Columnist Susan Snyder: Become a tourist — in Nevada

Monday, Dec. 6, 2004 | 8:21 a.m.

It's not too early to make some 2005 travel plans.

And Guy Rocha has just the place.

Nevada.

The archivist and historian for the Nevada State Library and Archives says too many Nevadans haven't seen their own state.

"There's so much in Nevada," Rocha said. "But you can't see Nevada from an interstate."

Rocha, who was born down here and now lives up there in the state capital (um, that would be "Carson City"), claims there is no true "Nevadan."

Subliminally, people born here eventually consider themselves to be Northern Nevadans or Southern Nevadans. And a lot of the time, we might as well be from different states.

"Clark County kids on Nevada Day don't come to Carson City. They go to Disneyland," Rocha said. "Their travel corridor is Southern California."

Many Southern Nevadans -- especially those who haven't lived here very long -- "don't know there is anything more than the Las Vegas Valley," he added.

Hey, it's cold up there. And it's a six-hour drive to visit the state Capitol's museum or attend the state fair. For many of us, Virginia City will remain a town on television reruns of "Bonanza."

"We need to get them to come to Reno or see what it's like to eat a Basque meal," Rocha said.

Well, they aren't exactly beating down our doors, either.

Rocha says state tourism officials who focus on attracting visitors to the Nevada that's not Las Vegas typically target residents of California cities such as Sacramento and Fresno.

"I want to know, how do you get people up from Las Vegas?" Rocha said. "There are 1.6 million people down there. Try to get 1 percent of that population."

Still, Californians are heeding the call. And they're not just visiting anymore. They're buying historic properties and turning tumbledown buildings into attractive vacation or retirement homes.

And although it brings new life to communities a breath away from ghost town status, such improvements are not always embraced by longtime residents.

"Newcomers change the dynamics. Places change, and they need to change," Rocha said. "Austin was dying on the vine" before a few well-to-do Las Vegas and California transplants began renovating its 19th-century homes and business buildings.

Inroads have been made in other towns that peaked at the turn of the 20th century, Rocha said, but nothing permanent has happened. Goldfield is an example.

A few out-of-staters have bought, and are restoring, some of the historic buildings, including the bank. But at least three absentee owners have tried, and failed, to renovate and re-open the Goldfield Hotel. And Goldfield remains a curiosity that people pass through on their way to somewhere else.

"I'm waiting to see whether it can reach a critical mass of California refugees to make it a destination point," he said.

Eeesh. I'd hate to think it takes Californians to revive our state. We could do more of that ourselves simply by planning a few more getaways that don't go all that far.