We looked it up on the sat nav (we have become so reliant on Jane, as we call her, that we only have a very small map of the west coast. She's not let us down yet.) and Jane said that it would take 9.5 hours if we went the whole way on the freeways/interstate highways and 12 hours if we went on smaller roads through the national parks. We took a vote and decided to go the pretty way.
We said a fond farewell to Las Vegas and set off. All went well and we passed through amazing, amazing scenery:
We even stopped off to find an ATM and found ourselves on Route 66...
But when we got up to the place where we should turn left to go over the mountains and into Yosemite, the pass was closed. We pulled into a petrol station and were told that the pass would be closed for the next couple of months! We couldn't wait that long...The second pass was also closed, so as we'd already been on the road for 9 hours, we decided to go onto Lake Tahoe which was the next big place and the pass over the mountains from there was open.
Although we were sad to miss Yosemite, Lake Tahoe ran it a pretty good second. When I've heard people say on the TV and in films that they were going to Lake Tahoe, I'd never imagined that it was high, high up in the mountains and that it was a ski resort as well. It is a huge lake - 72 miles round - and it's stunning.
So, the above two pictures were taken within moments of each other. The one with me reading the paper (I'll explain in a minute) you can see the blinding sun on the mountains... and then the one with the three of us is looking in the other direction where there was a snow blizzard! There are mountains in amongst all that gloom.The paper... Jim (back in Colorado - which seems like weeks ago to us now) publishes several papers and magazines for his area. The free daily paper is the Summit Daily and they publish occasional pictures of people reading the paper in unlikely settings. So, we've taken this copy around with us, photographing ourselves reading it in front of all the sights we've seen. Will let you know if we make it into the paper!
Did you have Dead Fly Cemetery when you were at school? It was a pudding with loads of currants - I didn't like it. But here's our version - the front of the car...
And then it was time to drive down the other side of the mountain and more gorgeous scenery. If you're ever short of a photo of mountains, we're the guys to see, we've got hundreds...
OK, so now we're in San Francisco and the last phase of the holiday. It's super sunny, but very windy. It feels like we've been away for months, not a week and a bit.
Right, must get in the shower and get on with the day.
Much love to all,
xx
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