Last week, I went to Elko.
I keep meaning to do a comprehensive story of my trip, with pictures, but I get motivated at times when my camera is not handy. So now I'm going to do a shorter version, no pictures, to be hopefully supplemented by a picture post of the scenic high desert west, at a later time.
First of all, if you have no idea where Elko is, you are not alone. Airplanes don't know where it is either. At least no airplanes that leave Las Vegas. And those that can be persuaded to find it charge greatly for their services. Thus, I flew to Salt Lake City, rented a car, and drove due west (on I-80) for about 3 hours to get there. Oddly enough, once you leave Salt Lake, there are only about 4 towns along that stretch.
Anyway, I had to get to Elko for some depositions I was taking on Monday, so I flew to Salt Lake on the early flight and met my old pal Joey Schmutz in Salt Lake, and we went to temple square. It was a pretty quiet morning on temple square, and we did the tours of the Beehive (or Lion?) House and the Conference Center. It was cool to wander around and see that stuff. I've been to Salt Lake just the right number of times, I think. It's always interesting to me.
After that, I dropped Joey off, cause he had to work, and I went to visit my grandma. My grandma recently moved to Syracuse, which is west of Layton. I had never been there, and I got lost twice along the way. Fortunately, I made it. My grandma currently has a basement apartment in my aunt and uncle's house. It was nice to see her. I gave her a copy of Holly's recent school picture. She asked me questions about people's recent Facebook statuses. That's right. My grandma is on Facebook. And though she doesn't update her page, she monitors mine. And my brothers and sisters. She was amazingly up to date. Don't underestimate your grandparents.
About that time, and thanks to getting lost along the way, I had to backtrack to I-80 and head to Elko. I got out of the city by dark and enjoyed singing at the top of my lungs across the desert. I even honked my rental car's horn a few times, just for fun. The highway was very empty. Much of the time I couldn't see any lights at all. I also searched the AM radio for Sunday night football, and remarkably found clear stations based in Albuquerque, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and Salt Lake, but not Elko, Reno, or Las Vegas.
I got to the Gold Country Inn at about 7, if I remember right, and watched the rest of the game. For those of you who travel across state lines occasionally, you know the adjustments that requires. It was doubly odd to travel to Utah, then back to Nevada, but not home, in the same day. Two time changes, and I had to coordinate Utah time with people in Utah, so I couldn't just ignore it.
I had depositions in Elko all day Monday. I had a great breakfast at my hotel's cafe, and an interesting lunch at a Basque restaurant. By the end of the day, I had a headache and was not feeling well, so I got takeout from the hotel restaurant and watched TV. The blackened chicken with linguine wasn't that great.
I didn't sleep well Monday night, and got up at 5 a.m. after I got a small chunk of sleep. I started east before 7 and stopped in West Wendover, then at the Salt Flats. It was interesting to see how empty it is up there. I'm used to the desert, and even dry lake beds, but salt flats are just empty and white. Interestingly, people try to write things with darker rocks along the freeway. Names, mostly, from what I could tell. I wondered what those people were thinking. I'll probably never know.
Getting back to Salt Lake was bittersweet, because it is a whole lot more interesting than Elko, but I was ready to go home. The plane ride was uncomfortable, though I did discover that the emergency exit row is the roomiest row on a plane. No more comfortable, though.
Also, Elko is isolated, rural and probably pretty cool if you had time to explore a little bit. I didn't have much time, and it wasn't terribly pleasant to be there. I do have to say that I noticed several nice hunting trophies while there, and the game warden appeared to favor the restaurant at my hotel, at least for breakfast. I saw at least 8 racks of antlers in truck beds. You just don't see that very often in Las Vegas.
This made me laugh: the display of an irrigated garden with sprinklers right down the middle.
Salt Lake temple, as seen from the top of the conference center
Sunset in Tooele. (Alternate caption: Choose the Right.)
My hotel room in Elko. The decor had the right feel.
Me, not smiling.
The hotel pool; it was probably frozen.
A view of a mountain with an E on it, and the trailer park that was adjacent to my hotel.
My rental car.
Deeth Star Valley, which I assume is where they invented and/or built the Deeth Star.
Me, at Bonneville Salt Flats, contemplating the salty flat expanse.
Me and Jay, sleeping after a long trip. Jay didn't go on the trip, but he was as tired as I was.
