Here’s a little tale about traveling through Nevada. It’s a state I haven’t visited much, existing mainly as a pass-through while traveling the West.

This year, I’d intended on spending more time there, but found myself coming up against pressure for an abbreviated itinerary due to gas prices and some homesickness early in my travels. Therefore, I traveled to the state for a brief stint, but it was only for two days’ time.

First, I traveled to the state to visit Great Basin National Park, one of the few remaining I’d not been to yet. I’ll say, it was a long drive out of my way to go and not much was open or accessible. It’s likely a fun and beautiful park to visit if the scenic drive were open, or if I could access the cave there. As it was, the scenic road and many of the hikes were closed due to snow, and the cave would have needed a reservation two weeks in advance, according to the rangers there. So I spent about twice the time driving there and back than I did enjoying what the park had to offer.

It seemed like a beautiful space and it SMELLED SO GOOD there, like how I wish the candle aisle smelled (I’m partial to pine and cool earthy scents). But I definitely 1. Need to plan better, and 2. Potentially need to travel later in the year. Which I guess could be nested under 1. But I digress.

I traveled Southward toward Vegas but skipped the strip. I camped out and then visited Valley of Fire State Park at the break of dawn which was phenomenal. This park wowed me way more than Great Basin, though you can accuse me of being a parody of myself because apparently if there’s red rocks around, ya girl’s happy.

There’s a lot of varied scenery there, and I love the sand and sandstone, petrified dunes, and mountains in the distance.

There’s also an area called The Wave, which is a neat striated area of eroded sandstone similar to the more popular Wave from Vermilion Cliffs without the major trip commitment out to see it. I was glad to see it but honestly the whole park was breathtaking.

I then drove over to the Hoover Dam, which I don’t really give a shit about, but here’s some pictures. I’d probably enjoy it more traveling there with a history buff or someone whose enjoyment of it I could enjoy.

When I was there it was 95F. It was my first time being that hot in a while and it reminded me of the passion I feel about going back East for the spring I’m missing.

Oh, I also got a Sonoran hotdog. Fuck yes.

For future Nevada visits, I definitely intend upon visiting the state’s many hot springs as well as the extraterrestrial highway. I’ve still never “done Vegas,” but that doesn’t really appeal to me as a single woman; it’s likely I’ll explore there in the future with company of friends or a partner. I’m in no rush.