Ghost Towns, Brothels and Vegas

From Flagstaff we had a long drive ahead of us to get to Bishop on the California/Nevada border with no scenic stops planned to break things up. We started back out on I-40 and made good time getting to Kingman and I'm glad we didn't end up staying there, Flagstaff was much nicer :) At Kingman we turned northwest and headed towards Vegas. We passed by the Hoover Dam but did not stop and the way the road is configured now you just get to see a glimpse of Lake Mead but not the Dam itself. In Vegas we tracked down a California/Nevada staple for lunch, In-n-Out! I had been to one before but this was Danielle's first visit so we ordered up a couple double-doubles with fries. I think I prefer the burgers to Five Guys but Five Guys has better fries.

From Vegas we had a long death march up 95 with occasional scenic views such as the Shady Lady Brothel, seriously. I tried to pass the time on 95 as quickly as possible when the traffic cooperated while Danielle played Plants vs Zombies. Eventually we got to Hwy266 which I assured Danielle was a short cut that I had possibly taken before and I was pretty sure was not going to turn into a gravel road. It turned out to be a great short cut with the scenery changing from desert scrub brush with Joshua Tree looking cacti with the Sierras building in the background. Along the way we drove past the ruins of the mining town in Palmetto, originally settled in 1866 and having been revived a few times later to fail quickly each time. We pulled in and wandered around taking pictures and met a gentleman from Fresno who was doing a ghost town loop of the area which sounds like a lot of fun actually.

After our unexpected scenic stop of the day we got back on the road towards Bishop and eventually turned off onto Hwy168 and that's where things got more fun. There are two tight and twisty passes on the road and the whole thing is up and down through dips with camber changes all over the place, sometimes at the top of a hill mid-corner! Danielle filmed most of this on the iPhone and viewing it will probably require Dramamine :)

It took a bit of searching for our hotel in Bishop, the Creekside Inn, mostly because it didn't seem like there was a creek anywhere in town. Eventually we found it right there on Main Street and got checked in. Just down the road from the hotel was the Whiskey Creek restaurant where we were again treated to an excellent meal followed by an epic white Russian Tiramisu. We had a long day planned for our final real driving day so it was once again early to bed for an early start.