Forty years ago Forrest Mars (the Mars candy billionaire who invented the Milky Way bar) started a high end, small batch chocolate company, Ethyl M Chocolates, named after his mother. If you go to the factory in Henderson not only can you do a self guided tour of the factory or do a wine and …
Spring Mountain Ranch State Park abuts Red Rock Canyon State Park to the south. It is our fourth Nevada State Park this week and we can’t help but me impressed with all this untouched land set aside for nature seekers. Spring Mountain Ranch State Park is 528 acres of Desert scrub, Black brush, Pinyon-Juniper and …
Red Rock Canyon is located just 17 miles from the strip. Who knew there was so much nature near so much debauchery? Its proximity to a big city means it gets busy (four million visitors per year!). Because of this, we weren’t able to go the scenic drive through the park (which is timed, reservation …
Valley of fire is 40,000 acres of red sandstone swirled together with grey and tan sandstone. Native Americans carved into the sandstone 2,000 years ago, marking their territory on huge boulders, next to arches and 150,000 million year old petrified wood. This is another place with a sign off the 15 freeway that we have …
Cathedral Gorge State Park is two hours from Great Basin National Park when headed to Las Vegas. We stopped here for the Moon Caves. Moon Caves are actually dramatic slot canyons, some of them over a hundred feet tall, created from the erosion of millions of year old bentonite clay, the remnants of an ancient …
Baker, Nevada is the closest town to Great Basin National Park. In summer months, there is more action here but during off season, there is not one restaurant in sight. There is a non-manned gas station and a small general store in a small hotel (with the nicest owners, one of which worked as the …
Three miles up the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive winter visitors will find a road closed sign and a parking lot. There are a few hiking path options from here but at 7,500 feet elevation, the majority of the only road that goes through Great Basin National Park is closed for the season. We enjoyed the …
Lehman Caves were formed 550 million years ago. They have been protected as a national monument and extensively visited by tourists since 1922. The speleothems (cave formations) in this cave are spectacular. I have never seen a cave like it. The honeycombed maze of tunnels that makes up the longest cave system in Nevada is …
The Great Basin, in Nevada but on the border of Utah, is the dry, mountainous region in between the Sierra Mountains and the Wasatch Mountains. Great Basin National Park is most famous for its Bristlecone pine groves, having the darkest skies in the United States, Wheeler Peak Glacier (the last in Nevada) and the Lehman …
Baker, Nevada has an official population of 32 people. If you aren’t visiting Great Basin National Park then you probably aren’t visiting Baker, especially in the off season (now). We are here for the national park. It is a sign that we have driven past so many times while taking a trip to Idaho, Utah …
St. George Discovery Site is a large warehouse building built over the location where a local optometrist and his wife were leveling their property and hit the paleontologist jackpot. (They have since donated their land to science.) 200 million years ago St. George had a large lake where dinosaurs would come to hunt and swim, …
Built in 2015, Red Hills Desert Garden is Utah’s first desert conservation garden. The five acre garden (which boasts 5,000 water-efficient plants, a 1,150’ stream with native and endangered fish species, a faux slot canyon and dinosaur tracks) is the perfect stop after a seven hour drive. The prehistoric tracks that were found onsite date …
Baker, California is pretty much only known for its giant thermometer. At 134 feet tall, it is actually the world’s tallest thermometer. The electric sign height commemorates the hottest day on record, 134 degrees Fahrenheit (in Death Valley in 1913). As we head to Great Basin National Park we stopped here to watch the digits …
Rancho Guejito was established in 1845. It is one of the oldest vineyards in California. Nothing is better than drinking wine while cruising on a hayride through history while celebrating birthdays. Love this place.