K and I recently hopped into the space wagon and cruised some vistas over to the great state of Nevada.

There are some things you notice about Nevada as soon as you get out and walk around, the first being that every single building you go into smells like stale cigarette smoke. We visited several antique stores, where the prices were actually much better than we find locally, but a funny thing was we found brothel tokens and porno mags everywhere, most spots also had a dedicated area for the occult. We decided Nevada is a Godless place but we think it sure is beautiful.

We started out at NAM in Reno, that’s the National Auto Museum. They have some really amazing stuff in there. We got to see their collections of Formula 1 cars, many had been driven by some of our favorite drivers. They also had a car that had its entire body hand made in copper.

After that we popped over to a nearby Mexican restaurant. The restaurant was old, dusty, and everything smelled like ammonia and windex. The food was greasy, and gave me a tummy ache… I give it 3.5 stars.

We went to a few antique stores in downtown Reno, then over to this restaurant condoplex type place. I’ve been to a similar spot in San Jose, but basically it’s like 30 mini restaurants all packed into one building. We weren’t hungry played table tennis. There was a CVS nearby, maybe a Walgreens… and we popped in and got K a hydrating facial mask because another thing about Nevada is you would need a still suit to live there year round. Yes, I’m talking about the body water preserving hydration suits from Dune. After about 45 minutes in that dry air I was ready to go full Chalamet. “Give me a tube!” I demanded. “Give me a tube for my nose!” Passersby in Reno were used to people shouting incoherently on the street and I was ignored.

Another thing is, I don’t usually see a lot of girls taller than me, but in Reno, we noticed dozens of giant girls waking around. I thought perhaps it was the mountain air that responsible for how big people get up there, and it still might be, but as it turns out, there was a volleyball tournament going on nearby which explained all of the spandex shorts.

After playing a few rounds of table tennis we dipped out for a wedding for one of our oldest friends and it was great. We hung around the reception for a hug and a photo and then skedaddled out to Carson City.

We wanted to go to Carson City because that’s where the Nevada State Museum is. However, we were unable to find a hotel room pretty much anywhere in town. We found a room at this supposedly newly remodeled place in town called the Federal. We didn’t know it was a casino, but Nevada being the Godless land of heathens that it is, we were going to roll with it.

I walked in and almost died from the smoke, but the lady at the front desk was super nice, she was decked out in Native American silver and turquoise jewelry. I cracked a joke about recently quitting smoking, and K blew my cover and said I never smoked in my life. The lady chuckled and said at this point in my life I should leave it alone.

The lobby looked new, but getting into the elevator gave it away. This was new wine in an old skin. The elevator stank of 40 or 50 years of smoke. We rode up to the 5th floor to find a construction project going on. A huge hole in the wall, possibly another elevator shaft was tarped over, there were exposed wires and plumbing. Our room was not far down the hall. We opened the door to find that the room met the lowest standard for which a room should be rented out, and that made it technically a hotel room. It had wine stain colored carpet with white residue sprinkled throughout. Based on the setting, it may have been cocaine, but due to the smell, flea powder or of some other toxic chemical, and mildew that looked like it was there before the shower had ever been built. I opened up the door to the “balcony” and stepped out on the 1 foot ledge to the glorious few of a small power transfer station humming away. “Those things give you cancer.” I said to K, before shutting the screen. I had opened the door to let in some fresh air, but below the room was the exhaust system for the HVAC units ventilating the casino. The air leaving it smelled like stale cigarettes.

K was initially nonplussed. All the reviews had been great on Travelocity and Expedia. 4.5 stars. Something was wrong. We checked Yelp and read the reviews we had missed which were hilarious, but which we could not find much humor in at the moment.

I assured K we had stayed in worse places at least once, and rekindled the memory of the roadtrip to my Grandpa’s funeral where we stayed in a musty Days Inn near Green River, WY, but this did not provide much comfort.

After a few minutes it was clear that our sinuses were not going to be convinced to stay. We both were developing sore throats and stuffy noses from the combination of mold spores, construction dust, and what we assumed was either flea or bed bug powder.

I started dialing for another room, but the town of Carson City is pretty small, and we found only two other hotels. One was booked up, the other one had 1 room available. We decided to drive down to check the place out before committing.

We arrived and found that there was covered parking, a clean lobby, and two fatigued women at the front desk. We inquired about the room and were told they had just one left. While we were being helped, a woman appeared from the elevators and interrupted us. She said she was on the 2nd floor and that floor smells like marijuana smoke, but that her worst problem is that someone brought a giant dog and it is barking uncontrollably. I should have known then that there was only one group of people who both smoked pot and abandoned their dogs, democrats but it had not dawned on me yet.

