Exploring Central Nevada-Part 1: Hot Springs

 In mid-June I got a hankering to go exploring. I took some time off off work, and we loaded up, the kids, the au pair, the dog, and me. We headed west on U.S. 50, lunched in Ely, and then took a quick stop at Illipah Reservoir, where the wind was fierce.

Just a little bit further on, we stopped on the side of the road to let these huge oversize loads go by. They definitely take up more than one lane! Being in a mining state, this is a fairly frequent sight on the highways.

After a swim in Eureka's pool, we continued on and exited the highway to head to Potts' Hot Springs, also called Monitor Hot Springs. We found the old Potts ranch and stopped to enjoy the view.

It was still nice and green out in the meadows, and the late afternoon sunlight was gorgeous.

The road to Potts' Hot Springs was marked as 'No Public Access,' so we respected that and continued on to Diana's Punch Bowl, which was about 30 minutes away. I had previously visited this spectacular site, and was eager to return. The sun had already set by the time we arrived, so we set up camp at the base and then wandered up to observe the hot spring under the full moon. Diana's Punch Bowl is a 30-foot deep cauldron that's about 50 feet in diameter. It rises off the valley floor, seemingly without rhyme or reason. The evening primrose was blooming right on the edge. The water in it is reportedly very hot, about 170 degrees F, so we didn't want to go in.

Our camp was simple, and I love primitive camping in the middle of nowhere. We heard some coyotes howl in the night, but no sounds of civilization. It was wonderful.

I awoke early and got some sunrise photos of Diana's Punchbowl.

It was just cool enough that steam was rising. And the full moon was setting.

 With one angle, I captured a lot of steam.

Then I wandered down over the other side, and the shooting stars caught my eye.

The hot water in the nearby creek is cool enough to soak in, but it's not very deep. It looks like at one time someone worked to improve it, but now it's in a fairly natural state.

Orange algae dotted one end, and steam rose along the channel.

I went back to camp and everyone got up and ate. Then it was to the top for a group photo.

Our next destination was to the Toquima Campground, which was totally empty. We set off on the quarter-mile trail to Toquima Cave. I admired the buckwheat on the way.

The trail meandered through the pinyon-juniper to some cliffs.

I got distracted again by flowers!

When I caught up to the kids and Charlie, Desert Boy was scaling the huge gate over the entrance. The kids were so happy to climb.

Through the gate we could see some amazing pictographs. Some call these the best pictographs in the Great Basin. It's very unusual to see yellow coloring in pictographs.

We admired them for awhile, speculating on what they mean. Then we headed back to the vehicle and continued over the pass to Big Smoky Valley to Spencer Hot Springs.

After we soaked in the pool for awhile, we wandered around to check out the other hot springs. The trough was too hot for me, but the others could handle it.

After a bit, we had our fill and headed to Austin for a break at the playground. Austin has the best playground I've seen along Highway 50, and as an added bonus, some folks stopped with their dog, and Maggie had the best hour playing.

Next up...on to fossils and ghost towns!

Treasure Hunts

We headed to the Midwest to see family over Memorial Day weekend. We don't often see my side of the family, so it was a really nice opportunity. Desert Boy had a late birthday present that consisted of a treasure hunt. He found a clue that led him to this big box. He thought it might be the treasure chest.

He and Desert Girl figured out how to open the lock (with a little help!)

What did they find inside?

Another locked box and a clue.

The clue was rather hard to read, though, unless you were reading it from the correct side. ;)

Meanwhile, the younger cousins were cruising around the yard.

With the clue deciphered, they opened another box to find yet another box! This one was a puzzle box. The clue said to look for the cold, hard cash.

That turned out to be $5 bills frozen in a huge block in the freezer.

It was fun watching the kids trying to figure out how to get to the money faster.

While we were there, we celebrated my youngest brother's 30th birthday. Woohoo! It was a great day for a backyard barbeque.

Then Andrew had his own treasure hunt. One of the clues was "I want to see summer."

Andrew looked for a tiny Olaf lego that we didn't even know existed. Then he clued in to the artwork and found a clue behind a different version of Olaf.

His treasure hunt was hard, with clues such as "Channel your inner Michelangelo during breakfast" (under the dining room table), and "It's behind you when you sit on your throne of comfort" (in the toilet tank). Andrew took it with good humor.

