Lake Tahoe/Reno Vacation Part 1

Here at last is my vacation from early August.  We'll see how much I can get written before my pizza is done and X Factor starts.

I love visiting my family in California, but after all the trips I've made in the last 20 or so years, I've seen and done just about all there is to do.  When my sister suggested we all (myself, sister Sue and Aunt Val) meet in Reno and spend several days with my other sister Janet, I was all for it.  I had never been to Reno, and have not spent nearly as much time with Janet as I have with Sue and Val, mostly due to the fact that she wasn't in California.

Knowing Reno is desert, and H O T in the summer, I brought all short-sleeved shirts to wear, with a mix of slacks and jeans.  Hot doesn't begin to describe what Reno is like in August.  By 9:00AM, I think it was 100 Degrees F already.  Ok, maybe not that hot, but it felt hotter than I recall it ever getting here.

From left to right: Val, Sue and Janet.  This was taken our first morning in Reno, before we packed up and headed to Lake Tahoe.  I probably should have taken pictures of the whole house, because it is beautiful.  They re-did everything when they moved in, and did a fantastic job.

The plan was to pack lunch meat, cheese, bottled water, wine, a few sodas and some fruit into a big cooler, so we had snacks to munch on during our trip.  We got everything packed into the rental car and headed off into the mountains.

Along the way, we stopped in Virginia City, and old mining town that is mostly a tourist attraction.

Here's The Way It Was Virginia City Museum.  We didn't go in, since it cost money, so we walked around the exterior and looked at the old mining equipment and descriptions of how they were used.  The whole town is built into the side of a mountain, so from where we parked, we had to walk up two steep roads just to get to the main street where all the shops were.  We weren't planning on spending the whole day there, so did not go into every store.  But we were thrown in jail.

Once bail was met, we were on our way to see the rest of Virginia City, which included giving penance at the local church, St. Mary's in the Mountains.

Unfortunately, we needed to be on our way to Tahoe, as the lake was calling.