Reno and Virginia City

En route to Reno we stopped at the ghost town of Bodie - perhaps the best preserved and most authentic wild west gold rush ghost town in existence, and learnt about the boom and bust that was so typical in the late 1800's during the Gold Rush.

The historic ghost town of Bodie

An idiot in a bathtub

Reno being a town built on gambling during these times, accommodation is cheap, clean and plentiful and so it made a great base to explore from. Unlike Vegas it is relatively small, walk-able and has a delightful river running through it, with people enjoying swimming in the cool waters during heat of the day. Being the closest big town to the Burning Man Festival, it also has its fair share of quirky alternative stores and we did enjoy our time in the self proclaimed  "Biggest Little City in the World".

This in the middle of a city ? Only in Reno.

Whilst in Reno we visited Virginia City, which sprang up in 1859 as a boom-town after the discovery of the Comstock Lode, the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States. Unlike Bodie, it has survived and now thrives on tourism. It is also considered the birthplace of Mark Twain, as this is where the pen name was first used after Samuel Clemens failed to make it as a miner, and joined the Virginia City Newspaper. We took a short trip on a restored steam train to "Gold Hill", a community based in an historic mining area, and learnt a lot about the history of this fascinating area.

So, probably no Walmart here then ?

Main street Virginia City. They may be iron horses no but not much else has changed.