We have been having a great time in Reno. The area is beautiful from sun up to sunset.
The RV wash guys did a great job on the motorhome, cleaning it from roof to wheels. They only charged $80, which doesn't seem like much after you have had the experience of washing one of these things by hand.
On Friday we left early to drive to Tahoe and take in some sights. On the way, we stopped at the Donner Memorial. They show a short film that really needs to be redone but the information presented was good. We remember the movie and didn't really know all the details behind the group of people being stranded in the mountains during the worst winter in history. The snow was so deep that winter - up to the top of the stones in the monument! That is incredible. I remember when Dan and Ann helped shovel the snow off the roof at our house and we thought that was an massive snowfall. The 18 feet of snow is just beyond my comprehension.
There was a nice museum at the park and we saw some of the artifacts left behind by the emigrants as they traveled west. A full sized covered wagon made us realize how spoiled we are in the motorhome. Some of the original roadsigns for the trail were in the museum and Dennis was checking out the route to Oregon. One of the people we met at this campground told me that wives function as the "nagagator" in a motorhome. I'm not too sure which one of us is the biggest nag.
After the Donner memorial, we drove into the town of Truckee on our way to Lake Tahoe. Truckee had one building that stood out - can't believe they can get away with that name. We didn't do any shopping but continued on our route. We drove by the Squaw Valley entrance and finally arrive at Lake Tahoe. Very interesting area. We agreed it is a combination of New Hope and the shore. T-shirt shops, piercing parlors, and jewelery stores scattered among very expensive lakeside properties. I struggled to take pictures on the fly till we finally got to an overlook where we could get some nice photos. The lake is beautiful and even more so because of the mountains in the background. But we agreed it is a nice place to drive through but neither of us would want to stay there. We don't play golf, sail, sunbath (or even own bathing suits) and are not interested in getting tatoos or piercings.
From Tahoe we decided to drive up Mt Rose and take the scenic route to Virginia City, our next stop. The elevation at the summit is 10,200 ft and the van made it up the hill in style. We enjoyed seeing some conifers. Fraser fir grows naturally on these mountains and the growers back home will love to have trees with this rich dark green color. This nice meadow was about halfway up the mountain. I could just picture deer grazing here or cross country skiers gliding across the snow. There are several ski resorts on this mountain as well as those on the Sierra Madres.
Going back down the north side of Mt Rose, we noticed the height of the marker poles along the road. Obviously they have serious snow fall here also.
Getting to Virginia City also involved driving up a mountain but the terrain was entirely different. Geiger Mountain is high desert and quite barren. There are road side markers indicating it is a wild horse area. We wanted to know why any horse would trapse all the way up this mountain to graze on sagebrush. We did enjoy some nice views. We pulled off at one of viewing areas and ate the lunch we had packed and then went on our way. This must be a popular spot for well-to-do Californians to spend their weekends.
Virginia City has shops and "saloons" that are still in the original buildings from the late 1800s. There is even a wooden boardwalk - just like the old west. Several people in costume were stationed outside establishments to lure us in. It worked at one saloon and we tried our hand at some old slot machines. The view out the back window is supposed to be 10 miles but because of the haze, it was only 5 miles on the day we were there.
We were greeted as we entered town by the two quail that were "jay walking" across Main Street. They sure didn't seem to be in much of a hurry but they probably realized only Bert Jr was in the car and he was not a threat.
The route back to Reno was the same as the way into Virginia City. And on our way we saw a foreclosure sign on one of the houses. Since we liked the area so much, we are thinking we may want to bid on it and life high in the mountains! But then we spent some more time in the casino and decided we were better off not living here.
Tomorrow we leave for Medford Oregon and some different scenery. We'll keep you posted.
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