Saturday, October 17, 2009

Salt Lake City

We made the 2 hour drive from Wendover to Salt Lake City uneventfully.  Michele kept texting me because she said it got really dark and looked like it was going to storm.  It was bright and sunny where we were,  just a little windy.  Since we were driving across the salt flats I took some pictures of the salt plants.

BIG pile of salt

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And it belongs to Morton Salt

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We arrived at the Pony Express RV Resort where we stay every time we visit here.  Michele wasn’t getting off work until 4:30 so we had to wait a little bit for her to bring the kids over.

Already watching movies

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Todd is in culinary school and had class so we didn’t see him until the next day when he cooked us a YUMMY dinner.  Good job, Todd!!  Chicken Provencal, Greek couscous and steamed green beans

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Here’s everybody just goofing off

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Today Ashton had a soccer game and we had to be up EARLY for a nine o’clock kickoff!!  It sure is funny watching 6 year olds play soccer.  All they know is to kick the ball IF it happens to come close to them.  Ashton is number 7 in maroon and yellow.

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Reilly has started kicking the ball around too and is actually quite coordinated.  I think she’ll probably be playing next year after she matures a little.

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After the game we went in search of some food at the local Farmer’s market.  This market is in downtown Salt Lake City and it’s HUGE.  You name it, they  have it.  We ended up having breakfast burritos with chili verde sauce on it.  Quite tasty.

Reilly had to try ALL the crackers and jams

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She takes after her Papa Rod…

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The kids are having a sleepover here tonight and Ashton gets to watch another Star Wars DVD.  He’s really into Star Wars right now and in fact is going to be a Jedi Knight for Halloween.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Moving on Down the Road

Sunday was a football day although my Chargers didn’t play and Rod’s Seahawks didn’t play until 1:00.  We lazed around until his game was won and then went into Reno for some more fun.  When we got there they had Virginia St, which is the main drag, blocked off for something.  After parking the truck we walked over and saw the Italian Food Festival was just finished and packing up.  Bummer!  I would have loved to see that.  Oh well, off to the casinos.  Neither one of us won anything again and we left our deposits.  The machines just seem to be tighter these days and most of the casinos are pretty empty.

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Monday we moved on uneventfully to Winnemucca.  That called for another casino visit since we are still in Nevada.  I made my deposit but Rod had a little withdrawal.

The drive across northern Nevada has been quite boring so when we stopped for a break I went in the rig and got my laptop to play Peggle (thank you Dortha).  It looks as boring as driving through Texas, doesn’t it?

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See the road way up at the top of the picture?  That’s Emigrant Pass at 6,000 and something feet, our last mountain pass.

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Through the tunnel

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In the tunnel

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Today we are in Wendover, Nevada.  We visited the casino last night as this is our last stop in Nevada.  I finally broke even!!  YAY!!  I was playing the quarter machines and not doing anything so I walked over to the penny machines.  I forgot that they actually pay!  LOL

We’ll be moving on to Salt Lake City today.  I’m excited to see Ashton & Reilly (my grandkids)!  We haven’t seen them since we went through in May.  Oh yeah, Michele and Todd too.  LOL

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Avenue of the Giants and Reno, Nevada

Thursday we took the old highway 101 scenic loop down the Redwood Highway through the Avenue of the Giants to see more of the beautiful redwoods.  We didn’t get an early start because it was only a short drive there.  Again, these trees are amazing.  So beautiful and soooo tall.  We went to the part of the forest where they filmed part of the Starwars movie and you could just feel like an Ewok was going to pop up somewhere.  LOL. 

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We stopped at the Visitor’s Center where the story of  Charles Kellogg was told.  Awed by the size and beauty of the redwoods he decided to show the world that they needed to be protected.  The Pacific Lumber Company donated a fallen tree.  He cut off a 22 foot section and built his Travel-Log .

The original RV??

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From there we headed for lunch but not before driving through more of the beautiful forest.

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We stopped at the famous “drive through tree” but we knew we wouldn’t be able to drive through so we watched as others did it in their tiny cars.

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The tree is hollow all the way up!

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Any little kid would LOVE one of these tree houses

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Our lunch spot

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We found the short hike to the Founders Tree and the HUGE fallen tree.  The root systems for these trees are very shallow and it’s a wonder they are standing at all

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We went home as it was getting dark and packed up to move as far as Yuba City on Friday for the night.  We knew there was nothing happening in Yuba City so it was just an overnight spot.  I called the one and only RV park there and was told they had one spot left.  Sure enough when we got there she wasn’t fooling around.  This park was full of long term people and there really was only one spot left.

