Carson City & Lake Tahoe, NV (5/13 thru 5/18/2020)

Carson City has been the capital of Nevada since it gained statehood in 1864.  The first Europeans in this area were the John C. Fremont expedition in 1843, led by famed scout, mountain man and Indian fighter Kit Carson.  Fremont named a river after Carson and, some years later, a trading post there was purchased by a man named Curry who renamed it Carson City.  Gold and silver strikes brought more people to the area and Curry convinced the territorial governor to name it as the capital.

The capitol building, built in 1870-71, was later expanded to accommodate the legislature and Supreme Court, which now have their own buildings..  The Governor's office is still in the building, while a state museum occupies much of it.  It's a stately building, but trees in front have grown large enough to hide most of it.

 Another "historic" building has not fared so well, but its walls were definitely built to last.

 Carson City is pretty much surrounded by mountains, including the Sierra Nevada Range.  Views from the city can be incredible.

The city has developed numerous parks that I visited in search of birds or other wildlife.  One large park is home to wild horses, but I never saw them during my time there.  Here are a few of the birds I saw.

Gambel's Quail

Black-billed Magpie

Red-shafted Northern Flicker

American Robin

I drove some of the back roads into the mountains, but I never figured out how to get to this road that looked so intriguing.

Lake Tahoe is only 25 miles or so to the west, but requires driving through the mountains to get there.  I took an afternoon to drive over via US 50, which tops out just over 7000 feet.  Snow was all around and dripping from the trees like rain.  I noted that the temperature, a comfortable 65F in Carson City, fell to 36F at the top of the pass.

With all the state parks and federal properties closed, viewpoints to see the lake were extremely limited.  Still, as the largest alpine lake and second deepest lake in the U.S.  it is worth seeing anyway you can.  The clarity of Lake Tahoe results in beautiful shades of blue and green, reflections of the sky and forests.

After driving along the lake for a while, I left via a highway that goes by Mt. Rose Ski Resort and ends near Reno.  Since Mt. Rose is about 10,700 feet in elevation and the highway's summit is over 9000 feet high, there was even more snow alongside the road.  In fact, I met a snow plow coming down the mountain.  I also got more views of Lake Tahoe.