Thanks to an unexpected deluge of storms that passed through large parts of central and northern Nevada earlier this year, there has been a massive explosion of wildflowers in parts of the state that Cindy and I have either seldom seen or in some cases, have never seen before. Needless to say, we've been needing to check on some of our properties and decided now was good a time as any to do that and while we were at it, get out into the desert and soak in some of the colorful display. Here are a few shots of what we saw and I hope you enjoy what you see.
But first... Frey Ranch was doing a special release and we just had to stop in for that!
Fortunately, we got their early enough and the line to get in wasn't too bad.
Of course, it never hurts that they were offering doughnuts and self-serve shots of two of their Barrel Strength Ryes and one of their Barrel Strength Straight Bourbons.
CHEERS!
So, the release was for two of their Single Barrel 100% Wheat Whiskeys and one of which was age to 7 years and 8 months. This Barrel #578 is the oldest barrel they've released to date and according to their description, it "presents deep snickerdoodle cookie notes on the nose, caramel squares candy flavors on the palate and a lasting brown sugar and toffee finish"
After leaving Frey, we started our trek down to the wildflowers and decided to take a byway or two to test out the new EVO suspension system that we installed on BANDIT.
Of course, we made sure to get out from time to time to check out some of the cool stuff you can find along the way including this old retaining wall made of local rocks and used to shore up a forgotten stretch of highway.
As always, Ripley having a great time out and about.
Back on the road, we made a stop for lunch, a cold latte and to take in the view over at one of our favorite eateries along US 95, The Bighorn Crossing.
Back on dirt again, we finally found what we came out to see - wildflowers!
This first set was mostly small white ones but they were EVERYWHERE and with spots of yellow, various purple ones, orange and red too.
There were even these almost microscopic yellow flowers in bloom too. Literally, the flowers were smaller than the coarse grains of sand it was growing out of.
We literally could have spent the whole day out in the one patch of wonderfulness we were in but we did decide to press on to see what else we could find.
Unfortunately, the photos here really don't do what we saw justice but literally, the landscape all around us was covered in a carpet of Apricot Mallows blooming as far as the eye can see.
Pressing on, we drove mile after mile across this blanket of orange.
And then, the colors changed back to yellows and orange.
As you can guess, we just had to get in the midst of the colors once again.
I don't think Ripley could appreciate the flowers the way we could but so long as she's out and running around, I think she's pretty happy.
Now, if there is a downside to all the wildflowers, it's that there are a TON of bugs and they were constantly plastering our windshield.
With the sun getting low on the horizon, it was near impossible to see out of.
Even though we didn't need gas, we just had to stop to try and clean our windshield. Here's shot of the 6 O'clock shadow BANDIT got too.
Pulling into Vegas, we got treated with this awesome sunset!
And finally, to the end of a most excellent day out exploring and enjoying the beautiful super bloom that's going on right now in Northern Nevada - CHEERS from the all new 1933 Steak House in Boulder City!
Oh - for those of you who were wondering, we bought one of each of the Wheat's and the one Rye that was simply awesome!
Hope you enjoyed following the fun we had
But first... Frey Ranch was doing a special release and we just had to stop in for that!
Fortunately, we got their early enough and the line to get in wasn't too bad.
Of course, it never hurts that they were offering doughnuts and self-serve shots of two of their Barrel Strength Ryes and one of their Barrel Strength Straight Bourbons.
CHEERS!
So, the release was for two of their Single Barrel 100% Wheat Whiskeys and one of which was age to 7 years and 8 months. This Barrel #578 is the oldest barrel they've released to date and according to their description, it "presents deep snickerdoodle cookie notes on the nose, caramel squares candy flavors on the palate and a lasting brown sugar and toffee finish"
After leaving Frey, we started our trek down to the wildflowers and decided to take a byway or two to test out the new EVO suspension system that we installed on BANDIT.
Of course, we made sure to get out from time to time to check out some of the cool stuff you can find along the way including this old retaining wall made of local rocks and used to shore up a forgotten stretch of highway.
As always, Ripley having a great time out and about.
Back on the road, we made a stop for lunch, a cold latte and to take in the view over at one of our favorite eateries along US 95, The Bighorn Crossing.
Back on dirt again, we finally found what we came out to see - wildflowers!
This first set was mostly small white ones but they were EVERYWHERE and with spots of yellow, various purple ones, orange and red too.
There were even these almost microscopic yellow flowers in bloom too. Literally, the flowers were smaller than the coarse grains of sand it was growing out of.
We literally could have spent the whole day out in the one patch of wonderfulness we were in but we did decide to press on to see what else we could find.
Unfortunately, the photos here really don't do what we saw justice but literally, the landscape all around us was covered in a carpet of Apricot Mallows blooming as far as the eye can see.
Pressing on, we drove mile after mile across this blanket of orange.
And then, the colors changed back to yellows and orange.
As you can guess, we just had to get in the midst of the colors once again.
I don't think Ripley could appreciate the flowers the way we could but so long as she's out and running around, I think she's pretty happy.
Now, if there is a downside to all the wildflowers, it's that there are a TON of bugs and they were constantly plastering our windshield.
With the sun getting low on the horizon, it was near impossible to see out of.
Even though we didn't need gas, we just had to stop to try and clean our windshield. Here's shot of the 6 O'clock shadow BANDIT got too.
Pulling into Vegas, we got treated with this awesome sunset!
And finally, to the end of a most excellent day out exploring and enjoying the beautiful super bloom that's going on right now in Northern Nevada - CHEERS from the all new 1933 Steak House in Boulder City!
Oh - for those of you who were wondering, we bought one of each of the Wheat's and the one Rye that was simply awesome!
Hope you enjoyed following the fun we had
