Nevada & California

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Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in blogging, we had some internet issues we couldn't resolve.

It looks as though we left you all off close to Salt Lake City. We left our motel that day and drove to the Great Salt Lake where we found a place to park and walked down to the water. The place was quite smelly. It smelled like dead ocean, which I guess it basically is. There were lots of dead seagulls embedded in the sand, and salt residue in crystalline formations everywhere. It was pretty strange. Ang walked around in the water for awhile, while I avoided smelling like the place as much as possible. We took some pictures and continued on our way. We drove through Salt Lake City but didn't see much worthy of note.

We continued on into Nevada, which we know now how to pronounce. It's similar to Nevaaaahdaaah. The scenery was mostly hills and desert. It was still pretty warm and dry. We haven't seen rain since our first day camping in Canada. We made a plan to drive as far as we could, stopping at a place called Lovelock in Nevada. By stopping here we would only have a 5 hour drive into Oakland the next day. I found us a very inexpensive motel ($37 and no tax!). It was owned by a cute old couple named Smokey and Diana. We got to our very old motel and unpacked our things. We left to find a place to eat and get a drink and found ourselves next door at a motel/casino/bar/restaurant. It appeared to be the only place open in this town of what appeared to have a population of 50 to 60 people. It was a very strange area. We started talking to the bartender who was a shark swimming, gun toting, state travelling, cancer and domestic abuse survivor from Georgia. We met a few other people who were just about as interesting. Ang was given some beadwork from a Paiute guy named Day, and I was given a knife from the bartender. There were about 4 fights at the bar while we were there, and we definitely got to experience small town American life in a way we haven't before. It was unreal.

The next day we got up and made our push into Oakland/San Francisco. It was only about five hours away and the scenery between Nevada and California didn't change much until we started getting closer to San Francisco. The drive went from desert to mountains and trees. The temperatures dropped a bit, and seemed to feel a bit like fall back in Mass. We made it to Lane's apartment and found the key she had left for us. We let ourselves in. It was nice to get settled into a place we were going to be for more than one night. The area Lane lives in is a cute little village of Oakland, and would probably be the last thing you would imagine when thinking about the city of Oakland. Lane got home from teaching a few hours later and we walked down into the village to grab some dinner. We found a Mexican place nearby and spent the night laughing and catching up over margaritas and massive burritos. It was really nice to catch up with an old friend that I don't get to see very often and we had an absolute blast.

The next day Lane left for work really early so Ang and I headed into San Francisco to do the tourist thing. We drove into Union Square and parked and got some lunch sitting outside. We then started walking to see what we could see without really knowing where we were going. We ended up walking through Chinatown and Nob Hill all the way down to Fisherman's Wharf where we got to see Alcatraz and walk around the piers. One of the most interesting things we saw while down there was a free museum that showcased coin operated games from the 1800's to today. Some of the really old ones were pretty creepy looking and most of them were really interesting. Every one still worked. We threw a few quarters in, as there was no way we were going to be able to avoid it. We took our time walking back to the car and wandered around Chinatown again for awhile. The row houses, hills, and cable cars gave us the full San Francisco experience. We liked San Fran, but Montreal has won out in the city competition so far.

We drove back to Lane's and when she got back from work we ended up at an Italian place close by. We played some hangman on the paper topped table, and laughed a little too much. My stomach still hurts. We went back afterwards and hung out for a bit before calling it a night. We loved catching up with Lane and it was great to see her doing so well on the west coast.

It was pretty sad to leave, but this morning we got up and took off, heading through San Francisco to the Pacific Coast Highway. It was absolutely gorgeous driving these winding roads overlooking cliffs and the Pacific. We walked down on one of the beaches so Ang could step in the water. It was so nice to see the ocean again. Ang was also thinking she was only about 100 miles from Stevie Nicks' house but since she is on tour we didn't have to go stalk her, thank God! We drove on and started our way east again. The halfway point of our trip has been reached, at least in distance. Tonight we're in southern California about a five hour drive from Las Vegas, our destination for tomorrow. I can't wait to see the bright lights! Hopefully you all are doing well back home! We'll update again soon.

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Comments

[Rob]

Jealous. :)

[Pat F]

Glad you were able to see San Francisco, hang out with Lane, wade in the Pacific, and view Alcatraz. What a joyous journey. I'm so happy you're sharing this experience together. Unforgettable, phenominal!