“Silver Belle” 2025’s National Christmas Tree

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

This year for the first time in Nevada’s history a tree from The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest will be traveling to Washington, D.C, and the United States Capitol Building to be The People’s Tree aka The National Christmas Tree.

The tree is named “Silver Belle”. She’s 53 feet tall (1.615.44 cm) and it’s a Red Fir tree.

After she was harvested she was taken to get ready for her journey across the country. There she was decorated, and placed in a special trailer that will be driven to Washington, D.C. She made her first stop in Carson City on November 1, 2025 in the Nevada Day Parade. There are windows so you can see just the top of the tree.

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The Christmas Tree logo was designed by Stan Can Design of Reno, NV

Since early summer Nevadans have been making ornaments for National Christmas Tree. I heard the call was made for 10,000 ornaments, and Nevada delivered and more! The extra ornaments will be used on companion trees that will be placed in other Federal Buildings.

While getting the National Christmas Tree ready they made a tree cookie and discovered the tree is 50 years old, has a 20 inch diameter, and 16 inch crown spread.

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©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Fun Facts about “Silver Belle” the People’s Tree.

After the National Christmas Tree left the parade the truck and National Forest Park Rangers made their way down the street to the Toyota Dealership where the tree was on display for 3 hours. We were able to sign the banner, take photos, and see Smokey the Bear.

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I signed the banner.

A tree skirt depicting all 17 Nevada counties was made. I have to show you in four parts as it’s so large and not laying flat.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com

I have several favorite panels on the tree skirt. Douglas, of course it’s my county, and it’s full of stars. I also like Eureka, Pershing, and Washoe’s panels a lot. I’m not sure if this will be on the lawn under the tree or in a building under one of the companion trees? Most likely indoors.

The truck and National Christmas Tree will be making its way across the country making 13 stops along the way. You can sign the banner, buy official U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree merch, take loads of photos, and learn more about Nevada’s National forest. Here’s the list of scheduled stops.

Saturday, Nov. 1- Nevada Day Parade, Carson City, Nevada

Sunday, Nov. 2- Lovelock, and Elko, Nevada

Monday, Nov. 3- Ely, Nevada

Tuesday, Nov. 4- Las Vegas, Nevada

Friday, Nov. 7- Flagstaff, Arizona

Saturday, Nov. 8- Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sunday, Nov. 9- Amarillo, Texas

Monday, Nov. 10- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Tuesday, Nov. 11- Lenexa, Kansas

Wednesday, Nov. 12- St. Louis, Missouri

Friday, Nov. 14- Paducah, Kentucky

Saturday, Nov. 15- Lexington, Kentucky

Thursday, Nov. 20- Joint Base Andrews, Maryland

The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree initiative began in 1964. One of the 154 national forests provide a tree to serve as the Nation’s Christmas Tree.

This is the first time in the program’s history that a tree has been selected from the Humboldt-Toyabe forest.

It’s pretty neat that Nevada was chosen this year and I was able to see it and be there for its first leg of the historic journey to Washington, D.C.

If you’re near or in one of the cities it will stop I hope you are able to see it too. All events are free and open to the public.

Notes- It’s really cool that the National Park Service worked so hard during the shutdown to make sure the National Christmas Tree got to the West Lawn.

I blurred the faces of a lot people in the background of several images because there were kids, and people who may not want to be included in my blog post. I hope you didn’t find it too distracting.

Information gleaned from the Official 2025 Nevada Day Program| NevadaDay.com

Have a great week-end!

more to come…

Thursday Doors- Eureka!

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Several weeks ago a girlfriend of mine sent me a photo of a building in Eureka, NV via a text message. She said, “Here’s a door picture for you! ❤️ Eureka, NV.

I asked her if I could share it with you all and she said, “Yes. I knew you’d like those.”

It has 4 doors!

Foley-Rickard-Johnson Building (1879)

She said she did the walking tour and this building is number 35 on the tour. She sent the passage about the history of this site/building too.

Photos by Jarlath

I hadn’t heard of Eureka, NV prior to her sending me these images so, I looked it up. Travel Nevada says, ” Eureka, Nevada bills itself as the Friendliest Town on the Loneliest Road in America. This charming little town is one of the American West’s best-preserved mining communities, thanks to dozens of beautifully intact historic buildings to admire and plenty of hands-on history to explore, along with modern comforts, tasty food, and drink, and endless outdoor adventure a stone’s throw away.”

“In 1864 several prospectors made their way east from booming Austin in search of less crowded diggin’s, which they found—at least for a brief moment. Eventually, their “eureka” moment arrived in the form of a silver strike that would become the state’s largest, second only to the unrivaled Comstock Lode in Virginia City

Unlike thousands of Western boomtowns that quickly went bust, Eureka continued to prosper, thanks to its proximity to troves of silver, lead, zinc, and (still today) gold. At its height, Eureka could churn out 700 tons of ore in a single day, a feat that secured status as the seat of the richest county in the Silver State.”

https://travelnevada.com/cities/eureka/

There’s more information and some photos at the link. I think it would be a neat place to explore.

