Smith Valley, Nevada - Part II

Week two of our northern Nevada visit went as advertised. This week, our excursions included Bridgeport California, Carson City Nevada and Lake Tahoe, CA & NV. We also did some exploration around our campground and discovered there was more than meets the eye in things to do around the camp, thanks to some new neighbors who came into the campsite next to us. Besides being a huge off road vehicle site, they have a beach and picnic area along the river, fishing, hiking trails and, if you're into hunting and shooting, a clay pigeon range.

Bridgeport is a small community (<1000 population), that is the seat of Mono County. That’s all you need to know about Bridgeport. It does have a nice old courthouse in the center of town and the drive from Smith Valley has some magnificent scenery though the southern edge of Toiyabe National Forest. Rounding our loop, we continued from Bridgeport north up US 395 back towards Carson Valley. Crossing the state line from California to Nevada is Topaz lake and a hotel and casino overlooking the lake. We had lunch from the terrace restaurant overlooking the lake. It looks like a fun place for water skiing and/or fishing. My choice would be more fishing than water skiing in this area as the water temps in this area are in the 50’s or 60’s. Remember, we’re at 4000+ altitude and the lakes and rivers are fed by the melting snow pack from the Sierras.

Next up was Carson City, Nevada’s capitol. Carson City is distinguished from Carson Valley in that the City is in a different county and is over the next hill from Carson Valley. We visited the historic district to see the capitol grounds and old town Carson City. Carson City was founded by a guy named Abraham Curry, who thought the lots for sale in Genoa (the first Nevada settlement) were too expensive. He purchased Eagle Ranch in what is now the capitol and plotted out a town leaving a plaza in the center of the community in case the community would select this location as the capitol if Nevada ever became a state. Clearly, this guy had vision and drives because as the Nevada became a territory in 1861 and eventually a state in 1864, he lobbied for Carson City to be the capitol and succeeded. Gee, I wonder if the massive amounts of gold and silver in the hills of Virginia City and surrounding area had any influence in Nevada statehood during the Civil War period? Duh!

Anyway, we took some good photos of the old and new capitol buildings. One thing I like about Nevada is that their legislature meets every two years. What a concept! Only bring legislators in for needed work and legislation, don’t pay them enough to not have another job or profession and make sure they don’t sit around waiting for lobbyists and others to think up laws for the “good of the people”. Perhaps Washington DC and other states could learn from this.

While we were in Carson City, we thought we would make sure we are “legal” and went to the county records department and picked up for $1.00 a copy of our marriage certificate to make sure the minister in Lake Tahoe had filed the paperwork after we were married up there. He did and it’s a good thing because when we got to Tahoe, we found the chapel where we were married didn’t exist anymore.

Lake Tahoe was the third venture of the week. God’s country!!  We personally think this is one of, if not the most, beautiful place in the country. It’s one of the places that pictures do not do it justice. Since we were last here, they have made some major developments on state line border, California side, including a gondola lift to Heavenly Valley ski area directly from the resort complex area on Highway 50 (the main route). This definitely a place we plan to come back to and stay at the resort area for a week. While we were having a snack and some iced tea below the lift and Carol was considering whether she had the “huevos” to take the lift, we noticed the lift stopped occasionally, then restarted, usually within 3-5 minutes. A guy sitting at the next table told Carol the reason for the stops were the winds on the run. When they got too strong, the lift would stop and wait for the gondola to stop wavering too much. Oh well, that ended the gondola adventure! Wind and height combined finished Carol’s love of the idea…

Finally, we had to visit Emerald Bay on the south side of the lake. Twenty five years ago, we tent camped at the California State Park at that location Sadly, it has closed (budget cuts?), but we had the greatest campsite ever at this park. Out tent was set up on a plateau that had an unobstructed view of the entire lake. In the real world, it would be a million plus lot. In one photo, you will notice a small structure on the island in Emerald Bay. This was built by an owner before the land was acquired by the state as an afternoon tea house.

Well, enough for this post. We’re off to Isleton California on the Delta. It will be interesting to compare California’s capitol city to Nevada’s, one of our planned adventures. Take care and miss you guys.

T & C

 

Walker River on our Campground

 

 

The old Nevada state capitol

 

 

Separation from the Utah Territory

 

 

County flags in the capital corridor

 

 

 

The new Nevada capitol

 

 

 

Senate chamber 

 

Carol's gondola ride

 

 

Stateline Resort Complex

 

Emerald Bay

 

 

Tea house on Emerald Bay Island

Smith Valley, Nevada

We are now in Smith Valley Nevada at the Walker River Resort. It may be in the middle of nowhere, but it’s a lush campground along the river and in high desert country. What a pleasant change in weather. The highs are in the low 90’s and cool nights in the 50’s. How nice not to need A/C 24 hours a day!  Two weeks schedules at this location, but there are more day trips and activities we can do in this region.

To give you a frame of reference, we are located in the Carson Valley/Lake Tahoe region of northern Nevada. In my (Thom) opinion, this is one of the most beautiful areas of the country. We are along the eastern side of the Sierra’s in basically ranch land at 4000 + elevation with mountains and forests less than an hour away. We are located about an hour from Carson City.

