Reno, Lake Tahoe and Virginia City

On Monday we left Nevada City and went to Lake Tahoe. I have been there last year but it was then in August, very warm and sunny. Now there was still lots of snow due to the altitude of the mountains. It seemed like we went from California to Switzerland, the landscape was so different.

If you check my pictures of last year you'll see some same angles but very differently.

It was nice and calm this time, much less people which I found to be a good thing. It was a bit cold but that was okay :)

After 5 years of drought in many places of California it has been a terrific Winter with lots of rain, the result is lots of waterfalls and greenness.

We saw a cute little chipmunk, very busy eating and not caring about all the people looking at him.

After Lake Tahoe we headed to Reno.

Reno is just a large city, as it is in Nevada there are plenty of Casino's. The reason we came here is that I wanted to meet an old Etsy Friend, Frances Melhop, who moved here in 2010. It was so nice to meet here after so many years.

Reno itself did have something fun for us which was tons of Thrift shops, we are having a major luggage drama here, not sure yet how we are going to bring everything back, and we still have 10 days to go so it is going to be crazy :D

And we went to Virginia city which we had not heard of but it is the town where the writer Samuel Clemens started to write under the name Mark Twain. So it really has some history, and the nice part is you can fully appreciate its history as everything is kind of stuck in 1860 or so.

There are actually surprisingly many little towns that still have a vibe of a 100 years ago, this town is in Nevada but we also saw a few in California, places we never  had hear of from our neck of the woods.

This Antiques and Rocks shop was unfortunately closed but it looked promising and curious.

Most shops were embracing the Wild West that is the theme of the town, and even though some locals are very genuine the shops were more touristic but never the less very fun to look at, and we did shop a little.

It was very cold that day and this town is very windy so the streets were very empty which normally is not the case so the cold was a good thing although we were freezing :)

It was an adorable town and we loved it, I'm sure it is fun in the Summer too, a bit crowded I'm guessing and apparently gun shows are all the rage then, which is not really our cup of tea ;)

 The shops had the craziest names like Bucket of Blood and Suicide Table, very Wild West.

The side walks were wood which must be fun when you walk around in heavy cowboy boots :)

Tomorrow we are heading back down towards Sacramento and then the coast to Santa Rosa and we'll be around the ocean for a while :)

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.