My Canada - US Travels
BC - Winnipeg
Winnipeg - Quebec
Quebec - Winnipeg
Winnipeg - BC
Epilogue
North West Drive
Washington
Oregon
California
Nevada
Utah
Colorado
Utah again
Idaho & Montana
Alberta
BC
Epilogue
BC Interior
Langley Detour
Okanagan
Cariboo
Prince George to Prince Rupert
Return to Vancouver
Epilogue
Nevada
Wednesday 25th
Before leaving Wine Country, we have brunch with CP at the
Plump Jack Café, at the Carneros Inn, situated
not surprisingly in Carneros (a wine region between Sonoma and Napa
in the south). The Inn/complex is in the throws of major additional
construction, so the place is a big worksite.We set off for Nevada along the interstate. At about 5 pm, we reach the town of Truckee, near the Nevada Border,
CP told us to have a quick stop there. It's a frontier style town, even with its own saloon. The place is fun to briefly walk around, but basically the town is all about expensive real estate to buy.
We're very near Lake Tahoe, which I have vague childhood memories of and am interested in seeing again. We go into the tourist info centre and ask if we have time to drive around the lake before it gets dark. 'Yup'. So a third way around the lake and it's already PITCH. I had remembered the lake as being much more dramatic, but a 'few' years and living in Sechelt on the west coast of BC can colour one's expectations. We stop at Incline, on the north east corner of the lake - a ski village.
Thursday 26th
We wake up to a very different climate than the day before - *****
Freezing at 6000 ft. Driving out of Incline towards Reno we
finally get a good view of Lake Tahoe
- one of the largest, deepest
and highest in the US, 2/3 is in California, the rest is in Nevada,
it was formed by glaciers, and is surrounded by mountains.The road to Reno has to rise over this ring of mountains to 8900ft. At last we see bits of snow. I must be mad, pining for snow. The road then rapidly descends to Reno where we stop to see a friend, EB and her astoundingly well behaved 2 year old twins. We never actually go downtown.
After Tea, we head to Winnemuca and then Wells and on to Wendover. The scenery is now desert like, dramatic at first, but becomes repetitive, and soon becomes pretty unexciting. It's like crossing the Prairies, in analogy at least!
At the Utah border there are the two towns of West Wendover
and Wendover. West Wendover is in Nevada, has Casino signs and
bright lights everywhere and seems to be a happenin' little town.
Wendover, looks about the same size, no lights and is a quiet
looking Utah town. Is this a harbinger of things to come? The landscape opens up dramatically and below the ground has suddenly turned white everywhere. SALT Flats. Go look at Google's satellite image: - all that white patch is salt! We drive across the flats mostly in the dark, but you can see the ground glistening as if there is snow everywhere. As we approach Salt Lake City we can see the shimmer of water and get wafts of odd smells, no doubt coming from the lake or salt flats.
Salt Lake City first impressions: lights everywhere, empty downtown roads, 6 lanes wide, massive regular city blocks, downtown in minutes, void of people, everything seems to close early.
We stay at the Little America Hotel. If you don't stay in the tower, it's like being in a very upscale downtown motel, right in the heart of the city, but very quiet. They are about to remodel our wing, I think it's great as is!