Day 7: Train from Virginia City to Nevada City..and back again

 The kids are holding their vials of stones from their mining adventure.  Mining was interesting in that we were given metal pans just like the old timers would have used back in the day and we got to do exactly what they would have done...fill the pan, wash the water over it, tilt and shake and get rid of the top layer, do it over, then again, then again.  It was really beautiful day, actually hot at times, and the train was cute and the trip between the "Citys" was actually the perfect length...long enough to enjoy, short enough you did not get bored. 

One thing that happened was that Macey dropped a stick of gum on the little runner where our feet rested after the train started and we tried desperately not to let it fall off but alas, we were unsuccessful.  We could not unbuckle our seatbelts or we might have fallen off (literally...the seats were pretty narrow)...you were kind of sort of just perched there.  That was hilarious at the time.  We also saw a "V" etched into the top of one of the mountains and Josh and I spent some time trying to figure out what it stood for.  One of our train companions, a very nice lady from Salt Lake City, leaned over and suggested that perhaps it stood for "Virginia" as in "Virginia City". Umm, yeah, she was probably right. 

Chubby the buffalo made the journey....there was much angst about making sure he did not fall off of the train or get left behind.