My day started even earlier than I'd planned this morning - Mollie texted me at 0400 and I ended up getting out of bed to start teleworking. For the first time during my Nomad Life, I had early meetings (e.g., 0500) scheduled. When the first one was postponed for 30 minutes, I prepared breakfast in my room. By 0530, I was enmeshed in an all day "Lessons Learned" exercise! We kept working until 0900, when my East Coast colleagues took a lunch break. This was hard to reconcile for me, still it was still very early in the morning, but I succumbed to temptation and made lunch in my room, which I managed to avoid eating until we all went back to work at 1000. The subject matter was interesting but I still felt tired throughout the day. Seems like I should probably go to bed earlier... I encountered yet another Carson City Motel 6 SNAFU at 1100: the free WiFi quit (it had some sort of suspicious "download and scan" requirement on the home page of the motel's website) and I had to use my hotspot for a lot of the work day. Fortunately, my calls to the Front Desk and a visit from the maintenance man resolve the problem before 1300. Meanwhile, my co-workers and I continued online until 1400 (1700 for them). The meeting facilitators suggested that we resume in the morning. Oh goodie! By this point, I was absolutely ready to end my workday! Fortunately, the weather today was much better - temps in the 50s and clear skies! Following advice from my friend John B., I drove a short distance to the parking lot for the Kings Canyon Trail System (on the east side of town). On the way there (via National Forest Road 39), I saw signs for the Lincoln Highway - I learned later that this was the original route (maned the "Kings County Grad") of the road that connected Carson City to Lake Tahoe. (Note: Google Maps informed me that NF-39 meets the current route of the Lincoln Highway, US-50, at Spooner Summit). [Also, California Trail and Pony Express Route] After arriving (1410), I started walking on tightly packed cinder towards the Waterfall that I'd heard about from my friend. It didn't take long to reach it and I enjoyed the views there. Next, I took a different trail that branched off the main one and climbed almost all the way to the top of the ridge. From my very steep perch, I got some amazing views of the Canyon and Carson City. The climb didn't continue but I did have a chance to cross the creek (source of the waterfall below) and return to my car from the complete other side of that ravine. Birding was good in the area - I heard some new species and witnessed behavior in the scrub-pine, lower Sierra environment. Back at my car again (1505), I took John's advice again and drove across the city to reach Carson River Park (arrived at 1525). By this point, the dusk was already approaching because of the high peaks of the Sierras to the west - this gave me more than an hour of the "gloaming", though, and was very welcome. There were large ranch fields adjacent to the park property on one side and the Carson River bounded the other. I saw so many magpies gleaning in the fields - the sun behind the ridge made for some awesome photos. After doing a little bit of exploring, I found the Carson River Trail, which passes through the park from north to south. Since I still needed steps to reach 10K for the day, I started walking south. For the next 75 minutes, I was treated to wonderful views of the remote area (east side of Carson City), learned about local history, found some new bird species and enjoyed my energetic walk to the southern terminus of the trail at Mexican Dam. Backtracking to my car, I was treated to a beautiful sunset that glinted off the snow capped Sierras in the distance. By 1445, I was at my car again and decided to (yet again) follow John's advice, this time for a dinner venue. Before that, though, I made my way into the center of historic downtown Carson City and, after parking near the Capitol, had a few drinks at the Fox Brewery (started at 1700). The original brews were all good - the bartender told me that one of them, the Blood Orange Lager, was poured from the only keg the brewery planned to make all year so it was really rare. This required me to create an entry on Untapped! While enjoying the libations, I had some interesting discussions with the bartender and several local patrons. Once again, I felt quite welcome in Carson City. The establishment was located inside the St. Charles Hotel, which I learned was a residence for Mark Twain when he was living here in the 1850s. My recent read of the Chernow biography of Twain came to mind... Finished at 1820, I took a photo of the well-lit Capitol building (under construction) and then drove a short distance to have dinner at Red's Old 395 Grill (John's recommendation). After arriving at 1830, I encountered my first less-than-friendly person in the area: a nonchalant bartender who completely ignored me until I asked about a menu after she'd handed one to people who sat down 10 minutes after me. From that point, I just ordered my food (The Assembly Club), ate quickly and didn't chat with anyone. The ambiance was interesting (lots of antique items, video poker on the bar, lots of strange photos - it was a shame that I didn't have a fun person to chat with to maximize the vibe... Instead, I was done eating by 1900 and drove back to the motel. In my room, I spent most of the evening reading and watching movies. Unlike the other days this week, I managed to be disciplined tonight and was "lights out" by 2215. I guess the Motel 6 is located in a great area - I've been able to do almost everything John recommended without driving more than a few miles. I'm sure I'll find some more things tomorrow but my mindset is shifting towards the task of getting across the ridge above Carson City on Thursday - a snow storm is coming!
