Day 9 - Caliente to Henderson, NV, via Valley of Fire & Lake Mead (200 miles, about 3.30 hours drive)

We can see that Caliente, Nevada, is not a destination point (judging by the number of views of our last posting).  What a shame.  It is a nice town which we liked and made a point of visiting twice.

Today was our day to get back to civilization.  However, we had one more particularly special stop to make at the Valley of Fire.  If you haven't been to the Valley of Fire (VoF), it is A MUST.  VoF is located about 45 minutes from Las Vegas and is probably as breathtaking as the Grand Canyon.  Here is the Nevada Division of State  Parks link - Valley of Fire info.

Our trip - We set off in the morning after breakfast.  We stopped in a small town called Alamo for a coffee and snack.  Because we were going to be spending time in VoF we decided to buy some sandwiches and drinks for a picnic later.  Good move.  The drive took us down Route 93 to the junction with Route 168 to Glendale and then on to Route 169 to Overton and on to Valley of Fire turn off.  Allow a couple of hours to drive and walk around VoF.  They have a good Information Center.  Have a look at a couple of our films for a taste of what you will see:

The next film shows 'someone' trying to copy John Wayne's pose from the film, The Searcher:

From Valley of Fire you can drive to the other side of the State Park and take the I-15 to Las Vegas and/or Henderson.  We wanted a bit more scenery so we continued on Route 169 and follow the signs for Henderson.  You will see lots of Lake Mead along this road. 

Henderson is a great town just outside Las Vegas.  We chose Henderson because we wanted to stay at the Sunset Station Hotel.  What a good choice. Here is the view from our room:

Tomorrow - Off to Needles, Caifornia.

Day 8 - US Route 50 Eureka to Ely, Nevada then south on US 93 to Caliente, Nevada (210 miles, about 3.30 hours)

Our destination here is Caliente, Nevada.  Important:  Before you do anything - book your motel before you leave Eureka.  Caliente has several small motels and is a stop-over destination.  In the evening the rooms evaporate.  You will most likely have to phone ahead rather than book online.  We stayed at the Rainbow Canyon Motel.  It is clean and not expensive.  


Okay.....now on to our trip for the day.  You will see from the map that the drive from Eureka to Ely is only an hour.  So you can leave after breakfast and get there in the morning, have a coffee, do something like the Nevada Northern Railway, have lunch downtown and do a walking tour and then drive on to Caliente.  


We arrived at about 10 am and had a coffee and picked up some leaflets to help us decide what we wanted to do for a few hours.  Ely is a bigger town but still historic.  It started out as a stagecoach stop along the Pony Express Route.  It later became a copper and then  gold mining town.  There are plenty of things to do indoors and outdoors.  In truth it is a place that is almost worth a stopover.  (See link Things to do in Ely)


So what did we do.  We headed into town which is so interesting.  Two attractions that particularly caught our eyes where the fantastic murals on many of the buildings and the historic Nevada Hotel.  The 1929 hotel is six stories tall and was the tallest building in Nevada well into the 1940's.  The hotel has a classic casino, restaurants and is just wonderful.  Be sure to take a look at some of the 20 murals and artwork downtown financed by the Ely Renaissance Society.  Here is a short clip showing part of the town.

We really enjoyed Ely but it was time to take the two hour drive to Caliente.  We needed to do our laundry and knew that there was a nice laundromat there which we had used on a previous trip.   The drive to Caliente has a more 'out in the middle of nowhere' feeling.  It is a slow decent from 6,437 ft to 4, 300 ft.  (That surprises me.  Because it is so warm, I thought we were closer to sea level.)   We didn't see many cars on the road and the high desert was quite green when we passed through. We stopped in Pioche for a very late lunch.

When we arrived in Caliente we went ahead and check into the Rainbow Canyon Motel and then headed off to the laundromat (only to find it wasn't there!!!).   Happily, there was another one just down from the train station so off we went.  We did our laundry, had a walk around the station and then went to dinner at a restaurant up the street from our motel.  Most of all we enjoyed the sound of several freight trains passing through during the day and night.  It didn't keep us awake.

We first discovered Caliente when we traveled from Chicago to Las Vegas on Amtrak.  Caliente has the most beautiful train station and it was hot there and we decided to go back some years ago.  Unfortunately, we couldn't do it by train because Amtrak stopped going into Las Vegas. A real shame.  So we went to Caliente by car.

Tomorrow.....off to (no, not Las Vegas) Henderson, Nevada.