Last week, our day trips were to Reno, Virginia City and Carson Valley. Quite a few changes since Carol and were here last. We haven’t been in this area since we were married in 1986. Gardnerville/Minden was two small towns about 2 miles long, but now it takes about 30 minutes to drive through the towns due to expansion.

Reno has grown dramatically, but the expansion is in the suburbs rather than downtown. Downtown looks like it is the middle of resurgence, as the day we were there, they were having an off road vehicle event. There were lots of unusual road trucks, motorcycles and specialty vehicles to look over. They closed off center town, so it was a fun event. The city is also trying to redo the river district around the college with plenty of specialty restaurants, pubs and coffee shops. It’s a work in progress. We also went to Sparks in search of the Harrah’s collection, only to find out it no longer exists. I didn’t know the Holiday Inn Group sold off most of the collection in the 80’s and donated 150-200 cars to a non-profit called the National Museum. Unfortunately, I learned this after we had completed that day trip. Oh well, something for the future to check out.

Virginia City is replete with Nevada history and we were surprised to discover that mining (strip mining) is back in operation, not to the liking of the locals I might add. As long as gold prices hold, my guess is it will continue. They haven’t changed the town of Virginia City or Gold Hills; otherwise, I think there would be a tourist rebellion. We spent much of our time in St Mary’s Catholic Church, which has been there since the beginning and rebuilt 3 times of the years. Beautiful with plenty of artifacts and architectural highlights.

We also took a train ride down to Gold Hills and had to have a beer at the Bucket of Blood Saloon. Train ride was interesting and harrowing for Carol as the tracks went along the side of a mountain with steep drop and a tunnel. She had fun, or at least I told her she did!?

One thing that hasn’t changed is the first Nevada settlement of Genoa (founded 1851) since I’ve been here last. The town has been kept the same and development is occurring outside of town at golf resorts communities about three miles north of town.

Some of the good old things still survive. The JT Basque restaurant in Gardnerville is an experience that, if you’ve never had dinner at a Basque restaurant, you should try. Dinners are fixed with main courses of the day, usually three or four, and the rest of the meal is serve family style. They will bring soups, salads, bread and sides as much as you like. Good food and plenty of it.

Well, enough for this post. Next week is Tahoe (yea!), Bridgeport and Carson City and whatever else we can think of.

Thom & Carol

 

 

St Mary's, Virginia City

 

St Joseph vestibule at side of altar

Working steam engine from Carson City (V&T Line)

 

 

Restored cabooses

 

 

Virginia City Fire Museum

 

Faro table in saloon operated by 3 people

who went broke and committed suicide

 

Carol along the boardwalk Virginia City

 

Bucket of Blood Saloon (est 1876)

 

Truckee River Reno

 

Reno River Walk redevelopment section

 

Amorgosa

This was an interesting experiment. This is the video of the Amorgosa Opera House. Click on the link below to view on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EViSUAuRoCE&feature=youtu.be

Thom & Carol

Where the He.. is Pahrump Valley?

Our week in Pahrump was terrific. First of all, who knew Pahrump would be a great place to spend the 4^th of July? With a combination of the small town festival in the park with arts, crafts and food vendors and the night ending with a spectacular fireworks show, I couldn’t have written a better script. The bill of fare for the holiday was, of course, hamburgers and hot dogs. Capping out the celebration, there was an additional fireworks show and much larger put on by the local casino which was about 300 yards down the street from our park. This show was larger and right above our heads. It looked like the bursts were going to land on us. Fantastic!

Day trips included Death Valley, all parts, the Amorgosa Wildlife reserve and Opera House, and a winery, believe it or not.

As one might expect, we, as native Californians had never been to Death Valley. It’s one of those places that pictures don’t really do it justice. You have to be there to enjoy the beauty of the desert. Visits included Scotty’s Castle, the Artists Pallet and the Furnace Creek Inn and Resort.

Resort was fabulous and surprising busy, even in the middle of summer with average temps at 115+ degrees. Very nice RV Park, cabins golf course, good restaurant and bar as well as a fabulous museum, with the story of Death Valley development and mining operations. We were told that Europeans are the bulk of the visitors during this season. This would be a good long weekend trip to consider for the future.

Artists Pallet is a one way drive through canyons and mountains with multiple geologic formations and colors illustrating the development of the valley from volcanic, seismic and flooding action.

Scotty’s Castle, in initially built by a Chicago businessman because of an elaborate con by “Scotty”, later continued because of their friendship and mutual love of the desert landscape and climate is an amazing story. Now a National Park, the guided tour was informative and entertaining. Our guide definitely loves his job, something that makes the tour that much more fun.

Amorgosa Wildlife Reserve in Nevada near the California border is a marshland refuge for animals and fish in the middle of the desert. To us, not being environmental students or experts, it strikes us as strange how a marshland can survive in an otherwise total desert climate. A giant oasis, I guess?

