If you read yesterday’s post, I teased you with blue eggs for breakfast. I honestly didn’t know that chickens laid anything other than white and brown eggs. Nice to learn something new.
Yolk of blue eggYolk from the brown egg
The yolks are brighter, deeper yellow than the regular white eggs. I’m thinking the better color is from the food the chickens are feed. There is something to be said about free ranging chickens vs those that are not.
Natural heated spring soak
After breakfast I headed over to the hot springs to soak in this natural spa. The water was very hot, 106 degrees Fahrenheit. I soaked for about 15 minutes, about all I could take then relaxed in a chair before going back in for another 15 minutes.
As I was leaving, a group was getting started in the big pool on aquatic aerobics. They looked like they were having fun. I will be returning over the next few mornings to enjoy a morning soak. Don’t worry, no more pictures of my feet.
To a museum
It’s time to get some history on, so off to the Nevada Museum in Carson City. The building was originally one of the federal government’s mints for gold and silver coins.
Silver coins minted for each stateall coins are from the 1970sClose up of the Texas CoinCoin Pressing MachineTools used to measure and test the quality of coins
There is also a section on the history of the mining in the mountains near by. The reason Carson City became a federal printing press for USA coins was because the silver and gold was being pulled out of the mountains. We will get more mineshaft pictures when we visit Virginia City later in this post.
The first image is of a Virgin Valley Black Fire Opal, the second picture is of a shaft minecart being pulled up from the base of a vertical shaft, and the final picture is down a mining shaft.
And I hear you saying, what about the guns, and war equipment, every museum has to have this stuff, right? Well here you go… Enjoy guns and more guns.
If you want to learn more about dueling and why to men, will mostly men, would stand only a few feet from each other and shoot at each other, check out this podcast, BE WARNED!!! the hosts have potty mouths and you will have to deal with some adult language, the information about dueling is worth your ears burning a bit. We Are Not So Different
To Virginia City
The drive to Virginia City from Carson City is a very short drive, only 16 miles. These are mountain miles so it takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
The majority of the buildings are along this 2 way street with a speed limit of 20 mph.
I drove down the road with recording video. It would really be nice if they didn’t allow parking on the street so you could see the buildings better. Almost all of them are from 1876 after the rebuild of the city following the fire of 1875.
You can learn more about the city and the fire here at the official Virginia City Website.
One of the saloons, Ponderosa Saloon, was a bank in its former life. Inside you will vault #1 from the bank. At some point they decided to link up the underground vault to a mine shaft that is about 300 feet behind the building. You will have to visit to get the whole story, I’m just here to show you pictures.
After the tour of the mine, it was time for a train ride. The ride is very short, but you get a view some of the remains of the above ground evidence of the mining below ground.
After the train tour, I went on a final walk through the town, back toward where I parked my car.
Now back to my room, eat dinner, type of this blog and recharge for tomorrows tour around Lake Tahoe.
Welcome to the next installment of my travel blog for June 2024. As the title says, we will be exploring the Carson Range today and tomorrow, or at least we will be staying on the Carson Range side east of Lake Tahoe. I’m planning on exploring Lake Tahoe on Thursday and Friday, so keep coming back. On to today’s adventure..
Sunrise… well and attempt
First, I want you the reader to know that I almost needed a blood transfusion after trying to get these pictures. I should have realized that being so near a wetland the mosquitos would be a force to be reconned with.
I’m thinking this video shows dragon flies feasting on the mosquitos.
Now on to the sunrise photos.
A morning walk to Genoa
Genoa is 1.5 miles north of David Walley’s Resort, where I’m staying. Along the way wild life was encountered both on the journey there and back.
Enjoy some lizards, bees, and birds. The bunny rabbit and squirrel were too fast for me to get a clear picture of them.
