The scenic route home.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today I woke up at 5:30 and got up to have my coffee and break camp.  I slept pretty well last night, nothing seemed to wake me. Maybe it was the couple of margaritas I had at bedtime.

Camp was broken down and I was showered and ready to go by 7:30. I didn’t make it on the road until 8 because I took the time to download my pictures to my computer and plan out my route home.

I decided to take an eastern route through the mountains. I headed back out to route 44 and hit 36 to Susanville. What a cute little town in the mountains. I am struck once again by envy of those lucky people that get to live here.

From Susanville I took 395 south to Reno. Now this is high desert and I really wouldn’t want to live there. The landscape is pretty dry and sparse.  From Reno I went over Mt. Rose summit to Incline Village and drove around the east side of Lake Tahoe. This drive is very beautiful and you could see the snowy sierras in the background. When I arrived at South Lake Tahoe there was road construction on the main road and it was taking 5-10 minutes just to travel one block. I pulled off at Denny’s for lunch and the traffic was cleared up by the time that I finished.

After lunch I stopped at Raleys hoping to say hi to Jamie but I only saw a total of 2 baggers and the carts in the lot were a mess. Good thing I’m not a secret shopper.  From Tahoe I took 89 south until I reached Highway 4 to Ebbetts Pass. This is a very long, narrow, winding and steep road. Some of the turns were so steep and I was going so slow that my car had to really try hard to climb. The drive was pretty nerve racking but totally worth it. I saw a cascading water fall and several lakes.  I went by Mosquito Lake, Hermits Valley, Lake Alpine, and Bear Valley.

By the time I reached Bear Valley it was after 4:30 and I was getting pretty tired. I pulled over at an overlook and texted Mike and Shelby that I wanted to find a campsite because I was over 3 ½ hours from home with no stopping. I pulled in at Calavares Big Trees state park and they had an available campsite so I took it. The site is pricey, $35.00, but really worth getting rested tonight.

Tomorrow I think I will take a short hike through one of the groves of big trees since I paid so much for the privilege of staying here then I will head home.

Susie