Christmas Vacation Road Trip!

Saturday, December 27

654 miles Moab UT — Winnemucca, NV (191 to 70W to 89N to 15 to 154N to 80)

Many miles today and every one of them was gorgeous.  So much snow once we got to 70 going west — about 30 miles north of Moab.  Bob drove most of the day, turning over the wheel to me at our lunch spot at the Sinclair station in Bonneville Flats. I found the Salt Flats Cafe on Yelp and, as the glowing reviews said, we had delicious and cheap! Mexican food.  It was full of people, most of them regulars.  Three soft chicken tacos (corn tortilla, grilled chicken, shredded lettuce and tomatoes) with rice and beans was $4.95.  Our whole lunch, including a side of sour cream and Dr. Pepper for Bob, was $12.  And it was GOOD.

Here are some road side photos from Moab til lunch:

That is a little furry shetland pony to the left.

The big white mound below on the right is SALT!  At the Morton’s Salt plant just outside Salt Lake City.  It was enormous.

I drove the rest of the way to Winnemucca.  We stopped at the California Trail Interpretive Center, west of Elko, which I would recommend to anyone with any interest in California history and especially the westward expansion.  It’s a beautiful building and cleverly presented information and exhibits.  We checked into the Best Western at about 5:30 — always really clean — and headed out to the Ormachea Basque restaurant, which was recommended when we came through town on our way home from Breckenridge and we loved.  We had our cocktails and ate dinner in the bar area.  Being that it’s Basque family-style and there is a TON of food, Bob ordered a filet and I just ordered soup and salad.  The owner’s wife who waited on us gave us that tip so I could have a few bites of Bob’s filet and any of the sides.  We were served: vegetable soup (wonderful especially with a shot of Tobasco sauce), green salad, french fries (crispy), pasta (didn’t touch), green beans (didn’t touch), sauteed mushrooms (I ate almost all of them), filet (juicy, tasty, medium rare).

Next to us was a table of three guys celebrating one of their birthdays, Jerry — 59.  They all three ordered Picon Punches which I have always been curious about so I asked them what was in them and they bought us one.  The way Ormachea makes it is a splash of grenadine, then Picon liqueur, splash of soda and a floater of brandy on ice.  It was actually good though I don’t think I could drink a whole one.  Bob told our waitress that he wanted to buy them their next round and before they ordered it were joined by three more friends.  lol.  Of course he bought the lot of them a round and they were pretty happy.  One of the guys owns bars in Carson City (The Fiesty Goat) and Sparks (don’t know name) and The Pig in Winnemucca which is a bbq place we have never been.  Now you know.  We ordered a bottle of wine but we only had a glass each and took the rest home.  Who knew cupholders can also transport bottles of wine?