6 Jan 2022
South of Reno

We're quite aware that there are not many guests currently in our hotel. Looking at the mail slots behind the registration desk (the entire front desk looks like a movie set from Magic Carpet Golf the 1950s, in a good way), we see that each slot has a garage door clicker just like the one we were given when we checked in. Since we were ready to leave before the clerk came on watch, we put our clicker to good use!

It took us two tries to find breakfast. Today we had selected Peggy Sue's Glorified Ham and Eggs, but it was closed for another hour. Checking our phone, we learned that this business has four Reno locations and one of them was already open, so that's where we went. "Glorified" is perhaps an exaggeration, but the portions were large, and the corned beef hash was definitely house-made, including a salsa-like topping of red and green bell peppers and onion slices, very tasty.

By the time we finished breakfast, the sun was up and the sky was blue. Our target today was Carson City, the capital of Nevada. But first we finished our checklist of local "Weird Nevada" sites that Bob had compiled, consisting of Magic Carpet Golf, a 66-hole Cadillac Ranch Driving Range extravaganza with beautiful statues in abundance, and Carpeteria, featuring the sign with a colorful genie holding up a roll of carpet.

Then we continued south on Virginia St, aka Bus 395 and, later, Alt 395 heading south towards Carson City. We have traveled this way several times; today we enjoyed remembering the variety of landscape, from hill to valley, with snow-capped Sierra mountains in the background, then the pastures of Washoe Valley in which cattle are wintering despite the cold. We stopped at a favorite candy shop, all by itself along the highway. The Chocolate Nugget sells candy made in its headquarters just East of Carson City. The proprietor, a woman about our age, saw us coming and hastened out to greet us and warn us about the icy John Thompson statue steps to her porch. Indoors, she invited us to look around while she prepared to open the store for the day. We also found the store surrounded by slightly weird metal sculptures.

The next weird sight is called Cadillac Ranch Driving Range, attached to the Silver Oak Golf Course in Carson City. A number of brightly painted vintage Cadillacs are imbedded at an angle about 10 feet underground, where they serve as targets for golfers practicing their swings! Yes, the original Cadillac Ranch with buried Caddies is located in Amarillo, TX.

Another of the Weird stops was listed in Genoa, which was the first settlement (1851) in the Nevada Territory. Besides its relatively ancient history, Genoa boasts a statue of the so-called snowshoe mailman, John Thompson. A Norwegian, he worked hard to introduce skiing to the Sierra, in addition to making the 90-mile trip from Genoa to Placerville, CA to deliver mail in the winters. Genoa is a small, charming village with several restored buildings and a brisk tourist-centered commerce. Head of Leonardo Da Vinci

Carson City itself, at least the old downtown area, hasn't changed a bit in a couple of decades, except to become slightly more shabby and dusty. Several casinos have closed. The Ormsby Hotel, which had closed some years ago, is still closed, frozen in time. We did not look for the University or the State office buildings, which had seemed more modern when we last visited.

On the lawn of the Community Center (corner of E. William St. & N. Roop St. in Carson City), we photographed a sculpted head of Leonardo Da Vinci from the Burning Man 2016 event (please excuse Bob's thumb in the corner of the picture). Inside the hollow sculpture are representations of some of Leonardo's inventions.

We found on this visit south of Reno that the most visible changes are improvements to roads and highways, an increasing number of new or recently built homes, and business moving out into the desert near the city. Carson City, which used to remind tourists of pioneer days, is becoming up-to-date, for better or worse.