Leaving Las Vegas a little later than we typically would because we were up late last night. One thing about Vegas is that for us, it doesn’t really get going until about 9:00 p.m. and is downright electrifying in the wee hours of the night, creating a good reason to sleep in. We are driving north.

It’s only 243 miles (400 km) to our destination today, but it will take about twice as many hours as usual with all of our stops to see stuff along the way.

Reminder photo to return to soak in a barrel of mineral water away from the trains on a future visit.

Exposed geology that allows us to look below the surface is always attractive and worth a stop.

A sober reminder that as we travel north here in November, places away from the desert tend to get cold and even have snow. There are so many times we’ll leave Phoenix and have forgotten this little fact that necessitates things like warm clothes and driving in conditions we are not accustomed to.

God rays illuminating a small patch of ground is not something you see every day.

Even rarer is the glow of sunset hidden from our view by overcast skies that manage to puncture the cloud cover to cast pink against snow-spattered mountains.

We’ve reached our destination of Ely, Nevada, and the idea of Thanksgiving dinner at an old casino hotel in a dusty old town sounds like the perfect recipe for a lifelong memory. Being served by a middle-aged smoking lady steeped in the tradition of being a waitress in the classic 1960s sense only added to the mystique.