This is a pretty silly trip! But you know that Death Valley NP is one of our favorite places! When we heard that there was a "Super Bloom" for the first time since 2005, we just had to go. So we'll leave around noon tomorrow and go as far as Elko, NV. Then Saturday on down to Tonopah. That's as close as we could find a hotel room - seems everyone has gone to look at the flowers ( and its Spring Break)! We'll spend just Sunday in the park then go back to Tonopah. Weather report says it should be 94 Sunday afternoon! Then the long drive all the way home on Monday.
Like I said, its a silly trip but we love road trips!
(Note: I had to post all the entries on the same day. I could not for the life of me remember my blogspot or gmail or lastpass passwords! Then, in order to get blogspot to list the entries oldest first, I had to fool it by changing dates)
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Monday, March 21, 2016
Friday, March 18 - Wild Horse, Elko
Friday - Wild Horse, Elko
We left home about noon, stopped for gas and a crappy fast food lunch in Mtn Home. Then south on Rt 51 across the nothingness of the Owyhee plateau, through the Shoshone/Paiute Duck Valley reservation, across the Nevada border into the little almost-ghost towns of Owyhee and Mountain View.
In Nevada, the road is Nev 225. Once past Mtn View, the road heads up through the Owyhee River canyons to the top, where one comes across the Wild Horse Dam and Reservoir. Its beautiful! Then down, looking for the ghost town called Tuscarora. Its about 25 miles off the main road. We'd been there before, in the summer, and found it was an artists colony with some fascinating characters and wonderful art. We were hoping to find some garden art but, alas, seems nobody lives there in the winter! It was deserted. Oh well.
We went back to the main road, then continued south another 50 miles to Elko. Typical western small city, there is construction everywhere! New homes, apartment complexes, retail plazas, wow! We stayed at a motel called Oak Tree Inn. Really spartan but clean. Hey, its only 50 bucks a night.(When's the last time you got a hotel room for $50?) What a deal! Great dinner at the Gold Dust West Casino down the street....for only 30 bucks. And, we netted 70 cents at the casino!
Tomorrow, an easy day down to Tonapah.
We left home about noon, stopped for gas and a crappy fast food lunch in Mtn Home. Then south on Rt 51 across the nothingness of the Owyhee plateau, through the Shoshone/Paiute Duck Valley reservation, across the Nevada border into the little almost-ghost towns of Owyhee and Mountain View.
In Nevada, the road is Nev 225. Once past Mtn View, the road heads up through the Owyhee River canyons to the top, where one comes across the Wild Horse Dam and Reservoir. Its beautiful! Then down, looking for the ghost town called Tuscarora. Its about 25 miles off the main road. We'd been there before, in the summer, and found it was an artists colony with some fascinating characters and wonderful art. We were hoping to find some garden art but, alas, seems nobody lives there in the winter! It was deserted. Oh well.
We went back to the main road, then continued south another 50 miles to Elko. Typical western small city, there is construction everywhere! New homes, apartment complexes, retail plazas, wow! We stayed at a motel called Oak Tree Inn. Really spartan but clean. Hey, its only 50 bucks a night.(When's the last time you got a hotel room for $50?) What a deal! Great dinner at the Gold Dust West Casino down the street....for only 30 bucks. And, we netted 70 cents at the casino!
Tomorrow, an easy day down to Tonapah.
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| Sand Hill Crane |
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| Road to Tuscarora |
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Saturday, March 19 - Elko, Eureka, Tonopah
Saturday - Elko, Eureka, Tonopah
We started our day by exploring Elko. We found a new subdivision on the hillside across the river - very disappointing, by our standards. Large lots, no landscaping, brand new homes surrounded by junk and clutter. Must be no CC&Rs here!
The old downtown area looks pretty good. There's a museum that looks worth visiting. Lamoille canyon is about an hour from here - maybe we'll return in June for annual craft fair.
We jumped on I-80 West for a bit and came across a new California Trail Interpretive Center. Very impressive! There's lots of interesting history here - like the Oregon trail.
