For a scribe who’s been in Germany for the past ten years, there isn’t much of a better way to reconnect with her American roots than to visit the wild, wild west.
That’s just what Shawn and I did exactly one year ago when we spent the day playing in Virginia City, Nevada…
Once a mining boomtown, Virginia City previously claimed the title of the richest city in the United States. This was due to the Comstock Lode silver strike that occurred there in the late 1850s. The strike transformed prospectors into millionaires, virtually overnight.
It’s said that Virginia City is the ‘birthplace’ of Mark Twain, since this is where the former Territorial Enterprise reporter Samuel Clemens had the maiden usage of his now-famous pen name. He would go on to continue using his pen name during his Tramp Abroad, which included an extended stop in Heidelberg, Germany. In an age devoid of the airplane, he sure managed to get around!
Legend also has it that Twain was mugged in Virginia City. It was later discovered that the ‘mugging’ was conducted by Twain’s friends in order to provide him writing fodder.
Me and Shawn.
The Mackay Mansion, which is rumored to be haunted.
Garters & Bloomers, the site of our photo-session mischief.
The shadows of iron fence-work in Virginia City’s Cemetery.
Tricia A. Mitchell is a freelance writer and photographer. Born in Europe but raised in the United States, she has lived in Valletta, Malta; Heidelberg, Germany; and Split, Croatia. An avid globetrotter who has visited more than 65 countries, she has a penchant for off-season travel. Tricia has learned that travel’s greatest gift is not sightseeing, rather it is the interactions with people. Some of her most memorable experiences have been sharing a bottle of champagne with distant French cousins in Lorraine, learning how to milk goats in a sleepy Bulgarian village, and ringing in the Vietnamese New Year with a Hanoi family. She welcomes any opportunity to practice French and German, and she loves delving into a place’s history and artisanal food scene.
A former education administrator and training specialist, Tricia has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in international relations. She and her husband, Shawn, married in the ruins of a snowy German castle. They’ve been known to escape winter by basing themselves in coastal Croatia or Southeast Asia.
Her writing has appeared in Fodor’s Travel, Frommer’s, and International Living.
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2 thoughts on “Candy Apples, Saloons, and a Sagebrush Cemetery: A Day Trip to Virginia City, Nevada”
Trish:
Your wonderful photos and your elegant way with words have made me one of your devoted blog followers.
Mary Ann
Travels With Tricia 
Trish:
Your wonderful photos and your elegant way with words have made me one of your devoted blog followers.
Mary Ann
Mary Ann, thanks for your subscription and gracious comment! I am glad we have been able to share some of the adventures I’m chronicling here. :)