Memorial Day and Arrival In Elko, NV

Monday, May 29, 2017

  

Thank you to all our vets (and to my husband Ron) who served our country.  We appreciate your sacrifice and willingness to serve. Because of you, we still live in a free country.

Today we leave behind family, Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas to continue our summer travels to the northwest.  It is a beautiful, warm and sunny day and traffic is somewhat heavy but not as bad as it will be later in the day.  Proceeding north and then west, we head to Elko, NV where we will stay for a couple of nights taking in the local culture.

We pass by the Great Salt Lake which is slowly recovering from the drought conditions though not nearly as full as it once was.

The mountains toward Nevada are still snow capped as the ones near Salt Lake are.  There will certainly be a late snow melt this year with the rivers becoming even more full than they already are.  Beautiful. 

Elko may not be on everyone’s list for sightseeing, but we have always found something interesting to see no matter where we stop.  Elko is at the center of Nevada’s cattle country and served as a way station for wagon trains during the western migration.   After settling into our site, we venture out for a trip around town to find out what there is to see.

The Visitor Center (called Sherman Station)  is located in an old log cabin home (made from limber pine) surrounded by four other old log buildings (a school, creamery, livery stable and blacksmith shop) all belonging to the Walther family who settled in a nearby area in the late 1800’s.  The buildings were relocated to Elko in 1997.  I love these old buildings and the stories they have to tell us about the people and times they lived in.  Since it is a holiday, we are unable to go inside the buildings.

The Walther House - Front

The Walther House - back

School House

Creamery

Livery Stable

Blacksmith Shop

We also find these large, brightly decorated cowboy boots in numerous places around town including in front of the Court House.  Reminds us of other cities we have been in where large items of various kinds (statues, etc.) can be found on the street corners of the cities.  These boots are certainly appropriate for the city since this is where the first and continuing National Cowboy Poetry Gathering takes place each year in January.

We also found this funky white bear on the sign for the Commercial Casino.  We did not venture inside but were told that there is a very large stuffed polar bear inside the building.  After looking up some information on this, I found out that  "White King" is a 10 foot, 4 inch stuffed white polar bear that was killed in Alaska and has been standing guard at the entrance to the building since 1958.

Since the Casino Buffet at our RV Park offers a two for one dinner, we decide to stop in for dinner.  Afterwards we get our free Players Cards and sit down at a 1 cent slot machine to try our luck with our $10 complimentary credits for the slots.  Ron played with both cards and manages to win us $18.75 on my card which pays for our dinner.  We are such great gamblers that after we win our money, we cash out and leave.  My thing is to quit while I’m ahead.

A nice day and quiet campground even with two or three freight trains passing close by.  They don’t blow their whistles like they did in Casa Grande, AZ this winter so just the rumble was all we heard.  Tomorrow we will take in more local sites and museums.