More interesting to us was the Amorgosa Junction where a ballerina from Europe while touring Death Valley decided that an abandoned rest stop was the place she would live and retire would become her home. On the property, she created, opened and performed a theatre opera house. Since the audience would not be large, she created her own audience by painting them on the walls of the theatre to watch her performance. Clearly, she is a multi-talented artist and her life’s passion for theatre makes for a “must see” out of the way place if you’re in the area.

Finally, we had to visit the winery in Pahrump. As wineries go, similar to the Arizona wineries. They are certainly not Napa Valley, but nevertheless fun. If you’ve never visited a winery, the passion of the owners and pride in their vintage is what makes the stop interesting.

For those of you who like to gamble a bit, we had two casinos right down the street from our park. Both reminded me of the “old days” when you got great and reasonable meals in the restaurants, smaller minimum bets at the tables (usually $2) and “play or pay” question when sitting at the bar. For those who do not know, casinos bars generally have multi-game gambling machines at your seat. If you’re playing, the drink is free, or you can pay for the drink. I usually play and have some fun at blackjack for bets as low as 25 cent or as high as $5 while chugging down some ice cold O’Douls. I also had a one pound chicken fried steak dinner for $10…… just what I needed for weight control, but what the he.., you need to splurge once in awhile !! By the way, this is Thom, not Carol talking here!!! I probably did not need to tell you that. Carol’s new passion is Coronitas, 8 ounce ice cold beers. She can put “em” down like a pro…

Enough rambling for now. We’ve been a week in Walker River Resort, Smith Nevada and have some interesting day trip to report on our next post. Miss you guys!

Thom & Carol

PS

I'm going to try and download a video of the Opera House later this weekend.

 

 Amorgosa Opera House

 

The stage

 

Railroad Museum at Amorgosa.

A nice couple is building the replication of the Borax days 

 

Artist's Pallet

 

 

 

 

 

Borax Museum at Furnace Creek

 

Wagon that was hauled by 20 mule teams

 

Another interesting wagon frame. Wheels are wood.

Rail engine in back from later days used after 20 mule teams.

Along the Desert Trail – Laughlin/Bullhead to Pahrump

First, let me apologize for not keeping the blog up at my once a week target. Nothing since June 19. I’m going to put myself on report !!!

From Parker strip, we headed north up to Laughlin, NV, Bullhead City, AZ for our first two week stay. We stayed at Ridegview RV Park located right across the Arizona- Nevada bridge. Our site has an unobstructed view of the river and Casino Row, which was particularly beautiful at night. I can’t say we enjoyed the weather as the average high temp was about 120 degrees with our last full day capping out at 127. Almost as bad as home, but when you’re living in a “giant hallway” and not able to get outside unless you want to drop from heat stroke, it can be trying. Out next summer road trip will be moving rapidly up north (Lesson #1)

Day trips started included trips to Oatman, AZ, Davis dam and lake Mohave behind the dam, Laughlin (several times), AVI Golf Resort and Lake Mead Recreation area.

Oatman, AZ is an old mining town that survived after the mines closed by adapting as to and attraction along the Mother Route 66 because of the wild burros (descendants of the old mine work burros) allowed to freely roam around the town. While comfortable and somewhat tame around people, Carol learned why they warn you about them being wild. Her purse of the day was made of straw and one of the burros sneaked up behind her and began to eat her purse! Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to get photo or video. I would have had a “priceless” commercial.  She was fighting that beast with vigor and eventually won the battle. Too funny!

Lake Mohave is located behind Davis Dam and is the smallest of the three lakes on the Colorado River project. It’s fairly narrow and not too far down river from Hoover (Boulder) Dam, so it’s not a long ride to the Lake Mead recreation area up river. There are some nice resorts and camping sites along the river and lake. The old Davis dam community is now a Mohave County Park along the river and clearly one of the river rats’ favorite weekend spots.

Golf at the AVI resort, located on the Nevada side of the river, down river from Laughlin and located on the Mohave Indian reservation is a beautiful desert oasis. While we did not go into the Casino and hotel complex, it looks like a very comfortable place, similar to the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale for you Arizona readers and others who have visited it. I played the course in 3 hours because no other fool was crazy enough to be out there in the sun (I won’t report my score for this one).Track was great and I would recommend it a good golf weekend trip location. The resort also had a really nice KOA RV park next to the gold course. Affordable prices even at winter rates.

Two weeks at one location for road trip purposes seems too long if the day trip opportunities are limited (Lesson # 2).

Well, we’re off for our last road trip for the Pahrump stop, so will close this post out and report hopefully before we leave for Walker River in northern Nevada Monday. WiFi at this stop is horribly slow, so need to look into that issue (Lesson # 3).

So long for now and hope all is well with you guys ……. We’re still singing Happy Trails.

 

Carol with Burro Food - Oatman

 

View From Our Campsite

 

Oatman

 

Oatman In formation

 

Fun on The River Below Davis Dam

 

Mohave County Park on the River - Great Place

 

Lake Mohave behind Davis Dam