Roadtrip to Cali . . . SATURDAY

plan- drive to Fresno late Sat night, Sun all day in San Francisco


Wake up in Vegas!!


Julie and I decide to stay in Vegas most of the day seeing more hotels and casinos and just relaxing. Julie has been to Vegas many times before and I have only been once before. Wander the Flamingo hotel and see all the flamingos outside!! Over breakfast Julie and I look at the maps and decide maybe we'll go to Death Valley then over to Fresno.


On the road again . . .


While driving to Death Valley my Aunt Zanne calls and asks how we are doing and if we would be interested in staying at their time share in Napa Valley. I told her that we were planning to sleep in Fresno tonight but thanks for thinking of us. After getting off the phone and pulling over to get more gas before going into the valley Julie and I discussed a new plan.


Why were we going to Fresno tonight?? It had never occurred to us to not spend the night there. So we looked at the maps again and decided that we could just drive to Sacramento via Carson City and Lake Tahoe and spend the night there then enjoy all day in San Francisco without waking up super super early. Going from Death Valley to Sacramento would be a long drive but we would stop in Lake Tahoe area at the gas station to get t-shirts and magnets. Just so we could say we had been there.


DEATH VALLEY


I know it might sound like a huge desert with nothing to see but Julie and I decided that if it's a national park there MUST be something to see there! And we were right, its absolutely beautiful!!! Mountains, deserts, hiking trails, sand dunes, salt flats, and more mountains.

Did you know??
- Death Valley is the driest and hottest spot in North America.
-- Less than 2 inches of rain annually
-- Recorded high of 134 degrees
- Death Valley is the lowest point on the continent
-- 282 feet below sea level
- Over 1 million people visit each year


After spending several hours in Death Valley we made our way out of the 3.4 million acre park and headed towards Lake Tahoe! Driving out of the park was a 9 mile stretch up the mountains at 11% grade followed by a 11 mile stretch down the mountain at 9% grade . . . lots of brakes!!! After coming down the mountain we stopped at the salt flats.


Continuing to drive out of the park we noticed these giant mountains all around us. It seemed like every minute there was a different view and bigger mountains. We stopped to watch the sunset over the Sierra Nevada Mountains- it was beautiful.




Lone Pine, California


Dinner at local diner. It was only once were here did we realized that the mountains we had been driving though were home to Mount Whitney- the tallest point in the continental US at 14,494 feet. After dinner and a quick stop at a souvenir shop we headed towards Carson City, Nevada.


Driving through the mountains at night was uneventful. We could see the giant trees in the darkness and snow covered mountains but we knew that if we wanted to spend Sunday in San Francisco we had to keep driving! All the roads were clear, no ice, no snow, and not much traffic but our late night in Vegas caught up to us.


We decided to stop in Carson City, Nevada to get some much needed sleep and then we would be able to see Lake Tahoe during the day!!