From Carlin, we headed south on state Rt 278 to Eureka. Always looking for rest rooms (!), we stopped at the Pony Espresso Deli. Great little place, run by Mennonites. Here we picked up Rt 50 (The Loneliest Road in America) and headed west for a bit toward Austin, where we came across the Hickison Petroglyphs park. Nice little hike amongst the Junipers, some petroglyphs (if you used your imagination). Nice picnic area, with rest rooms. Then heading south on St Rt 376 which goes all the way to Tonopah, arriving there about 6:00PM. A 275 mile day. Listened to two episodes of Serial along the way. Weather was clear in the 60s, most of the time we were at about 6,000 feet altitude.
We checked into our room at the Station Casino Hotel. Very quaint place with some wonderful artwork everywhere. Dinner was OK. Back to the room to watch March Madness!
Up early in the morning for the 2 hour drive to Death Valley, with a stop in Beatty for candy.
We started our day by exploring Elko. We found a new subdivision on the hillside across the river - very disappointing, by our standards. Large lots, no landscaping, brand new homes surrounded by junk and clutter. Must be no CC&Rs here!
The old downtown area looks pretty good. There's a museum that looks worth visiting. Lamoille canyon is about an hour from here - maybe we'll return in June for annual craft fair.
We jumped on I-80 West for a bit and came across a new California Trail Interpretive Center. Very impressive! There's lots of interesting history here - like the Oregon trail.
From Carlin, we headed south on state Rt 278 to Eureka. Always looking for rest rooms (!), we stopped at the Pony Espresso Deli. Great little place, run by Mennonites. Here we picked up Rt 50 (The Loneliest Road in America) and headed west for a bit toward Austin, where we came across the Hickison Petroglyphs park. Nice little hike amongst the Junipers, some petroglyphs (if you used your imagination). Nice picnic area, with rest rooms. Then heading south on St Rt 376 which goes all the way to Tonopah, arriving there about 6:00PM. A 275 mile day. Listened to two episodes of Serial along the way. Weather was clear in the 60s, most of the time we were at about 6,000 feet altitude.
We checked into our room at the Station Casino Hotel. Very quaint place with some wonderful artwork everywhere. Dinner was OK. Back to the room to watch March Madness!
Up early in the morning for the 2 hour drive to Death Valley, with a stop in Beatty for candy.
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| Never knew she was here! |
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Sunday, March 20 - Death Valley NP
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Up at 6:00, on the road by 7:00, as planned! We drove about 90 miles to Beatty and a required stop at the Death Valley Candy Co. There is also a nice hotel/casino (Death Valley Inn?), for future reference. (Note: Here we find a brand new electric car charging station! Who in the world would ever drive an electric car this far out into the wilderness?) Another 30 miles or so brings us into the park. Lots of flowers along this Daylight Pass road. Stopped for flower photos.
Once we got down to the valley floor, it was getting warm! We stopped first at the Visitors Center and the general store. Lots of people around! We don't think we've seen the park this crowded. The reason is probably spring break and that we tend to come in the shoulder season (?) From there we headed up to Zabriskie Point, my favorite place in the park (or any park, for that matter!) We hiked for a ways on the Trail that goes down to Golden Canyon.
From there we drove up to Dante's View, elevation about 5500 feet. Its much cooler up here - about 70. Made our lunch with a view! Hiked a bit; found some more flowers.
By the time we got back down to the valley floor, on down to Badwater, the temperature was 103 degrees! Lots of people walking out onto the salt flats. On he way back toward Furnace Creek, we took the Artists Palette loop road which is spectacular!
We'd seen everything we meant to on this one day, so we headed back to Tonopah, arriving there at about 7:15, just 15 minutes later than the goal I had set that morning! Another nice meal at the hotel restaurant.
So, Tonopah is just over two hours from the park, an easy, fast, beautiful drive! The Tonopah Station hotel is great and their restaurant is just fine. As for the flowers, the reason we made this trip. We found many varieties of wildflowers, but I'm not so sure they aren't always here. There were masses on yellow flowers, but they are small and don't make too much of an impression. (If you look at photos on FaceBook, its obvious we were about 3 weeks late!)
Long day tomorrow, all the way home!
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| Death Valley Candy Co. |
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| Really?? |
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| Zabriski Point |
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| Dante's View 5500' |
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| Badwater |
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| Artists Palette Loop |
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