Day 7 (Part 2) - US Route 50 Carson City to Eureka, Nevada (240 miles, about 4 hours)

For about 30 minutes we found ourselves slightly climbing until we reach the Toiyabe Mountain Range where Austin, Nevada, is located at an elevation of 6,605 feet.  Austin is basically a ghost town but it does have a population of over 300 people.  The buildings are well preserved and it is a pretty neat place.  Here is the drive into town:

This is a perfect place to stop for lunch and go for a walk.  We had lunch at the International Hotel (Click on the  link - International Hotel for more information) which is said to be the oldest hotel in Nevada.  (There seems to be a lot of the 'oldest' this and 'oldest' that in Nevada.)   We had a lovely lunch there and met some very nice people who were travelling from Eureka to Lake Tahoe.  


Our walk around Austin was pretty much up the hill to the end of town and back to our car outside the International Hotel.  (See this link about the history of the town - Austin, NV, history.)  Actually, we could have spent much more time here.  There is lots to see and it is a very friendly and welcoming town.

Leaving Austin, we continued to climb and stopped to see the magnificent view.  Fantastic.  Now here is something to bear in mind.  When we were just outside Austin we had to stop for a pick up truck and horse trailer  which had transmission problems.  The cowboy/driver could not get a signal on his mobile phone....so he asked us to call the Highway Patrol when we could get a signal further up the road.  Don't count on having a cell phone signal all the time.


When we were finally out of the mountains, we passed a chap who was pulling a 8 foot long cross along the highway.  We stopped to offer his some water, have a chat and then drove for about another 45 minutes to the historic mining town, Eureka.  Upon arriving we shouted, 'Eureka', of course.  


We stayed in a Best Western Hotel which was probably the most expensive hotel on our trip.  But having said that, it was very nice and, of course, the price included a decent breakfast.  We had dinner in an interesting, no frills Mexican restaurant just up the street called La Fiesta.  Eureka seems to be in the heart of mining country. It has a sensational, state of the art High School complete with running track and football field.  We believe that its construction is with the compliments of the local mining companies.  The Fire Department (across the street from our hotel) is unmissable and also funded by the mining community.   Quite a few of the people staying at the hotel were miners/riggers that travel quite away into the mountains.  Here is a little clip of film showing our hotel and the main street. 

Well folks, this has been a long day.  It feels like it has taken longer to write about our experiences between Carson City and Austin.....but we did it.  Must mention one more thing about Eureka.  The town is located in Eureka County.  Not a bad place to be if you want low taxes :).  


Next to Caliente, Nevada, via Ely.  More soon.

Listen Up - A little more about going from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe (via Tonopah or Independance)

There seems to be some interest in traveling from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe via Tonopah.  If you look to earlier entries you will see what route we took.

Alternatively, if you want to try something different you could go into California and up the most beautiful Route 395 from Lone Pine almost the whole way to Lake Tahoe.  See the Map:

You can stop over-night in Death Valley or if you are not too bothered about Death Valley, stop in Independence, California. The driving time as detailed on the map is 8 hours and 35 minutes (Las Vegas to Death Valley, 2.30 hours, Death Valley to Independence 2hrs, and 4 hours from Independance to Lake Tahoe).  If you feel a stop-over in Independence would be good, you must stay at the ~Winnedumah Hotel.  The views of Mt Witney are fabulous and you can enjoy a beer on the porch and watch the world go by at night.  An experience not to be forgotten.  Here is another link - Winnedumah Hotel.  It is a 1930's sort of place with losts of movie history, local courthouse with history and good food and company.  

We have also driven to Tonopah and then across to Route 395 via Bishop.  That works too.  The good thing is that on California Route 395 you go close to Yosemite turn-off which seems a logical idea.  I think I would plan on stopping overnight twice if I were going all the way to Lake Tahoe and not including Yosemite.  If you were thinking of a nice week's trip then this is a wonderful choice when arriving in Los Angeles and perhaps leaving from San Francisco.  (Now I won't get you from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco - you can figure that out pretty easily.  Just use Mapquest link to create a Map - Lake Tahoe to San Francisco.

Okay, better get back to our trip East from Carson City to Eureka....tomorrow.

It is taken me as long to write this as it took the man we saw pulling a cross to travel the same road

Yes, that is true.  There was a chap pulling a huge wooden cross from the West Coast to Missouri.  Anyway, I am getting back to our trip to Austin shortly.  Honestly.  More about this when I get ourselves to Austin, Nevada.