While in Death Valley, Dan wanted to get a full tank of diesel fuel in his truck for the trip out of Death Valley (pulling a big fifth wheel takes plenty of fuel). Diesel in Death Valley was $5.37 a gallon. Ouch. But 40 miles out of Death Valley, in Beatty, Nevada, diesel was only $2.93 a gallon. We decided to take a trip into town!
Beatty is a little tourist town just outside Death Valley. Dan got his diesel and we poked around a touristy candy shop. But the highlight of the visit was where we stopped for lunch, the Happy Burro Chili and Beer. How could we resist with a name like that?
The place was a hoot! Inside there was seating for maybe 10 people. The four people that were in there were all very friendly locals. They were sitting around, drinking beers and smoking cigarettes. I’m not sure what the No Smoking laws are in Nevada, but they seemed non-existent here. There was also some colorful language being tossed around. But, the chili was good and the beer was cold. We had lunch with entertainment. What more could you ask for?
Outside of Beatty is a ghost town called Rhyolite. It was a town that sprung up during the gold rush around 1904 and really existed only 5 years or so. There were a few buildings still standing. The highlight for me was the house made out of glass bottles.
Next to Rhyolite is the Goldwell Open Air Museum. Their tagline is “Art where it seemingly shouldn’t be…” That is very true! For being in the middle of nowhere, it had some interesting exhibits.
You never know what you will find in some of these small towns!
If it is to be “found”, you will find it!! Neat finding.
Neat stuff! The glass house looks very interesting! Could you see or go inside?
Ghost rider is cool too.
No, we couldn’t go inside the glass bottle house. And I’m not sure we would have wanted too. The inside looked dirty and in disrepair. But the outside was very cool!
Super cool find! The artwork is so imaginative; who would gave guessed it!