Virginia City

About 20 miles away from Reno. I drove up there as the weatherman has predicted a lot of snow for tonight, so tomorrow the drive will probably be hard. Virginia City is high up in the mountains. During the years of the Gold Rush there were many people living here and many got quite rich. This little town even had an opera house built in 1869! The living conditions were very harsh though, very cold, windy and long winters, so people died young, especially the women and the old cemetary is huge. Many parts of it (it was partly divided according to the nations of origin like Chinese, then Masons, Catholics , firemen etc) have been destroyed by time and thieves, but some graves and gravestones are still intact and there is always a very special atmosphere. That was where I walked today and the picture was taken looking to the east. The mountains in the distance are the Pine Nut Mountains, the valley is called Six Mile Canyon and the river in the valley is the Carson River.