Category: California-Nevada

Death Valley Days

Part two of our autumn “vacation” began about three hours late. Dianne was in Dallas attending a LifeVantage meeting, and her flight back to civilization arrived three hours late in the Grand Valley.

I picked her up at the Grand Junction International Airport, we rushed home by way of Jimmy Johns, ate our sandwiches, loaded the car and headed to Richfield, Utah, where we had reservations at the beautiful Super 8 Motel there.

Heading in a westward direction, we were treated to a stunning Utah sunset.

Super 8 Motels provide their guests with free breakfast.

Of course, this was NOT the Super 8 breakfast. We drove down Main Street to the Black Bear Diner and ate there. Much better.

Back on the road, we left Utah, skirted through North Las Vegas and headed for Death Valley.

Taking advantage of discounts offered by Xanterra, we booked two nights at The Ranch at Death Valley.

We were bunking in a duplex cottage suite…

…with a separate living room and bedroom

…and a great front porch to enjoy by day…

…and night.

I really, really like this place. We originally had a two night stay booked, but Dianne allowed me to add a third.

We wandered around the Ranch, checking out its open-air museum of artifacts from the Death Valley borax production days…

…and its fine dining options.

With the government shutdown, many of the places we wanted to explore were not open. We did find a few interesting sites to check out, however, including…

…the remains of the Harmony Borax Works…

…the view of Bad Water from Dante’s View overlook…

…and Zabriskie Point at sunset.

We also explored the Inn at Death Valley, the more upscale Xanterra property located nearby…

…where we had dinner reservations…

…with prickly pear margaritas…

…followed by steaks and wine.

After three nights at the Ranch, we set off for Nevada, Our route followed the eastern escarpment of the Sierra through California, passing by Mt. Whitney, highest peak in the Lower 48 states. I’ve climbed it a couple of times.

In Bishop, we stopped at Erick Schat’s Bakery for lunch.

This place has long been a mandatory stop for a loaf or two of their excellent cheese bread.

Continuing north, we passed Mono Lake…

…and continued into Carson City where we are staying in a Bed without Breakfast house next door to Dianne’s sister’s home.

We’ll be going from 190 feet below sea level to 4,687 feet above. I hope we survive the thin air.

Birthday Celebration

The reason we came to Nevada was to celebrate Dianne’s father’s 100th birthday, her mother’s 94th birthday and their 75th wedding anniversary.

To celebrate these events, the offspring reserved the clubhouse at their housing development and invited around 75 family and friends to attend, most of whom actually showed up.

Of course, we had to take a shot of just members of the family, which included children, grand children, great grand children and now one great-great grandchild.

While some of the family still live in western Nevada, others had to fly in from Tennessee and Kentucky, while others drove here from Oregon, California, Idaho and, of course, Colorado. A good time was had by all.

Heading Home

Monday, morning – time to leave our guest home.

The house sits next to Dianne’s sister’s home and while the owners are in Portugal, they allow members of the sister’s family to stay there. Of course, we never got to meet the owners, but I think we would like them.

I wish we had brought a bottle of some good Colorado wine to leave with them, but we seldom take the good stuff on the road.

Our route back to God’s Country took us across Nevada on U.S. Highway 50, the loneliest road in America.

It’s mostly 70 mph two-lane with an occasional turn.

We made a quick stop in the town of Eureka, one of the few outposts of civilization along the route.

Across the street from the Opera House sits the jail where my lovely wife revisited the spot where she spent some time in her younger days.

We continued into Ely, where Dianne’s nephew gave us a free room in a motel he now owns.

While the room was clean and comfortable, we did have to put up with a bit of road construction out front.

The next day, we headed out past Wheeler Peak and Great Basin National Park…

…and into Utah…

Where, of course, we stopped at Ray’s Tavern…

…for bacon cheese burgers and a glass of evolution amber beer.

Ninety miles later, we arrived at home…

…where a full beaver super moon soon poked through the naked cottonwood trees behind our patio.