San Francisco to Reno

I woke up this morning at 6 a.m. with a knot in my stomach. Today was the big day, my big move east. With all of the pieces carefully set in place, there were only a few minor things to take care of this morning, which of course are pretty boring and not worth mentioning. But by 10:30 a.m., I was flying down Highway One, SFO bound.

I greeted my long time friend, who was completely famished. Our first mission was to find food, and to find it quickly. Heading up I-80 East, we landed ourselves on Ashby Avenue in Berkeley and found of course, a Whole Foods to grab some lunch time munchies. After satisfying our grumbling stomachs, we finally headed East, but this time, we were Reno bound.

I-80 East is a stunning ride. Mountains and valleys dot the landscape, and as you slowly slope into the Great Basin, you are greeted with the snow peaked Sierra Nevadas just ahead. I held my breath as I felt my little Honda chug upwards. As we serenely drove through the winding roads, we noticed the beautiful trees and of course, my favorite site to see, SNOW! We found a little gas station, parked the car, and jumped around and played in the snow. My friend noticed Donner National Park on the map or maybe from some signs, and he wondered if it was related to the famous Donner story from the 1800's, where a group of travelers turned cannibal to survive. It was in fact related.

We veered off towards the park and entered it. A small hike down the path led us to a large monument, which also served as the fireplace to the travelers' cabin. We looked at each other and both thought the same terrible thought of "I bet this is where they cooked their friends." We read the names of the perished on the left and the survivors on the right. We paid our quick tribute and left the park.

Our next destination was Lake Tahoe. It was my one California bucket list place. As an aside, I have an affinity for mountains and any snowy place in general, and especially water. So Lake Tahoe was the holy trinity of beauty in my eyes, and I was not leaving California without seeing it. We wound up and down the roads my friend's trusty GPS led us to. We crawled higher and higher and I believe at that point we had hit 6k feet elevation. The views were as beautiful as can be imagined, which are posted on twitter.com/zigawatt. I almost lost my breath as the large, blue body of water came into view. There was the grand Lake Tahoe. We parked our car near the CA/NV border and walked over to a beach. The water was a deep, dark blue, and straight across from us were the snow capped Sierras looking just as dominating as ever.

After Tahoe, we were ready to get to Reno! Back up the narrow mountain road again we went. This time, the elevation was even higher than the last road. We hit the summit at a whopping 9k feet elevation, and I silently thanked my civic for being so dependable during this treacherous drive. Once we hit the peak of the summit, the downward winding roads led us into a new kind of desert, sandy terrain. Gone were the rolling green hills, steep cliffs, and trees. Hello sandy, brown lumps of beauty.

We found a great hotel which had free shuttle service into town. After a good, hot shower and a fresh pair of clothes, we went into the biggest, little city of RENO! Bright, tacky, and flashy lights artificially lit the streets. We found a cute Pho restaurant which had pretty ok food. The waiter suggested I try the housemade lemonade, which was much too sour for my liking (my friend later saw them making the lemonade with a mix, so much for homeade!).

We went into a promising casino called CalNeva. We found ourselves in karaoke country. We got comfortable at a little table and enjoyed the very fiesty, elderly man showing his country dance moves to all. With midori sours in hand, we listened to a rapper as well, but it was mostly older country men singing their hearts out on that stage. It was quite the sight, and no words can do the dancing old man justice. My friend and I had no idea that Reno was so country. To add on to the strangeness of Reno, our shuttle driver was completely insane, but he seemed to have a good sense of humor despite his schizophrenic mannerism.

Mileage wise we didn't go too far today, but there was too much beauty to enjoy. Tomorrow our destination is Salt Lake City or possibly beyond!