Mon, 8/22/11:
Goose Meadows NF Campground, Truckee, CA:  Headed out this morning to go to Carson City and then Virginia City.  But I said, we’re so close to Mono Lake from Carson City, why don’t we just drive down there first.  So we did.  Went through Carson City, which sits in a big valley.  Looks really nice.  The place we went through that I loved the most was Gardnerville, about 40 miles south of Reno.  This little town is so neat—both literally and figuratively.  The sidewalks all look like they’ve been freshly swept; the grass along the main drive through town was green and meticulously cut.  The main street had huge hanging flowers all over that were beautifully maintained.  The white board fencing looks like it was just painted.  Just a really cute town with a lot of historic buildings nicely maintained as well.  Continued south along the eastern Sierras along bubbling, pristine streams and through narrow canyons.  A beautiful drive.  We finally got to Mono Lake which was really different.  The lake is very saline and there are these rock formations jutting out of the water.  There were a couple of dormant volcanoes around the lake as well.  After checking out Mono Lake we then decided we may as well go into the eastern entrance of Yosemite and up to Tioga Pass.  Which we did.  And except for the fact that the road was pretty scary in places, it was absolutely beautiful.  There were a myriad of crystal clear streams and water falls.  And one alpine lake after another.  It was indeed beautiful.  Had lunch at the historic Tioga Pass Lodge which was built in 1914.  There was a lodge and several cabins along another pristine little stream.  After a delicious lunch we started back and decided to stop at a ghost town we’d heard about—Bodie.  Only 13 miles off the main road (I395), but there was a 20-minute delay because of some road work and then the last 3 miles was a very rough dirt road.  But this ghost town was something.  In its heyday it boasted a population of 10,000.  The buildings left there were just a fraction of the original town.  It was a gold mining town of fairly ill repute.  It sits way back in sagebrush-covered hills.  I didn’t know sagebrush smelled so good.  While we were waiting for the road construction delay, I opened the window and was amazed at the wonderful fragrances wafting in.  And when we got up in the hills a ways you could see the beautiful eastern Sierras spread out before you.  Quite breathtaking.  Left Bodie at 6:00 and headed back.  Figured we had a three-hour drive ahead of us.  We made it back closer to 10:00.  Tired.  But the drive was worth it.  

Mono Lake with its unusual formations.

There are a couple of dormant volcanoes around the lake.

Alpine meadow--eastern Yosemite

Beautiful alpine lake--eastern Yosemite

Another beautiful alpine lake--eastern Yosemite.

Gas station--Bodie ghost town

One of the homes--Bodie ghost town

Store front--Bodie ghost town

One of the mines in Bodie

After the big "Comstock Load" was discovered in Virginia City, the rush was on in the area and gold was discovered in Bodie in 1859.  The town grew from 20 people to 10,000 in one year!  The town had a terrible reputation.  The last man to live there left in 1974.  Don't know how long he lived there all by himself.  Must have been creepy.