The Great Basin

What exactly is the Great Basin? It's not a sink. But in a way, it kind of is.
Although a number of rivers flow into the Great Basin, none flow out to
the ocean. Hence, the name Basin.


It's also a very very large desert. In fact, it's the largest desert in the
United States, covering approximately 190,000 square miles. To give
you a comparison, England is only just over 50,000 square miles.
It's big.


It's also a land of wide wide wide open spaces. If you're looking to
get away from it all, this is the place. My history teacher in high school
told us that the Native Americans in the Great Basin basically ate dirt.
I scoffed at the time, but now I almost believe it. Although we drove
through the Great Basin during the day, I can imagine what it looks
like at night, with a moonless sky. Imagine the sky that your
grandparents or great-grandparents saw. No light pollution. The
clearest sky you will ever see. That's what the night sky in the Great
Basin looks like.


Finally, this pretty much sums up the Great Basin. There are no services
available for a long long distance. We are lucky that we can cover this
distance in about an hour. The early pioneers would have taken almost
a week to cover 80+ miles. There is just nothing out there.

If I had to choose one word for the Great Basin? EMPTY

Ely Nevada

Not just any town can have Wayne Newton AND Pat Nixon represented
on its Walk of Fame...

The Loneliest Road in America

Back in 1986, Life magazine deemed the section of US-50 that runs
through Nevada as the Loneliest Road in America. It wasn't necessarily
meant as a good thing, but Nevadans being good Americans took the
billing and turned it into a positive. They marketed the highway as a
scenic thoroughfare to hopefully attract more visitors to this very empty
part of the country. There are some pretty empty stretches of US-50
through this neck of the woods, but because it's summer, there are
more tourists on the road and it didn't seem to be as forlorn as it
could be. I'm guessing in the winter, this road is very lonely indeed


Much of the route parallels the historic Pony Express Trail, although
now it's just pretty standard asphalt. Because most mountain ranges
in Nevada follow a north-south line, much of US-50 is spent driving
through a long stretch of flat, open desert, followed by a climb and a
descent of mountain ranges. If this wasn't the case and the mountains
went the opposite direction, I could visualize setting the cruise control
at 100 mph and having it seem like you were doing 50 mph.


I have to say that the road is very well maintained. Not a pothole
to be found and everything is very well marked. Colorado could take
a lesson from the Nevada Highway Department.


I agree that this is a scenic highway. It's not a road I need or would
want to drive frequently. There are enough desert vistas near our house.
However, I think that everyone (especially folks from the urban east coast
should make this drive at least once in their life. They would get a true
appreciation of what it's like to live in the West. The West isn't just
the beaches of California or the ski resorts of Aspen. It's the wide open
spaces such as this that make the West such a beautiful place. Wait...
maybe they shouldn't come. We'll keep the wide-open West our own
little secret!

Is This The Last Borders?

For those of you that regularly read my blog, I have this quasi-relationship
with the closing of Borders Books. Maybe it's just a case of denial, but I will
miss them and it's still not easy to accept that they are going out of business.
Just past Lake Tahoe, we drove through Carson City. I'd never been here and
was looking forward to seeing the State Capitol of Nevada (yes, geeky, but
something I like to do). However, about the only thing interesting about
Carson City is the fact that they have a Borders...and now it's closing.


This store obviously survived the first round of cuts several months ago.
I'm not sure why this survived and our store in Grand Junction didn't,
but that decision wasn't up to me. Entering the store, there is little
doubt that they want you to know that the store is indeed, closing.


We used to enjoy going to cafes at different Borders, but true to form, this
is one of the first areas of the store that closed down.


At least they were nice enough to put up a sign telling people that the cafe
was closed. Not that it was really needed.


