Food

A cowboy in Virginia City (Dave Lauridsen) [enlarge photo] MAY 2006 ISSUE • Table of Contents • Maui: Friendly, Quirky, and Full of Soul • Secret Hotels of Bali • 25 Reasons We Love Oaxaca • Family Travel: Guide to Summer Vacations • Road Trip: Nevada • 40 Best Vacations

Activities

Day 3: Unionville to Elko

Dagny is so content sleeping in, she can't even rouse herself for Mitzi's hearty breakfast: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, sliced pears, and a cake with lemon curd. Afterward, I set off on my own to explore the former mining camp of Unionville's most famous resident--our man Twain. Though he originally came to Nevada to assist his brother Orion, then Secretary of the Nevada Territory, Twain quickly acquired silver fever. Fortunately, he failed at mining and focused on writing.

In these run-down boomtowns, it's easy to forget that Nevada is still the country's largest producer of gold and silver. But once we get back onto I-80, reminders of the state's underground wealth dot our drive to Elko: a crane here, some Caterpillars there. A whole lot of people are still digging for riches.

Halfway to Elko, a billboard for the town of Battle Mountain interrupts the view: VOTED ARMPIT OF AMERICA BY THE WASHINGTON POST. WE DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE LOOKING! It may be the armpit of the world, but it does have cheap gas.

Elko, on the other hand, is like a Technicolor Western with a twist--saloons, casinos, and four Basque restaurants. Though only a sliver of the population now, Basques began immigrating here in the 1870s to herd sheep, and today their heritage lives on at restaurants like the Star Hotel.