haven't taken any photos yet, but I will before we head out.
We spent a couple of days in Reno before coming to Tahoe. Both Luke and I like Reno a lot more than expected (I thought it would be like nasty Las Vegas). It's a very outdoorsy city with lots of mountains and desert...and a sprinkling of casinos.
My main update is about a couple of cute animal interactions we've had lately. The first was in Midway Utah, where there was a squirrel who was not shy about seeing if there was extra food around the campsite. She came around a bit shyly at first, but quickly figured out that we're both softies and soon enough she was eating from our hand. I tried to take a shot of this, but I just missed the moment by a second:

This is a shot of Luke looking happy that he's converted yet another creature to a be a fan of Mexican food (we were feeding her tortilla chips, which she liked very much)

While in Reno, we were relaxing in the shade of a tree in a park when three ducks (a mallard and two lady ducks) came over, also looking for food. We didn't have much that was suitable for ducks, but they awkwardly ate the dried fruit we offered (also taking the food from our hand) and then settled down for a midday nap.

Luke hangin' with his duck peeps

My mom was extraordinary with animals--they could sense something about her and would always be drawn to her.  Being Italian, she would usually feed them too. I sometimes wondered if she wasn't the reincarnation of St.Francis of Assisi. So as we fed these guys it felt a little like we were carrying on her legacy.