As always, this is Not a Best List but a list of some of the people, places and things we encountered in the past year that we feel deserve a shout-out.
Enter your own nominations at our Facebook page or in the Comments at the bottom of this page.
And please, treat yourself to these Nevada wonders, excitements, pleasures, comforts and satisfactions and others like them in 2019.
Travel Hero – Don Newman
Raise a farewell toast to Don Newman, the recently retired 12-year E.D. of the Elko Convention & Visitors Authority and Convention Center. Don is a native of Las Vegas but escaped young to Elko. He was General Manager of the Red Lion when he came to the CVA in 2006. He has represented rural Nevada on the Tourism Commission since 2011 and was a member of the Nevada Sesquicentennial Commission, which sponsored or approved more than 600 projects statewide 2013-2014, including Don’s favorite, the Garcia Sesquicentennial Saddle.
He’s been an energetic and capable manager of an important public asset and has served as master of ceremonies at events as diverse as the Mining Expo in June and the wonderful Festival of Trees in December. In his calm, quiet way he has set a high standard for achievement that we can all take pride in.
Here’s to you, Don. You done good!
City of the Year – Silver City
Silver City, pop. 180, was settled in the mid 1850s by placer miners working claims on Gold Creek. It became a staging point for freighters making the 3-mile haul up the steep canyon road through Gold Hill to Virginia City and suffered along with the rest of the Comstock as mining slowed and, by 1950, stopped.
Silver City has put its mining past behind it and become a serene family-oriented community ever since. By 2015 only one commercial business remained on Main Street, the happy little store called Doodad’s, but it closed when the mining company toppled the highway into the huge Lucerne Pit upcanyon, and through traffic was diverted around Silver City.
And now that mining company is threatening to destroy the rest of the town.
Not by the 19th century variety of ‘classical’ underground mining that built Silver City, but pit mining, which is a brutal heavy-industry assault on the landscape and all living things within breathing, hearing and seeing distance. Previous Lyon County Commissioners have denied efforts to poison the community in this way, but the current bunch, has been ‘persuaded’ to abandon the long-standing Master Plan and allow open pit mining within the town itself.
This is a death sentence for Silver City as it now exists.
The town is fighting to prevent it of course. Most of the people who live here have made major investments in homes that will have very little value next to an ever growing hole in the ground that’s dusty and noisy and toxic to boot.
If you’d like to help or simply curious, visit savesilvercity.org and comstockresidents.org for current news, and Comstock Mining Updates for a rough history of this mess.
Hotel of the Year – Incline Village Hyatt Regency
Travel sophisticates rate the Incline Village Hyatt Regency as one of the company’s finest. Across the street from a sandy beach and Big Blue, it features the exquisite Stillwater Spa, a casino and sportsbook, and an outdoor pool. The elegant Lone Eagle Grille is right on the beach, the family-friendly, casual dining Sierra Cafe is in the hotel itself, with outdoor service available in season. Food and drink also available in season at poolside, on the beach, and at the end of the pier. It’s a great place for banquets, weddings, or for a slow, sensual romantic getaway.
3 Restaurants of the Year
Saltgrass Steakhouse in Laughlin
For great service, great food and a welcoming atmosphere, make a point of stopping at the Saltgrass Steakhouse in The Golden Nugget at Laughlin. Their homemade baked potato and chicken tortilla soups are delicious. So are their double-bone pork chops, tender melt-in-your-mouth steaks, fish specialties of blackened redfish and salmon oscar. Plus the range rattlers, texas tea, and drink specials. Enjoy the free loaf of bread with your meal, scratch-made daily, like all the breads, dressings, soups and desserts here. Sunday through Thursday early dining is from 4 – 6 pm, and happy hour from 3 – 5.
Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas
So many award-winning restaurants in Las Vegas but limited time and money. What a conundrum! The Bacchanal Buffet is the answer. Voted the “Number One Buffet in the Country” by the New York Post, it offers truffle deviled eggs, Osso Buco, roasted baby quail, smoked beef brisket, crab legs and other delicacies, and features an Asian station that transports you to Hong Kong. The upscale buffet at Caesars Palace employs nine chefs and 124 cooks who prepare 300 food items daily. And the dessert station is aglow with a large and colorful display of gelato plus made-to-order dessert crepes.
Kerouac’s in Baker
This full-service restaurant (with 10-unit motel attached) and bar in beautiful downtown Baker is a bonus for visiting Great Basin National Park between late spring and late April.
Kerouac’s serves fresh takes on American classics and offers a dining experience that is both sophisticated and approachable. We are a meeting place in town, where locals and travelers can enjoy a satisfying meal in a convivial atmosphere.
The Motel is called Stargazer because with one of the darkest night skies in the country, this is an excellent area for exploring the night skies. The Park offers astronomy lectures and telescope viewings three nights a week during the summer.