Genoa, Nevada
Genoa is the oldest permanent settlement in Nevada. It was founded in 1851; however, Nevada didn’t exist then, it was part of the Utah Territories. The original settlers were part of the Mormon Church and the settlement was originally called Mormon Station. You can learn more here at the official Nevada Historical Website.
The Pink HouseLillian Virgin FinneganOldest Saloon in Nevada
You are probably thinking “why is there a statue of a woman holding a tray of candy?” Well, there is a story behind this statue. Back in 1919 the town wanted to install electric streetlights but didn’t have the funds. Lillian suggested the town hold a Candy Dance. Citizen danced and purchased candy from the local candymakers, and the funds raised went to purchasing and installing the streetlights. The city liked her idea and vola “let there be light”; however, there always is a however when it comes to city budgets. Who was going to pay the monthly electric bill for the lights? Well, candy will. If a Candy Dance worked once why not make it a yearly event, and the city did just that. The tradition lives on to this day. The city has expanded it to include an Arts and Craft Fair and the money goes into the Genoa City budget. Sometimes it pays to live in a small town.
Before heading back, I channeled my inner hobbit and went for 2nd breakfast at the Genoa Country Store. I enjoyed an egg sandwich with sausage on an English Muffin. Now being recharged, I headed back to the resort.
Coyote?
Onward to a Museum… after a short break
Honestly, I need another rest after walking there and back again; round trip was 3 miles or a 5K race. I did contemplate running the track tomorrow, but I’ve ruled against it. The weekend after I get back I’ve got a 5K. Too much of a good thing can turn out bad, hey, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Back to the history lesson.
This museum is only open from 11 AM to 3 PM and is located in busy city building. The center room and the downstairs is the museum while the rooms on the side and front are for city business. The cost is $5 and I feel that is a reasonable fee. On the main floor the walls have murals. As you enter the wall on the left tells the history of the Mustang and Nevada’s push to create a safe place for wild horse herds to roam. I didn’t even know there are herds of wild horses, but 10 states have reserved areas for them. You can learn more here at the Herd Managment website.
Sheep, I want to now talk about sheepherding. Why? because I can… or it’s actually related to the history of Nevada. Sheep herding in Nevada began in the 1880s, when Basque families from Spain and France immigrated to the Western United States for better job opportunities. They supplied the gold and silver miners with mutton and wool. This was a solitary life for the herder who could only count on his dogs and the 100’s of sheep he was managing. You can learn a bit more here at the National Park Systems Website. What little is known about these men comes from the carvings they left on the Aspen trees in the area.
Now let’s take a moment to talk about the first peoples, the indigenous tribes of the Lake Tahoe area. They called themselves WΓ‘βΕ‘iw, or Washoe in English. I’m just going to copy directly from the tribes website, “The four directions of WΓ‘βΕ‘iw territory was occupied by different bands of the WΓ‘βΕ‘iw that made up the whole of the tribe. Although one tribe, each band was unique in its own area of occupation with subtle differences in cultural diversity and language patterns.” To get the full history I recommend following the link to the Washoe Tribe Website and downloading the PDF writen by the tribe telling their history. To quickly summarize, European settlers moved in for the gold and silver and destroyed the tribe’s way of life. The WΓ‘βΕ‘iw were always an adaptable people and they managed to survive and keep their traditions if not their way of life. At the museum there is a room dedicated to this tribe which was famous for its weaved baskets.
One last thing before we move on to more modern times.
As a fan of archeology and digging things up to learn more about the past, the statement here saddens me. I realize this happened before archeology became a solid science, but I wonder what history we could have learned if an archeologist had been called in to excavate the area. From what I understand about the Indigenous tribes of the area they didn’t do much with stone, because it was heavy, and they moved around frequently. Why did they take the time to carve this stone statue? We will never know. Which gives me the chance to stand on a soap box and preach for a moment. It is a federal crime to dig up, remove or relocate artifacts found in public parks and native tribal lands. If you happen upon something, record the gps location, take pictures don’t touch anything, and then report what you found to the state or federal government agency. If you want fame, I’m sure you will get more credit for reporting and letting the professionals do their job than making a TikTok or Instagram post about it. I’m now getting off my soap box. Let’s continue to more modern times.
