When In Nevada...

Internet here in Winnemucca is very slow, so the promised thoughts and photos from Salt Lake City will be up sometime later.

If you're living in Utah and want a break from the morally upright lifestyle, luckily, there is a den of sin close by: Nevada. Las Vegas is its capital in terms of temptations, but other towns come close. As we neared the Utah/Nevada border yesterday, signs promised thousand of dollars in slot machine fortunes, ladies ready to love you (but for a price), free casino drinks and all the prime rib you could eat at a $3.99 buffet. The border towns are packed with small-time casinos and folks meandering away from their cars at gas stations to take advantage of the fun. We quickly got gas and were more intrigued by the Basque food and western outpost kitch of Winnemucca.

Winnemucca is a good stop-over point between Reno and Salt Lake City. Tons of out-of-state license plates, more small-time casinos, more promises of sinful delights. We restricted ours to eating at the historic Martin Hotel, whose family-style restaurant boasts (and rightfully so) the best Basque food around. The Basques came to Winnemucca in the 1800s and because of their sheep-hearding heritage, prospered in the hills of Nevada. The town now boasts more Basque people than anywhere else in the U.S.

The Martin Hotel was a traveler's dream: for approximately $22.00 per person, you are fed an epic feast of an entree, then you share with the rest of your long table all you can drink water and wine, bread and butter, salad, french fries, navy beans, cow tongue (we passed), spciy green beans wth bacon bits, meaty and spicy rice, sausage and vegetable soup and finally, bread pudding. For entrees, we had a massive seafood stew and a lemon and dill salmon. Our fellow table mates, including some widowers from California, a couple from Washington state and a guy from the Sacremento aea, all dug into the food like it was Thanksgiving, and you felt as if you were at an adult hostel in Europe.

To work off dinner, we decided to hit one casino. Unfortunately, because photos are not welcome in casinos, Butter Lamb stayed in the hotel refrigerator. We stuck to the one across the street from our hotel, and played the slots for awhile until we lost a collective sum of udner $2.00. Yep, big night in Winnemucca. Instead, we played Big Buck Hunter for awhile, then watched Law and Order re-runs at our hotel, followed by an edited version of Showgirls on TNT. Yes, they cut out the best parts. Still, much better than watching old ladies pump away their pensions into slot machines.

This is our final day of traveling which seems crazy. We talked yesterday as to how weird it is that nope, this isn't a vacation. This is permanent. Yeah, we've known that for awhile, but it's starting to sink in. (When you start seeing chili and lime-flavored junk food in convenient stores, you know you're in Western Massachusetts anymore.) We're excited, we would have regretted never living in San Francisco, so off to more new adventures. We'll post once we officially hit the coast.