Road Trip, Day Nine

 

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Today was the final day of the road trip with my daughter Becky. We started with breakfast in Lee Vining, Calif., where we had stayed the night, and then went to nearby Mono Lake.

Those are limestone deposits called tufa towers in the water near the shoreline.

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was associated with our previous two destinations, Virginia City and Carson City, and today we learned that he came to Mono Lake! He wrote about his trip to Mono Lake and his other adventures in the wild west in his 1872 book "Roughing It."

We departed Mono Lake and took the Tioga Pass to Yosemite.

Most of the world enters Yosemite from south to north; the Tioga Pass took us there via the northern entrance. It was spectacular!

 

This was my first trip into Yosemite, so when I first saw Half Dome in the distance with the top of El Capitan on the left, it was a very emotional moment.

 And the back side of El Capitan kind of snuck up on us when we pulled into a picnic area for lunch.

 

Here we are with three icons: El Capitan on the left, Half Dome in the distant center and Bridal Veil Fall on the right.

We stopped for a stroll around the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Becky in the artful hotel entrance:

We arrived at Becky's home in Clovis two hours after leaving Yosemite. 

My son-in-law Mario had been missing his wife something fierce! We went out to dinner to celebrate our arrival.

Road trips are fun and full of adventure, especially with a wonderful travel companion! And now it's time to get on with the realities of day-to-day life. I'll be back in Pasadena tomorrow.

I'll have a couple of more posts about our road trip in the days ahead.

The photo at the top of this post is a closeup of art in the entryway of the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Road Trip - Day Eight

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Today was supposed to be the last day of the road trip with my daughter Becky, but we added a day just because we could.

We began in Carson City, Nevada, where we laid our heads to rest last night. Carson City is the state capital and a charming little town with a lot of history.

Among the brochures at our hotel was a self-guided driving tour, so we decided that was better than a walking tour because it was dang warm out there! Our tour included many historic sites including the Capitol Building...

...the Governor's Mansion...

...and my favorite because of its history, the Orion Clemens house, which he built in 1863 while serving as secretary to Territorial Governor William Nye. Orion's brother, Samuel Clemens, occasionally visited when he worked for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

After about an hour of the driving tour, which took us through the charming neighborhoods of historic Carson City, we headed to South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Becky had never been there, so I decided it should be a must-see on this road trip.

We went down to the touristy south shore where the Tahoe Queen is. We looked at the schedule but she was not going out anymore today. That didn't stop us from getting close enough for a look-see.

Then we shared coconut prawns with mango mustard marmalade and grilled pineapple at Riva Grill on the marina. They were superb!

We hit the road again and continued heading south by way of the old Highway 395 -- a truly beautiful drive through some of the most scenic countryside anywhere.

That's Topaz Lake in the photo above.

We came through little Bridgeport, Calif.

Then down to Mono Lake.

We decided that since this is the last night of our road trip and we'll be heading back to Becky's house in Clovis tomorrow, we should enjoy a great meal at the Historic Mono Inn.

This first photo is grainy for some reason (blame it on the waiter!); that's Mono Lake in the background.

Becky had lamb shank in a pomegranate reduction...

...I had duck confit in a blackberry reduction...

...and for dessert we shared flourless chocolate cake.

Who knew gourmet food created by a master chef was available at Mono Lake?!

Tonight we're spending the night in Lee Vining.

Tomorrow (well, technically today since it's midnight as I write this) we'll go to the Mono Lake visitor center and learn more about it, then begin heading to Clovis where Becky and her family live..

I'll post tomorrow afternoon or evening about our travels.

About the photo at the top of this post: On our way down to South Lake Tahoe we went through this tunnel carved through the mountain.

Road Trip, Day Seven

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Today was day seven of the road trip with my daughter Becky. We started out in Alturas, Calif., where we had spent the night.

Alturas is surrounded by the Modoc National Wildlife Refuge, so there are deer and other animals all over the place, plus many cranes and other large birds that are classified as threatened if not endangered. As we were heading out of town on the old Highway 395, there was a large, mature crane standing at the side of the road. I was afraid that it might dart out in front of my car, but it took flight just seconds before we reached his spot. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo. It all happened so fast!