Let’s look at some medical equipment and telephone equipment…
Isn’t that old water fountain cool? And check out all those phones? f
Wow, it’s taken me 2 hours to type, edit and upload all of this content. Time does fly when you are having fun. I’m having to remind myself to enjoy the collection of content as much as writing about it. That’s all for today, tomorrow there will be blue chicken eggs for breakfast and I’ve decided to drive to Virginia City myself and skip the guided tour. I honestly didn’t want to be trapped for 5 hours. Virginia City is only 45 minutes away and I can visit or skip the museums along the way. So until tomorrow, have a great day, enjoy a pizza. I had one for lunch.
For this year’s bring break I decided to visit Canyon Lake, Texas and stay at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Hill Country Resort. I’m planning on the final post in this series to be a full review of the resort and my current thoughts on the Holiday Inn Club Vacation. Now on to what I got up to yesterday, March 11th.
I cooked myself breakfast, a bacon, egg, and tomato taco. I forgot to buy cheese and I’m just realizing that I forgot to buy cheese again yesterday before I returned to my room for the evening. Going to have to make that a priority for today.
The plan for the day was to visit The Alamo, and its museum, then visit Natural Bridge Caverns and finally end with dinner in Gruene, Texas.
Canyon Lake is about an hour from The Alamo. I had plans to get to The Alamo at 9 AM when it opened, but I wanted a 2nd cup of coffee and was enjoying the latest podcast from Going Medieval. If you like history I recommend this podcast. While listening to the podcast, I was also trying to determine the best plan for parking in downtown San Antonio. I ended up parking at the parking garage that houses the Whataburger in downtown San Antonio. This was the first time I brought my dslr camera with me and I didn’t rely on my cell phone for all the pictures.
San Antonio and The Alamo
I arrived around 10:30 AM and exited the parking lot walking toward Commerce Street. This art deco structure has already amazed me.
It is called La Antorcha de la Amistad, “The Torch of Friendship”. It was created by Mexican artist, SebastiΓ‘n. He is known for creating massive steel structures. “More than 200 of his monumental creations can be found all over the globe, including Mexico City, Paris and Jerusalem.” You can learn a bit more about him here in this MYSA news post (2019) that I quoted. News post about Sebastian.
As you walk toward The Alamo at the time of this post (March 2024), there is a major construction project in the works to transform Alamo Plaza. In the space available, they are trying to reconstruct the buildings that have long been lost to history and provide visitors with a view of The Alamo during that 1836 battle. The building across from the plaza has been taken over for the new Alamo Museum, so the places I would buy T-shirts and ice cream have been forced to close. Don’t worry the buildings across from the Menger Hotel are still open for business so you will still be able to buy T-Shirts and tourist trinkets.
The line to purchase tickets to visit The Alamo church was large in size; however, I joined Friends of the Alamo and with your membership you get free tickets to visit The Alamo and the museum exhibit on site. So I ordered my tickets using my membership and was able to head over to the line to get into The Alamo. OMG, if I thought the line to buy tickets was long, the line to get into The Alamo was 3 times it’s size. At least it moved quickly and if I understood the podcast from Alamo Podcast, “The Battle of the Alamo,” we were in line where the Mexican army made its final assault along the long barracks toward The Alamo church were the Texans made their last stand. The church was also where the women and children were hiding during the fight. Every person fighting inside The Alamo was killed. At the start of the battle, Santa Ana had raised the red flag, signaling to all the defenders of The Alamo, that the Mexican army was not taking prisoners and they would be killed even if they surrendered. The battle last about 90 minutes and the only survivors were the women and children.
