weekend adventure: great basin national park

A friend of mine from work told me about Great Basin National Park early on after H and I had moved to Utah and I was all, "Where's that?"  [Answer: Baker, Nevada]  Then, last summer, another work friend mentioned that she had gone there and camped, and also stayed at a funky little motel with an attached restaurant in Baker.  Camping?  Hiking?  Funky motel in the middle of nowhere?  SIGN US UP.  In January, I made reservations for two July nights at the motel ... and then we really didn't think about it until the week before we were supposed to go.

Long, straight and nothing out there

Cut to last Friday afternoon as we threw clothing, food and camping supplies into the car - I had at least managed to organize everything enough that we just had to load up on Friday - and we were on the road at 4.  We took I-15 south to Nephi; then  Utah 6 to little Delta, Utah (established in 1907).  We continued on U.S. 50, a/k/a "The Loneliest Road in America" (so-named by LIFE magazine in 1986), straight on through the desert.  It was hot and there was scarcely any traffic and we had 360-degree views.

Welcome to Nevada!

We arrived in tiny Baker, Nevada (2010 population: 68 hardy souls) around 6:45 p.m. and checked into the Stargazer Motel.  This place is also tiny, with only seven rooms, very funky and owned by a brave young couple from NYC who bought it last year after discovering it on a vacation road trip.  The mother-in-law runs the motel office; two llasa apso dogs and two hairless Sphinx cats have the run of the place.

That's pretty much Main Street, Baker

The motel is open year-round but its connected restaurant, Kerouac's, closes for the winter (and also on Tuesdays).  That joint was jumpin', busy with guests and very friendly staff.  We went in for dinner at 7:15 p.m., sitting at the amazing bar and being impressed with the menu.  It was small - burgers, pizzas, salads - but everything was fresh and could be vegan-ized or made gluten-free.  One of the owners used to be a wine/spirits rep in New York City and the wine and cocktail list showed the depth of his interest - it would have been impressive in SLC but out here in the Nevada sticks?  Truly incredible.

My dream bar, right there

The bartender (itinerent, living out of his RV and finding a new job every winter/summer season) was challenging himself to prepare a new cocktail every day of the season.  This evening is was a Watermelon Smash with vodka, fresh watermelon, fresh cherries, homegrown fresh basil and mint).  I had one and it tasted like summertime; H had a Nevada pale ale.  The food was terrific too: H had a scratch-made veggie burger with avocado and hand-cut fries, while I went with small plates of almonds and olives, scrumptious fried brussels sprouts and some fries.  H even liked the brussels sprouts and he usually hates brussels sprouts!

After dinner, we walked around Baker just a bit (there's not much to walk around).  It had rained just a little, cooling things off, so we sat in the courtyard for a beer before bed.  As it stood, our Nevada adventure was off to a strong start.

Courtyard for rooms 1-4