Thank you so much, Jarlath for the images and introduction to Eureka, NV and its doors!

Friends who send door pics are the best aren’t they.

This post is part of the weekly challenge Thursday Doors hosted by Dan Antion over at https://nofacilities.com/2025/09/04/osv-cow-parade/

Head on over there to see more doors from around the world or join the craze and add a door or two of your own. 😊

more to come…

Whatever Weds. View from the Klondike Highway

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Summit Lake, WP&YR Railroad Tracks; Snowcapped mountains, from the Klondike Highway, Alaska.

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Quantum of the Seas

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

This week I’ll share some photos I made of the ship we sailed to Alaska on. She’s the largest Royal Caribbean ship we’ve sailed on.

She was built in 2014 and sails under the flag of Bahamas. At the time of her delivery she was the third largest cruise in the world by gross tonnage (168,666 GT). She’s 1,141 feet long (347.7 meters) and 236ft 3inches tall, (72 meters). Her top speed is 22.0 knots and will hold 4,180 passengers (double occupancy), and a maximum of 4,905 passengers, with a crew of 1,500.

On sea days we felt the 4,900+ people on board especially on the days the pool deck was closed due to heavy winds, and rain.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
The Bow of Quantum of the Seas
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Aft of Quantum of the Seas showing off her Climbing Wall a bit.
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This is Felicia the Big Magenta Polar Bear by artist Lawrence Argent. Titled ” From Afar”. She’s 30ft tall, is comprised of 1,340 stainless steel triangles, and weighs eight-tons.
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
That arm with pod on the end is the North Star Observation Pod. It gives you a 360 degree panoramic view of the ports, ocean, and surroundings. We didn’t try it. We meant to on Port Days but, were so busy with excursions we never got the chance to.
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
One of the Pools, hot tub, bar, and track on Deck 15
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Waves of Light by artist So Sunny Park

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
The Esplanade on Decks 4 and 5. Here you’ll find shopping, dining, entertainment, and socializing. We spent a lot of time on this deck.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Quantum of the Seas Orchestra on the theater stage on Deck 4.
©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Quantum of the Seas Lifebuoy on Deck 15

She’s a beautiful ship that we enjoyed a lot. We came off her ready for another cruise.

Have a lovely week everyone!

more to come…

Whatever Weds.-Alaska Cruise Pics

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Some of you may recall that He-Man and I took a Cruise to Alaska on board the Quantum of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean Ship earlier this month. I thought I’d start sharing our trip with photos of our stateroom .

We were sailing out of the Port of Seattle so we flew up a day before our cruise departed. We stayed in the north end of town in a Comfort Inn & Suites. The room and hotel were nice, the neighborhood…a little sketchy, but we felt safe enough to walk to the nearby stores and a restaurant for dinner. We just pulled our city street awareness spidy senses out of the archives and stayed alert while walking.

This was the view from our room of downtown Seattle, and Mt. Rainier way in the distance on the left just as the city lights were coming on for the evening.

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That parking lot is car dealer spare lot we think.

We took an Uber to the port after checking out of the hotel. Getting through security and checking in with Royal Caribbean was a breeze. Our stateroom wasn’t quite ready so we headed up to the Windjammer Cafe for lunch. I haven’t got any photos of that sorry!

Then we headed to Deck 12 mid-ship to our stateroom hide-away for our departure. We had a stateroom with a balcony on the port side of the ship. The images in the gallery are our main stateroom and view of the balcony, one closet, we had two closets, the bathroom, the big bed…bigger than our Queen at home and there was storage in a cupboard above the bed, the vanity I used for applying my makeup, and over the course of the cruise our Stateroom Attendant left us 4 towel animals. My favorites were the bear, and elephant.

Views from our stateroom balcony-the busy port where people were being dropped off to get onboard, and the port crew loading the luggage, food, and all the things we’d need for the week, and the Seattle Skyline from our balcony on Deck 12 shortly after we left the port.

We’re off! North to Alaska, the rush is on!

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This is the movie that made me want to go to Alaska when I was girl. I had this song in my head off and on the whole trip. 😊

more to come…

Thursday Doors-Vintages

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

He-Man and I were recently on an Alaskan Cruise which was a lot of fun and full of beautiful scenery, but you know I had an eye out for the unique or unusual door too. I think this one fits the bill. Vintage’s Bar on the Quantum of the Seas ship.

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This post is part of the weekly challenge Thursday Doors hosted by Dan Antion over at https://nofacilities.com/2025/07/24/shop-doors-part-2/

Head on over there to see more doors from around the world or join the craze and add a door or two of your own. 😊

more to come…

Thursday Doors-I’m not saying there are Aliens, but…

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

When passing near Area 51 one does wonder.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com Image

We passed this store on the way down to Henderson, NV and knew we’d have to stop on our way home. It’s got an ice cream shop, and lots of souvenirs all on the Area 51 theme. It’s a fun stop along the journey.

This post is part of the weekly challenge Thursday Doors hosted by Dan Antion over at https://nofacilities.com/2025/03/13/east-hartford-detour/

Hop on over there to see more doors from around the world or join the craze and add a door or two of your own. 😊

more to come…