Nevada's Old West

Thursday was "Go West Adventure Day" - participants of the conference were able to pick one of about half a dozen offered day trips. We chose the "Old West Tour" to Virginia and Carson City and had a very knowledgeable guide on the bus, dressed up in historic costume. First, the bus winded up the curvy, narrow road to historic Virginia City, passing a couple of Mustang herds on the way, very common in Nevada.

Virginia City sprang up as a boom town with the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, the first discovered major silver deposit in the U.S. Numerous more mines opened and the city florished in the mid-1870s and became "The Richest Place on Earth". Mark Twain's career as a writer started at the local Virginia City newspaper and the TV show "Bonanza", set around the 1860s with the wealthy Cartwright family, was set in the area of Virginia City. Bonanza also caused that the city became revived as a film set and that's how it appears today: a somehow touristy (at least, in summer) open-air museum with historic buildings: e.g. the Piper's Opera House, a couple of churches, old saloons and hotels and mine owner's fancy houses as the Mackey Mansion. Our group had a trolley city tour and an interesting underground mine tour - photos will be added once I've downloaded them (my Chinese friend Andrew, who downloaded them for me during the conference - for lack of my camera cable - is back to Hongkong now).

On to Carson City, less "historic", but the capital of Nevada since statehood in 1864. We visited the NV State Museum in the Old Mint and the Capitol and got to know about the extensive mural and arts programs in town. The city with about 56,000 population is one of the smallest capitals in the U.S. and originated as a stopover for California bound gold seekers, but developed into a city with the Comstock Lode and the silver discovered. "Red's 395", where we had lunch, is a unique restaurant with lots of memorabilia and great "down-to-earth food" like beef brisket or pulled pork. Wished we would have had a little more time to explore the city and the museums and galleries.

Back to Reno in the early evening, we decided to call it a day, and walked to the Great Basin Brew Pub in the Southern outskirts of town. Nevada’s oldest brewery from 1993 was well worth the 20-min. walk in the cold along the highway: First, it was Happy Hour and we got pints of excellent beer for only $ 3, and, second, we met the brewmaster, who introduced his new Maerzen, which we highly praised. Had good conversation with him and with another local couple at the bar before we walked back to the Atlantis Hotel in the dark. Beer unites people.