The Loneliest Road in America + Las Vegas
As anyone with toddlers knows, spending hours in the car with them is NOT the most fun way to pass the time; certainly one of the primary factors we consider when planning our next destination. We do our best to limit our travel days to no more than 4-5 hrs of driving a day, and plan carefully the number of moves we will need as packing the house up to travel is a full day ordeal. Knowing this, we usually plan to stay at least a week (usually two) at any place we need to stop over at, making travel across states a several week endeavor!
Wind Farms and Ranching along Highway 50 - the loneliest road in America
Coming from Great Basin NP and small town of Ely close to the Nevada/Utah border, the only reasonable way for us to reach California was traversing the “loneliest road in America” - a transcontinental highway that lives up to the designation Life magazine gave it in 1986. When you combine long car rides, rowdy toddlers, and a drive thru a historic desert corridor initially used for the Pony Express, now sparsely populated by gas station/casino/RV park combinations, one can being to understand just how excited this family was to see signs of civilization.
Which is how we ended up staying right outside of Las Vegas......
I already know what you are going to say: “What about COVID?!?” “What about focusing on the great outdoors?!?” “How does this fit with your goal of seeing the National Parks?”
Let me assure you, Vegas was most certainly not the planned destination. In fact, the plan was to stop over at Lake Mead and Lake Havasu as we made our way across Nevada and into California – a plan that we stuck to. So, what drove us to the Vegas area (besides Brunhilda, our beastly Ford F450, ha!)? 408 miles of Highway 50, the road that Life magazine warned drivers not to risk traveling thru unless they had “survival skills.” Yes, there is life here (though not many humans), but it’s not the familiar life you typically expect to see, desert notwithstanding. Ghost towns bleed into living ones, wild horses roam free, and establishments like the Big Four Ranch and Brothel are the largest businesses roadside. This family was craving a bit of human connection (and not the kind found at Big Four) and found the lights of the city enthralling. It was as if Vegas was a beacon of civilization, calling us out of the desert, and offering us all the things we had been denied up to this point with both our surroundings and the effects of the pandemic.
Before we go further, you might be thinking “are you sure there isn’t much to do on the loneliest road in America? Nevada dept of tourism says there are things to do...” We did take time to visit the Ward Charcoal Ovens along the way, which I do recommend for anyone that needs a break from the scenery of dried-up lakes and large expanses of desert and wind farms. The Charcoal Ovens were constructed in the latter half of the 1800’s as smelters for melting down mineral contents extracted from ore. The beehive shape (which we also found throughout old mining villages in Utah) helps to burn wood more efficiently, reflecting heat back into the center of the oven, thus reducing heat loss. Our kids are convinced these were the perfect hideouts for bad guys, and we certainly had fun one afternoon dressing up like super-heroes and scaring all the bad guys away!
Outside of the Charcoal Ovens, there really is not much in the way of exciting family fun, unless you have the time to travel miles off the highway to some of the historic farming and railroad communities.
Which leads us back to seeing those bright city lights and singing along with Elvis as we belted out “VIVA LAS VEGAS!”
A Guide to Safe(ish) ways to visit Las Vegas in the time of COVID
Bottom line, if you have any underlying conditions, or are of an age, that put you at high risk for COVID, the safest place for you is at home. If you are looking to party in the typical Vegas fashion, know that there is not a safe way to do so. However, if you are willing to spend your time outside, taking in the sights and sounds, then here are some of the tips we found helpful to find a balance between safety and fun in Sin City.
Avoid the crowds – this might seem obvious; the reality is that there are still a large number of people going to Vegas to gamble and party. If you are looking for a “Vegas-like” experience, but want to try and keep is safe, I recommend you check out Henderson, located just outside of Vegas. The major casinos in Henderson we checked out required several temperature checks before you could get in the front door, another temperature check to sit in any of the restaurants, plexiglass dividers on all tables and between bathroom sinks, and masks were required at all times. There are fewer people (it was easy to maintain over 6 ft of distance), the restaurants were not packed, and the tables were sparce when it came to gambling.
Visit during off-hours - we found that we had restaurants to ourselves when we choose to go during off-hours. A mid-week early morning breakfast for example allowed us to still sample some really delicious food and have the whole patio to ourselves. Yes, it will be different than the full dinner experience, but it was the only way we felt we could have a safe restaurant experience.
Opt for a long stroll on the strip – as a young family, much of the appeal of Vegas for us is simply walking the strip, watching the fountains, and checking out all of the interesting buildings. Taking early morning walks gave us nearly empty streets, very little car traffic, and beautiful temps to take in the scenery.
Check out the local outdoor pools – if you need a break from the indoors, we found visiting the casinos who have outdoor pools to be a great option. You can buy a day pass and find your own little slice of vacation well over 6 ft away from the nearest person. You can rest assured that the chlorine in the pool will kill anything and everything, masks were required at all times, and at no time were we even remotely close to people in or out of the pool. This is likely due to the fact that the pool we visited was limiting the number of people in the pool area to be 25% of full capacity; surprisingly this provided a more enjoyable experience than what we had experience pre-COVID with all of the loud people/crying kids/loud music/trash (yes I know I am 100 years old, but peace and quiet is highly under-rated, ha!)
In summary: if you are at an increased risk of severe illness from COVID, Vegas is not your best bet. If you feel comfortable with the safety measures many of the casinos have adopted, then you can likely find a way to still get some enjoyment out of the area in a relatively safe way. If you are looking to get the full Vegas experience, wait until you are vaccinated.
