HIDDEN MEADOWS - Let's talk Reno - this was taken in NIPTON (a town of about 15 people) en route to the 'north'...

Nipton is a 'surprise' - you take a left turn in Search Light (another tiny gambling town) - drive through a winding road with cactus and hills on each side. You don't drive too fast through Nipton - it's one of those tiny little havens, and there's not even a 'blinker light' to warn you that this is actually a legitimate village.

We love to take this side-route; then we turn North to
Las Vegas; 'onward and upward'. In and around Reno, there are about 600
miles to explore - lonely highways; U.S. #50 across the state of Nevada, to
Eley; then U. S. 93 south to Las Vegas (if you're coming back from the
north).

You can visit Carson City - Virginia City; the focal points for a booming
state so many years ago. The 'Silver State' ; lots of silver mines, and a
few gold mines as well.

There's a rather non-descript town called Fallon. Yet, trees stand tall and dark; there's the Stillwater Range ahead.

Suddently there can be a rain-shower; huge clouds - then
a rainbow!
East of Fallon the road is only 2 lanes. Some people say Nevada
has some
of the lonliest highways, and it surely does - it even frightened
my mother who
visited in 1998.

In the 'high country' as they call it, there is a 2-mile high lake called Stella; it mirrors the slopes of Wheeler Peak. The bristle-cone pine in Great Basin National Park can survive for up to 4,000 years - it is the oldest living thing on earth so some say.

At Salt Wells you'll find stretches of alkali flats;
tiny buildings - it's
a virtual treeless plain.

There are the Bunejug Mountains; Eightmile Flat - the Desatoya Mountains - Nevada has just so many mountains, one can't plan to see them all unless you've got lots of money; time, and live to be 150 years old!

In Nevada, people raise cattle; chase wild horses - find silver; start a
cult, and even run a brothel that's legal - crazy place indeed!

Before traveling Nevada, you'll want to be sure your car is in excellent condition. Always carry bottled water - we keep 24 bottles in the car at all times. Don't travel during the mid-day; it's just too hot most of the time.

Rural Nevada's cuisine runs to burger; fries - and terrible coffee.
Again, they have some of the best western skillet foods such as eggs, cheese,
beef, and vegetables.

At nightfall, the mountains 'dim' - then the lights come
up; the STAR-lights...we love our telescope and enjoy swimming in the pool by
'star-light'.

You can visit the Shoshone Mountas and the Reese River Valley. Reese
River is only about 3 feet wide - just a trickle.

The Great Basin embraces the Snake Mountain Range - it is a lonely place indeed, but beautiful. There are hours and hours of vistas - it spoils you when you visit the mid-west, and see 'nothing' in the horizon, but the sky; where we live, it appears we've been cut with a jagged pair of scissors - big ones; you do believe in that 'higher force' - you see the Great Spirit cutting out the skyline, and playing with his tin-snips....

You can feel lonely one minute; then if you're heading to the MGM Grand
(which we like), you'll be in the Wizard of Oz where you can visit a life-sized
figure of Dorothy; her companions - they all stand before the back-drop of the
Emerald City.

I've lived in New York; Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Washington, California and Nevada - traveled all 50 states; it is an amazing country - diverse and beautiful; I'm very happy to have been born in America!