This store is still in the fairly early stages of closing. Everything was pretty
much only 25% off and there were still lots of things left to buy. If I lived near
here, I would stalk this map section when it got to be at least 50% off!
Regardless, Lynn bought a couple of things and I purchased Moscow and
Colorado Lonely Planet books as well as a Russian map I've been looking for,
so the visit wasn't a complete loss. Back on the road again afterwards, but
still a little sad that this may be the last Borders that I visit before they're
all gone.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is big...really big. Ok, it's not a Great Lake-sized lake,
but for the west, it's fairly huge. And blue. And pretty. Headed home
from the Bay Area, we took a different route east from Sacramento and
headed into the Sierra Nevada mountains. A really scenic drive, although
if you get car sick easily, the twists and turns could make you a bit queasy.
Once you come upon the southeast side of the lake, it's overly commercialized
though, with year-round tourism spots vying for your dollar. When you come
to the Nevada state line, it is casinos that tug at your wallet. It was nice to
get to the northeast section of the lake, where it was less commercialized and
more natural, with very tranquil and beautiful views. I'd like to go back to
this area again. The area near the state line...not so much.

Vintage Larry

While we were in Las Vegas, we stopped at a vintage clothing
store called The Attic. Lots of 70's clothes, wigs, boas, stuff
like that. Lynn tried on a couple of wigs and boas and looked
all glamorous for the camera. However, in the very balmy
upstairs (their air conditioner wasn't working), I found this
AWESOME Larry Bird basketball jersey. I SAW LARRY BIRD
PLAY IN A JERSEY JUST LIKE THIS during the 1976-77 season
when Indiana State visited Valparaiso. We were regular
Valpo U attendees at old Hilltop Gym so it was a pretty big
deal when someone of his caliber came to town. Later, he
would become one of my Dad's favorite players when Bird
played for the Boston Celtics. (Happy Birthday tomorrow
Dad...I know you're still reading my blog!)
Anyway, on a total impulse purchase, I bought it (it was
fairly reasonable), and it actually fits me! However, I doubt
it will ever make me play basketball as well as Larry Bird!

Headed Home

Two days in Vegas is fun, but anything more than that is a
bit much for the senses. Add to the fact that it would get to
be 107 degrees, we were ready to head to the relatively
cooler Grand Junction. Our stay at Excalibur was nice as
we expected but we basically just slept there so we didn't
use much of the facilities.


A place we drove by while we were driving around town was
The Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. I'm
not sure if I like the architectural style or not, but it's
certainly different.


Before stopping for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (which is basically a
mandatory stop!) we went to a Trader Joe's grocery. We stop at one
any time we're in an area there is one and sadly, this is the closest
(or Albuquerque) one to our house. There aren't any in Colorado and
I've heard that the reason is because Colorado won't serve beer or
wine in groceries on Sundays and besides all of the other groceries,
beer and wine are big sellers at Trader Joe's. However, I was able
to find my favorite New Mexico Pinion Coffee and stocked up on it.
Lynn also bought some yummy hummus.


Just north of Las Vegas, on the way home, we passed through a tiny
part of Arizona. This section is totally cut off from the rest of the state
by the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Interstate 15 cuts
through this section, called the Arizona Strip and also climbs onto
the Colorado Plateau here at the Virgin River Canyon. All very
pretty and interesting to know that the Colorado Plateau stretches
all the way from here to just east of Grand Junction...500 miles
away!

Day 2 in Vegas

We liked the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino a lot. It was
a lot like New York New York, but of course with a California
twist. The casino was pretty nice too, but they frown upon
taking photos there.


The best thing we liked about the Mirage was the pool. It
was pretty huge and in a natural-type setting.


We visited Circus Circus, and though it was ok, it did seem a bit
dated. However, we did catch a trapeze show there.


One thing that was pretty neat at Circus Circus was an indoor
amusement park called Adventuredome. We didn't ride any
rides, but because the dome itself is pink and there was lots
of rock like formations under the dome, it made us feel like
we were in the movie, Total Recall, which was set on Mars.


