Sunday - The Long Dusty Road to Jarbidge

Another bright sunny day awaits! After another excellent free breakfast at the Casino Hotel, we toured around Elko a bit. There's a lot of commercial development at both ends of town, with the old downtown struggling to stay relevant. We headed north on Rt 225 back to Wild Horse/Horsethief Reservoir where we'd turn off to head north to Jarbidge. The map book we have is very confusing but there was a sign that pointed to Jarbidge, so off we went. The road has no markings (except for two handmade ones we came across) so we were never really sure that we were on the right road.

It was probably close to 50 miles that we drove on this very dusty gravel road, up and down hills, through canyons, a wide variety of  geology. It was spectacular! And not another soul to be seen. Finally, after nearly three hours, we arrived in the bustling hamlet of Jarbidge. Turns out people really do live here! We had lunch at the Outdoor Inn and learned a lot about the town from the waitresses. They go to Twin Falls about once a month for their shopping. About 20 people stay all winter. There's a bar, a post office, a kinda emergency general store, a 3 room motel, one gas pump, even a resident county cop.

After exploring Jarbidge, we headed back north toward Rogerson and the main road back to Twin Falls, arriving there at about 7:00. It was a long day but not a lot of miles! Figure 100 miles on very dusty dirt and gravel roads.

So, now we can say we'd been to Jarbidge. Probably don't need to do it again!

Home tomorrow.

Saturday - Great Day - Cars, Museum, Hiking and Lamb!

Today was one of those days that will go down in our history as almost perfect! Well, it WAS perfect! First and foremost, the weather was unbelievable! Cloudless blue sky, visibility forever, temperature in the lows 70s.

We started out with a free full breakfast at the Casino coffee shop. Real breakfast! Then off down the street just a few blocks to the Northeastern Nevada Museum. Unbeknownst to us, there's the annual Elko Classic Car Show going on, right next to the Museum! So we checked that out first. A wonderful collection of beautiful cars; some very impressive paint jobs! And a great rock band to boot!

After drooling over the cars we went back to the Northeastern Nevada Museum. The most amazing feature was a display or about 200 wild animals from all over the world in incredibly realistic displays. There was also a great display of Will James drawings and book covers.

We then headed up into Lamoille Canyon, through the town of Spring Creek, with a stop at the popular Crossroads Presbyterian Church. The "quakies"are just starting to turn and the mountain views going up to the end of the road are gorgeous! The top of the road is about 8800' elevation.
We'd been here before, but this time I wanted to do  a more serious hike up the canyon.  So while Sam puttered around a short trail along the creek, and read a good book, I headed up the trail to visit several alpine lakes. It was a bit longer and more strenuous than I had imagined. Total trip was about 4.25 miles up to an elevation of about 9600'. But huffing and puffing, knees screaming, it was awesome!! Sam was about to call the Rangers to come looking for me.

By the time we got back to town, it was dinner time so we stopped at a Basque Family Style place called Toka Ona. Dinner was Lamb on the bone with all the fixins. Awesome!! A great way to end our perfect day.

Now back to the hotel, hoping to find a way to watch the Broncos football game, to no avail.

Tomorrow, wilderness adventure to Jarbidge!

Friday - Sept 9, 2016 Drive to Elko

This is just a quick 3-4 day road trip, just for the heck of it! (It must be at least a month since we had a road trip!) About 270 miles today, down through Nampa, Murphy. Stop in Owyhee for lunch at the reservation deli/gas station. (Shoshone/Paiute tribe). Beautiful sunny day in the 70s. Then up the canyon to Wild Horse Dam and the Horsethief Reservoir at about 6000' elevation. Really pretty drive.

We kept running into a group of about 20 lady bikers. Some gorgeous bikes and lots of leather and tattoos!

Arrived in Elko around 5:00PST; checked into the Ramada/Stockman's Casino and Hotel. Very nice dinner at the Tomato's Italian across the street. Then down the street a few blocks to the Crystal Movie Theater to see "Sully", which we enjoyed a lot! No, no gambling!

Tomorrow Nevada History Museum and Lamoille Canyon.