16 October ‘06
This morning we took the “toad” and headed for Carson City and then onto Reno. While we were in Europe we either loaded the VW back up with all our goods for travel, or caught a bus, tram, or train to make a side trip like this one today. Over all we probably covered 125 miles round trip. It’s very interesting to see these different cities that have all the “Western” history that I’ve always heard of or read about, as I was growing up as a kid. Leaving the history lesson of the towns and cities for a few hours, we went to Reno for another type of “looking at history”. We had read and were told over and over, that The Harrah National Automobile Museum is a “must see”. As we drove into Reno, I thought we should grab the first parking lot at a casino that offered free parking, so we pulled into Circus Circus when we saw the “Free Parking” sign. Now to find Harrah’s and the museum. We chose this day to see the museum because it was forecast that it was going to be a cold, blowing, and light rainy day…what a better day than this to do a museum???. Well, Circus Circus just isn’t right around the corner from the museum, it’s about a 15 minute walk and it’s not quite miserable, but close to it. When we found the museum we found that they also offered free parking …bummer… Now inside, we wondered around looking at some of those beautiful collector cars when it was announced that there was going to be a tour guide giving a very exciting free tour that we “just couldn’t miss”. At this point we met Mike Thomas and, we became very informed about these incredible collector cars over the next 3 hours. I must admit that this stop was much more than I could have ever imagined…it was great. Unfortunately Louise had chosen to wear her cowgirl boots so she was suffering a little, not bad, but a little. Now it was off to one of our favorite grocery stores…Trader Joe’s. This was our first since leaving the Seattle area and we were looking forward to shopping. With the car full and the pocket book empty, we headed up and over the mountain to historic Virginia City. It was after 6 and getting dark, but we still wanted to make the drive. The 2 lane road was winding, twisting, and climbing for the clouds. The lights of Reno and the surrounding towns were beautiful as we climbed. Once we arrived at Virginia City we realized that it was too late and too dark to really enjoy, so we’ve just got to make the drive again tomorrow.
This morning we took the “toad” and headed for Carson City and then onto Reno. While we were in Europe we either loaded the VW back up with all our goods for travel, or caught a bus, tram, or train to make a side trip like this one today. Over all we probably covered 125 miles round trip. It’s very interesting to see these different cities that have all the “Western” history that I’ve always heard of or read about, as I was growing up as a kid. Leaving the history lesson of the towns and cities for a few hours, we went to Reno for another type of “looking at history”. We had read and were told over and over, that The Harrah National Automobile Museum is a “must see”. As we drove into Reno, I thought we should grab the first parking lot at a casino that offered free parking, so we pulled into Circus Circus when we saw the “Free Parking” sign. Now to find Harrah’s and the museum. We chose this day to see the museum because it was forecast that it was going to be a cold, blowing, and light rainy day…what a better day than this to do a museum???. Well, Circus Circus just isn’t right around the corner from the museum, it’s about a 15 minute walk and it’s not quite miserable, but close to it. When we found the museum we found that they also offered free parking …bummer… Now inside, we wondered around looking at some of those beautiful collector cars when it was announced that there was going to be a tour guide giving a very exciting free tour that we “just couldn’t miss”. At this point we met Mike Thomas and, we became very informed about these incredible collector cars over the next 3 hours. I must admit that this stop was much more than I could have ever imagined…it was great. Unfortunately Louise had chosen to wear her cowgirl boots so she was suffering a little, not bad, but a little. Now it was off to one of our favorite grocery stores…Trader Joe’s. This was our first since leaving the Seattle area and we were looking forward to shopping. With the car full and the pocket book empty, we headed up and over the mountain to historic Virginia City. It was after 6 and getting dark, but we still wanted to make the drive. The 2 lane road was winding, twisting, and climbing for the clouds. The lights of Reno and the surrounding towns were beautiful as we climbed. Once we arrived at Virginia City we realized that it was too late and too dark to really enjoy, so we’ve just got to make the drive again tomorrow.