Bummer of a Day

We decided to leave our beautiful campground and go up to see Virginia City, Nevada City and Ruby mountain area.   The route we followed was close to one followed by Lewis and Clark.  We came to what is known as The Beaver Head.  It was named by the Shoshone Indians because it resembles a beaver swimming with it's head out of water.  Sacajawea, who was traveling as a guide to the expedition, recognized the landmark from her childhood.  She and another native girl were kidnapped at the age of 16 by another tribe in the east.  She told Lewis that her people lived in the valley of the beaver head.  It was here she met her brother who had become chief.  It was a joyful reunion and a beneficial one to the expedition as her brother supplied them with horses for the rest of the journey.

It is a neat experience to stand where such notable people in our history once stood.
In later years a stagecoach station occupied this spot.

We stopped at what looked like a nice campground from the road.  I paid for one night.  We didn't think we would find that much of interest around here.  When we got to our campsite we were very unimpressed.  Campers were packed in so tightly when I opened my pickup door it was under the awning of the camper next to us.  Fortunately the folks were friendly.  I would not recommend this place though it is typical of many places with a tourist trap nearby.  

Virginia City and Nevada City are nothing like Bannock.  They are jam packed with tourist and tourist trap attractions.  The streets were filled with people browsing tee shirt shops and gift shops.  

We drove through, turned around and drove back.  Virginia City and Nevada City are only a mile and a half apart.  They were gold rush towns that sprung up when gold was discovered in Alder Gulch.  They had a wild history like most of these places.  Stories about who shot who and things like that.

The place looked very staged compared to Bannock.  

We drove back to Nevada City.  Darlie insisted we stop somewhere to eat.  So we did.  Another mistake.  We stopped at the Star Restaurant.  They had a 4th of July special going on.  You had your choice of a hotdog, hamburger or pulled pork sandwich with potato salad for just $9.50.  Darlie got the burger.  It was one of those formed things you get in a box in the freezer section.  I had the pulled pork.  It was about 2 ounces of pork on a hamburger bun.  We each had iced tea which was $2.25 per glass.  We both belched for the rest of the afternoon.  

Yuck!

As we drove out of town we saw the only authentic looking building alongside the road.  It had piles of junk piled around it and lots of cut lumber that looked like it was set out to age.  I suppose so they could build more authentic buildings.  

Once a nice place.

We spent the rest of the day here at the campground visiting with neighbors.  I made us a nice grilled steak dinner and it didn't cost $23.00 either.  We looked at the map trying to decide where to head next.  I guess we will go east a bit and then drop down to Colorado for awhile.  That could change very quickly though so stay tuned.