The Annual Don Q Awards for many different reasons

As I have done for many years, my last article of the current year is to present the Annual Don Q Awards for a number of different reasons.

Those reasons include such assorted things as: Outstanding, memorable, good, not so good, questionable, bad, serious, funny, dumb, head-scratching, are-you-kidding, etc.

Those annual awards are presented to all kinds of people or places or things for what has occurred throughout the year. It’s a fun way to end the year for yours truly, so without further ado, here are my 2012 winners:

Best Breakfast Pastries:
"Donuts To Go" on North Carson Street in Carson City.
Their tasty pastries are the very best, with nobody even in second place. My two personal favorites are their chocolate bars and apple fritters.

Best Fall Colors:
The stunning colors of the many groves of Quaking Aspen trees in the Bishop Creek area which is in the mountains west of Bishop, Calif.
The colors going to both South Lake and Lake Sabrina were awesome.

Best Fishing In California:
Lake Sabrina, west of Bishop, California. While fishing with lures near the dam, on every cast, Elaine and I had a rainbow trout caught and released, or the fish jumped and came off, or a school of trout would follow the lure.

Best Fishing In The Yukon:
Last June Elaine and I fished for Arctic Grayling at Finlayson Creek on the Robert Campbell Highway, where we caught and released countless Grayling up to 18-20 inches in length. It was a memorable experience.

Best Wildlife Experience:
While Elaine was quietly seated in a folding chair in front of the Quilici Cabin, a mule deer doe wandered up to her, sniffed her left hand, sniffed the back of her neck and then slowly ambled away down the hillside.

Biggest Annoyance:
The never-ending, negative, finger-pointing political ads, all the way from presidential candidates down to local offices, were a giant pain in the butt.
To paraphrase them, "I'm Don Quilici and I approved this message."

Favorite Don Q Fishing Combo:
A Wright/McGill, four piece, six-foot-long, backpacking, spincasting fishing pole; a Mitchell 300 spinning reel; 6-pound test line and a red/white striped, No. 2 Tor-P-Do lure, which have combined to catch countless trout.

Favorite Eating Out Location For Breakfast:
The Carson Station Hotel/Casino restaurant, where their tasty food is complimented by a very friendly staff led by our favorite waitress, Ramona.
She loves to tease me as much as I love to tease her.

Favorite Eating Out of Town Location For Lunch:
The winner, hands down, is the restaurant at Bordertown, which is located at the Nevada/California state line, north of Reno.
Their cheeseburger, French fries and friendly service are the best!

Favorite Eating Out Location For Dinner:
Garibaldi’s on Carson Street. Everything on their menu is superb.
My favorites are the Won Ton Shrimp appetizers, together with piping hot bread and either Calamari Steak, Veal with Lobster or Rib Eye Steak.

Favorite Motel:
The Bristlecone Motel in Ely in Eastern Nevada, where the rooms are clean comfortable and reasonably priced. Their patio area is a great location for afternoon cocktail parties, complete with drinks and munchies.

Favorite Second Hand Store:
“Nifty Thrifty” in the older portion of Portola, California. It is run by the hospital auxiliary and offers all kinds of neat purchases at great-reduced prices, especially on their 50-percent-off sales days.

God Is Trying To Tell You Something:
On a fall season, rifle, deer hunting trip in North Central Nevada, Norm Budden had a fierce wind blow down his small tent, three times in two days.
He finally got the message and returned home to Carson City.

Most Annoying Carson City Features:
A two-way tie between the minuscule roundabout at Fifth Street and Edmonds Drive and the poorly laid-out parking lot at the main U.S. Post Office. Whoever designed them needs to seek out a new career.

Most Enjoyable Project:
The photo calendars that Elaine and I created for relatives and close friends.
We spent a ton of time browsing through hundreds of digital photos to select the 12 best for each month of the 2013 calendar. It was fun!

Most Expensive Labor Day Camping Trip:
Don Hettrick got his large motorhome stuck in the sand at the edge of Lahontan Reservoir on Labor Day weekend. The cost of the tow truck from Reno and replacing a torn-off trailer hitch was more than $2,000. Yipes!

Most Pleasant Surprise:
We spent two nights in Cabin No. 08 at Parchers Resort in the mountains west of Bishop and discovered to our delight that the hot and cold water pipes were reversed, resulting in a toilet with hot water. It was very nice.
Most Unusual Sight:
It was the nonchalant-looking window washer harnessed into safety ropes who was washing the outside of the window of our room on the 28th floor of the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas in early April.

No Pride In Where They Live:
The many homes and yards where it is obvious that the tenants and their landlords are indifferent or uncaring about taking pride in those residences.
We have several classic examples right across the street from our home.

The "Don Q" Cocktail:
It consists of: A large glass, ice cubes, a generous amount of whiskey, a splash of water, an orange slice and a brandied cherry. I have discovered that you can't stop with only one of these "Don Q" special drinks. Very tasty.

Very Good Friends:
Barry and Susan Drury of Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada, who drove to Whitehorse, Yukon to pick up Elaine and I at the airport and take us to our downtown hotel. They drove 300 miles one-way to do that!

Well Done To Two Hard Workers:
Kirk Caraway and Jeff Munson for all their hard work in making websites www.carsonnow.org and www.southtahoenow.com great places to go for the latest and most complete news in those areas. Nice job, guys!

Worse Shopping Carts:
It seems as if every one of the shopping carts, at the Wal-Mart store on the north side of Carson City, needs maintenance on the wheels.
I rarely get one where the wheels work correctly. Do you?

Worse Traffic Light Timing Sequences:
All of the traffic lights along Carson Street where the traffic on the side streets has to wait and wait and wait for finally a green light.
The guy who times them needs to retake his Timing Sequence Class.

You've Got To be Kidding:
The all-year "Watch for Snow" signs on California S.R. 70 between Hallelujah Junction and Chilcoot.
I kept watching all summer but I don't see any. What was I doing wrong?

Finally:
Before I forget, a very Happy New Years to you and yours. And, may all of your resolutions for 2013 come true.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now and www.SouthTahoeNow.com. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.