pics from the VT Railroad, July 10, 1010

July 10, 2010

We headed back to Virginia City today to take a ride on the historic Virginia Truckee Rail Road. It was a 35 minute round trip ride to Gold Hill and back to Virginia City. We were in an open car so the view was awesome! But because of the open car, it was HOT!!!! There was a “train robbery” and the bandits boarded and asked for our generous donations! Ha ha ha, scary guys! All that was collected in the hold up was donated to the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children.

After our train ride, we went to the Bonanza Café and ate out on the deck and enjoyed our 100 mile view! Then we did some looking around at some shops that we missed the other day. We saw the famous "Suicide Table" at the Delta Saloon. This is where millions of dollars were lost and many gamblers committed suicide right at this very table! Barb and I got “Tattoos” and then we headed out of town to catch the scrapbook store in Carson City before it closed. On the way, we saw a giant spider sculpture made of enormous iron poles for legs and a volkswagon beetle for a body! If it doesn’t make volume 2 of our book of oddities, it should! (see the July 8, 2010 post for an explanation of the book)

Back at the RV Park, we watched the movie “The Lake House” and went into town for a Mexican dinner.

pics from Lake Tahoe - July 9, 2010

July 9, 2010 Lake Tahoe

Today we took the most beautiful drive all the way around Lake Tahoe! The lake is huge, and it took us the majority of the day to stop and enjoy the views and to have lunch. We stopped ay a great bar and grill in Stateline, South Shore and were seated at a table outside, right at the water! What a great view of the lake! We could see the big paddlewheel boat that was taking on passengers for a tour, a few para-sailors, and countless speed boats everywhere! You could see the chair lifts leaving from the villages, and ski runs meandering up the mountains from several ski resorts. I’ll bet this is a hopping place in the winter!

It was fun to see all of the cute towns along the lake such as, Incline Village, Emerald Bay, Tahoe City, Homewood, Heavenly, Ellis Pointe etc., etc. We started in Nevada, then we crossed into California, then back to Nevada. What a great place! I can see why so many people have cabins here. We will most definitely come back to do some tent camping, we passed so many great places to do just that!

Back at camp we BBQ’d shish kabobs.

July 8, 2010

Today we took a real laid back approach and enjoyed just chillin’ at the campground. Barb’s feet were bothering her, so we decided to take a break from touring and walking. Instead we watched a little TV, played some board games and BBQ’d hamburgers for lunch.

While we were sitting outside, someone pulled into the site right across from us under the direction of the camp host. Not sure who’s fault it was, probably shared responsibility, but the driver cut it too short and hit a tree! I was turned away when it happened, and it was so loud I thought they were emptying the dumpsters! He dented the whole side of his trailer and ripped off the awning! They were not “happy campers”!

Hope Barb is feeling better tomorrow. We are thinking of taking a nice drive, maybe to Lake Tahoe.

Pics from Reno

July 8, 2010

Today we slept in, did laundry, and then went to a late breakfast/lunch at I-Hop. Mom was happy to have her Blueberry waffle!!

Then it was off to Reno in search of the giant prospector statue. I should explain that – Jennifer gave Rich and me a book of crazy statues and interesting oddities that can be seen throughout America. The biggest, strangest, and one of a kind treasures were photographed in the 1940’s by a traveler who published his findings in this book. It has become a game for my sister Jeanette and I to find as many of these oddities as we can while we travel on our various road trips! We take a picture of ourselves in front of the find as proof that we were actually there. Then we paste it to the appropriate page in our book, Jeanette has one too! Finding some of these things has led us to explore places of our country that we would have otherwise never seen, and that would have been a real shame. Some of our best adventures have been off the main road and not necessarily planned!

There it is!!!! You can see it from pretty far away, the giant prospector! Yes, he is indeed very, very big! As luck would have it, he was standing guard right outside of a chocolate and candy factory and store. We had to get some snacks for in the car and these were the best kind!! We took our pictures and headed on to Reno.

Reno has grown by leaps and bounds since Rich and I used to compete there at the jazz festivals every year. Well, I guess it should have grown a little in 40 years!! The old performing arts theatre is still there and the river is still gorgeous. The University is at least 3 times as big as it was then and really pretty. After our trip down Virginia Ave. (and Memory Lane) we headed to the National Automobile Museum.

The best display I have ever seen of vintage cars from the first “Model A” up to the more modern cars of 1975. You walked through 4 large galleries with the help of a very nice audio tour that was geared towards the casual visitor as well as the real engine buffs. There were cars that belonged to movie stars and celebrities, race car pros and even early RVers! We had a great time, and could have spent all afternoon there.

On the way back to Carson City, we stopped at BJ’s for dinner.

Pics from July5 and 6, 2010