Virginia City

A day trip to Virginia City on Friday provided a step back in time, as main street hasn't changed much over the years. It's home to Victorian buildings built during a 19th-century mining boom. These include the reportedly haunted Washoe Club and stately Piper’s Opera House. Of course, no trip to Virginia City is complete without a stop at the Bucket of Blood Saloon for a bloody mary, the best in town.

There are many shops to visit, some with extraordinary hand-crafted jewelry, and others with reasonably-priced leather goods, candy shops and souvenirs. The elevation is 6,100 feet, and you can feel it a bit if you move too quickly around the 544 acre town. The picture below is of the view out to the East ... Mountain after mountain, and you wonder how those covered wagons made the trek from Missouri to California over 150 years ago.

At its peak, Virginia City was a thriving, vibrant metropolis of 25,000 residents. Located about 35 miles southeast of Reno. According to the City website, riches from local mines helped finance the U.S. government during the Civil War. It also helped build empires around the world, among the finest examples is San Francisco ... a city built with Comstock silver.

The Ophir, Gould, Curry and Consolidated Virginia mines, those consisting of the “Big Bonanza” of 1873, produced at least $300 million in mineral deposits and made telecommunications giant John Mackay a virtual overnight millionaire.

 

We happened to pick the weekend of Street Vibrations, a motorcycle event that will likely pack the streets by the end of Sunday. These events can get pretty wild and crazy so we decided to head back down the hill, having walked both sides of the small downtown area. There is also a steam train ride out to one of the silver mines, that we had enjoyed on our last trip here ... and decided to pass it up this time.

There is always more to see in this little city ... mine tours, museums, eateries, candy and ice cream shops, and saloons. Maybe next time we'll have more time to spend. This link will get you to the City's website for more information about activities and events: https://visitvirginiacitynv.com/

Minden Swap, Cars Show & Genoa Nevada

Saturday, we headed for the 18th Annual Electronics Swap Meet, after a quick stop at Schat's Bakery for a delicious pastry start to the day. My favorite this trip was a tasty, cherry turnover, heated just a bit and partnered with a cup of hot coffee. Yum!

The swap meet was a bit smaller than anticipated, but I enjoyed meeting a few amateur radio friends I've made over the years, for the first time in person. There were some interesting test gear, amateur and military radios, and associated equipment to inspect and drool over. And, an excellent live demonstration of a 1930's radio teletype machine, clickety-clacking away. The very knowledgeable owner explained its amazing and fascinating mechanical components in great detail ... the women loved it ... yeah right!

This next picture is of a 5000 watt, RCA transmitter typically found in an AM radio station back in the day. This is only one third of the massive 6-foot tall, 10-foot long steel cabinet. Of course, you couldn't go near the transmitter with the doors open, as shown here, as there were thousands of volts powering the massive transmitting tubes. You can see one of the tubes to the left of the opening and the cooling fan blower just below it.

Okay ... probably getting bored with all this electronics stuff? How about a car show? We just happened upon a local event down the street from Schat's Bakery and found some beautiful restorations as well as a few very unique rides. Look at the difference between the 1961 Corvette and the 2022 Corvette parked next to it. Both owners were very proud of their wheels, and loved to talk about them.

As I said, there were amazing restoration to see, but I won't bore you with all the pictures I took. However, check out this very unique 1940-something moving van! The owner brought a Bonneville race car, a Studebaker capable of 148 mph (6-cylinder engine, folks) stored in the back, and backed-out with the help of a few friends at the show.

My absolute favorite of the entire show was this 1968 Austin Healey 3000 MkIII in British racing green. The owner had owned it since new, and originally paid $1,600 for it. Today the car is worth north of $60,000! The car was completely stock and you could tell it has enjoyed many years of TLC by the proud owner. He told me his wife tried to sell it twice to buy a house. So, he hid it at a friends house until they got through that period in their lives! Smart move!

The last leg of our adventure in the Carson River Valley took us to the little town of Genoa set up against the hills between the valley and Lake Tahoe. Founded in 1851, it became the first settlement in what became the Nevada Territory. Situated just 42 miles south of Reno, it is now home to approximately 786 determined people, who operate the antique stores, museums and, of course, a couple historic saloons ... one of which we visited to refresh ourselves with a bloody mary after a full day of sightseeing and visiting local stores and businesses.

So, that about wraps it up for our trip to Nevada ... We head home to tomorrow and bid our friends JT and his wife Christina, Son Justin and wife Sandra farewell, after a lively dice game and pizza night hosted in our RV. 

We've had a wonderful time and look forward to coming back again. Each of us came away with historical knowledge of the area, respect for our pioneering ancestors, and maybe a few souvenirs to remember our adventure to the once very wild west.

Until next time, stay safe and God bless.

Carson Valley and Minden, Nevada

Well, it has been a while since I've written anything for the blog, so thought it was about time. We really haven't gone anywhere far, but this week we decided to attend the Minden, NV 18th Annual Electronics Swap Meet on June 4th, in the beautiful Carson Valley, Nevada.

We arrived a bit early on Tuesday hoping to explore this beautiful area a little before the weekend. Justin and Sandra arrive on Friday and we will spend time exploring a few places with them. Meanwhile, we are parked at the Gardnerville Elks Lodge #2670 for a few nights. A beautiful place and a great spot to park for $20/night, electric only. There are 5 sites and so far, one has always been empty.

Wednesday morning we headed for Schat's Bakery in Minden for an incredible fresh pastry experience. No pictures ... too busy getting those cinnamon roles down. Ha! Of course, we had to buy something ToGo ... and chocolate-dipped Macaroons seemed to jump in a bag for us. We'll likely be back there for a few fruit turnovers, I'm sure.

Next door was the C.O.D. casino, and we wandered around there for a while, finding a display in the rear (garage), dedicated to the Dangberg family, one of the founders of Minden, NV.

Lots of history here, and we made some time to tour the Carson Valley Museum and Historical Society: https://www.historicnv.org/cvmcc/ You can click the link and see the amazing dioramas and artifacts in this 2-story building. The local Indian tribe has a room as well with hand-made artifacts, as do artists from the area ... showing breath taking pictures of nature. 

There is a section on the "wild horses" in the area, and a mural on one wall tells a story or two. A following of local citizens focus on saving what few there are left roaming the area. This snapshot captures only a small section of the mural.

Of course, you can't visit a new place without sampling the local food ... On a tip from the daughter of one of my good friends we found a place right on Hwy 395, called El Charro Avitia. OMG ... one of the best hole in the wall restaurants we've ever been to.

That would be a Chili Verde dish and a Chile Verde Burrito, beers and margaritas. I needed a long walk after this meal. Sooooo good!

Next stop, the Nevada State Fair. Or, what we thought was the "state" fair. Apparently, an individual bought the "name" and now poses in local parks as the State Fair. We were thinking animals, county exhibits, vendors, food, right? Well, there was a small carnival and a few vendors and a few food trucks, but that was about it. Somehow we got out of there without buying anything.

There was this strange fellow's head sticking out of the ground ... We think he must have fallen down in disappointment on what he didn't find at the fair?

Still having a good time and more fun starting on Friday when Justin and Sandra arrive. It does feel good to get away for a while. We'll move to the Silver City RV Resort tomorrow, and will be touring Genoa and other historic sites. So, as I always say ... more to come, folks!