After Reno we moved on to the Carson City area, a strange land infested by enormous car/spider hybrids.
Our spot for the next two nights was at Carson Valley Inn & Casino RV Park, the only park we could find whose pool & hot tub wasn’t closed to some combination of COVID & COVID-related maintenance-supply-shortages. I have to admit I strong-armed Mom & Dad into picking this place because I NEEDED that pool.
The spots were nicely kept but we got one of the few that didn’t have a tree on both sides, turning the camper into a hot-box in the afternoons. We improvised extra insulation by safety-pinning my sleeping bag onto the “dining room” window valence.
The pool and hot tub were 100% worth it! We enjoyed them both evenings. The pool had a tiled map of Nevada on the bottom.
The first night, we ended up getting free orange-cream slushes from the Sonic across the street from the manager who said we were the first nice people who’d come through that night (yikes!). Who needs to win at the slots with that kind of luck?
The next day we headed to Carson City proper and made our first stop at the Nevada State Museum. They had an incredible array of minerals, gemstones, and precious metals from Nevada and surrounding states...
Some models of prehistoric creatures both horrifying and awe-inspiring...
And an incredible taxidermy display! I am a big taxidermy aficionado, but particularly of old bad taxidermy because the faces are HILARIOUS. These works were too professional to be outright funny, but there were a few with very distinct personalities.
Moving into the History section, there was specimen that had been taxidermied-by-nature; a mummified cat found inside a tree trunk.
The history section was very thorough and had some great artifacts.
Antique souvenirs...
A shrine rescued from a boomtown Chinatown’s Joss Hall before it was demolished...
Law & Order necessities of the Old West...
An “unruly tooth” collection from a honest-to-god LADY dentist...
Furniture from her office...
A model of the “Vomit Comet” Bonanza Air plane that ferried in Vegas visitors in the early days of the Strip...
And early inventions of the “Father of the Slot Machine”...
There was also a replica of a ghost town and a silver mine built into the basement, all in the former U.S. Mint Building.
Down the street, we stopped in Cactus Jack’s Casino for lunch at a Indonesian-American diner smack-dab in the middle of the casino floor. A very random combo that we found thanks to Yelp. Their most popular item is the Beef Rendang Dog, which I got and did not regret!
We walked around the Western historic district for a bit, following a walking tour on Google Maps. Some neat buildings but it was VERY hot, so we kept it short.
Luckily in Nevada there’s always a casino to cool off in just a few steps away!
And there’s ALWAYS a Walmart nearby...ugggggggh
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