As usual at a holiday in express, we started our day with their breakfast. The day before, we had met and chatted with the woman Who oversees the breakfast room. She offered to make hot chocolate for the girls with warm milk from the back, instead of using the hot water dispenser. That was a big hit! Then we hit the road for Thursday’s excursion. 

Virginia City!

We took our time getting there. We first drove through Dayton. And then took a back road into Virginia City. Very interesting. 

We easily found parking in Virginia City, and made our way to the visitor center, where we purchased tickets to a silver mine tour. We wandered the wooden sidewalks and visited the old shops. We had an encounter with a man named stinky and his donkey, Bernadine. 

We had our pictures taken in old west garb. Drama princess didn’t want to do it, until she heard she could dress up as a cowgirl. Then she was all in. 

We headed back to the car for lunch. We were going to eat our picnic out of the back of the car, but to the side of the parking lot we spied a picnic table under a tree. It was in the yard of the courthouse, but the gate was open. We decided to spread out there, and if anyone came and told us we couldn’t be there, we would leave. People came and went from the courthouse, usually they smiled at us. One commented, “We don’t even use our own picnic table. Nice to see someone enjoying it.”

After lunch we headed to our mind tour. The Chollar Mine is about a mile from town. We thought it a bit closer and decided to walk. After half a mile downhill, Grampy decided to go back for the car. We girls forged ahead, and waited at the mine entrance. It’s a 400 foot walk into the mountain, led by an unenthused old-timer who would have sounded perfectly normal droning, “Bueller … Bueller…” instead of silver mining facts. 

We headed back to town, wandered through a few more shops, bought some old-fashioned candy, and called it good. 

We stayed the night with my cousin in Gardnerville. She has a lovely home on acreage. The girls were in heaven with a dog, a bird, chickens, and goats. 

We ended the day with another chapter about Mma Ramotswe’s cases. 

Friday: Lake Tahoe!