Big Shots

Greetings from "beautiful" outskirts of Salem, OR. We had a burger/french dip and fries with beer dinner at the local dive called Big Shots. Their kitchen closes at 7 p.m. so we got there just in time. Apparently, they have only one cook and he works 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It was a great place with videos on a couple of screens from the 1980's. Yup...we knew just about every word of each song. There were Oregon Lottery machines, pool tables, dance floor and about 16 beers on tap along with many bottled beers. And then Phoenix Suns vs. Portland Trailblazers. We were very, very quiet about being from Phoenix except to the bartender, Chris, who is a San Antonio fan.

Yesterday morning we left Turlock after I blogged and motored towards Lake Tahoe and Reno. Lake Tahoe is as beautiful as all the pictures say it is. We forget, in the Phoenix area, how long winter can last in other parts of the country. We are constantly amazed at how much snow there still is in the mountains. And then we were even more surprised that none of the ski areas surrounding Tahoe were open! With all that snow, we would have thought that spring skiing would have been in full force. Perhaps they're only open on the weekends?

Many of the national and state park campgrounds are closed. We had to park outside of a locked gate and walk about 1/2 mile down to the water on the shore of Lake Tahoe. The water is so very blue and surrounded by snow-capped, pine dotted mountains. I have a great photo of Mike juggling pine cones on the beach with the mountains in the background. When I figure out how to download from the photo card into the laptop, i'll add photos. South Tahoe is a very touristy town with plenty of characters walking about. Feels like we fell back in time to a very crunchy or hippy time.

We came in from South Tahoe and motored along the east side of the lake up towards Reno and never drove along the western shore. It still was drop dead gorgeous and getting colder as the hours passed. We watched the smoke from a prescribed burn...or is that proscribed burn? We bought postcards from the visitor center in North Tahoe but couldn't find a post office to get stamps. A stop at viewpoints and interpretive displays happened just before we turned right (and up) towards Mount Rose.

Did you know that Lake Tahoe drains towards Pyramid Lake in Nevada but then never makes it to the sea, but evaporates? True! And the area is full of dry lakebeds that share a history with the Great Salt Lake. Alas, only squirrels and chipmunks(?) as wildlife sightings for today.

Then on to Reno where we had a very nice room at Harrah's with a view of the mountains and the "strip." Somehow we'd both thought that Reno would be a smaller, but classier place than Las Vegas. It is, indeed, smaller. And it is also much seedier. Several beggars on the "strip" which consisted of CalNeva, Harrah's, El Dorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus as the "big" casinos. There were a few souvenir shops and a few closed up buildings including a large casino called Fitzgerald's. Happily, we only lost a few dollars.

We left Reno this morning at 8:25 a.m. to put some miles behind us...in the rain and the snow. We stopped once in a very small "town" and bought some stamps. The lady at the USPS counter didn't know how much the stamps were for postcards because she doesn't work there. She came in from the community center (the size of a closet) next door.

As we drove, the signs say we passed Mt. Shasta, but all we saw was fog. It didn't matter at all. Driving through the pines heavy with new snow was like driving through a Christmas card. The 2600+ mile Pacific Crest Trail crossed our paths a couple of times and we stopped at one crossing to stretch our legs. And so yes, I've now walked on the PCT. It was lovely and the woods have such a lovely pine scent as your footsteps crush the needled carpet. It made me wistful to be backpacking again on a long trail. I thought of how many have passed this way before and how many hikers will go through in the future. Sigh.

Traveling up through California and Oregon and through so many rural areas makes me think of how differently so many people in this country live their lives from those of us who live in suburbia. You wonder where they work. You wonder if they feel isolated or if they enjoy having all that nature around them...never missing a Kohl's, Home Depot or Taco Bell. You look at a fire scarred area and wonder how that affected how they lived. You notice the ranger stations as being whole communities of work buildings and housing. A large Spanish speaking population exists not just in Arizona but all up the west coast and probably more. And yet, as Mike mentioned, each person probably cried when the towers came down; rejoice at being Americans and share a joy of freedom. So different and yet similar.

And now Salem, Oregon with plans for a couple of days in Seattle.