Sparks/Reno Nevada – the last stop on the Wraights’ Southern Safari 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011, Day # 92; we are at the final stop of our 3^rd in a series of Mike & Karen’s Retirement Adventures (Return 2 Oz, Our American Safari & of course this, Our Southern Safari). We arrived at the RV park mid-afternoon, Mike having a long day’s drive of about 325 miles, was glad to have a couple of “unwind” days before getting back to our real lives. A surprise awaited us, my brother Eric and his wonderful wife Carol, came up from Sacramento to meet us at the end of our cross country trek. We enjoyed having them with us, nice to see some familiar faces again.

Saturday morning we explored the Sparks/Reno areas, taking the “Boys” and Carol & Eric’s “Girls” to a nice dog park. A nice place right on a lake, the dogs enjoyed chasing their balls and each other into the water; despite the cool, windy weather we were having. The K-9s all enjoyed some good running and romping and were happy to spend their afternoons snoozing, while we did a bit of sightseeing. It has been quite a few years since Mike and I have been here, the area seems to have spread out a bit, some places appear to be the same, but many have changed names, re-modeled, or now have closed down.

We drove out to Carson City first thing Sunday morning; our first stop was the Nevada State Rail Road Museum. This was a great place to visit; it presented the history of the northern Nevada’s railroad during the late 19^th-early 20^th century. There were many beautifully restored train engines and cars from the Virginia-Truckee Line. This was one of the lines that were established in part because of the Comstock Load (the discovery of gold and silver in the area). The touring then continued over to Virginia City. We dodged a few snowflakes (is this really spring?), but enjoyed a couple of hours seeing the infamous sights of this old town. We ended our day with dinner at the El Dorado Casino in Reno, all enjoying a relaxing evening and some good laughs together.

The day has finally arrived – the last one out on the road for this trip, for these intrepid travelers. We said “good bye” to Eric and Carol, they had to get home and back to work tomorrow, (work, what is work??). Mike and I spent time enjoying some reading, playing Sudoku and taking the “Boys” out for a stretch or two. In the evening we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out and contributed a few dollars to the Reno economy. A bit sorry that this is all coming to an end, but also sort of ready to be home and back to seeing more of our family, friends and doing some of the things that we have missed during our 3 months on our Southern Safari. Mike is already talking about our next “Big Adventure” Does the fun ever end?