Today we scurried across the top of the world. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We left Bishop early, trying to avoid the mass of humanity coming to town for Mule Days. On our way north we passed by mountain meadows, all kinds and colors of wild flowers, snow fed creeks, and many mountain passes--most of which were still closed due to snow.

We spent quite some time exploring the shore of Mono Lake. Tom reminded us that this was the area where the movie, High Plains Drifter, was filmed. The flowers here were especially beautiful. One bush we think is called Desert Peach, was full of small delicate pink flowers. In this area of extremes it offered a soft contrast to the harshness of the elements.

We continued north, stopping shortly at the Topaz post office to mail a postcard. Over lunch at JT Bar in Gardnerville, we decided to take a side trip to Virginia City. (For those of you who have never eaten lunch at JT's we highly recommend the steak or lamb shoulder sandwiches. Dinner is great there, too.) The road to Virginia city took us north past Carson City, then through Virginia City, and back to Carson City. Again, we were on top of the world. We paused before entering Virginia City to get a look at Reno and Sparks. Was it really only 11 days ago we passed through there wondering if we would ever warm up?!

Virgina City is what some of us remember Park City used to be. It is an old mining town, full of character and characters. Shirlene was delighted by the smell of freshly made fudge and showed great discipline by merely walking through the shop. The sniff was enough until Louise purchased a chunk and became the fudge pusher. It was great stuff.

We decided to stay the night in Mindon, rather than pushing on to Kirkwood. It was still early so we took a ride to South Lake Tahoe for supper. We took the very exciting Kingsbury Grade back to Mindon, stopping briefly in Genoa, Nevada's first permanent settlement.