Category: Travel

Summer 2010 Road Trip day 1 – Reno to Salt Lake City

Today we started our summer toad trip. Summer road trips have become something of a tradition with Duke and me. This year we are headed to Iowa with lots of detours along the way to see friends, visit sites and find new back roads.

Day 1, yesterday we drove from Reno To Salt lake City. It is a long drive on interstate 80 (about 530 miles) We drove through Nevada's spectacular scenery for much of the trip. The last 150 miles or so are in Utah.

Just 4 miles from the Nevada Utah border on the Utah side we stopped at Bonneville Salt flats the site of Bonneville International Speedway. Right now the site is under water. Apparently that is why the flats are so ideal for setting land speed records. During the winter and spring the miles and miles of salt are washed flat by the water so that by August when all the water has evaporated the course is absolutely flat and dry. It was a cool site. You couldn't see the horizon. The shimmering water merged with the sky in the distance and the mountains and their reflections seemed to float. We stopped a the end of the road which was surrounded by water, had lunch, and took some pictures.

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As we drove into downtown Salt Lake City for dinner it was pouring rain. By the time it had finished the sun was setting, the rain had stopped and it was perfect walking weather. We walked through the area that has the Mormon temple and all the headquarter buildings for the Church. The gardens were beautiful and the buildings were spectacular. It of course is totally different but it reminded me of the Vatican in that it is the center of a large world wide religion.

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From Temple square we walked a few blocks up hill to the state capital. It has to be one of the biggest and most imposing state capitals I have ever visited. The view of the sunset and the city from the capital was stunning. We walked around the building and enjoyed the gardens and the rain washed view. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

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If you would like to see all my pictures from our summer 2010 road trip they I will be adding them to Flickr in a set which you can see by clicking here. Day one pictures are there now. Tonight our plan is to be in the Tetons camping.

April 2010 Road Trip in North Central Nevada – Falls Creek Falls – Jacks Creek – Elko

A couple of weeks ago Duke and I took a short road trip through north central Nevada. When we take a road trip we like to get off the beaten track and follow the back roads. What that means in Nevada is that we often go hours without seeing another vehicle. It also means that we see a lot of gorgeous scenery and interesting wildlife.

On our most recent trip we camped the first night in the Santa Rosa Range in Falls Creek Canyon and hiked to Falls Creek Canyon Waterfall.  Falls Creek Canyon is just off US highway 95 forty miles north of Winnemucca. The camp site is about four miles east of the highway at the end of a very rough rutted road. It was a beautiful site and we had it to ourselves.

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The hike to the waterfall is short and relatively easy. We had to cross the creek a few times and I got my feet wet. Duke did better. The route is described as hike 5 in the book 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada by Mike White. We were there April 25th and there was a lot of water in the creek and snow on the peaks surrounding us. We were camped right next to the creek.

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It was a wonderful warm evening. We cooked our steaks over the fire and watched a marmot play nearby, When the full moon came up it was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

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From Falls Canyon we drove around to the east side of the Santa Rosa Range to the Singas Creek trail head which is described as hike 6 in 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada. We did a short hike and then headed east across the Owyhee desert to the Independence Mountains and camped at the Jacks Creek camp ground. Along the way we had a flat tire and had to turn around at one point when the road was washed out. Since we no longer had a spare tire and since a big storm was coming in we decided that it probably wouldn't be prudent to explore any remote back country roads. so we headed to Elko.

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We stopped to look for interesting rocks and fossils at several sites in the area including the old mining town of  Tuscarora.

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Elko is a town we stayed in on one of our road trip last year. There are four Basque restaurants in Elko. Last year we ate at and really enjoyed Biltoki. This time we tried The Star Hotel Basque Restaurant which is the oldest of the four. They were very busy even though we were eating late. We also noticed that there were a lot more woman than men. That was undoubtedly because Elko is such a  thriving mining town. The food was wonderful , the service was great and ambiance was fun.

If you would like to see all of my pictures form our trip you can see them on Flickr here.

