We had driven half-way across the dusty desert of Nevada, when we made a refreshing stop near the lovely Ruby Mountains. It was surprising to find alpine lakes ringed by mountains still holding onto their snow in July in this state. As we left Elko and the Rubies, we wondered what other surprises we would find as we drove across the deserts of Nevada.
We traveled on I-80, which was flat and easy with little traffic. Aside from an occasional hill that they chiseled a tunnel through, it was just mile after mile of nondescript desert. It was so dry and barren they couldn't even grow sage brush here! This area is called "the Great Basin" and it is shielded from rain from the west by the Sierra Mountains, and from the east by the Rocky Mountains. We were quite tired of all this brown-ness by the time we got to the western edge of Nevada. The desert isn't our kind of place. After hours of boring landscape, we decided that in the future we will choose routes that don't take us through this state.
The traffic picked up as we got to the western edge of the state, and to our next camping spot in Reno, Nevada. Another Boondocker's Welcome site, we were in a small neighborhood where another gracious home-owner invited RVers to stay in their driveway for free. Between our busy touring schedule and his work schedule, we only got to talk to our host once. We were glad that the evenings were cool in the desert, and we slept quite comfortably without any electricity. Our solar panels were doing great!Then the old silver mining themed casino turned to fountains with nymphs and gods squirting each other. We suddenly found ourselves in the Eldorado Casino. Our walk was lined with more than a dozen restaurants and rows and rows of brightly lit games trying to entice us to play. But we have vowed that if there's no free play, we don't play. It wasn't as good as a mountain hike, but we got some good air-conditioned exercise while we walked through the casinos and then back to the parking garage.
There were no grand domes inside, and this is the plainest capitol building we can remember touring. Unlike the grand marble staircases that people flock to for photographs at the Utah capitol, this plain wooden staircase seemed largely over-looked. But we thought the hardwood rails from the 1800s were beautiful, and Mark was as lovely as a bride in his capitol staircase picture.
The people of Nevada state proudly that the casinos pay their taxes, as they have no state income tax here. They also had a very small Supreme Court room in the capitol. They were actually building a new fancy legislative building down the street, because this tiny capitol was only big enough for the governor, Lt. governor and the state treasurer now.
Well, it also contained the state museum. While we have toured some huge state museums over the years, this one was small and succinct in describing some of highlights of their history--including the day it added the 36th star to the United States flag.
On our way home, we tried our luck in the last casino that we could find that offered some free play to new members. The Atlantis Casino was grand, reminding us more of Las Vegas than the others. We quickly turned their $30 in free-play money into $15 take-home cash and exited. Even though the people were friendly, we have to say that Reno--and Nevada in general--isn't our kind of place.
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