My husband K got up at 7:30 to go to the fitness center. I took the opportunity to sleep in until 8:40.
We had breakfast together before he headed off to the ClarinetFest. I was in no rush to get out and took my time packing up before taking the ridiculous route out to the parking deck to the car. I finally left at 10:01 with the odometer reading 25030.
My destination was the capitol in Carson City. I had to circle the large block twice to find a parking spot. Finally, I parked close to the front at 10:42 (25058). It was windy and 84 degrees.
I was there to get my capitols passport stamped. When I walked in holding it, the cop behind the desk immediately knew what I wanted. I had a nice chat with him and a guy who was hanging out with him. I finally left at 11:12.
My next stop was straight up Carson Street from the capitol- Nevada State Museum. I went around the back to park at 11:15 (25059). On the corner of Carson and Washington Streets, I found a really cool mural that was reminiscent of a postcard. It was by Abner Rivera.
Much more surprising was the music I heard. I recognized it as Alpenhorn. I looked around and I saw two people nearby playing! Not something I expected in Carson City, Nevada.
It was very hard to take a picture of this side of the museum because of the glass. I had to shoot sideways to keep myself out of it.
The guard on duty quickly waited on me at the entrance desk, because there was no one else there. I paid my $10 and expressed my deep disappointment, when he told me that the museum shop was closed for inventory. That was incredibly bad luck for me, and them, because I know I would have bought stuff. He gave me a map and I set off.
The museum had quite a lot of information on the Native Americans who had lived or still lived in Nevada. It was a lot to read and I wound up photographing most of the signs for later reading. They also made sure to give the Native American view on the information.
As a retired German teacher, anything with a German angle intrigues me. And, wouldn't you know it, here in Nevada the connection was related to gambling. Bavarian immigrant Thomas Fey was known as the "Thomas Edison of slot machines". They had two of their collection on display and they dated to 1924 and 1914, respectively, and were in incredible shape.
The next item just plain shocked me. It wasn't the dress itself wasn't a shock. It was the concept of having to dress up and receive guests the day after your wedding. Wasn't there a party the day of the wedding? Why did you have to go through this?
There was a large exhibit about the Chinese workers who came to Nevada to work in the mines. The exhibit was honest about the anti-Chinese sentiments at the time.
There was a faux Nevada Old West Town with some speaking animatronics and lots of signs telling you about each kind of establishment.
Part of the museum was in the old mint that had been here. So, there were examples of coins minted here, as well as the machinery.
States seem to like to display the silver service from the US Navy ship named for the state. Maryland has theirs in their state house. Nevada has theirs here.
There was an exhibit on prehistoric Nevada that was sure to please the kids.
They did not leave statehood and the early info on the state to the Battle Born Museum down in the capitol.
After looking at all of the exhibits, I wandered out to the Carson Street side of the museum to take photos of the old mint, the Nevada copy of the Liberty Bell, and their stylized mine top.
I'd thoroughly enjoyed my visit and went back through the building to my car out back at 1:38. It was time for lunch and I really didn't want to go to some place new, when I could go back to the L A Bakery.
I had to park around the back, when I arrived at 1:45 (29560). Today, I chose the Spinach Salad for $10.49, the Chocolate Mouse Cup for $4.49, and a Diet Dr. Pepper for $1.99. With tax and tip, it came to $25.33, but, man, was it good! My Smithsonian magazine was a good companion.
As I made my way back to Carson St. at 2:46, I found this marvelous mural on the side of Heidi's Restaurant. Evidently, I missed other murals on the other side, which commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. I am glad I found this one at least.
My next destination had been highly recommended by the two guys at the capitol. I didn't have any other plans and I did have time. So, at 3:14 (25075), I parked in the parking lot across from the Virginia City Train Depot. It had been an interesting drive, which wound itself ever higher uphill. I later realized that I was at the far end of town. A sign at the depot told me that I'd climbed to 6150 feet in elevation.
Inside, it was pretty much a souvenir shop, along with some snacks. I bought my ticket for the 4 pm train for $15. I looked around and bought some souvenirs, too.
Then, I chatted with the clerk, who teaches geology online. In 1986, he was told he had five years to live. So, he cashed in his retirement fund. Obviously, he is well beyond five years and, therefore, has to work. He still enjoyed working here and I didn't get the feeling that the online teaching was onerous. It does go to show that you need to be careful about those predictions.
The train soon returned from its 3 pm run.
When the time came to board, I chose the open-windowed caboose rather than the open air car that looked like one that could have hauled tree trunks. They are from 1914 and 1915. The conductor was in his 70s and retired, but he liked to ride the train. So, here he was.
The conductor told us about what we saw, as well as fun facts. Surprisingly, water here is not from wells. Both Reno and Carson City get their water from snow pack. Virginia City gets theirs from Tahoe. Really surprising that it comes from so far and has to go uphill. Plus, they get a lot of snow up here.
Our first view was the 50-Mile View in 6-Mile Canyon. I'll buy that it's 50 miles.
We saw mounds of earth that were either pilings or tailings from the mines in the area.
The land was fairly desolate, but you could still see signs of the mining.
Gold Hill, our destination, was one of the first settlements in the Comstock mining district after free gold ( gold that can be easily separated from the soil and rocks around it) was found above Gold Canyon. The Gold Hill Hotel was the first hotel in the state. Had we taken an earlier train, we could have gotten off there and visited the hotel and caught a later train back. But, this was the last train of the day and all we could do was get off at Gold Hill and look down on what remains of the settlement. I did pick up a stone from a pile of rocks.
On the way back, I saw a mule, a modern road bridge over the train tracks, and an old mining bridge from back in the day.
I was back in the car at 4:56. Google Maps sent me through downtown Virginia City and out on Nevada 341. The road off the mountain was quite curvy and steep at times. I was grateful for pullouts and used them for photos of the valley below. This one was the Scenic Overlook that I hit at 5:14 (25084).
I reached the hotel at 5:41 (25097) and parked on level 5. I had a little time in the room before I had to go down to the lobby to meet K at 6:12, as prearranged. He wanted to eat in the café across from the reception desk. He had run into two former president of the ICA, John C and Gary W. They wound up sharing a table with us. I got a pre-made strawberry salad with chicken for $14.25 and K suggested a slice of Black Forest Cake for $9 to split. The salad was good, but the icing on the cake was incredibly dry.
I've known John for several years. So, I did talk to him some, which kept it from being a meal of just clarinet conversation.
I went up to the room at 7:25, while the guys went off to a concert. The phone said I'd walked 4,511 steps for 1.5 miles. Had to get to bed early, because tomorrow is a very early morning.
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