Star Gazing Tour at the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings Nevada

A quirky tour -- expensive for the dinner you get which was so so -- but it was a way to see the stars with high powered telescopes far enough away from the city to avoid the light pollution. It met our needs but is not for everyone.

This was a very strange experience for us and not at all what we expected. I booked this in hopes that this will be a very romantic experience during our honeymoon after getting married in Las Vegas. The price 200/person suggested that we should expect a great dinner followed by star gazing. The driver that picked us up Jill was very entertaining and friendly, however we were very nervous while she drove as she kept looking back at us as she spoke and the car swerved a bit so we were very tense. I am still unsure if we actually saw the Historical Saloon... we were taken into this trailer like tiny dinner with really just one long bar counter and small table with condiments in the corner. Dinner consisted of burgers and a beer... yes the menu had more expensive items but considering the place we were nervous about ordering anything more complicated than burgers, which were good. However, I thought the dinner portion would be more like my wife and I sitting at a table enjoying dinner and surroundings and looking at each other... instead we had to eat at the bar stand while our very knowledgeable guide kept talking... so it was very uncomfortable, especially as you are trying to maintain eye contact and listen while burger stuff is dripping all over the place. Needless to say the atmosphere was not romantic at all. On top of that the night was cloudy and we did not get to see any stars to compensate my wife got a second beer on the house.... So while Lou, the guide, was full of information and passion for the topic we found the whole experience very very strange and above all not worth 200 per person La Reve cost us 130/person and it was the most magnificent hour and a half... so we felt we should have been compensated somehow or at least offered coffee and desert after the star gazing part didn't work out.

It was wonderful meeting Dave and Johnny and the Pioneer Saloon is a great historical treasure. On this particular night, it seemed as if nothing was quite working correctly. While the tour included dinner at the Saloon, we were unable to dine there because of the failure of a water pump, so we were treated to dinner at the Gold Strike steakhouse about 7 miles away which we didn't find out about until Dave picked us up in Las Vegas. Upon arriving, we were supposed to view a preview video which was not functioning correctly. We toured the facility with Johnny which was very interesting and began the star gazing portion of the night. The big night sky objects at the time were Saturn nicely turned with rings showing and Jupiter with the four Galilean moons clearly visible. The tracking mount for the scope in use was not working sense a theme? which required constant readjustment of the scope. We never talked about any summer constellations or deep sky objects, although it was a wonderful night to do so. This has the potential to be an awesome tour, but the team has a few things to work to make it so.

It was a very fun atmosphere! I enjoyed every minute of it! I learnt a lot.

The driver provided interesting information about the history of the Pioneer Saloon. The guide was very good at explaining the various telescopes and lining them up on planets and two galaxies. My meal at the Saloon was advertised as brisket and salad. There were two pieces of dry brisket no salad. I viewed the Saloon as an old, odd, quirky place with one wall dedicated to Clark Cable and Carole Lombard three cigar burns left by Clark Gable in the bar wood. My view of the dark night sky seemed average for a clear winter day nots very far from the lights of Las Vegas. My overall thoughts: an interesting evening don't expect too much.