One thing I want to note about the church. In 1836 it was more ruins than a functioning church. It didn’t have a roof and had been fortified by the Mexican Army before the Texans took it over and setup a defense inside. Also, the defenders were expecting to get help from the other Texans mustering in the East. History shows that help was on the way, but it wasn’t able to get there in time. This leads me to the big news of the year. The Travis Letter.
The Travis Letter is on display in the museum behind the Alamo. Along with many other artifacts and Phil Colins’ collect. Yes, that Phil Colins, the drummer of Genesis. He even does the voice over inside the museum that retells the battle. But back to the Travis Letter…
How do you know this is a big deal? Out of view of my picture is an armored Texas State Trooper who is facing the Travis Letter. Normally, security is standing by the door or in the corner surveying the room. Not this guard. I don’t have a clue what the letter is worth, but being as it is one of a kind and is one of the last letters that Travis wrote asking for more help before the fall of The Alamo I’m guessing it’s near to priceless.
I mentioned there were a variety of artifacts in the collection. These are the ones that interested me the most so I’m going to include them here with my own ramblings. π§
This is a statue of Joseph. According to the note at the base, it is missing the baby Jesus normally found with statues of Joseph. What I found the most interesting is the ability to bend the elbows and rotate the arms at the shoulders. It was designed so someone could move the arms and reposition them.
I didn’t get the exact date when this wallet of flints was in use, but I like how it connects us back to Stoneage humanity. Modern humanity isn’t really much different than ancient humanity.
I’m going to conclude my Alamo visit with some of the pictures on display of the Alamo. From 1850 to present date, tourists have been visiting The Alamo. You can even see a picture of the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and a ZZ Top.
Natural Bridge Caverns
Back to the truck and $30 to get my truck out of the parking garage and off to Natural Bridge Caverns. I’ve trying to remember the last time I was at Natural Bridge Caverns, and I can’t remember the exact date, but it had to be over 10 years ago and the complex has changed. It is no longer just a place to go see a cave. Above ground they’ve added picnic areas, areas where you can “pan for gold or artifacts”, and rope/climbing course and an area for concerts.
In the gallery below you will see pictures from Natural Bridge Caverns. The tour has changed dramatically since the last time I visited. Before you when down with a tour guided and they lead your through the cave and gave you speeches about the formations and the history. Now you follow the path from tour guided to tour guide and at each stopping point you hear about the formations and history and then you move on to the next location. I miss the old way, but I can see how this system is much more efficient and the improvements to the path along with all the handrails is much appreciated.
Gruene, Texas
Off to the final destination, the historic city of Gruene, Texas.
This little city, now part of New Braunfels, Texas has really learned how to trap tourists. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to shop at some unique stores, you will find them here. If you want to listen to local singers and musicians, you can find them here. What you will have a hard time finding is parking. There is one main parking area, and it is very large, but it was almost full when I arrived at 4 PM. Now most of the shops close by 5ish. Yes, I’m right 5ish I should have taken a picture of all the stores that operation hours. Basically, if people are in the shop still buying items, they won’t be closing. Smart move on their part. I would recommend a visit but bring a friend or two or at least a designated driver. Some places allowed you to purchase, “to go” beverages.
I finished the day with a meal at the Gristmill Restaurant. The main course, bronze catfish, was good but the M.L. Special, a desert was the winner of the night. It’s a fudge cake with pecans, ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. I have to give a shout out to my server, Gigi, for recommending it.
Day one’s adventure ends here. We started our day visiting a historical site in the birth of the state of Texas, traveled to a natural wonder and enjoyed a bit of nature, and we concluded the day visiting a historic town in central Texas. Was a good day overall.
It is hard to believe that I’ve visited the place a man was born and died over something like 500 years ago. The only way you can believe this, comes from the fact he was as famous in his time as ours.
I leave this place with only pictures and postcards only because my luggage has limited space and my trip has only just begun. There are some wonderful souvenirs in the shops, and some nice fudge too.
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