Attraction of the Year – Zephyr Cove Lake Tahoe
Zephyr Cove has no mayor, no police force, and no taxing powers, so we were ready to name it City of the year because it has a Post Office (zip code 89448) and so much more than most small Nevada cities can offer visitors — the cruise boat Dixie II makes her lake cruises year-around, a lodge with rental cabins on the lakeshore, a venerable restaurant, a riding stable, a fleet of snowmobiles, an RV Park and campground in the pines, plus parasailing, water skiing and wakeboarding. If you’re not sure how much fun you can accommodate all at once, here’s where you can find out.
Hidden Treasure of the Year – Last Chance Joe
There’s a paunchy, nearly toothless be-whiskered old guy with a goofy grin who has been a familiar figure on Victorian Avenue in Sparks for more than 50 years. When he became suddenly homeless in 2014 a number of local folks made a big effort to help get him cleaned up, rehabbed and relocated. Last Chance Joe has finally returned to his old neighborhood, in front of the Sparks Heritage Museum. You can’t miss him, he’s 32 feet tall. A great Treasure, hidden in plain sight.
Event(s) of the Year – Virginia City Parade(s)
Virginia City will throw a parade at the drop of a hat, and it does a marvelous job of it. The old city droops from age and shows gaps, but on parade day — ten of them in 2019 — the air is festive on C Street, paraders and their audience enthusiastically recreating the spirit of the young city, with the shopkeepers, restaurateurs and saloonkeepers keeping the 19th century fresh and alive. This year’s calendar starts on March 17th — that’s St. Patrick’s Day — and ends in December with the Parade of Lights.
Editor’s Choice —
Gerlach School Moves From Remote Town
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5 Years Ago in the NevadaGram
Comstock Mining Update: At its regularly scheduled meeting on January 2, the Lyon County Commission broke all precedent by ignoring its Planning commission’s recommendation to deny the Comstock Mining Inc’s Master Plan Amendment and Zoning change requests. Instead, the Commissioners voted 4-1 to impose a “compromise” made between CMI and Commissioner Vida Keller to reduce the size of the acreage affected. Unfortunately, Silver City was not invited to participate in making this compromise, and so gets nothing from it except the intimation of doom. Every property in and adjacent to town was suddenly made more vulnerable and less valuable. That’s a high price for the people of Silver City to pay for a “compromise” that doesn’t include them. How it was done: I defer to Nancy Dallas, who follows Lyon County affairs from her News Desk and is more knowledgable on this topic than I. Here is her report, titled “Master Plan integrity loses to money & power”. |
Overheard at the Toiyabe Cafe in Austin “I’ll tell you this, Harley, it’s hard to stay religious when certain people never get incinerated by bolts of lightning.” |
10 Years Ago in the NevadaGram
Lovelock will host a group wedding and vow-renewal ceremony to commemorate the second anniversary of Lovers Lock Plaza at 11 am on Feb. 14. Couples engaged, married, dating or otherwise are invited to join in this special Christian-based ceremony to tie the knot and lock their love behind the famous round Court House. Couples wishing to legally marry at the ceremony need a Nevada marriage license before the ceremony. A reception will be held afterward, and participants not soaring on the wings of love may take a hot air balloon ride over the town, weather permitting. Lovelock’s annual hot air balloon festival begins the next day and carries through the 17th. Registration is required and can be made here or by telephone at 775-273-7213. |
What they’re saying about us: Via Magazine discovers “nature, art, and Reno’s unique culture” — all within downtown and the Riverwalk. |
15 Years Ago in the NevadaGram
One night recently McAvoy Layne was hurrying from an engagement at Lake Tahoe to a dinner date in Carson City. As he was about to crest Spooner’s Summit and begin the long descent of the east slope of the Sierra, his car began to sputter and stall. He had run out of gas. He steered the car over to the shoulder, and as it slowed he opened the door, jumped out, and pushed, hoping to maintain his momentum and crest the summit so he could roll down to the bottom of the grade. But there was just enough of an uphill slant to prevent it, and he had to park at the side of the road and hitch-hike. McAvoy had already changed out of his white suit, so he was just a shadowy figure by the side of the road and the cars whizzed past. At last a pick-up truck pulled over and Mac jumped inside, effusively thanking his benefactor, a Hispanic man of middle age as they swept down the grade to Carson City. After a few minutes the man looked over at McAvoy and said, “Should I know you?” “Well, maybe so.” said McAvoy, “I’m Mark Twain.” The man regarded him silently and then returned his attention to the road. Eventually he turned back to McAvoy and tapped himself on the chest. “Me, Ponce de Leon.” |
Parting Shot —
Beginning of the Lucerne Pit in Gold Hill just upcanyon from Silver City. Not a good neighbor. Photo by Max Winthrop,
Terrific NevadaGram & not just because of the shout out to Silver City, which itself was stellar. The entire issue looks beautiful with a host of great reads. A humdinger!
Joe McCarthy
I still remember the first time I went to Las Vegas. This was after I resigned from being a dentist in Albany, NY. Fun times.