Lincoln Highway
Day 10
I’m having way too much fun with my cousin, Linda. We grew up together and we have always been close so we have been staying up late catching up on family news and reminiscing. After she goes to bed I start writing the days events. Of course, I’m tired and because of that I forgot to say anything about Patty Reed’s doll at the museum yesterday.
As I mentioned before, I read a book on Patty Reed, who was a survivor of the Donner party. The doll is a special interest to me as I’m a doll collector. Patty had hid her little doll in her pocket and it is now on display at the museum, or so I thought.
As I entered the museum I rushed to find the doll. I found it right away in one of the glass cases. She is a small doll, maybe 4”standing on a small black tubular stand. If you wanted a closer look at her you could look through a magnifying glass. I was so happy to see this doll after all these years and then I read the sign, this is a replica.
The real one is on display at Sutter’s Fort, at the State Park in CA. It was a little disappointing, but then I was told the reason. Patty’s memories of what she went through at Donners Pass were not good ones, but once she was rescued, she lived a good life and wanted her doll to be where she was happy.
Maybe our trip will take us by Sutter’s Fort and I will get a chance to see the real one, but if not I’m happy I got to see the replica.
This morning my cousins took us to Virginia City, NV. This Virginia City is not the Virginia City the Cartwrights from the TV show, Bonanza, always rode in to. To get to this Virginia City we drove on a winding road high up on a mountain and the town itself is built on the side of it.
The building are old and the sidewalks were weathered uneven wooden planks.
Now Virginia City is a tourist town, but in 1859 it was a boomtown with the discovery of Silver. Henry Comstock was the miner who found the rich silver lode. The Comstock Lode virtually ended the California gold rush.
The Virginia City of the 21th Century has lots of shops, restaurants and other things to do., such as going on a train ride or going into a mine. The sidewalks were crowded with tourists and town folks who were dressed in 1880’s garb. We thought these people must be in some reenactment skit, but found out they just wear the costumes and hang out on the streets. Kind of weird. I said to one such dressed man, “Howdy partner”. Instead of replying to me, I got a strange look!
Before lunch we went to the Bucket of Blood Saloon for a Bloody Mary. It was an authentic looking saloon from the 1800’s and there were a lot cowboys and saloon hall girls in that bar!
After lunch we rode the 1880’s locomotive. The conductor for this train ride was also our tour guide. As we rode he pointed out the old mines and told us the history of them and the town.
Virginia City has a population of 787 people and 400 out of that are children. The train passed the school, but the actual town where residents live is farther down the mountain. I think to live here you would have to be part mountain goat! Instead of walking up the steep incline from the train station we cheated and rode on a golf cart driven by one of the residents.
I did enter a few of the gift shops, but I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without so I just window shopped. Kenny loves ice cream, like the rest of us do, so before heading back down the mountain and home, we all treated ourselves to a cone.
Tonight was our last night together and once again I’m up late writing. We’ve had such a wonderful time I know I will be sad to leave, but tomorrow our destination is Union City, CA where we are planning to visit some friends. I hope the driving will go well as we will have to climb the winding roads of the Sierra Nevada mountains, this time in the Model A.
Comentários