Great Basin Day 6

 After our Ely train ride, we stayed at nearby Cave Lake State Park, another of Nevada's amazing state campgrounds. We chose this one because it offered a trout fishing lake, which Vi and Stace headed out to enjoy Friday morning.

After over an hour of casting, Stace went up to move the RV, because we were supposed to be out of our campsite by 11 a.m. 

Of course, he wasn't gone five minutes before Violet caught her first fish!

Thankfully, when he returned with the RV, she actually caught another one. They were both fairly small, and we had no plans to keep them, so Vi was using unbarbed hooks, and threw them back in. 

We drove back into Ely and got coffee at an adorable independent coffee-and-flower shop. We then went to the town's Renaissance History Village, a collection of cottages from the early 1900s. Each home was made to represent one of the many nationalities of miners who came to Ely to work in the copper mines.

scary wind drive

We then started our drive south, back to Las Vegas. It was very windy, which was a bit scary in a high-profile RV. Stace had to concentrate very hard while driving.

The scenery was beautiful, and we made a short detour to try to see petroglyphs in the desert. Unfortunately, the road was suited to our RV, so we had to turn around. 

We got back to Vegas, then to Henderson, where we picked up the Mazda. We stayed the night at an urban homestead - a large property where the owners are growing lots of fruits and vegetables and have animals like goats, hens and ducks. 

On Saturday morning, we cleaned out the RV and returned it to the rental place. We then stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, and shopped at the huge Bass Pro Shops next door.

About halfway home, we stopped in Barstow for gas and coffee at another cute local shop. It was owned by a Hispanic family, so of course they had the World Cup on. Stace enjoyed a soccer break - it was tough being away from World Cup action for a whole week!

Then, we were home - home to a Cora not feeling well, two torn up bathrooms, and a mess of a garden. Let the real work begin.

 

Great Basin Day 5

On our way out of the park, we made sure to get our classic photo in front of the sign.

This was another little photo spot with informative plaques (and cool metal artwork along the top beam).

We then drove along the so-called "Loneliest Road in America," Highway 50, from Baker to Ely. Violet enjoyed the scenery; you can buckle up at the table while on the traveling. 

Ely's historic core was classic Western smalltown. We enjoyed walking around, and then went to the old Ely train depot, from 1906.

This was one of Stace's highlights of the trip. We got a very personalized tour of the restoration shed, where workers bring old engines back to working order.

Violet and I enjoyed meeting the shop cats - this was R2D3, for RailRoad Dirt 3. A famous shop cat was named Dirt, and his protege was named Dirt Junior, so this one is Dirt 3.

Numerous historic engines - Stace was a happy guy.

Here, he's showing Violet the workings of the giant lathe.

Later, we headed out on our Sunset, Stars and Champagne ride across the Nevada landscape. This region is known for its dark night skies.

A lovely and memorable evening!

Great Basin Day 4

While we escaped some warmer temperatures Tuesday by heading up to Wheeler Peak, the weather cooled off Wednesday with some thunderstorms. We decided to go to a different part of the park - Grey Cliffs and Baker Creek for a look around. 

On the road in, we saw this unusual road sign. Sadly, we didn't spot any marmots!

Baker Creek was lovely. We chose a hike we thought would take us near it...

...but instead wrapped way around to the right, through rocky flatland and then a solid incline. We tried, but decided it was too much elevation gain and too little time by a creek (plus, the hike was poorly marked, so we weren't sure where we were!). 

We turned around and enjoyed the same view of the creek that we had at the beginning of our adventure.

We drove to the visitor center, which features the only eatery in the park. Our food was great, and a real treat after our hike. Through the big picture windows, we watched the thunderstorm and lightning. Later, we enjoyed a quiet night in the RV, listening to the rain (feeling grateful we had a solid roof overhead).

On Thursday morning, we enjoyed one last breakfast outside, watching our family of robins. We had to find them, as the storm messed up their nest. 

We loved having this up-close look at this little family!

We then packed up and pulled out of our site at Lower Lehman Creek. It was a great few days here, and we loved our campsite. 

Lehman Creek was just a short walk away.

Great Basin: Day 3

We woke up in the RV in our campsite, got ready for the day, and watched a family of robins who lived in a tree on the site. 

We then drove up to the top of Wheeler Peak, at 10,000 feet. Stace was initially nervous to drive the RV up the road, as there were warnings about driving longer RVs. But he handled it like a pro. We hiked to Stella Lake, seeing turkeys and deer along the way. At the lake, Violet tried out fly fishing (or in this case, fly casting - no fish were seen or caught).

We hiked back to the RV, where we enjoyed lunch and a rest. Then, we did another hike, to the ancient bristlecone forest.

Finding these 4,000 to 5,000 year old trees was very special.

Stacey, hands on history.

 

We relaxed by a second alpine lake, and then headed back to the RV. 

So peaceful.

Once back down the mountain, Stace figured out how to work the dump station! Real RVers now, are we!

We returned to our site, built a fire, and made s'mores.

Great Basin Trip: Days 1&2

Sunday was Father's Day, and also Stacey's birthday! We celebrated in an atypical way: we got up and out and on our way to Las Vegas. We weren't interested in gambling, shows or the Strip, but we were instead renting an RV from El Monte RV in Vegas. It was our first time renting an RV. 

We drove our Mazda to a friend's house in nearby Henderson, and stopped at a local coffee shop for an afternoon pick-me-up. We also got a gift card for the friend who kept our car safe, to deliver when we returned to collect it.

The open road! Nevada is so much more than Las Vegas.

We spent our first night at Kershaw Ryan State Park, a beautiful, clean campground with full hookups. It made a great halfway point to stop at for the night, as we drove toward Great Basin National Park.

We drove to the end of the campground/state park, and found a lovely manicured area with a pond and recreation area. Then, we were on our way north.

We stopped in Caliente on the way, which boasts this lovely 103-year-old train depot. The station was a stopping point on the line connecting Salt Lake City, Utah, with Los Angeles.

The upstairs, shown here, once had 50 hotel rooms. Now, there are offices, along with local artwork.

We also took a slight detour to see Cathedral Rock State Park. As you can see, it was worth it.

We then went on to Baker, Nevada, and to our campsite in Great Basin.