Ricks, the famous road house, and training quarters of Jack Johnson, the black champion prize fighter, is within walking distance of Reno. Its chicken dinners have helped to make the place famous. There are private rooms for those who seek seclusion, a splendid dance floor, and I am told that here the mechanical pianos grind out waltzes, one steps and fox trots, whilst glasses clink far into the night and parties of colonists make merry.
Farther on is Laughton Hot Springs, another popular bathing resort. This place is mostly patronized by motorists and equestrians and is more fortunate than the others in its location. The little rustic hotel is built in the cosiest nook, just at the bend of the river; the fine old trees bend their graceful branches over the rushing waters in which the majestic mountains reflect their wondrous beauty. Here one may obtain private dressing rooms and bathing pools, or a party of two or more may have a number of dressings rooms opening onto the same pool. The water in the pools changes every fifteen minutes. I am told there is a continuous inflow and overflow, which empties out into the river.
What a wonderful spot to build a modern structure with beautiful steam rooms, modern dressing rooms and marble bathing pools, in place of the crude board sheds which rather spoil the natural beauty of this place of many charms, where one may bathe in the hot springs pool, fish in the river, wine, dine and dance! What more could the soul in exile wish for?
If you wish for seclusion, seek a tranquil spot on the banks of the river; dream to your heart's content, watch the silvery moonbeams play among the branches and sparkle on the river, and listen to the sighing of the summer wind. I know of no place near New York endowed with so many of nature's charms.
Fishing in the river is good, but fishing in the mountain brooks and streams is much better, and one can take a pack-horse, ride up over the mountains and discover places which look as though they dropped right out of a picture book.
Rubicon Springs is such a place; a quaint old hunting and fishing camp, where a few nature lovers hide away from; the world every summer and really "rough it." I caught there some of the finest mountain trout I have even seen; I also saw a party of men bring in a very fine deer one afternoon, a feat which caused quite a little excitement among the guests.
This isolated spot cannot be reached by automobile, it being about fifteen miles from the main road over a rugged mountain trail.
There is certainly everything to be wished for in the way of out-of- door amusements in and near Reno. There besides motoring, riding, fishing, hunting, swimming and dancing are the tennis courts and the golf links. The Golf Club gives many interesting tournaments and is one of the social centers in summer for the elite, as is the race track where one may meet the world and its wife. The track is good and the horses as fine as one can see anywhere, all of which helps to render this sport most fascinating.
[Illustration: LOVER'S LEAP BLUE CANYON]
Talking of horses reminds me of one of my never-to-be-forgotten rides to Laughton Springs. Those who have never seen a Nevada sunset, while riding over the Sierras at the close of day, can have no conception of its wondrous beauty. I will try to tell you about it.