Reno and Ely, Nevada

We left an unimpressive Reno, NV, last week after being stuck there by a late snowstorm. We did have one fun afternoon visiting the National Automobile Museum, the Harrah Collection. Over 200 antique and classic cars--Ellen's favorite was the 1908 Thomas Flyer that competed in a drive from New York City, across the U.S., across the northern Pacific Ocean, across Russia and all the way to Paris! The car has been restored to the way it looked when it finished the race. It was a fascinating place to spend a cold day.

We delayed our departure a day, hoping not to catch up with the storm! The drive from Reno to the tiny town of Ely, NV, took us up to summits of close to 8000 ft, through lots of snowy passes, but on good cleared roads. Ely was to be just a stop along the way to Salt Lake City, but is quite a gem. Our KOA is just outside the town, and there are snow-topped mountains everywhere we look.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TxMike3

Friday and Saturday we went on some nice long walks, although we had to avoid mud from the melting snow. Sunday afternoon we drove 60 miles to the Great Basin National Park, but were disappointed that the roads were closed above 7500 ft. We had hoped to drive to about 10,000 feet near the top of Wheeler Peak (13,000+ ft) to see the Bristlecone Pine Grove. These twisted, stunted trees are the oldest trees in the world--several thousand years old! We got out at a campground at 7500 ft to go for a walk--Ha! There's no oxygen up there! Five minutes of walking up an inclined path had us huffing and puffing, even the dogs! There was quite a bit of snow on the ground, a beautiful clear rushing stream, and a wonderful view of the valley below. But a 30 minute walk was all we could handle.

Tomorrow we leave for Salt Lake City. We will be staying at a pretty campground right on a river in Provo, just south of Salt Lake City.
Ellen will see some of you in Kingwood at the end of the week. Mike and the dogs will be having wild times in Provo while she's gone ;).