Ahhhh, ye olde road trip - a summertime tradition. But where to go? Go West middle-aged man, go West. The goal this time was to visit Oregon and Washington since I had never seen them before. But to get there, required tackling Nebraska. Omaha, for the first night.
We headed west on Interstate 80 until we hit Grand Island, Nebraska. That's when things started to get cool. Whenever you can, get off the interstate and take the back highways. We took Highway 2 west across Nebraska and were treated to mashed potatoes and gravy and a patty melt in Broken Arrow and then the Sand Hills for the next several hours. Beautiful. There's really nothing that I have detected while driving west on I-80 that would have caused me to realize just a few miles north is some absolutely amazing landscape.
Hills and valleys. Marshy areas. Lakes. All kinds of wildlife.
Wyoming. The southern portion is not nearly as captivating as the northern part. Sorry Wyoming, somebody had to tell you...
Some artwork in Rawlins.
Can't pass through Utah without hitting The Bonneville Salt Flats.
Ancient pictoglyph near the parking lot.
One of the areas we passed through receives virtually no rainfall each year and we happened to get grazed by some of the rain. It would barely count as drizzle in the Midwest.
Elko, Nevada. This was my second time ever stopping in Elko and this excursion was certainly a longer stay than my first visit. Elko did not disappoint. They've got some intriguing restaurants and a nice crop of neon and/or motel signs. Here are just a few. Elko, you treated me well. I will be back.
Pyramid Lake.
Not too far from Pyramid Lake is the old mining town of Virginia City. Sweet slice of yesteryear.
Sun setting behind the mountains in Virginia City.
To get to California, we zipped through the Tahoe area.
Between Tahoe and Guerneville, we stopped in Sacremento for lunch at a local eatery named Tori's Place. I wish I had taken pictures, but I was focused on how amazing the food was. Corn bread, superb. Gumbo, beyond amazing. Mac and Cheese, hell yes! If you don't beleive me, check out their page on YELP. IF you are near Sacramento, California and have any appreciation for amazing food, you gotta stop at Tori's. Mandatory.
Heading north in California on our way into Oregon and Crater Lake.
Next time we'll take a peek at the second half of the trip.
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