Days 11 and 12: A Stop in Reno Before Dipping Our Toes in the Pacific!

"Gas in the tank

maps for the getaway

All we have...

All we have is time."

-"Maps for the Getaway" by Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness

On Wednesday morning, we enjoyed one last delicious round of Creme Brulee French Toast and Alaskan Eggs Benedict from the Alaskan Inn, and it was time to hit the road for Reno.  I-80 took us right past the Great Salt Lake, so we got a view of that from a distance.  It's unbelievable how much salt is out there. There are places where the lake is dry at the moment and the salt just cakes the ground.  As you can see from the picture at the top of this page, the lake isn't the only place that is salty!  Shortly after leaving the Salt Lake City area, we came upon the Bonneville Salt Flats.  This is where they do races for land speed records.   There were some brave people driving their personal cars around on the flats - which it appears you are actually allowed to do.  There were also people walking out, playing in the salt, and taking selfies, like us.  RJ was itching to take the Miata out there, but he kept his wise brain tuned in and resisted the urge.  The cars that came back in were caked in salt!  Even ours was dusted over just from being near the flats.  

Pretty soon, we had entered uncivilized territory, as seems to be much of the case along the Interstates from about Kansas west.  We had to start taking advantage of the rest areas when they were offered, because they were becoming fewer and farther between.  Somewhere out there in the middle of nowhere, we found the world's most depressing rest area.  It was at the top of a very long ramp off the Interstate.  This is all that was there.  It was hot and windy and there was nobody around.  RJ felt compelled to leave one of his Berks County Rocks there, because it was such a gloomy place, it needed some brightening!  

We got to Reno around 6:00 P.M.  The time zone changes were playing in our favor on the journey west, because we kept getting extra hours in our days, which was nice!  We stayed at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino.  We would definitely recommend it!  We did have to wait in line to check in, but it was the Fourth of July, so it was really busy.  We were quite shocked to find out all the things this hotel had that we wouldn't have time to take advantage of - a full-size arcade, movie theater, bowling alley, laser tag, spa, outdoor driving range with fun obstacles in the pond to aim for, two huge pools and three hot tubs, and multiple restaurants and bars.  We did take advantage of their very nice fitness center to get some exercise in after all those hours on the road.  Then, we hit up the sit-down Chinese restaurant for dinner, and it was DELICIOUS!  Probably the best "crispy duck" RJ has ever had, and Kerri's beef and broccoli was good, too.  We had been hoping we'd get to see some fireworks since it was the fourth of July, and we were not disappointed.  It turned out that there were two fireworks displays going off in Reno that night.  One was after the baseball game, and the other was after the Philharmonic's performance.  Our hotel room on the fifteenth floor happened to be facing BOTH venues!  Yay!  So, we got to watch both fireworks displays from the comfort of our hotel room.  We had never seen fireworks by looking down on them before, and it was a pretty cool sight!  

We were up bright and early on Thursday to head for California.  We were both really excited to finally hit the west coast!  California is funny, though.  While we were picturing palm trees and oceans and sunshine, the first piece of California we discovered when we crossed the border was a number of tributes, memorials, and signage devoted to remembering the Donner Party.  Kerri had to ask RJ to refresh her memory on this one...These were the pioneers who tried crossing the mountains into California and got stuck there during the winter months.  The ones that survived ended up resorting to cannibalism in order to make it through the ordeal.  Yeesh!  Thanks for tamping down our California dreams, California!  

Eventually, though, the mountains flattened out.  We passed Sacramento, and started to see and feel some cool water!  The temperature really drops when you get to the water, as there seems to be a constant cool breeze in this part of California.  We headed to Stinson Beach, just north of San Fransisco to get our first glimpse of the Pacific.  It was beautiful!  What a cool, laid back, little beach town.  We parked for free wherever we could find a spot, which was challenging but not impossible.  We had the most delicious fish tacos from the old life-guard stand turned beach shack, and we got our toes in the Pacific for the very first time.  We made it!  We traveled about 3,600 miles by this point, and we were ready to soak in some California sunshine.  On to San Fransisco!