The Retired Ladies Road Trip to Zion National Park – Part 2

My friends and I just returned from our Retired Ladies Road Trip to southwestern Utah. My post for part one of our trip is here. It covers the first three days of the trip.

On day four we hiked to see some petroglyphs at Anasazi Ridge above the Santa Clara River west of St George.

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After lunch we hiked in Snow Canon State Park to a natural amphitheater set in white sandstone.

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On day five, Saturday, we hiked again in Zion National Park. We hiked the Angels Landing Trail. It was amazing and spectacular. The first part of the hike is up, up, up a trail cut into the rock of the canyon wall. You can see my friend Amy on the trail about two thirds of the way up the cliff.

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From the first cliff top we switched back through a narrow canyon.

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And then along the cliff face and up using chains to hold on. This was the part of the trail that was scary although if I didn't look down it wasn't too bad.

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We stopped for lunch at a flat spot with a fantastic view. From there the trail goes up a very narrow crest to the top. We decided to go no further. The trail is challenging enough without adding ice and snow! The picture below is of our lunch stop. You can see the top and the crest that the trail goes up to get there.

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I think the Angels Landing  trail is perhaps the most amazing trail I have ever hiked.

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On day six of our trip we headed home across Nevada on Highway 50. It is a beautiful drive. We saw very few cars but we did see plenty of hawks, some pronghorn, and a very unusual weather phenomenon, hundreds of little mist columns coming from the clouds to the ground. It was beautifully unearthly. Here is a picture of some of the pronghorn from the truck window.

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The Retired Ladies Road Trip to Zion National Park – Part 1

My friends Amy and  Linda and I are on a road trip to visit another friend Stephanie. She lives near Zion National Park in southwestern Utah.

On day one we drove from Reno to Lone Pine down the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was overcast as we drove south so we didn't have too much of a view of the mountains. We stopped at Manzanar, one of the World War II Japanese internment camps. It is a sobering place with an excellent visitor center. Well worth a visit,

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On day two we awake to beautiful blue skies and a wonderful view of Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states.

 

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From Lone Pine we drove down into Death Valley, the lowest place in the United States, and back up to Stephanie's house in southwestern Utah

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Today – day three we went to Zion National Park. It was snowing when we started our hike up Zion Canyon and then the sun came out as we reached the end of the trail and started back to the truck.

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From Zion Canyon we went east and did the Canyon Overlook Trail. We saw very few people and we saw a family of mountain sheep right near the trail. I took a lot of pictures.

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The view from the overlook was phenomenal too. Do I look like I am having a good time?

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All my pictures form this trip are on Flickr here.

Quick trip to Sacramento by Train and Bus

I thought about titling this post Sacramento Through the Back Door, a take off on Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door. My back pack was packed and it was on my back as I got on the bus at the Reno Amtrak station.

My oldest daughter lives in Oakland. We recently decided to meet half way between Reno and Oakland for a chance to catch up. I took an Amtrak bus to Sacramento and the Amtrak California Zepher train home. This proved to be a smart move because by the time I headed home a big snow storm had hit us and chains were require on interstate 80 over Donner Pass. The train however was only a few minutes late. It was warm, very comfortable, and very scenic. The only delay was when they positioned a train snowplow in front of us so that the train could follow it over Donner pass.

We had a great time in Sacramneto. We visited two great book stores, Beers Books and The Avid Reader.

Our dinner out was the Sunday night before Martin Luther King Day. It turns out that most restaurants in Sacramento downtown are closed on Sunday night. The restaurant where I finally got reservations was fantastic. Aioli Bodega Espanol is a Spanish tapas restaurant. The ambiance was relaxing. We had a bottle of wine and several different types of tapas and talked non stop solving the problems of the world. Then we went across the street to Crepeville and had crepes for desert.

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Breakfast Saturday morning was at the Tower Cafe. The rain was pouring down but they had a heated tent outside where we waited for a table to open up. The breakfast was worth the wait.

My daughter dropped me off at the train station at 11:30 and I was back in Reno about 5pm. We have planed to do a Sacramento weekend again in a couple of months. It was so much fun.