Nevada

Hi Alice,

We left Tahoe at noon to drive the 580 miles across Nevada and into Utah.  After many miles of alkali flats, sage brush,  and a straight road through the desert, it was Austin's turn at the wheel.  As luck would have it, he was entering the foothills of the Humbolt Mountains.  As he gained altitude, passing the trucks at the 75 mph posted limit, the sky darkened ominously.  As he reached the summit it began to rain furiously--a rare local downburst in the desert.  As the twisting interstate descended, the rain worsened, then turned to dime sized hail.  The sound of hail hitting our two aluminum canoes was deafening.  Inside the two more experienced drivers added to the din, urging our new driver to "slow down!".  At the valley floor the area was white with accumulated hail, the rain stopped, and a large rainbow spread before us.  Of course, in all the chaos not a picture was taken!

Love,

Dad

 

Lake Tahoe

Dear Alice,

As we drove into the area, we stopped near Donner Lake for a picnic.  Fired up the Coleman stove and reheated a pot of chili.  Then we read the historical markers across the parking lot.  The Donner party were 86 pioneers that were trapped in the mountains by early winter snows.   We were finishing lunch when the irony hit us...most of the Donners starved to death...the others resorted to cannibalism...and we're at the Donner Memorial Picnic Area!

Here is the Truckee River, the only stream that flows out of Lake Tahoe.  It is beautiful, and has an awesome paved bike trail running along it.  We rode along it into Tahoe City, then north and south along the lake shore.  It was only 16 miles, but tiring at 7,000 feet.

We're going to put the canoes on the Lake this morning, then drive, drive, drive across Nevada.  We're hoping to spend our last couple days fishing the Green River in Utah or in south-central Colorado.  See you soon.

Love,

Dad

Northern California Pics

Dear Alice,

Here are some pictures from sunny California.  Mount Shasta is a beautiful mountain and it has a large National Forest.  Our first area was too busy, but 5 miles of dirt road lead to "No Name Lake", which we enjoyed by ourselves.  

Once we left there we drove through Lassen Volcanic National Park, which has 4 types of volcanoes, bubbling mud, and an ice cave.  The main attraction - Bumpus Hell was closed though - as there is still too much ice and snow on the trail.

Part way to Lake Tahoe we liked the scenery so much we stopped at a dive motel and the next day fished the legendary Feather River (home of Feather Lite canoe paddles).  There is one trout with a sore mouth, but we later learned that was good luck on a tough river.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is the 2nd deepest lake in the country (remember Crater Lake is the 1st?).  The water is clear enough to see 74 feet to the bottom.  There were a lot of people here on Sunday afternoon, so after mountain biking along the shore we decided to head east.  Twenty miles along the shore we found Squaw Valley, which was so nice we stopped for the night.  So it goes!

Miss you!

xxxooo

MOM

California

Dear Blog Followers,
This could be the last post for the "Following Louis & Clark" blogsite, but not likely, due to some technical difficulties. If nothing else, we will have to post without pictures for the remainder of the trip. Austin's computer is having some "errors" so we may go visit an Apple retail store and see if we can resolve the problem.

In the mean time, we've spent 3 days at Mt. Shasta. We were camping by a beautiful lake all to ourselves, filled with thousands of tadpoles. Yesterday, we visited Lassen Volcanic National Park, where we saw bubbling mud and steaming sulfur. It was a lot like Yellowstone. Today and tomorrow we are staying at beautiful Lake Tahoe. Today we went biking, fishing, and exploring some beautiful beaches.
-Austin

Beautiful Crater Lake, California Coast & The Redwood Forest N.P.

Dear Alice,
Oh, my goodness!   I have so much to tell you about-  we have had some wonderful adventures the last few days!

Our house is in the country, sitting on 89 acres on the Rogue River-  lots of turkey, jack rabbits, deer, horses, cows and Ethan spotted a rattlesnake on his way down to the river one morning!   Yikes!
We are also in wine and cheese country.
We visited a bleu cheese factory and sampled the best I have ever tasted!  Yum!

We are surrounded by rolling hills of vineyards-  lots of wineries and micro breweries-  great local wine and beer-   Needless to say, we are enjoying our vacation!

We have really enjoyed our time on the Rogue River.  Dad, PaPa and Uncle Chip have had so much fun catching lots of trout, and we have enjoyed having fresh fish for dinner!   We have had a blast rafting the rapids-  especially MiMi!   She was having so much fun she did a back flip-  on the first rapids we encountered!  We all laughed long and hard-  during our run on the Rogue!
We made our way to Crater Lake NP in Central Oregon-  the most beautiful deep blue, cobalt blue lake,  the deepest lake in the US, and maybe the prettiest lake in the world!!

We also visited the scenic CA coast, and the beautiful giants in the Redwood Forest!  The tallest tree we saw was a whopping 370 feet tall!   Awesome!

I will write again soon.   Miss you!
Hugs and Kisses!
Love,
Mom

PS:  Check out our fun stop at  "Bears on Bikes"!

Rogue River, Oregon

Dear Alice,

We're in Trail, OR where the climate is desert-like--cool in the morning and evenings--but an oven hot 100 mid-day.  Our first day we stopped by the local fishing shop and set up a trip, and then opted to immediately go rafting.  

Each person was issued their own water cannon, which provided lots of fun.  Especially when an occasional stranger or fisherman would shoot you! 

The Rogue River is a famous fly-fishing river--except in July.  Then it's so hot you fish with worms on bottom, occasionally catching a sea-run rainbow trout or even a King Salmon.  Our guide was a western fishing bum with a few books to his credit--lots of fun & stories.  One can catch 50 trout per day per person - releasing almost all.  Chip caught a 20# King, but on 8# test line it broke off after a 40 min battle.

Hope you're keeping cool,

DAD

Coastal Oregon

Dear Alice,

 Adding to Austin's post...The Columbia River gorge was something I'd never heard of before.  Imagine massive waterfalls on both sides of an immense valley...

Chip & Becky have joined us for a week, with my nieces Kaki & Allie.

When the Columbia River meets the Pacific, we've completed the journey that Lewis and Clark did too.  Except they didn't have this cool fish & chips stand to visit like we did!

Astoria, OR

Oregon is big - very big - when driving from place to place.  We still have "travel days" that span 300 - 400 miles and up to 16 hours w/ a few stops. Once we headed down the coastal highway we couldn't stop stopping the car.

Sisters

We passed through Tillamook, but the cheese factory was too touristy.  A few miles south of town we came across an old WWII  blimp hangar - all wood construction, 197' tall, and full of vintage aircraft.

  

After a "travel day" we've come to enjoy two nights in a single place - camping or otherwise.  This week we've rented a small house in south-central OR from which to explore, so it will be a luxury to have the same bed, dishes, and not need coins for a laundromat.  

Looking forward to trading a tail-wag for a scratch behind your ears!

Dad