I asked the woman at the front desk if the room is on the 2nd floor, and she said yes. I asked if it is by the barking dog or smells like marijuana smoke, she said that it shouldn’t, but didn’t appear too confident. I was tempted to tell another of my “just stopped smoking” jokes. Instead we took the key cards and exited the elevator where we were greeted by the shrill bark of a giant German shepherd, maybe a Rottweiler, or other annoying large breed. The place still felt like a paradise compared to the Federal. Once we got into the room, we couldn’t hear the dog barking.

I had also asked the staff what in the world was going on in Carson City because it seems like the hotels are all booked up all over the area, including Reno. Personally I was pretty sure a high school or college volleyball tournament wouldn’t pack out every hotel within 45 miles of town, but the girl at the desk wasn’t sure. She said she thought something might be going on at the Capitol.

Some young dude strolled by and said it was spring break. K and I discussed in the elevator how that answer did not satisfy us. Carson City is probably one of the most boring towns I’ve ever been to, it didn’t seem like a spring break hot spot. we hadn’t seen any night clubs, and while it sure was dusty, I wouldn’t qualify it as sand, and there were no beaches anywhere close.

The next morning, we got up and went to the Nevada State Museum. This building used to be the Carson City mint. It was used by the federal government to mint silver coins like the famous CC morgan dollar. The big draw for the museum is the old coin press, which had been used since the 1870s.

Our first stop was the gift shop where I purchased a silver planchet, this is a blank that will be pressed into a coin. We then headed down to the room where it’s pressed. A guy who looked like a civil war veteran and who had been there since the mint building opened in the 1870s, (just kidding but he was fairly elderly), told us a tale of the machine, it’s many travels, how it was recovered from the Federal Government and rebuilt and placed into this very building. The he smashed my planchet with the machine and out came my coin. He had a lovely assistant, an elderly lady with lots of energy who put my coin into an airtight capsule after presenting it to me and the small crowd in the room. I rate the demonstration 10/10. I rate the team of presenters 10/10. Even though there isn’t much going on in Carson City, most of the time, NAM and this museum are worth the drive time.

After the demonstration we toured the rest of the museum which was pretty good, but not all coin related. They have exhibits that cover natural history, war history, all kinds of stuff.

We had planned to take a trip down to the Capitol grounds and walk through the gardens and legislative buildings. This is when it became abundantly clear why we couldn’t find a hotel room anywhere in the greater metro area – the street had been blocked off and flooded with thousands of mostly geriatric democrats who were protesting Elon Musk. We had noticed that despite the hotels being booked up, we hadn’t noticed crowds of people anywhere else. We thought it was quite odd. We found these people to be annoying enough that we canceled our tour of the gardens and went to a coin shop across the street from the mint.

It was closed, but another was open next door. This was the best coin shop I’d ever been to. It looked like a big jewelry store. Tons of coins on display many with the desirable CC mint mark. The purveyor told me that many people comment on how many CC coins they have in stock and he tells them that being across the street from the mint where those coins were made this is the way it should be. I didn’t buy any CC coins because they are 10x over spot and the value is simply in that mark, rather than the bullion itself. It’s not my thing, but I do have a CC dime a guy sold me for $25 that is in very poor shape.

I purchased a few ounces including my first Libertad, which is the bullion coin issued by Mexico. I’ve always wanted one, but the coins are sold at a stiff premium, the Mexican mint primarily issues the coins to Mexican banks, and there they are only sold to Mexican citizens. The surplus is sold outside of Mexico but in very limited quantities. I believe at the time Spot was $29 but this coin was $12 over. I also purchased an American Silver Eagle, and a maple, but I chose one featuring Elizabeth as the ugly Charles coins do not spark joy.

Virginia City

On my way up here we passed the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, and I stopped at a liquor store on the corner of the street you turn down to pick up some high proof alcohol. Everclear. A guy inside asked me how I managed to drink that stuff, because 190 proof is pretty strong. I guess being in the drive way of a brothel he probably didn’t expect my answer which was that I don’t drink it at all, but planning to use it to make vanilla extract.

We continued on up to Virginia City and found it to be like Old Sac but way bigger. There was still snow on the ground and some shops were still closed up for winter. People were dressed up in old timey clothes and even had guns on their belts. Open carry is legal without a permit in Nevada and I didn’t ask if they were peop guns or the real deal, but I assume people were packing real single action heat.

We hit a few antique spots, had some Korean BBQ, and looked at the old buildings before heading back on the long drive home. All in all I had a great time in Nevada, tax free silver and high proof alcohol are just some of the reasons to visit, but for history and numismatics fans, Carson City despite being small and relatively boring otherwise has a lot to offer.