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 Wá∙šiw, or Washoe in English. I’m just going to copy directly from the tribes website, “The four directions of Wá∙šiw territory was occupied by different bands of the Wá∙šiw 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 Wá∙šiw 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.
Walked down Canal street to the river front. I thought about taking a street car, but after yesterday’s attempt and a notice on the official app, I decided walking would be faster.
I tried to get a beignet from Cafe Du Mont again, but it wasn’t open at 8:45 AM. So, I went to church again, but this time with my DLSR camera to get better pictures and I knew the doors opened at 9 AM.
I thought about getting another coffee at Cafe Beignet near the meeting point for the New Orleans tour, but decided I’d already had enough at breakfast so just decided to take some pictures of the steam boat and train station nearby.
I’m now sitting on the tour bus waiting for the tour to start.
Stop 1: Cemetery 3 Hear are some facts about New Orleans funeral practices.
You cannot open a grave for a year and a day. So, if some dies before the time frame, you have to rent a tomb or find a friend who will loan you one for the time. These above ground tombs get up to 400 degrees in the summer speeding up the decomposition process. The boneman will come back later and place the remains in a bag and reseal them in the tomb. These bags now, because of Hurricane Katrina, are non biodegradable with markers and identifiers of the deceased. The flood waters destroyed and damaged many of the tombs and remains were moved around with the waters.
Interesting story behind this tomb below. Skelly spent all her money on the tomb to spite her daughter who is not legally allowed to be laid to rest inside. Obviously, this was not a good mother/daughter relationship.
Some more facts… Families take care of tombs and reuse them for family members. The ones that are falling apart are family lines that have ended.
Now on to the Garden District… The Garden District was created from an old plantation that was subdivided. The further away from river for wealthy closer to river for working class, industry smell. Lessons are architecture
2nd most haunted house in New Orleans – yellow fever victims – Nicholas Cage owned it before going bankrupt.
2nd most haunted house in the city
After the tour ended I had to find a Lucky Dog Vendor on my nieces recommendation.
Sausage DogNot bad for a street dog.
Kate, the tour guide said I should try a Sazerac.
So here we go…
The Sazerac from Cafe Beignet. It’s a cocktail made with Sazerac Rye, absinthe, Peychaud’s Bitters and a twist of lemon. The one here at the Cafe is a bit sweeter than I like.
I went to the Ritz to buy my sister one of their signature candles. Check out the decorations in the lobby.
Then it’s time for a short rest.
It’s only 5 PM, and I’m not going to just sit in my room. So off to Bourbon Street..
I’m hungry. Let’s go eat at a vampire restaurant.
The place is called Vampire Apothecary Restaurant and Bar. Check the linked website to learn more. I highly recommend a visit. The portions are small, but the taste is amazing.
Vampire Tea-Brined Chicken Thighs
There is a magic show later, so I’m eating and drinking slowly.
Vampire SazeracRelax Renfield! Bourbon Milk PunchBoth drinks have been the best I’ve had in New Orleans
The Sazerac here was so much better. It had to be the handcrafted absinthe and bitters.
Time for tea and cake.
Chocolate cake and Blood Tea
I’m going to call it an end to this post. Maybe I will tell you about the magic show in tomorrow’s post, but maybe not.
Okay, so my official tour started today. I’m the youngest person by 20 years, all but the tour guide who is in his late 20’s. And I’m surrounded by a bunch of aussies even the tour guide if from Australia..
The country side is beautiful. Seen lots of sheep on the drive to Oxford, our first stop of the tour.
Good news first.. The fire alarm at 12:10am was a false alarm. Now how do I get back to sleep after that aerobic workout of running down 8 flights of stairs?
Ok, made it into London. They did serve dinner and a breakfast on the plane. I didn’t sleep much cause the old dude behind me kept getting up and to use the bathroom. He had to use my headrest to pull himself up 😦 I could have also watched some of the newest released movies; however, my video screen didn’t work 😦
The room at the Thistle is not worth the price. It pretty beat up. Could use some new carpet and fresh paint on the walls. But wait the room lacks, it makes up for on location. it is very centrally located and can you can get to many of the tourist attraction with a short walk; if you are willing to brave London traffic. OMG, between the guys in suits riding bicycles to the messengers on motorcycles zipping in and out and between cars, I’m surprised there aren’t daily accidents.
Well, I’m off to find lunch and a mobile phone provider for data. I’m not digging using the “free” wifi at the hotel.
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