While on a road trip to Vegas we decided to take a side trip to Groom Lake and the mysterious, and now infamous Area 51. I had printed out some maps for the journey and so we knew where we were going (which is always a nice touch!). I had also read some of the trip reports from Dreamland Resort so I knew what to expect.

The images here are 640*480, but you can click on some of them for a much larger 1152*864 version.

After exiting Highway 93, and following the short trip (around a mile) on Highway 318, you'll come to
the split where Highway 375 begins. You'll also find the Extraterrestrial Highway sign. Incidentally, this
is also one of the places that the commuter bus from Area 51 stops at.

This is a view of Highway 375 shortly after the ET Highway Sign.
It's a straight road for a while, before turning and ascending up to Hancock Summit.

Just after you pass Hancock Summit, you can see the outline of Groom Lake Road.

This is another view of Groom Lake road. Also visible is mailbox road (I think), and also the Medlin Ranch.

I took this photo just before we started the trek down Groom Lake Road.
We verified on the map the distance, and I reset the trip counter. Also,
notice how clean the car is. Be sure to check later!

We got to 13.8 Miles on the trip counter, and still no signs. 13.9 and we rounded a bend. Behold!
The counter turned 14.0 just as I pulled over to the turnaround / parking space. The cammo
dudes were already watching, and I descreetly waved as I got out. The turnout is on the right. The cammo dude is
not visible in this shot.

Is this it? :-)

This is the cliched photo that everyone takes. All the nasty signs telling you what bad things will happen
if you cross the line, so don't do it. We got fairly close to the signs - I'd say a few feet away, but I
didn't want to push things too much.

We actually spotted the reflection from the truck window of the Cammo Dudes at around 9.5 miles,
so we knew they were here. Here's the traditional shot of them and the sign.

This is one of the surveillance cameras that looks down on you from the hills to the left of the signs.
According to recent reports, it may not even be active anymore. The UHF Ariel and Microwave antenna (?)
are both pointing to the Papoose radio facility.

Dust and dirt. And lot's of it!

And that was it for Area 51. We tried to hunt down the White Commuter Bus later in the day,
but we think it was late. At 4:30pm no-one had been dropped off at the ET Sign stop area.

On the way up to Rachel, we stopped to take a photo of the famous Black Mailbox - which is in
fact, white. Note the extra mailbox for the Alien. Steve Medlin (the ranch owner) has a good sense of
humour. Originally, the box was a regular black mailbox, but it got so vandalised that it
had to be replaced. Also, people used to read the Medlin's mail, and so it's now a padlocked box.

We then headed up to the Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel.

In case you arrive by Flying Saucer, you can still eat an Alien Burger.

We ordered an Alien Burger, some Home Fries, a beer (Heineken no less!), and a coke. Not bad at all.

The Gray Family was also eating there that day.

Good Bye Rachel! We'll see you again some day.