Sacramento, Reno and Carson City, NV

We arrived at Joe and Linda’s house right on schedule; 4:00 p.m. or so. Their home is so beautiful and they have made many upgrades. Linda has perfect taste and you ought to see what she has done to the guest bathroom. It has been glazed; that is, the paint and a glaze were mixed and she put it on with an applicator that gives it a sort of antique-y look, but shiny and a wonderful desert red. The new hardwood floors just pull all of her decorator touches together. You may recall how big the house is on the inside, but doesn’t look it on the outside. It actually appeared larger with the new paint and floors. Good Job, Linda and Joe! We were thrilled when Andy, Tycee and Peyton showed up. We told them we had traveled 4,400 miles just to see that beautiful baby! He is a charmer and so smart! He and Colin are so much alike and both share that curiosity and the almost ravenous way that they investigate new things. John and I were both enthralled. Luckily we got to babysit while Andy and Tycee took in a movie. Apparently, they don't get to go on dates very often, and we were glad to accommodate them. Linda provided the two pictures of part of the California Nixes since our visit was just overnight and our camera had died! I hate this new camera. It requires regular batteries and it doesn’t come with a charger like the Sony. We have gone through four packages of batteries so far. Grrr
Joe advised us to drive on over to Nevada and head to Vegas that way because the roads are so much better than in California. He was so right. The ride over here was fantastic. The picture of the beautiful mountain in the Sierra Nevada Range was taken on our way to Reno this morning. We stopped for gas and were greeted by a whole gaggle of bikers. I spoke with a young woman there and she informed us that this is the weekend of “Street Vibrations”, a 4-day long bike rally in Reno! Yikes! We decided to pass Reno by and go on to Carson City, NV for the night. We got here early enough to check in, settle in and then go exploring. We quickly found out that even though the main rally is in Reno, the Carson City HD dealership was holding its own event so we drove up the mountain (over a mile up) to Silver City and then Virginia City, which had its share of bikers as well. The whole area has become inundated with bikers. We did have a great adventure there and bought our first souvenir! We were greatly disappointed to learn that the Ponderosa Ranch is now closed. A developer from California bought the property and operated it as a tourist attraction until there were few visitors and closed it down. John and I had tried to visit it when we were at Lake Tahoe a few Thanksgivings back and it was still operating at that time, but was closed for the winter. Boo hoo. We really had our hearts set on visiting the home of the Cartwrights. So, moving right along, we visited the Delta Saloon, there resides the "Suicide Table" which is a Faro Table and which there were 3 separate miners who, after striking it rich in the gold mines, proceeded to lose everything they had at this card game and as a result,shot themselves dead right there (as Bert's father would say). In Silver City which is just a mile or so down the mountain, silver was discovered, and there are many mines still in evidence in the area but are dangerous and only viewed on guided tours UNDERGROUND. Yikes. John and I don't do underground or caves. So we passed on that, but snapped a picture of the outside of one on our way back to Carson City. I tried to take more pictures today, per a request from Kelsey and when we get to Vegas tomorrow, you bet your booty that we will have even more! John said we are staying in Vegas until we are either millionaire or lose all our money! Yippee.