This was my last morning in California. Virginia City, Nevada was a little over three hours away. The weather was beautiful and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Much of the drive was on California Route 20, with a little bit on I-80. About sixty miles east of Yuba City is historic Nevada City, CA. This is set up to look like the set on an old west movie. Historically, Nevada City was a mining area where gold was discovered. Now it's a place with restaurants and sourvenir shops. The Nevada City Chamber of Commerce and Nevada City Hall web sites have more information.
I stopped into Nevada City briefly. I drove around to look at the shops. Parking was limited and to park outside the main street took some walking. In looking at the shop names, I simply could not really find any reason to stop. I also wanted to get to Virginia City quickly. Had it not been for that, I might have stopped in Nevada City even if I didn't find anything terribly interesting there.
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As I continued east past Nevada City, California Route 20 entered the Tahoe National Forest. There were lots of extremely tall trees. I started seeing bits of snow in the forest, though thankfully nothing on the road. As I drove further, there were lots of snowbanks along the road. Within the forest, there was snow everywhere.
Finally, I got to I-80. The pavement on I-80 was like nothing I had ever seen before on an interstate. It seemed like concrete. It was very loud driving on it and the surface seemed to make it difficult to accelerate. The speed limit was 65. There were mountains on either side of the interstate. They looked gorgeous covered in snow.
As I drove further, there was an electronic sign indicating a major accident further east. The sign said that people would have to take a detour off the interstate at Soda Springs, CA. A tractor-trailer must have turned over to make them actually send people off the interstate. As I got closer, there was a traffic jam and police were directing people to the Soda Springs exit.
One thing I forgot to mention about California is that motorcycle riders seem to be very arrogant during traffic jams. I've seen a little of this in New York, but never to the extent I have seen it in California. They drive up the white broken line separating the lanes, trying to thread themselves through traffic jams. They should be stuck just like regular cars. I can understand passing slow vehicles when traffic is moving, but they should not give themselves special privileges just because they are thinner and smaller than a normal car.
Getting off in Soda Springs, I started to see really high snow banks along the road. In fact, there was even a car smashed into one of the snow banks. There were warning signs about avalanches. The GPS kept trying to make me turn around to get back on the interstate. Of course, I couldn't do that when the police had just sent everyone off the interstate.
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I drove the Donner Pass road through some spectacular mountain scenery. I passed a ski resort where people were skiing. The road wound around a mountain and there were many places to stop off and take pictures. The light was not the best so the pictures are not great. But, you'll be able to have an idea of what I saw.
Once I got back onto I-80, beyond the accident, the mountain scenery began to change. Instead of forests, it became more rocky. It became more of a desert environment. Sagebrush was everywhere and there were few trees. I was definitely getting into the West (even though I was heading east).
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A short time later, I entered Nevada. Immediately I could begin to see the billboards for casinos and other gambling facilities in Reno. Virginia City is not on the interstate. I had to get off at the exit for Carson City (where I would be staying that night) and work my way to Virginia City.
Virginia City is a historical city --- and tourist trap --- like Nevada City in California. However, it is more authentic than Nevada City. The buildings have been around since the 1850s and some of the businesses have the same name as they did then (though I'd venture to guess that ownership has changed over time).
Getting to Nevada City requires driving around steep mountains. The city is located at the top of a mountain, over 6,000 feet above sea level. For the most part, the historic part is just a main street. There are residential sections on either side. While some of the buildings are historical even in the residential sections, most look like average houses.
As it was a weekend, there were lots of tourists present. People could either park at meters or pay to park in a lot. Many of the lots were full.
My first stop was the historic St. Mary's Church, which was one of the earliest Catholic Churches in the area. It was recently refurbished. The church is nice on the inside, but dark. Photographs did not turn out well, even with the flasg turned on. The church had a parking area for people to visit the rest of Virginia City. It was cheaper than the other lots and even better, it went to help the church. It wasn't that much farther to walk either.
There were several saloons and other restaurants. Some people were dressed in period clothing. There were singers in some of the saloons. I visited the "Bucket of Blood" saloon, but the singing was so loud and you could not get anyone's attention to order anything. I quickly left there and went to a quieter restaurant. I had sasparilla (of course) and a guacamole burger.
In looking around the stores, there were both new and used trinkets. I'm not totally sure how some of these people could stay in business because I didn't see a lot of people buying things. There were several stores selling rocks and gems. There were at least two turquoise stores. Nevada has a history related to mining and Virginia City's entire history is focused on mining. So, there would need to be several stores selling rocks.
There were museums for Mark Twain and Ulysses Grant. I didn't see the actual museums. I had no idea Mark Twain came to Virginia City. I mostly associated him with Missouri and never thought he came this far west.
I went off the diet a bit and had an ice cream cone. While the ice cream was good, I basically started to realize I no longer like this kind of food. So, I hopefully won't be getting any more ice cream on this trip. Unfortunately, along with the ice cream cone I had purchased a truffle. It was a Mexican chocolate truffle. I had never heard of Mexican chocolate so I wanted to try it. That was a total waste of calories and money. It had practically no taste to it. Even the texture wasn't good. There were so many other flavors I knew I liked which I could have chosen instead.
After I finished up with Virginia City, I headed to Carson City where my hotel for the night was located. Surprisingly enough, I did not have to go around mountains this time. The road smoothed out and gradually went lower and lower. Although this is the capital city of Nevada, it's a very small and quiet city. It's easy to get around. My hotel was on the same street as the capitol building. I planned to explore Carson City a bit more the next day.
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