We passed hillsides covered in big black rocks. I'm not sure what they are.

We arrived in Reno!

We spent most of our time there trying to find a visitor center. Becky's GPS, my GPS and 4-1-1 all led us on the craziest wild goose chase ever,

We decided to move on to Virginia City -- a very smart decision because we had a great time there!

Sidewalks are wooden planks just as they were in the 1800s.

We made friends with a rootin' tootin' outlaw...

...and played checkers in the saloon of the Silver Queen Hotel.

The Silver Queen is 15-foot-tall painting of a woman in a gown that's made with more than 3,200 vintage silver dollars minted in Carson City. The belt is fashioned from nearly 30 $20 gold pieces and the jewelry is made with dimes. The installation is a tribute to the Virginia City miners of yesteryear.

Speaking of miners, we learned something really fascinating today. The Comstock Lode and everything else with the name Comstock associated with it is a reference to Henry Comstock, who had absolutely nothing to do with it!

After the two brothers who discovered the lode died before they could record their claim, Comstock, a con man through and through, claimed it for himself. To this day, it's all named after him.

Another interesting bit of history: Samuel Clemens's first job as a reporter was with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, where he began signing his articles as Mark Twain.

Lillie Langtry, Buffalo Bill and many other notables performed at Piper's Opera House back in the day.

Note the view behind the Episcopal Church. Virginia City is high in the hills.

This is the road leading out of Virginia City.

We had to go down the mountain to get to tonight's destination: : Carson City, the state capital. We're staying at the Carson Station Hotel and Casino.

We played the slot machines for awhile tonight. We did alright.

I came away with twice what I put in. Not bad!

Tomorrow we'll explore Carson City a little and then head on to our next destination. We've added one day to our road trip, so instead of the anticipated eight days, it will be nine.

Tune in to the blog tomorrow night to learn about our next adventures!

The photo at the top of this blog post is a closeup showing detail of the silver dollars in the Silver Queen gown.

Road Trip, Day Six

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This was day six of my road trip with my daughter Becky. We started off in Bend, Oregon, where we had spent the night.

Bend is a sophisticated mountain city with a pretty downtown.

Yesterday's blog post showed the Three Sisters shrouded in clouds. Today was clear as we left Bend, and the Three Sisters came out in all their glory.

Next stop: the High Desert Museum, about 10 miles south of Bend.

We started with the raptor show, featuring birds of prey including a red tail hawk, barn owl, great horned owl and gyrfalcon. It was a bit of a hike to this area but was well worth it!

Here's a gyrfalcon (pronounced jeer-falcon) flying over onlookers toward a perch.

We also visited the Miller Family Ranch and Sawmill on the museum grounds. Here a woman in costume (and in character) educates a young girl about the operation of a spinning wheel.

Exhibits inside the main buildings are much more sophisticated than what we anticipated.

The museum is in the Deschutes National Forest. Only YOU can prevent forest fires!

We were there for a couple of hours, then continued south to Klamath Falls, a city whose name we decided is false advertising. We went to the Klamath Visitor and Convention Bureau and were informed that there are no falls.

None at all.

There are small rapids in the Link River, which are accessed by going out the back door of the visitors center and walking a mile and a half round trip to see, er, not much.

We passed.

However, the visitor center, which includes Chamber of Commerce offices, has about a dozen pelican statues painted by a local Native American woman. I found them quite interesting.

Soon after, we crossed the border into California and continued south until we reached tonight's destination: Alturas in the northeast corner of the state in Modoc County.

Alturas is in the middle of nowhere. Here's a photo from the highway about a mile from the city:

But they have a Best Western and an Italian restaurant, so that's something. In fact Antonio's Cucina Italiana delivers, and our dinner just arrived (Becky's having spaghetti and meatballs and I'm eating lasagna).

Tomorrow? Who knows? That's why this road trip is called an adventure!

In the top photo, a red tail hawk flies right over Becky and me. I almost caught it all, but not quite.