We woke up in Carson City with zero plans until 4:00 p.m., when we could check in to the cabin in Lake Tahoe, and only a 40-minute drive to get to the cabin. So we decided to see what Carson City had to offer! It is our state's capitol, after all. Our first stop was the capitol building. Reed was interested in seeing the capitol building since he'd learned in school about Carson City being our state's capitol. Unfortunately, the building wasn't open for tours that day, but the grounds were beautiful to walk around and there were several interesting statues and memorials we enjoyed looking at. Next, we went to the Nevada State Railroad Museum. Museums are always a little iffy with the kids, because they just want to DO stuff and Ryan and I want to be all boring and read the information in each display. Happily, at the beginning of the first section of the museum was a train table with Thomas trains. The kids happily played while Ryan and I got to learn to our hearts' content. Once the kids tired, we moved through the information much more quickly. I had no idea the railroad shaped so much of Nevada--especially northern Nevada, nor that it was a huge undertaking to find, grade, and lay a railroad track through the northern part of the state. The museum did have real, full-size trains inside the building, which the kids appreciated, and once we made our way to the second building we found that we could ride/propel ourselves on one of the little carts that workers would take to work on tracks and trains! The cart was SO much fun and the kids would have ridden it over and over had we been allowed.
Next we stopped at Walmart for numbing cream from my mouth because I had destroyed my lip by biting it while we were camping (accidentally) and was being caused ridiculous amounts of pain by such a small injury. We ended up finding cheap shoes all around and probably some other things, too, because we never leave Wal-Mart with only the item we originally intended to buy.
We still had time in our day, so we decided to visit Mormon Station and the tiny town of Genoa. Mormon Station was the first permanent settlement in northern Nevada. And, as you may have guessed, it was settled by the Mormons. Ryan and I really enjoyed the Station and the kids really enjoyed the tiny maps of Genoa they came away with. Genoa itself is adorable. We walked Main Street and eventually ended up at a park, where the trees and shade and gorgeous weather made me seriously wonder why on earth we live on the surface of the sun.
By now, 4:00 was nigh and we were all ready to go. We drove up the ridiculous Kingsbury Grade and just like that we were in Tahoe! We got to the house and were greeted by pretty much everyone. The kids were immediately off in various escapades with their cousins while the parents decided on sleeping arrangements and got all the bags in. The house was HUGE--5 stories maybe?--and had tons of land to explore. It also had an indoor pool, which made all the kids very, very happy. That first night we talked for hours while the kids partied hard. This would be a recurring theme throughout the week.
Dolly thinks it's hilarious to cover her face in pictures, so I covered mine, too. She was quite amused.
The tree that made me rue the Las Vegas heat.
Random, but this meandering stream was my view as we drove up the Kingsbury Grade. It deserves all the heart eye emojis.