Friday, 23 June 2023: Lone Pine, California

We woke up early this morning and were on the road before 7am.  Tahoe called.    Stephen left his Tahoe at the airport in Reno for us.  We will get it as far back toward North Carolina as Green Bay but not before we take the scenic route.  When we got in the truck, there was a bottle of wine and some chips waiting… Stephen’s special “welcome to Reno.”  We ended up at the casino/hotel.  Thankfully one of their restaurants was 24 hours since we were hungry and it was quite late.  Walking out through the hotel the next morning, we were reminded that the casino never sleeps.  

First stop: gas and coffee. Now, that’s a surprise.  

$4.59/gallon. 16.5. Gallons. $75.96. This trip won’t be the same as if we were in our Kia.  

Next: on to Lake Tahoe. This location has been on my list forever. 

We saw a sign for a trailhead in Tahoe National Forest.  We put on the right shoes and we were ready.  We had gone only about 100 yards and then saw a golf course. What?!?!  We made our own trail for a quick trek in the forest. We gathered pine cones for the grandkids and a crushed wire object de art for yard art.  Maybe it was a basket?  We will have to figure that out later.  

We took a walk around Truckee.  I’ll need to look up later how the town got its name.  Cute art galleries and fun looking restaurants.  Very touristy walk around the train station. 

 

After a Safeway run where half of our bill was for liquor we found ourselves at

Donner Pass. I had to look up the history of the area as I’d never heard of it.  (Let’s hope the westbound pioneers aren’t too hungry today.). The road was closed. We went anyway — Justin is such a rebel. Past the signs and around two places where the road was clearly blocked, we came to concrete barriers.  Now, we conceded, the road was really blocked.  

Photographs do not do this justice. Simply spectacular views of the Sierras. God’s hand is evident. 

We took two stones/boulders as souvenirs.  Justin did his part to remove the debris from a rock slide in the Donner Pass.  

This was magnificent!  

   

   

We travelled along River Road along the Truckee River through Olympic Village to get to Lake Tahoe.  The 1960 Winter Olympics were held here; today, the skiing village thrives.  The summer views are spectacular and much more suitable for Justin and me.  

Because we took an “inland” route, we got to Lake Tahoe a bit farther south at Tahoe City.  We found a quite secluded picnic table right at the lake and stopped for lunch.  We dipped our toes (and not much more) into the lake. I’d come back here any day. [I look back at this point later as one of the absolute highlights of this trip.]

           

Back on the road, we followed the shoreline as far as we could; I don’t really need to go back to South Tahoe. It’s too big, too commercialized and too touristy. Sure, the whole place is like Door County so, no thanks. 

It was late in the afternoon we finally got down to the business of the four hour drive to Lone Pine. 

The hotel we selected before wasn’t available so we ended up at the Lone Pine Budget Inn.   Thank goodness it is only one short night.