Tioga Road to Tonopah
This was an amazing day, driving Tioga Road out, making stops that Susan had suggested to catch the view from Olmsted Point, picnic at Tenaya Lake, and walk through the Giant Sequoias in the Tuolumne Grove. And THEN, to go on to the carnival that is Tonopah, Nevada.
A lot of people stumble into Yosemite for a day or a few days, and this is a tough time to be doing it as a lot of places are shut down and there are no shuttle buses. (Still functioning and regularly clean, clean, cleaned were the restrooms.) So Paul and I passed along many of Susan's lessons and, as we were leaving, our maps and brochures which weren't much available either.
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Then a three hour drive -- have I mentioned the heat all week? Often in the 90's, and certainly that hot on this day as we headed to Nevada.
Paul knew the town from the Little Feet song:
And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
but a lotta people have sung about the town. Silver was discovered in mines here, and the history of that is pretty grim, with Chinese brought in to mine, race wars following, the wealthy finders leaving the town for Reno, with all their wealth. But the town is trying to put on a new modern tourist face and promote
which we only got around to half of. I really regret not getting out to the Star Watch held at the edge of town, as I was really tired. But we did walk the downtown, stopped in the Clown Motel, which definitely made me think of how Peter Farranto would love this town. We
had dinner at the Tonopah Brewing Company, which wasn't brewing much but my smoked turkey salad and Paul's basket of fried stuff were both huge and fed us for two more days, pulled from the cooler.
Then, wildest of all, we stayed at the MIZPAH HOTEL. built in 1907 and recently restored to former glory by the Cline family of Cline vineyards. In addition, it has been voted Most Haunted by USA Today readers in a town that prides itself on many haunted sites. The hotel is haunted by "The Woman in Red," whom we never saw, but we checked out the bar and the back room, a sort of hotel museum, and the restaurant where next morning for breakfast, Paul had Boston Creme Pie.
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