Monday 12 September 2016

Lake Tahoe and the Great Republic of Rough and Ready


This is my last post about my stay in America, even though I could make more :) Together with Juliette we went to Lake Tahoe for one day. It is not far from Nevada City and it is a gorgeous place to visit.
About 3/4 of the lake is in California and 1/4 in Nevada.


The entire road there was in the mountains among the trees, it didn't feel very foreign from the Turkish road funny enough. Except that in Turkey most drivers do not much bother on traffic rules while there drivers are super polite and do follow the rules :)


We were in luck with both the lovely weather and the reasonably quiet roads, apparently it often gets very crowded but we could drive around the Lake without much problem.




There are lots of camping places around the lake, wooden cabins and hotels.



We got to enjoy some breath taking views.




The weirdest part was crossing the state border from California to Nevada. Nothing happens, it is just that some laws are entirely different. In California you have no Casino's, but as soon as you cross the border Casino's are popping up every where! Also in California smoking inside is strictly prohibited and I even saw lots of warnings at front doors to smoke 20 feet (or some even more) from the door. In Nevada you can smoke everywhere, as if it is the 70's, very odd :)


A big bonus for me was that I scored two globes in thrift stores at Lake Tahoe! I had visited quite some thrift stores in other towns but had no luck so far.


As you can see my collection is starting to get impressive :)


Another day we passed the Great Republic of Rough and Ready. Yes, a republic, and it is perfectly normal if you have not heard of it :)


The first established settlement in Rough and Ready was made in the fall of 1849 by a mining company from Wisconsin, known as the Rough and Ready Company, during the California Gold Rush.
The town declared its secession from the Union as "the Great Republic of Rough and Ready" in 1850, as it suffered the effects of general lawlessness and a growing resentment for the government having imposed a Mining Tax on all claims. So the Great republic (of 3000 people :)) was largely to avoid mining taxes.


The Great Republic of Rough and Ready lasted only three months as the world's smallest nation. As July 4th approached the citizens began to prepare for the festivities, only to be told by the Nevada city saloons that they weren't Americans! Worse, they refused to sell liquor to these 'foreigners'! On July 4, swept by a patriotic fervor-and an abiding thirst! Another meeting was held and the town gave mass consent to immediately rejoining the Union.


People had to pay to pass the town, excuse me the republic :)
A crazy piece of history!


There was also a little street built to show how the republic was back then, in a smaller scale than real life. I found this whole thing so odd and funny and was very surprised when Juliette explained it to me when we passed.

7 comments:

  1. Oh wow! that lake is gorgeous! such beautiful views!
    and yaay for scoring a new globe! :)

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  2. Lovely area around the lake! That picture with the rays of sun is amazing!
    And wondering, did you had a special suitcase for the new globes or did you take them as carry ons?

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    1. I didn't have hard suitcases, both my bags were soft sport bags. I had room for 1 there and the other one went in my hand luggage bag :) I had the right of 2 bags each of 23 kg so that was good :) A globe won't fit in a suitcase, unless it is very small.

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  3. Such a beautiful area! I would love to visit too:)

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  4. Key West, in the Florida Keys (islands), seceded from the union in 1982... for about one minute. It's a very funny story... you can read more at http://www.conchrepublic.com/history.htm
    Around Lake Tahoe is a lovely area of the country.

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