We left this morning at about 10:30 and headed for Reno, Nevada.  YAY!!  I was so looking forward to spending the weekend in Reno.  It’s been about 10 years since we’ve been here and never before in a RV.

The drive wasn’t too bad except for the climb over the mountains and of course, more road construction.  Why are those guys working on a Saturday??  We chose to do I-80 because it’s a lot easier to go over mountain passes if you’re on the interstate.

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Rod did the research on RV parks and we decided on the one we thought looked the best.  We are parked here at Bordertown Casino and RV park.  The only problem is it’s about 15 miles north of Reno.  There is a casino here at the RV park but it’s small and kind of trashy.  We did have dinner there and it was pretty darn tasty though.  We cashed in our tickets and drove down to the Peppermill in Reno because we had been there before and we knew it was nice.  No luck in the machines though.  We left a little deposit.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day…..

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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Fortuna, California

Today we moved south another 120 miles to Fortuna, California.  First we had to go through the Agricultural Inspection Station.  We had been told yesterday when we went through that we would have to have the rig inspected today.  No problem.  I got rid of all the fresh fruits and vegetables that I was told about yesterday.  When we pulled up she told us we were indeed going to be inspected due to our “residence” being in Pennington County in South Dakota.  We saw several rigs being waved through but they all had California plates but soon a motorhome from Virginia came through and he had to have the same inspection we did.  Apparently they were going to be checking for insect “egg matter”.  She really checked it thoroughly shining her flashlight under all the slide covers and seams and then got underneath and checked the under belly completely.  We got a clean bill and were given a certificate showing that we had been inspected just in case we came across another inspection station.  I asked if she needed to go inside and check the refrigerator but she asked me if I had anything.  I told her no, that I had already gotten rid of my lemons and limes so she said we were okay.

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Our certificate

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After only 15 minutes we were on our way again.  Since we had already driven this part of the redwoods yesterday we didn’t stop anywhere except where there was construction

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We left the coastline and are now inland but here’s a few more pictures

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And more of the redwoods

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We arrived at Riverwalk RV Park with no problems, got set up and headed out to the Bear River Casino.  When we checked in to the RV park they gave us a coupon for a two for one for dinner.  The special was a prime rib buffet so Rod got that and I just got a steak dinner since one of them was free anyway.  We left a little deposit in the casino and came home.

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Tomorrow we’re going to see more of the redwoods at the Avenue of the Giants.  This is a 31 mile drive through the redwood forest on the old highway 101.  It also has the famous tree that you can drive through.  I don’t think we’ll be able to drive the “big butt” truck through it though.  :)

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Redwoods National Park

Today we drove down to Redwoods National Park.  I guess I didn’t research it much because we found out Highway 101 goes right through it.  I thought it was going to be a loop around the park.  So, tomorrow we’ll be doing it again!  At least we know what to expect for about 40 miles of it.  As soon as we crossed into California we came upon the Agricultural Inspection Station.  She asked if we had any fruit, plants, etc, etc.  We said no but asked what we could expect tomorrow when we came through towing our rig.  She said because of our license plates (South Dakota) that she was required to pull us over and inspect the inside.  I asked for what specific things to get rid of and she told me citrus fruit, certain live plants (didn’t matter, we don’t have any), any apples from Washington state, avocados, cherries, corn on the cob,wood.  The list goes on and on.  Oh well, at least we know they’re going to be looking inside so we’ll be prepared for a little bit longer of a trip.

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After leaving the inspection station we continued down 101.  There were several areas to pull off and the ocean here is just as beautiful as the Oregon coast.

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Soon we came to the redwoods and yes, Dortha, I got my book stamped!

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There were still plenty of places where you could see the coastline

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We decided to go to Trees of Mystery because we weren’t going to be able to stop at these kinds of places tomorrow on our trip through.

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There was a short 1/2 mile hike up through the forest to the gondola ride going up even further into and above the giant trees

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The gondolas were pretty amazing!

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This was the view from the top!

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I could go on and on with the pictures, it was SO beautiful here.  More of the coastline on the way back and a stop where the Klamath River meets the Pacific Ocean

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Those little dots down there are people fishing for salmon

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More of the California coastline

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We got back into town and stopped at the local brewery & pizzeria for dinner.

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Rod didn’t want any olives on his side and I didn’t want any onions on my side.  LOL

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So, tomorrow we’re packing it up and moving on to California for a few days.  I’m gonna miss this “no tax state”.