Desert Green

Four years ago, on our way to visit our money and our children at two colleges in Utah, my wife and I stopped at a small casino here for breakfast. Later, on our way home, we exited again for a soda and a roll of quarters.

We remembered the meal as dreadful, but our luck was good. We also recalled the spectacular drive through the Virgin River Gorge and something rare in the Nevada desert--fertile fields that dot the river as it winds to Lake Mead.

Mention the Silver State, and several pictures come to mind: the Las Vegas Strip, Reno’s arch, skiing at Lake Tahoe, boating on the Colorado River at Laughlin.

Rarely, if ever, in print and TV ads do you see the remaining 99% of Nevada. Fortunately, our four years living there in the late ‘80s allowed us to discover the Ruby Mountains and wetlands near Elko; a funky town with a strange name (Winnemucca) and great Basque food; a historic hotel in Tonopah, and a working steam-driven train in Ely. All that and a slew of friendly small-town folk.

With such memories and hopes, wife, Linda, and I decided to check out Mesquite, a small and booming border town 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas that unashamedly calls itself “Nevada’s Shining Star.”

Still, the question must be asked: Is there anything uglier and more boring than that stretch of desert between Barstow and Las Vegas? (OK, maybe Palm Springs-Phoenix?) But as the Strip disappeared in our rear-view mirror, the desert that Saturday seemed to subtly change. Maybe it was just our attitudes. By Glendale, Nev., 45 miles later, the surrounding mesas took on a pale orange and the topography became more striking. Twenty miles farther was a stand of Joshua trees, just before you drop into the Virgin River Valley.

We arrived two hours ahead of our 3 p.m. check-in time, so we headed downtown for the Great Mesquite Chili & Art Festival. We sampled arts and crafts for about an hour--everything from beer-can pinwheels to some phenomenal clay works and paintings--but passed on the food.

Back in the car, we decided to check out Rancho Mesquite, the community’s fourth casino, which had opened a day earlier.

Mesquite casinos are similar in size to those in State Line, Nev. (now known as Primm), only cleaner, friendlier and most with more room between the banks of slots. All seem to shoot for different clientele.

Rancho Mesquite, a block from a new Holiday Inn but without its own hotel, has numerous nickel machines and a cheap-watch store visible from the casino.

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The Virgin River Hotel-Casino across the street has more than 700 rooms, a twin cinema, bingo, race and sports book, what is billed as the world’s longest bar and live country music with room to dance.

The largest and most eclectic of the bunch is Si Redd’s Oasis. A first look is misleading as it seems more like a vast motel. A closer inspection reveals 1,000 rooms, a good-size casino, two championship golf courses, a ranch and gun club, health club, RV park, seven swimming pools and a like number of restaurants.

We opted, however, for Mesquite’s newest resort, the nine-story, 500-room Players Island. We weren’t sorry. Our standard king room was spacious and comfortable, although not plush by Vegas yardsticks. Its casino, though much smaller, is similar in tropical theme to the Rio or Mirage in Vegas, and we stopped at the lounge that afternoon for fortified grapefruit beverages. While there, the video poker gods smiled moderately, guaranteeing a nicer bottle of wine with dinner.

Sunday morning, we headed north on I-15 for the Virgin River Gorge, a 12-mile pass through the Arizona strip that, at the time of its construction, was the most expensive piece of U.S. highway ever built. Entering the canyon is almost like a ride at Disneyland, speeding at 65 mph alongside massive cuts in steep, towering walls of limestone, sandstone, silt stone and shale. It is a geologist’s wonderland, a colorful timeline through millenniums.

There are unmarked spots to pull off for pictures, which we did before stopping at the Virgin River Canyon Recreation Area.

After driving a few miles north to St. George, Utah--for lunch, outlet shopping and to check out a few golf courses--we returned through the gorge Sunday afternoon.

Within a 45-mile stretch along I-15 are more than a dozen golf courses, some world-class. But Mesquite’s courses take no backseat.

The magnificent Oasis Golf Club, an Arnold Palmer design in the canyons north of I-15, is a 6,946-yard, par-72 that plays to a 73.2 rating. It had been open only two years, but Golf Magazine, Golf Digest and Senior Golfer already had rated it among the top 10 new resort courses.

And Oasis’ sister course, the Palms Golf Club, is only somewhat hyperbolic with its promotional slogan: “Nine holes of beauty, followed by nine holes of sheer terror.” It has length (7,000 yards), a tough rating (74.9 against a par of 72) and water that can come into play on 10 of its 18 holes.

The newest championship course opened in October at Players and it, too, is 7,000 yards. Only two par-4s play less than 396 yards, and its rating is 72.5.

The winter/spring greens fees at all three, however, are steep. Depending whether you are an Oasis or Players guest, they range $65-$165, cart included, before wilting ($35-50) in the summer heat.

For those on a more modest budget, Oasis has a nine-hole course, Vistas, with $30 guest/$50-other winter rates ($20 for everyone in summer). And a few miles up I-15 is Beaver Dam Golf Resort, a nine-holer next to the Virgin River. Golf-only rates are $11 for nine, and $19 for 18.

While I checked out two courses late Sunday afternoon, Linda indulged herself at the Players Island Spa. Nestled behind a multi-curved pool and waterfall, the spa offers six different massages, facials, mud baths and body wraps/treatments. It also has two mineral-soaking pools, a eucalyptus steam room and a full gym.

Linda enjoyed her first-ever mud bath (with steam bath and partial massage) and was delighted with the pampering. A shower later, she was beaming and refreshed, and we headed across the street to the Oasis, where we caught two fine pop/rock bands in the lounge.

If there is one drawback to small-town resorts, however, it is the level of entertainment. Those seeking popular headliners will be disappointed. Still, as we headed back Monday to California, I realized it was the first time we had spent a weekend in southern Nevada that I wasn’t ready yet to leave.

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