<– Day 2- Thursday March 10th: We Forgot to Pack Our Maps?  | Beginning | Day 4 – Saturday March 12th: The Aliens Almost Got Her! –>

Ann doesn’t seem to mind being jailed. She’s enjoying her strawberry margarita.

Day three took us from Provo, Utah, to Ely, Nevada (See yesterday’s post here). We spent the night in Provo, because I got a deal on a hotel. The downside was that, in the morning, when I went down to the jeep I witnessed what appeared to be an odd transaction between two normal looking guys who could have been BYU students. Moments after I saw them exchange something in the middle of the parking lot, the police showed up. All this time I thought the best action was in Salt Lake City!!

Ann was trying not to be obvious, hence the blurry photo.

Day 3: Provo to Ely

From Provo, we drove south I-15, until we exited for Delta. For the next few hours we saw some sagebrush, some dirt, some mountains, and some snow. We even saw a couple flatties, too!! And, that’s about it. The Great Basin area is a desolate place and, if you like that kind of space, like my oldest son does, this is a bit of heaven. Here are some pics.

This cement factory broke up the drive.

These two kilns are located along Highway 50.

In the small town of Delta we spotted this CJ-2A.

Not very far out of Delta we ran across this shoe tree, perhaps the most interesting thing we saw between Delta and Great Basin NP.

Those are shoes, not birds! There is nothing else around there.

After a few hours, we reached Great Basin National Park. We knew most of it would be closed due to snow, especially the the hike to the Bristlecones at around 13,000 feet. I hope to show Ann around the area later this summer when we tour Nevada.

This MB/GPW was parked along the entrance to Great Basin National Park. This was the best photo we could get.

The drive to the visitor’s center is beautiful (and uphill).

At the visitor’s center, I picked up a book on Nevada Ghost towns. So, when we finished at the Park, we tried to find an abandoned mining town nearby called Black Horse. However, just before we reached it, we ran into snow, so we had to turn back. Still, the drive was cool!

Near the start of the trail.

Behind me is snow across the trail. The last thing we needed was to get stuck, so I thought it prudent to turn around.

The view on the way back down.

That is the northern edge of Great Basin National Park in the background.

We finally ended our day at Ely. After doing a Yelp search, I told Ann we should eat dinner downtown at the Jailhouse Steakhouse, a place where diners can eat in a jail cell. It was fun and the food was good. There’s also a bar, casino, and motel. We could have stayed at the Jailhouse motel, but I read that the bar and motel smelled like stale cigarettes (have to be careful with Ann’s asthma). However, after spending some time in the bar and restaurant, I think that claim was oversold. I would have rather stayed at the jailhouse so we could have had some drinks and walked back to our room. As you can see, at least one of us enjoyed a drink 🙂

Tomorrow we start south. Our ultimate destination will be just south of Vegas, but where I don’t know.

<– Day 2- Thursday March 10th: We Forgot to Pack Our Maps?  | Beginning | Day 4 – Saturday March 12th: The Aliens Almost Got Her! –>