Lake Tahoe and Virginia City

While out in Nevada for the Reno Downtown River Run Marathon we had the opportunity to visit two nearby tourist sites: Lake Tahoe and a Virginia City.

Lucky for us our friends Lee and Laura were with us to do all the navigating and driving. We occupied the back seats and took in the views. We reached the lake via Route 50 and took the southern route towards Stateline. We originally thought about doing the gondola ride up the mountain but decided the $45/pp price was a bit too steep (ha!). We parked in town near the marina to get a good long view of the lake.

That's a sailboat mast. Someone had a bad day.

Our next stop was the Taylor Creek Trail and Visitor Center. The center was closed (too early in the season) and some of the trails were inaccessible due to flooding. The trail still gave us access to beautiful meadows, forests, mountains, and lake shore.

After our pleasant walk around Taylor Creek we headed up the mountain to Emerald Point. About 1/2 of the tourists in northern Nevada were here to take in the view.

We were all getting hungry and needed lunch. How lucky were we to find a brewery just nine miles away? Tahoe Mountain Brewery was perfectly situated in Tahoe City. The large town park and lake was just across the street. We enjoyed a great lunch and some excellent beer. We walked around the park for a few minutes before heading back to Reno.

 

Dinner that night was at Campo in downtown Reno. Food was average but the beer list was good, wine selection seemed ok, and the room was nice. We were offered wine while waiting for our table - nice touch. We were entertained by prom-goers (about 30 of them) having their pre-dance dinner and paying the waiter individually.

The day after the marathon we headed to Virginia City. Dave had never heard of it, but the town was made famous by its silver mining in the 1800's. Its fame was boosted by the TV show Bonanza. Town was pretty dead on an off-season Monday with many businesses still closed for the winter. We walked the length of the main street to the school and an active mine. We also visited the shooting gallery, town museum, visitor center, and a few shops. We learned that at one time this was the richest city in the U.S. and Mark Twain started his writing career at the local newspaper. Lunch was pizza and local beer at the Red Dog Saloon. It was worth the time to visit the town even though it was a bit of a tourist-trap.

Our final visit on this trip was to Great Basin Brewery since it was near the airport and we had enough time for one more. The more interesting part of the visit was leaving. We put another item back into the trunk of Lee's SUV and exited the strip mall onto a busy 6 lane road. About ten seconds in the trunk flies open and half our luggage tumbles onto the street. Lee pulled over while three of us ran into traffic to save the bags. Dave was really scared his camera, lens, and iPad were toast. Thankfully all electronics were fine and only the bags suffered minor scratches and tears.

 

First picture Dave took after the luggage incident.

We are now on our way to have another adventure with Lee, Laura, Stan, and Pam. Dave and Lee are in charge of the car so we will be sure the hatches are battened-down.