Our Maiden Voyage - Roadtreking across the Country

After a beautiful wedding, we headed to Sacramento to spend some time with our daughter, Kate and her family.  It is so good to be able to spend the time with them since we don't get to the West Coast very often.   Sunday was the drive back from Lake Tahoe, a walk around the neighborhood, and getting settled in. Today, we all went to Seaquest .  Niya loved feeding the animals and fish!   We all had lunch at the Dugout Deli that was delicious! And then, I was able to go with Kate to her ultrasound and get my first glimpse of our grandson that will be joining us in late June - early July. We are looking forward to our time with all of them this week...we will post more as the week goes on and when we begin the trek home.

 God answered our prayers!  The wind died down, the sun was out and it was about 50 degrees!   It was a busy and fun day.   The ceremony was very nice, the vista was beautiful and the bride and groom were radiant!   The reception was at a little place in South Lake Tahoe, Rojo's Tavern , and the food was delicious.   Not sharing too many pics...yet but you do get to see Rick and I dressed up;) And our son Jason and grandson Ryder, our new family and a glimpse of the bride and groom. It was a very special day and we are so grateful we were able to attend!   

We awoke to sunshine!  It was a cold day, and it had snowed overnight, but now it was clear.  We took our time, ate breakfast, and readied for the next leg of the journey...checked road webcams and all looked clear.  So, about 11:00 am we hit the road.   It was an easy, pleasant ride.   Along the way, we drove through Silver City, NV - 5100' in comparison to Silver City, MI at 614' elevation.  The mountains are as beautiful as ever.   On the way through Tahoe, we spotted a couple more murals.We arrived at the hotel around noon and they were ready for us!  We checked in, and waited for the others to arrive.   One of our daughter's childhood friends and her husband flew into attend the wedding and we all had dinner at Artemis Lakefront Cafe.  Sorry forgot to get pics again! Our son and grandson are in the air as I write this and we will see them tomorrow morning!  And in the afternoon, we will watch our daughter's wedding at Logan Sho...

This morning we woke up to wind and winter weather advisories for here and our next stop, South Lake Tahoe, California.  It was raining, sleeting, snowing and, of course, windy.  Rick was looking at the weather for our route and there are avalanche warnings!  Yikes... So, we had to decide to either stay or go. We opted to stay instead of driving in the snow and ice and hope that it clears by tomorrow for our departure.  Thankfully, we only have about an hour or so ride. We prepared omelets and toast for breakfast and I put Chicken Cordon Bleu in the crockpot as we walked into town.  And by then, we were blessed with SUNSHINE!  YAY!! A lot of history and a really cute "western-esque" town.  Haunted Tours, Gold Mine Tours and even a shop that custom makes hats in 1.5 hours while you shop!  St. Mary's in the Mountain is a Catholic church built in 1868!  I did go in and say some prayers and light some candles.   We stoped at the Palace Resta...

We hit the road from Elko, Nevada this morning about 9:15 am.  It was a sunny day and some beautiful vistas!   I chose the next destination because it looked "out of the way" (and it is!). The ride was good, albeit a bit windy again.  Does the wind ever give up?  But the sun was shining, and still is as I type this at 6:00 pm PST.   We have found a "Hidden Gem".  Virginia City is called "The Richest Place On Earth".  When I chose Virginia City, I only picked it because of its location on the Atlas...Yes, we are still using an Atlas - along with a Garmin and our phones...we are prepared!  (Or are we...). Little did we know that it would be an 8 mile drive up the mountains cumulating a gorgeous vista!   And now we are learning that this city is rich with American history!  Quite an adorable Victorian town, it still boasts a community pool with a diving board!  Historic mines, trolleys, homes, churches and the V&T Railroad steam en...

  We left Ogden this morning around 9:00 am and headed to Elko, Nevada.  The ride was rough...Lots of wind again.  That makes the trip very stressful driving for Rick.   We checked into the Iron Horse RV Park .  Very nice!  We have a beautiful view of the mountains.  After checking, we decided to explore Elko.  We found the Northeastern Nevada Museum .  What a find!  It was great!  There is a section of animals from all over -  from Elephants to groundhogs  There is a section dedicated to early pioneering - medical,  printing press, lace and hats, basketry,  guns, guns and more guns, and more!   It was a great place and had a wonderful gift shop!  Thankfully we can't buy much since we wouldn't have any more room!  Then we drove to the downtown area and were able to catch a glimpse of some of the 51 murals here!  We didn't find them all but here is a glimpse of some we did find... Chicago had c...

  Day 6 - Finally a day to just enjoy where we are!  The weather was BEAUTIFUL! 71 degrees and sunny! We will take it!  We did some exploring around Ogden after a wonderful breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Cactus Reds.  Always love the Belgium Waffles!   We drove some winding roads that lead us to Ogden George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park .  What a cool place! Sorry all our little munchkins weren't with us, they would have loved it.  Hopefully they will all get here one day!   6 acres  of      LIFE -                 SIZE                            DINOSAURS and a visitors' center with actual dinosaur fossils found in this area.  I was unaware that this area had found so many dinosaur bones!  There were also amazing gem stones, a dig site and museum-esque hands-on areas to learn about the claws and teeth, sca...