If you've been around as long as us I'm sure you'll remember the TV show, Bonanza. Each show started with this map which then started burning. We saw it dozens of times but until we came here I never realized it was in this part of Nevada. Virginia City was the key city with Reno and Carson City never mentioned.
That must have hurt Reno's feelings because this is their famous sign. Nyah, nyah, Virginia City. We went for a drive through Reno, but other than casinos, there wasn't much to take a picture of. We saw lots of taxis with signs advertising the Mustang Ranch but we couldn't get a picture. Not that I really care about horses anyway.
Leaving Reno we're heading for Virginia City. To get there we need to go over a mountain pass with lots of switchbacks.
I'm glad I'm driving the Jeep. I don't think Harvey would fit some of the corners. That's Reno in the far background.
Virginia City is a Federal landmark and nearly all the buildings on the main street are original for the 1860's.
In its heyday, Virginia City was taking so much gold and silver out of the ground that they were billing themselves as the "richest place on earth". In today's dollars, they pulled billions in wealth from the ground. This is where the Comstock lode was located; considered the richest gold find ever found.
Wherever that much money is found, gamblers and other shysters could be found. This gambling table is called "the suicide table". 3 people, after losing everything at this table, committed suicide. After that, no one would play at the table so it was put in storage until it was found in 1990. Still, no one will play on it.
This mine is right in the middle of town. It didn't seem to matter where someone sunk a shaft, they'd hit gold or silver. Due to a problem with the mine tailings, no more mines could be dug in the town limits.
Mining is still going on although the yields are somewhat less than before. At the peak, over 25,000 people lived here and with the fortune that was removed from here, it was the richest mining town ever built.
To make sure we cover the total Bonanza experience, we're moving our base of operations to Carson City, the northern edge of the Ponderosa ranch. By the By, according to the map, the mountains ahead are part of the ranch. That's one big property Ben Cartwright has!
Carson City is the capital of Nevada and as you know by now, we're Capital junkies. This is the state capital, the second oldest Capital building west of the Mississippi.
Grammie and I and Sarah Winnemucca pose in the Capital rotunda. She was quite gracious, if a bit stand offish. Kinda reminded me of C3P0.
We walked through the old part of town to get a flavour of what Carson City was about. Apparently it's about gambling.
We walked the Kit Carson trail which is a walk through the historic part of Carson City. Dozens of 1900 era homes are preserved in excellent condition but we're not going to bore you with a bunch of unique old buildings, save this one. John Wayne's (my hero,s) last movie was the Shootist. This home was featured in the movie as his last residence. Now that's historically significant!
To complete the total coverage of the Bonanza empire we need to see Lake Tahoe. There is a scenic drive around the lake that is billed as the prettiest drive in America. We'll see, after all, we've seen a lot of scenic drives in our travels. Dozens of small towns surround the lake. This is South Lake Tahoe on Route 50 ( by the way, Route 50 is billed as the loneliest road in the US; it's the original Pony Express trail). Half the lake is in Nevada and half is in California. How do you tell the difference? No casinos in California.
When the road isn't going through a town, it's going through wilderness areas. All kinds of trees, mountains and lake views. Due to its altitude, high mountains and such a large lake, it's billed as the largest ski area in the US. It's also a year round vacation area, from swimming, fishing, hiking and skiing. Properties are valuable and some are spectacular. It's hard to believe some of the homes are just getaways.
We must have take a dozen lake pictures; they were all as lovely as this. Lake Tahoe is 6225' above sea level and is 191.6 square miles. At 1645' deep it's the second deepest lake in the US.
This is Emerald Bay, considered the most photographed spot on the lake; and who are we to argue. This is on the west side of the lake so none of Ben Cartwright's cattle pooped here. Bonus. After driving the whole lake in about 5 hours, we feel inclined to agree that it's as lovely a drive as we've seen yet.
We've covered as much of the Ponderosa as possible and are impressed with its size, although honestly, the land covered by the ranch is so poor they needed a lot of ground to feed all those cattle. We're back at our RV Resort in Carson City getting ready to head on to our next adventure. Boy, it just keeps getting better! TTFN
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