Hail and Snow, Monday, 6/16/14 and Tuesday, 6/17/14

Monday, June 16, 2014

Today was the worst weather we have had since we have been here.  It was in the forties all day and we had rain and hail off and on all day.  Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot which is a large building with no heat.  She huddled up to the sorry space heater for most of the day, but her feet and hands were still freezing.  She was luckier than poor Chuck.  He drove the train all day, and only one run was cancelled early in the day due to the rain.  However, he left the station on the 3:00 p.m. run and shortly thereafter the bottom dropped out of the sky and there was a large hailstorm.  The train conductor had provided all the passengers with lap blankets, but it didn’t help their situation too much as everyone got sopping wet.

Cindy took a picture of the ground covered with white hail, and the local man who owns the store next to the depot said he was looking for snow tonight.  We shall see.   

We were instructed to close up all the operations early because there were not too many tourists braving the bad weather.   All the inn mates were home by 4:45 p.m., so after supper we played Mexican Train. 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

 It was another really bad weather day with temperatures in the forties.  Cindy was at the Virginia City depot once again, and Chuck was assigned to drive the train again.  It rained off and on all morning, and around noon we had snow flurries.  The same as yesterday, Chuck got soaked and fortunately we were told to call it a day around 1:00 p.m. 

We drove east over the mountains to Ennis and had a late lunch/early supper with Jaimi, Libby and Daniel.   After eating a so-so hamburger, we walked around the touristy part of town and took some pictures of the kids posing with various statues.  There is a bank building in Ennis that is the prettiest we have ever seen with horses, a cowboy, and bear statues in the park-like front yard.   

After the photo shoot, the kids went to the high priced grocery store and we went and had our hair cut to the tune of $53.00.  The young lady who cut our hair is a local who lives on a ranch that used to belong to her great grandfather.  In addition to cutting hair, she also helps out driving the stage coach as needed and works for some ranches performing artificial insemination on cows.  Her salon was, not surprisingly, decorated with a western motif.  

It was a beautiful drive home to Virginia City as the surrounding mountains were all covered with fresh snow.  We are starting to understand why not too many places around here have air conditioning.