May 31- Reno

 Finally, the Mini Golf you’ve all been waiting for.  Magic Carpet Mini Golf in Reno was built in 1974 by Bill Koplin, whom many consider to be the Father of Putt-Putt.  He opened his first novelty course in 1948 and went on innovate in the fields of giant dinosaurs and half-size pencils for decades in Northern Nevada.  

Note that I started the round with a hole-in-one and then immediately lost all hand-eye coordination.  Mom hustled hard - she repeatedly made par after protesting that she had no idea what to do - but Dad was narrowly victorious!

We ate our packed lunch on the patio of the course but left room for...

COIN LAUNDRY!  I mean, JELLY DONUT!

Hard to see here, but the best part of this place was the adorable photos of the owner’s children posing with donuts on the menu board.  The donuts were basic but solid.

Next we stopped at Junkee, an enormous antique store/thrift shop popular with Burning Man attendees for costumes.  

The antique store portion is consignment-style, with sections curated by different vendors.  

I already regret not buying this Knights of Columbus hat.

I forgot to get photos of the clothing/thrift store section, but it was fantastic.  Sadly we didn’t find anything that was just right, but it was so much fun just looking.  The prices were reasonable and there wasn’t a boring piece in the place.

Further up Reno’s main drag, Virginia Street, we parked and walked around the casinos and hotels.

Intrigued by the enormous dome on the Silver Legacy, we made our one indoor stop on the Strip.

It houses an enormous fake mining rig of Disneyland-proportions which is, unbelievably, not even a ride!  Just a giant moving... thing.  The nerve of these people!

We each played a dollar at a slot machine with a 10c minimum since we were feeling lucky.  Once again, our feelings betrayed us!

Just off the main drag we spotted the National Bowling Stadium, which we’d read about online but hadn’t necessarily planned to visit.  But it was blazing hot out and the ball was so shiny, I think it had some sort of hypnotic effect on us.

We were thrilled to discover that the Women’s National Championships were still in full-swing!  We got drinks at the concessions and settled in to the very nice spectator seating for some thrilling ten-pin action.

The dancing ref (does bowling have referees?) was the best - I didn’t get his best moves, unfortunately!

The North Carolina team had their very own cheerleader who celebrated every frame.  It was really sweet.

We didn’t get to see who won since it was three games total and we were famished after watching one.  But we stopped at the National Bowling Museum on the first floor on the way out, which was more interesting than we expected.

Bowling is for Ladies now, too!

We got dinner at Beefy’s Grill back down Virginia St, then headed back to the Reno Arch area to check out the Truckee River Waterfront area, where Reno-ites (Renotians?) go to cool off.  There are nice calm pools and “rapids” that you can slide down and lots of rocks to sun on, and it looked like a generally chill time.  Too bad we didn’t bring our suits.

On the way back to the truck, we stopped at the St Thomas Aquinas Cathedral to check out these sweet copper doors.

Reno really knows our weakness for shiny things!

May 30 - Virginia City

So I know you were all just dying to hear about mini golf in Reno, but you’ll have to wait, because I forgot that our trip to the rootin’est tootin’est tourist town in the Wild Wild West came first - Virginia City.

Virginia City was a huge boomtown that sprung up around the Comstock Lode, an insanely rich silver deposit that swelled the city’s population to 25,000 at its peak in 1873.  It was headed to bust-town by 1880.

What remains these days is touristy and, at times, corny, but it’s really fun. Locals come dressed in full western regalia to party here, and we regretted not putting our own Cowpoke Cosplay together.  

We stopped at The Silver Queen Hotel & Saloon for a coffee and a beer.  You can’t see it in the photo below, but to the right of the door is a line of bricks running the length of the building - it’s the remains of the wall that used to divide the space.  On the other side was the offices of the newspaper that Mark Twain edited.  It also has a wedding chapel where Captain & Tennille got married - twice!  

The Silver Queen herself, made out of real silver dollars.

City Hall

The Opera House had a dressing room where we pretended to be Genteel Ladies.

The Bonanza Saloon is home to one of the more famous pieces of furniture in town:

FYI: At least 23 different people have vomited & pooped their pants simultaneously at the table on the left.  Where’s that sign?

Not a Genteel Lady, but a pretty cool dame all the same!

Local band setting up at The Bucket of Blood (definitely the best of the saloon names)

After all that debauchery, we got right with God at St. Mary’s in the Mountains Catholic Church.

The interior looks quite old, but the wood and stained glass are actually carefully crafted replicas of what was ripped out by the minimalism-crazed MAD MONKS OF ST. MARY’S!

Afterwards we visited the museum in the basement.

It’s been visited by many interesting guests, including Chuck Norris and these extras from Eastern Promises.

The bulk of the museum is religious paraphernalia and mementos donated from around the world.  As a big fan of religious art, I loved it.

The basement is a grotto painted with important figures to the church.

There’s a Mary statue carved and donated by an adorable woman from Washington State.

Our last stop in Virginia City was the Mackay Mansion.  It was built by George Hearst and eventually sold to this Mackay guy, who wasn’t even a character on Deadwood so big whoop!

I won a “trivia contest” that involved recognizing Johnny Depp from a photograph (he stayed there while filming Dead Man).  My prize was being closed inside the silver vault!  Spooky.

This very cool chair was crafted by Mrs. Mackay for General Grant’s visit to their home.

She also served SERIOUS face.

The mansion is supposedly super haunted (a Ghost Adventures host - not Zak Bagans unfortunately - was pushed down the attic stairs by an entitity) and a girl on our tour who was really into the supernatural advised us to take selfies in mirrors to capture ghostly presences.

Paranormal Activity: Zero.  And the spot behind that rocking chair beneath the stairs would have made the BEST creepy child-ghost hiding spot, too.

On the way back to Fernley we made a Walmart run, but I forgot to get a parking lot selfie so here’s the bag pile if you don’t believe me!