After having a really great Buffet at the Spice Market in Planet
Hollywood for dinner, we crossed the street to the Belagio, where
we watched the fountains. This is probably our favorite thing in
Las Vegas and I could watch it for hours!

Colorful Las Vegas

Our goal for our visit to Vegas is to see things we haven't seen
before. Last August, we did a good job of seeing the south end
of the Strip (South Las Vegas Blvd.) but didn't really see much on
the central and north ends of the strip. We started out at The
Venetian, where we saw these interesting looking umbrellas
decorating part of their shopping area.


I felt the Gondolas at the Venetian were a bit cheesy, but they seemed
to be popular.


We were really impressed by The Wynn. It's named after Vegas hotel
impresario Steve Wynn, who seems to own half of Vegas.


The Wynn is just impressive on the inside as it is on the outside.
These flowers and trees separated the hotel area from the casino.


All around the hotel lobby were these fantastic tile floors.


They had strange umbrella-type decorations in their bar, similar to
those in the Venetian...but these moved up and down.


Downtown Las Vegas definitely isn't the Strip. Way before the Strip
existed, this WAS Las Vegas. This is where you could get the cheap
buffets, cheap shrimp cocktails and see lots of neon. You can still
see lots of neon here, but they've covered the street with a cool
computer-screen type of display, stretching the entire length of
Fremont Street. While we were there, they played a pretty neat
display/concert-type display from the rock group, Queen.


It seemed that there were a lot more Elvis's around this year as well
as several Michael Jacksons and an Austin Powers.


Lots of neon though.








And what is Las Vegas without showgirls!

Driving to Las Vegas

Last year, when we visited Las Vegas, we were borrowing Lynn's
sister's truck and drove in from Arizona. We then flew home from
Vegas to Grand Junction. So this time we were going to be driving
from Grand Junction to Vegas and back. I was looking forward to
seeing scenery I hadn't visited before. Our favorite part of the
trip was driving through the San Rafael Swell. A huge rock out-
cropping that runs for miles and miles through the center of
Utah. If you look closely at the above photo, you can see how
large it is by comparing it to the dark car on the highway.
When we pulled off the road at a rest stop, I learned that Marie
Curie had visited the area around the turn of the last century
because there is so much uranium in the area. Our seven
hour drive through the desert brought us to Las Vegas at
about 6:30, but we forgot about the time change, Vegas being
on Pacific time, so we ended up making great time!

Leaving Las Vegas

We are now officially carless. At least for a few days.
We had been borrowing Lynn's sister's 4-Runner for
the last six weeks and we met her in Las Vegas where
she was returning the Eurovan campervan she had been
renting. As a result, we looked for a one way ticket
from LAS to GJT. Not an easy task when you're looking
for something inexpensive. We were able to find a
great deal on Allegiant Air...one of the newish low
cost carriers that now crosses the country. I had also
never flown out of Las Vegas before so I got to add it
to my list of airports flown through (57 total). Allegiant
is not a bad airline at all. Much better than I expected.
The seats were comfortable, the service friendly and
even though there was a charge for everything, we both
flew, including taxes for $100 one way. I'd fly them again.

Vegas Baby!

One can do Las Vegas cheaply...well, at least more economically.
We've had a great time seeing the sights, but boy are our legs
and feet tired. Vegas is definitely not a place for the weak of
heart or stamina. We're staying in the Excalibur, which is not
the fanciest of hotels/casinos but it's very nice and family
friendly (not sure if that's good or bad).


It amazes me how much electricity and water is used in this
place. A lot of the water is recycled and used over and over
again but the power usage has to be phenomenal! I really
do like all the bright lights though and it's something that
everyone should see at least once in their lives. Plus, now
we've seen BOTH Eiffel Towers!


We both have our favorite things about Las Vegas. Lynn
likes Caesar's Palace the best and I like the Bellagio. I think
we both agree though that the coolest thing is the fountain
at the Bellagio that plays in conjunction with music every
15 minutes. Very moving.