Everyone needs a break; from work, the heat, or even my bossy terrier. Being invited to a wedding is a perfect excuse to get out of dodge. Tony took me on an 8-day road trip with a weekend wedding in Colorado and a long stop in Sun Valley Idaho.

Here are some fun stops we made in our great state of Nevada. There is so much to do and see here in the Silver State.

The first stop was the Shoe Tree in Fallon. It’s just what you’re picturing but more depressing so I’m not posting a picture. Next, we hit Austin. I had no idea there was a castle in Austin! It’s the Stokes Castle of 1897. The wealthy miner and railroad magnate built the 4 story castle for his family. How nice! They used it for 2 months. You read that correctly: 2 months. I don’t get it either. Pretty cool building as you will see in the photos.

**2 of the 4 fireplaces used to heat the castle**

**Hey, where’s the ceiling? It’s only been 127 years.**

Also in Austin, looking from the yard of the Stokes is the 100-mile view. It’s breathtaking. We were lucky for the clear skies that day.

Another 40 minutes and we arrived at the Hickison Petroglyphs. These markings are believed to be around 10,000 years old and date back to when the Western Shoshone lived and hunted here. This huge, desert used to be a marshy swampland full of wildlife, and the people used these wetland habitats as a life source and moved throughout the region with the seasons. It’s quite hard to imagine this area being a swamp today.

One interesting encounter in Austin was the thousands and thousands of Mormon Crickets. Gahhhhhh….it was a lot and gave me the creeps. We cut our Petroglyph walk short because I just couldn’t. It felt like that scene in Hitchcock’s The Birds and I was done.

We were getting hungry so we made it to Eureka in time to eat at 1 of 2 restaurants. Eureka is a cute small town with quite a lot to look at. We ate at Jackson’s Mexican Restaurant. The whole family ran it and it was delicious. The waitress was around 12 years old. The bus boy maybe 15. I highly recommend you get the funnel cake dessert. It was unlike any other and so good.

After lunch, we checked out the walking tour. We went to the Opera house and chatted with nice folks who told us to feel free to walk around. We walked all over it and then across to the Courthouse. We had full access and it was terrific. We checked out some local art including a piece by Reno’s own Mary Lee Fulkerson. A nice surprise!

Then it was back on the road toward Ely. I had never visited this far east in Nevada before. It is such a cute town. We checked into the Hotel Nevada and dropped off our stuff. Then we headed out to walk around. Down the street is a very nice park with cornhole and a giant Connect 4 game. As the sun began to set, people began showing up to relax and have a snow cone.