Nevada - Memorial Holiday Weekend Trip - 2011
Virginia City, Carson City, Gold Hill, Gold Hill Hotel and Silver City - all in Nevada.
Encountered a SNOW STORM getting there.
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Windshield VIDEO - 1m 37s
 Nevada cities are accessible by crossing the desert from the East -or- over the Sierra Mountains from the West.
We needed to cross over the Sierra Mountains.
We left Santa Rosa, Ca. 2am for a 5 hour drive to catch a morning train out of Carson City.
We crossed the Sierra Mountains and hit an early morning snow storm.
The traffic signs and weather radio 'required' tire chains or 4WD or Mud-Snow tires.
We had none of the above.
I was in Boston, Mass two months ago.  No requirements.  
Once we were notified of the severe weather conditions ahead and the local law requirements,
it was too late to turn around.  We were on the mountain top.
We had to come down the mountain either way:  by continuing our trip or to turn around and return.
 It looked worse than it appeared.  I was traveling about 45-50 mph with the temperature in the mid 20's F,
yet the car handled very well.   We did see one accident: a pick-up truck with no 'required' gear.
The Sierra Nevada (Spanish: [ˈsjera neˈβaša], snowy mountain range) is a mountain range in the U.S. states of California and Nevada.
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Virginia City  and Virginia City Drive
(arrived in Virginia City by train from Carson City.  It was sleeting.)
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 Under roof out of the sleet.
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Sleeting - Video - 1m

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 Photographed the next day leaving Virginia City by autombile.

Carson City - Virginia & Truckee Railroad   YouTube Video
 Carson City - Virginia City Line
Organized in Nevada on March 5, 1868
Multi-million-dollar reconstructed railroad starting just above the Carson River Canyon.
Watch for mines, silver ore veins, maybe even wild horses.
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Basic Route           Detail Route        Time/Distance
12 Mile Run - Two Hours including stops.
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Train Ride Video 6m

Gold Hill and Gold Hill Drive
 "Just minutes away from Virginia City, but a century back in time."
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  Gold Hill Hotel
We spent the night here in Room #3.

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Silver City  and Silver City Drive
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Our Return Trip back over the Sierra Mountains
by way of Carson City Valley Drive and the Eldorado National Forest
We enjoyed the sights along the Carson City Valley Drive so much, we missed our turn and drove 6o miles
further than we needed to to enter the Eldorado National Forest.  We turned around and enjoyed the sights again.

Carson City Valley Drive
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Eldorado National Forest
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Snow Keeps Most Eldorado National Forest Campgrounds Closed For Memorial Day Weekend
Most Eldorado National Forest campgrounds remain snow covered and will not be open for Memorial Weekend, according to Forest Service officials.
The facilities that will be open include: West Point campground on Union Valley Reservoir; Stumpy Meadows, Black Oak campgrounds and the boat ramp on Stumpy Meadows Reservoir; Middle Meadows group campground and Hell Hole campground, but without water; Sand Flat campground, Bridal Veil picnic area, the parking lot at Twin Bridges/Pyramid Creek trailhead off Highway 50; Mokelumne and White Azalea campgrounds off of Tiger Creek road, and Pipi Campground off Highway 88. Loon Lake, Caples Lake, and Silver Lake are still partially frozen and have deep snow packs. The Ice House and Union Valley areas still have a significant blanket of snow and have just started melting.

Then to Sacramento, California
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