Hi All,
I am back from the longest silence that I have experienced since I joined Active Rain on March 31. My hubby Mel and I took off for a three day weekend to belatedly celebrate our fourth anniversary. I brought my computer and my air card with me, but the places that we stayed did not offer speedy connections so trying to read anything on the Internet was painful and trying to write anything to post was just about out of the question.
We decided to go back to Virginia City Nevada where we spent part of our honeymoon. Once again we stayed at the historic Gold Hill Hotel, which has the distinction of being the oldest hotel in Nevada. It is also reportedly haunted. In the past when we have stayed at this wonderful old charmer of a place we stayed in room 5 which those "in the know" refer to as "Rosie's Room". Rosie is one of the two resident ghosts, William is the other. One of the main attractions for Rosie's room is the wonderful antique claw-foot bathtub that is deep enough to have the water go all the way up to your neck without having to scrunch down. 
William's Room is right next door, number 4 and it has a shower. Both of these rooms have a wonderful balcony that overlooks the road leading to Virginia City. We have been fortunate the two previous times we stayed at the hotel to get Rosie's Room and to experience firsthand what folks have been talking about. Rosie makes her presence known by filling the room with perfume which appears suddenly and disappears just as quickly. William slams doors, tromps up and down the hall in the wee small hours and apparently smokes cigars that have the same properties as Rosie's perfume.
On our first stay at the hotel, we got room 5 without knowing anything about Rosie or William but Mel and I both smelled the perfume and he heard the heavy boots clomping up and down the hall. We mentioned the noise the neighbors had made at 5 AM to the hotel manager and were quite surprised to find out that we had been the only guests in the hotel that night. I mentioned the lovely perfume in the bathroom and the bedroom and asked what it was, only to be told that they don't use any perfume, or the like there.
On our second visit, we pretty much repeated the experience of the first right down to getting Rosie's Room again. This time, I set up a camera and tried to take some time-lapse pictures but have yet to figure out how to separate the individual frames from each other (and that was 3 years ago :-).
This visit we finally got to stay in William's Room. With the exception of the fact that there is a shower instead of a tub and the floor slopes a different direction it is a mirror image of Rosie's Room. I brought the camera but did not try the time lapse thing again. This time, long about midnight we were treated to the almost overpowering smell of cigar smoke filling the room and then dissipating as quickly as it had arrived. Oh, and it is a non-smoking hotel by the way. The cigar smoke came back twice more before I finally fell asleep. Early the next morning (Mel wakes earlier than I do) he was greeted with perfume.
The really funny thing that occurred this time was moments before we departed the hotel. We left the door to the balcony open when we went down to breakfast. When we came back up to the room to gather our things and check out Mel mentioned something about the ghosts only to have the balcony door slam itself shut. This is a pretty heavy old door and it is actually hard to open or close as the door-frame is well off true and the door scrapes the carpet. The hinge pin is also half out at the top so you actually have to lift the door just a touch to open or close it. Also, there was no breeze, no vibration and neither of us were close enough to touch the door when it happened. Interesting...
I highly recommend the Gold Hill Hotel for the atmosphere, for the experience and also for the food. This place houses a five-star restaurant and a wine cellar that can't be beat. Incidentally, I don't drink at all and Mel only had one glass of Merlot with dinner in case anyone was wondering if that had anything to do with the nocturnal and broad daylight activities. Also, with rooms starting at $45/night it is truly a bargain. In the old part of the hotel there are no televisions but in the new section all amenities are available.
We also ventured to Bodie California which is a wonderful day trip all by itself. Bodie is a State Park and is a true ghost town that is being maintained in a state of arrested decay. The buildings, furnishings and even the goods on the store shelves are just as they were left when the last inhabitants vacated the place between the 1930's to the 1950's. 
The picture above was actually shot through the store window, and the one at right is one of the homes still standing. Bodie was born in 1859 and in it's heyday Bodie had a population of about 10,000, boasted 65 saloons, and a bad but well earned reputation. If you have never visited Bodie, I highly recommend it. Just make sure that you bring plenty of water as it gets HOT. Also, this is not a place to bring dogs as they are not allowed within the grounds and it would be a death sentence to leave them in the car. Actually, it is a death sentence to leave them in the car during the heat of the summer anywhere so the best place for your four-legged friends is safely at home with plenty of food and water.
August 11 they will be holding Friends of Bodie days and there will be lots of special events going on up there. It would be a great time to go.
We narrowly missed the fires up and down Highway 395. But we did see the aftermath of the Independence fire as we came home today. Acres of scorched earth, charred sagebrush and a couple of burned down telephone poles and road signs. Thankfully, there did not seem to be any structures affected that we could see, but it was still surreal to drive past the miles of blackened brush that only two days before had been brown and green.
All in all, despite the fires, it was a wonderful trip and I will go into greater detail about what we saw and did on Route66Living.com over the next few days. I am glad to be back. I missed everyone.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well.
Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Tisza
Comments(11)