Nevada July 2019
(This post is part of a (mostly) non-ship series about a trip to the West I took during July and August of 2019)
The Nevada portion of the Western trip in July and August of 2019 for the purposes of this blog started in Tonopah and ended in Virginia City.
The morning of July 30 we first visited the Old Tonopah Cemetery. This beautiful cemetery has a personality all its own with mostly wooden grave markers with punched tin names and dates. There’s also a wide assortment of unique grave markers. It is a good place to get an encapsulated history of the town during the time this cemetery was open from 1901 to 1911. Click here to view my photos and blog on this place.
The next stop was the Tonopah Historic Mining Park but we arrived about an hour before it opened. We left the camper sans camera intending merely to investigate some nearby buildings but instead wound up wandering into town and went into the very beautiful The Mizpah Hotel. After enjoying breakfast in the Pittman Cafe within the hotel I wandered back up to the mining park to find it open whereas my mother remained in town. Click here to view my photos and blog on the mining park.
We moved on to Virginia City and arrived at the Virginia City RV park which has an amazing view of the Silver Terrace Cemetery. The RV park has friendly and helpful staff as well as a well stocked convenience store. What I found to be nice about this campground is that the bathhouse has individual complete bathrooms so you have privacy and security (provided you remember to lock the door).
The next morning our first stop was the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Given that our RV was hooked up and there’s no public transportation in this town we walked the .7 miles. We left early so it wouldn’t be too hot for our walk. Along the way we passed the Virginia and Truckee Freight Depot which no longer has track leading to it. We also walked past the beautiful and impressive St. Mary’s in the Mountains church. We arrived at the railroad before opening but the staff allowed us onto the property to sit on the benches and enjoy the grounds. Click here to view my photos and blog on the train ride.
Once we were done with the train ride we started walking towards the main tourist trap drag of Virginia City. Although only .2 miles it was almost all uphill. We took a tour around town on a tram pulled by a farm tractor. It was very worthwhile and the driver had a easy to understand voice for the narration. I believe it was $5 a person.
Lunch was next up. We looked into the Palace Saloon but there was a long wait so we decided to go up the street to see what we could find. We settled on the Firehouse Creamery. I had a ham and cheese sandwich, I no longer remember what my mother had. I didn’t expect it to be anything special so I didn’t bother to photograph it, but it was a very good sandwich – the ham was sliced fresh on site. Definitely recommend this spot.
Next stop was the Ponderosa Saloon which has a couple of interesting features. It has a vault from when the building was a bank during the town’s mining heyday and also a tour of an actual mine! Click here to view my photos and blog on this place.
Across the street from here is the Virginia City Outlaws gunfight show. This kind of show is a staple of tourist trap towns and most of them are very good. This one is no exception, it was very funny and filled with action! Click here to view my photos and blog on this show.
Wandering back towards the center of town again we went into the Virginia City Visitor Center which has information and relics on display. They also had Virginia City Cemetery Gin which I sampled and found to have a very nice flavor. I didn’t get a bottle and regret that.
We got some fudge at Grandma’s Fudge Factory then tried a flight of beers at the Virginia City Brewery & Taphouse. Click here to view my photos and blog on this brewery. By this time the town was putting itself to bed for the evening and we were exhausted so we headed back to the RV. The next day we’d be back on the road and heading for Oregon!
List of my blogs mentioned here:
- The Old Tonopah Cemetery
- Tonopah Historic Mining Park
- Virginia & Truckee Railroad
- Ponderosa Mine Tour
- Virginia City Outlaws gunfight show
- Virginia City Brewery & Taphouse
For more photos from the Nevada portion of this trip click here and click here for a big album of all photos taken on this trip (still being added to as of this writing)
Click here to see more of my photos (more than just ships!) and here to see my videos on YouTube!