He was required to come back and read each clue to the onlookers.

My brother Matt came up with the great idea of putting one of the clues into a different type of code.

Do you recognize it?

 Hint: it was used in the movie The Martian. Since Andrew is a self-employed computer and app programmer, we knew he would get it fast. And he did! It was hexadecimal.

Soon it was time to eat some more.

Including birthday cake!

It's so fun to see the kids look on with delight at birthday cake. Oh, so much anticipation!

Andrew had a little help blowing out candles.

Desert Boy had some quality time with Grandpa.

We also enjoyed the fun children's museum, where both young-in-years and young-at-heart play.

Desert Boy and Desert Girl especially loved the Creativity Workshop, where they mastered the use of glue guns.

 We had a great time at a nearby nature preserve. I asked the kids to be quiet and listen for a minute to see what they could hear. This is what they did.

One of the biggest treasures of the trip was meeting our new niece/cousin. She's only two months old, so she will be changing so much over the next months. We were delighted to see her and hold her.

And then it was time to return to the high desert and show off its wonders with our au pair, Charlie. We knew many more adventures awaited us, but were so glad to have gotten to spend some lovely time with family. Thanks to our terrific hosts!

Miscellaneous May

 I still need to post about our Memorial Day adventures, but other than that I'm almost caught up blogging for the month of May. Except for this assortment of photos. It covers the gamut, from rural life to city life, annual events to once-in-a-lifetime events (you'll know it when you see it), and a little bit of wildlife and fun kids.

The cowboys were moving the heifers at the beginning of the month, and that involves moving them right next to the highway, so I got a few shots. I liked the one above best.

The WHOA sign was put up to stop drunk drivers who kept running a stop sign and crashing into the fence. Since then, no one has crashed the fence. I like to think that the WHOA means a lot more--like stop and take a moment to appreciate this amazing landscape!

The cafe at Lehman Caves has opened under a new name, The Great Basin Cafe, and new management. We've been in a couple times to enjoy their good treats.

Even though it's only May, we got called out to a wildfire. Fortunately it was very small.

A few hours later, we were all dressed up and in Salt Lake City.

It was time to go to the Utah Symphony! They played George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which was absolutely amazing.

The next morning we wanted to go to animal shelters to look for a dog, but we had time before they opened, so we went to the Planetarium. This bike is just outside. It didn't go anywhere, though.

They've redone the planetarium since the last time we visited. The exhibits are more interactive. This one was to find black holes.

They had the planets to scale, which of course I really liked.

I looked at this smaller part of the exhibit for a long time, as it includes moons and dwarf planets and more that's found in our solar system. There's so much more than just the planets!

Then we went for a little trip to Io, one of Jupiter's moons. The kids liked moving the rovers.

One morning I went for a run and one of my regular routes had been flooded out. Water is high!

Desert Girl just had to go to school as a unicorn one day. I helped with the hairspray. She came home as a unicorn, too, which surprised me that her hair would stay up all day. Later I learned that she had even done her part of the class exercise video with the hairstyle. I guess unicorns can do it all.

One day at work I was in the lab and got to witness mouth-to-glottis resuscitation of a rattlesnake.  It was successful. I'm not sure if I could have done it.

Even though the water is high, which means the snow is melting rapidly and the creeks are cold, we've been to our little swimming hole a couple of times. The water is cold, but the kids still get in!

I've gotten to do a little caving, including this fun cave that required some stemming. It's fun to challenge people to go beyond their comfort zone and watch them succeed.

The school's annual field day included sack races,

three-legged races,

 and long jump, plus lots more fun events.

The days are getting so much longer, so I don't see as many sunrises or sunsets, but occasionally I get out and see the terrific colors.

Isn't this a beautiful trailer? I sure would want to buy hay from it!

Here's the view from another angle. Hay is at sale at many Cal-Ranch stores in the West.

We went to get some hay for our lambs with our new au pair (live-in babysitter) from Indiana. It's fun to show someone around who's never been out West.

The curlews are back!

And even though we're on the cusp of summer, we had to go back to winter by driving up to 10,000 feet and playing in the snow. Desert Girl couldn't wait to throw snow balls at me.

Hope you had a good May! And good June. I still can't quite process that we're so far into it.