Virginia City

Today was our last full day in Tahoe so I decided to venture out to Virginia City, NV with my Uncle Joe and cousin Nicholas.  We walked up and down the main drag stopping in several saloons, museums, candy stores, and gift shops.  My favorite stop was the tour of one of the ore mines.  It was very informative and actually pretty cool to see.  We were also suckered in to seeing the Suicide Table thanks to all the signs advertising it along the drive in to the city (think of all those billboards advertising the Mad Greek in Baker, CA when on your way to Las Vegas).  Okay...  I shouldn't say we were suckered in since the suicide table turned out to have an interesting story.  It's an old poker table whose three owners each committed suicide after suffering heavy losses.  And we took pictures behind the jail bars - as a funny side note, my mom is the one who suggested we do this, but when she was explaining it, I heard her tell me to take my picture behind the gel on the street.  I clearly was not in a right state-of-mind since she was obviously talking about taking pictures behind the jail.  Stupid me.

Nothing else of interest to report for today.  We did take the long way home when leaving Virginia City to drive through Carson City and around the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe.  Oh...  I did finally finish The Clan of the Cave Bear so I started on my next book.  Mom gave me her copy of Carrie Fisher's memoir Wishful Drinking.  I'm nearly halfway through and loving it.  Part of the reason it's going so quickly for me is that every other page has neat photos of her parents - neither of which I really know.  I had never heard of Eddie Fisher's music and only know that Debbie Reynolds starred in Singing in the Rain (a movie I have never seen).  Even though I know so little about Carrie's Hollywood upbringing, her prose is drawing me in to her story and I am really enjoying it.

Heading Home

The drive back was mostly uneventful.  We stopped for breakfast in Boise at Moon's Kitchen Cafe.  It is located just two blocks from the state capitol building which is beautiful.  Service was slow, but the cafe was really cute and the food delicious.  I had the french toast special for $6.95 (2 slices french toast, two eggs, and two big strips of smoked bacon).  After breakfast we walked to the capitol building to take a picture.

After gassing up in Boise I put on one of my road trip compilation CDs.  I have a bunch of them in my car and have no idea what's on any of them since I haven't listened to them in years.  Funnily, I picked the CD that opens with Lynryd Skynrd's "What's Your Name."  The first line in that song happens to be "Well, it's 8 o'clock in Boise, Idaho" and I just started laughing at that.  I don't think I could have planned that better.  Justine and I tried thinking of other Idaho-related songs but only came up with B-52's "Private Idaho" and unfortunately neither of us had access to the song at the time.

We eventually made it home safe and sound.  I was tired but met Eddie for dinner at Deschutes Brewery in downtown Portland.  I actually had a really awesome hamburger but it never occurred to me to take a picture for the blog.  Drat.  It was really good.  The meat was tender and cooked perfectly medium rare.  I'll be back though and get a picture then.

Twin Falls, Idaho

Woke up this morning feeling fine...  and ready to tackle Twin Falls.  Unfortunately Justine was tied up with homework for several hours so I had to go off and explore on my own.  We were staying just a few blocks from Main Street so I started there.  I realize it was a Sunday morning and a holiday nonetheless but there was no one out on the streets.  Absolutely no one.  And I couldn't find a single shop, cafe, book store, or restaurant open for business.  Feeling moderately defeated I decided to walk around some more.  I went up and down the main drag for about thirty minutes but never encountered any people or activity so I headed back to the house.

I was feeling hungry so I picked up some snacks from my car and walked to the local park where I sat and read for a bit.  There were a few people at the park but only because church had just been let out.  By the time I finished my first chapter, everyone had gone.  I did have one visitor though...  This huge golden dog waltzed up to me and plopped down on the grass next to me.  I'm so thankful he didn't try to jump on me or lick my face and so I didn't mind him chilling with me for a little while.  When I felt I had gotten enough sun, I headed back to the house and took a little nap while Justine finished her homework.

Early in the afternoon we set out to explore.  Of course being in Twin Falls we had to see two waterfalls.  The first and my favorite was the wondrous Shoshone Falls.  I was not expecting it to be anything like Niagara Falls.  Shoshone isn't as massive as Niagara but it was very impressive.  I'm used to narrower waterfalls like you see in Yosemite.

Centennial Fall was just a short drive away.  What was unique about this visit was seeing the waterfall in a way I'd never seen before.  I actually got to walk behind this fall.  The cool mist felt so good as we made the very short hike from the car to the fall.  I was most amazed with the roar of the fall.  It seemed like such a small fall compared to Shoshone but it was loud!

After the falls we headed to Justine's friend's house for a 4th of July barbecue.  We hung out for a few hours just chatting and sipping beers before heading out to watch the main fireworks show.  One of the great things about Twin Falls is its flatness and lack of tall buildings which makes for great fireworks viewing.  I took dozens of pictures during the show but this one is my favorite.  We set off a few fireworks of our own after the show, visited with more friends, then turned in for the night.




But before falling asleep, because I was energized from the fireworks display, I started a new book before going to bed.  I had been waiting for Finger Lickin' Fifteen to go on sale and it finally did.  I stopped reading this Janet Evanovich series a few years ago because each new book in the series started sounding exactly like the book before it - the same problem I have with Stephen King and John Grisham.  But when we first moved to Oregon I decided to pick up where I left off at number 11 (Eleven On Top).  I got caught up in just a few days and was eager to jump to #15 but refused to pay more than $10 for it.  Yes, the books do still sound the same, but I'm enjoying Stephanie's struggles with Morelli and Ranger.

You're Living In Your Own Private Idaho

Never before have I made such a spontaneous decision about a road trip but I'm glad I did.  I do wish I had had more time to plan though so I could read up on things to do in Idaho, but everything worked out okay. We left Beaverton at 6:30 A.M. and made quite a few stops before arriving in Twin Falls.  But one of the stops was well worth it - the Stonehenge War Memorial in Maryhill, Washington.  I imagine the real thing exudes much more awesomeness since this site felt too forced and modern, but it was still neat to see since I haven't made it out to Wiltshire, England.

After several hours of driving through Oregon we finally reached the Idaho border which is where the  Ore-Ida factory is.  That just made me laugh because while I knew the company name stood for Oregon / Idaho, I didn't actually expect to see their facility.

There isn't much to say about the rest of the drive.  Idaho is one flat and open state.  Thankfully there are some short mountains in the distance so I didn't feel too agoraphobic.  Most of the landscape was brown and dry (it is July), but I was able to find beauty in it - probably because it was all brand-new to me.  It was nearly 5:00 P.M. before we arrived in Twin Falls.  Being exhausted from the drive and running on just a few hours of sleep, we decided not to do anything big - just hung out with some of Justine's friends and had dinner at Shari's Restaurant.  We saved the sight-seeing for Sunday...


Oh...  What is one thing all road trips need?  Music!  Justine brought along her iPod loaded with tons of music.  I think we spent almost two hours listening only to Depeche Mode.  I like them, but I only know the music off this singles collection album so most of what I heard was new to me.