Ely KOA Journey & Northern Nevada Railway Museum – Ely, Nevada

This was our first stay at a KOA (Kampgrounds of America). We drove part of historic Highway 50, “The Loneliest Road in America”, from Reno, Nevada to Ely (pronounced E-Lee), Nevada. Part of this road is also part of the Pony Express National Historic Trail. *Remind me that I want to get a map of this when I have more wall space.

At an elevation of 6,437 ft above sea level, this is the highest elevation we have visited so far. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired all of a sudden! E had a hard time with his mountain bike climbs too. Paradise, California sits at approximately 2,000 feet above sea level so we are used to a little elevation. We didn’t notice any symptoms when visiting places at 4,506 ft (Reno, NV) or 4,802 (Carson City, NV). That extra couple thousand feet seems to make a difference!

This KOA had a great playground with tetherball, basketball, horseshoes, monkey bars, and a tire swing. It was a great location, nestled in the mountains and we enjoyed great views.

Sunrise photos by E.

My big complaint about this spot was that the 2 different days and times I tried to use the laundry room it was temporarily out of order. Luckily there is a nice laundromat in Ely but my preference is to do laundry on site. It’s not a big deal, just inconvenient.

The kids and I went on another train ride at the Northern Nevada Railway Museum. Kids ride free Monday-Thursday! Our passenger car was pulled by a vintage steam locomotive built in 1910.

I keep wanting to get our photos taken at one of those old time photo studios that I’ve seen in some of the western tourist spots we’ve visited. You know, those places where you dress up in old western costumes and they take your portrait in front of an old western backdrop. My sisters, my two cousins and I did that once in Old Town Sacramento, CA. Anyway, we haven’t done one yet because there are so many other things to do and mama is really the only one who wants to do it. So today, I bought the kids train engineer hats and did my own, old fashioned photos with my iPhone. Obviously, B’s shades and logo t-shirt are not very authentic looking, other than that, the photos turned out pretty good.

I found 2 new books about trains that I want to check out. I haven’t read either of them so I can’t give my recommendation yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I can get mail and order them from amazon…

We are hitting the road a bit early, and leaving this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning. We just had to add in an extra stop on the way to our next destination. Stay tuned to hear all about it…