Wild West Day Trip to Virginia City from Tahoe with Train Ride

First off this is not a train ride to Virginia City. This is a 90-minute narrated bus tour from South Lake Tahoe to Virginia City where you then take a 30 minute train ride. That said, it was a great day! Our guide on the bus, Nevada Smith told us all about the area and its history. We rode through a spectacular mounatin pass, through the historic town of Genoa and on through the desert to Virginia City. There we took a short train ride out and back, learning more about the history of the Comstock Lode and the railroad itself. The conductor, Don was equally informative. After that we had three hours in Virginia City for lunch, shopping and to experience a real "old west" town. There is a great museum, The Way It Was, with artifacts going back to the pioneer and mining days... a lot of cool old stuff and a video. The town has several saloons that serve pizza, burgers and drinks. I recommend the Red Dog Saloon. There's also Hi Me Cafe which serves the most amazing iced coffee! And there's plenty of gift shops, ranging from simple souvenirs to unique clothing, artwork and jewelry. All in all I definitely recommend this excursion for anyone who wants to step back to the 1800's without leaving the present day. A perfect day trip from Tahoe.