Here's a map of the (rather large) area I covered. I basically went east from Reno through Death Valley to the Grand Canyon, through southern Utah and Mesa Verde in Colorado, ending up in Santa Fe.
|
|
Here's a map of the (rather large) area I covered. I basically went east from Reno through Death Valley to the Grand Canyon, through southern Utah and Mesa Verde in Colorado, ending up in Santa Fe. |
 | After landing in Reno, Nevada, I stayed long enough to visit Bill Harrah's fabulous car museum, drove through the state capitol of Carson City (named indirectly for Kit Carson!) which wasn't much, to beautiful Lake Tahoe. This is one of the first glimpses I had of the lake in the late afternoon. |
 |
This is Emerald Bay, where I took a nice long walk around part of the perimeter of the lake. This is on the California side of the lake; The preceding picture was taken in Nevada. I stayed in a motel on State Line Avenue. On the California side of the street it was all hotels and condos; on the Nevada side it was all casinos. |
 |
An unexpected surprise was California's Brodie State Park. Brodie was a gold and silver mining town that grew from about 50 people to 10,000 in less than a year in the late 1870's. When the ore gave out everyone left, and the entire town was deserted just before World War II. Only five percent of the buildings are left, and all they're doing is keeping them from falling down. This is Main Street in this cool actual ghost town. |
 |
Another pleasant surprise was the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, located at about 11,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. These trees have a adapted to their harsh environment (it's only warm enough for them to grow about 8 weeks a year) by allowing parts of themselves to die off during bad times, keeping only a single branch alive. The rest of the wood is slowly shaped and sanded by the forces of nature. How old could this tree be? Up to 4000 years. |
 |
Stopped in the little town of Lone Pine, where I stopped to see the Alabama Hills, where many classic Westerns (Stagecoach, How the West Was Won, Gunga Din) were filmed. Also got this shot of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states - it's the pointy one in the background. [See the Alaska pix for pictures of the highest mountain in the country.] |
 |
Later that day, after several ups and downs, I ended up at the lowest point in the United States, Badwater in Death Valley - 282 feet below sea level. And the elevation was not the only thing that changed: the temperature at Bristlecone was about 70°F (21°C); at Badwater it was about 115°F (46°C) |
 |
There are several pretty places to see in Death Valley (as long as an air-conditioned car isn't too far away. This is Mosaic Canyon, formed once by raging waters. It's polished some of the marble smooth. The "mosaic" is the composite stone you can see on the left wall. |
 |
Drove from Death Valley to Las Vegas. Talk about a culture change! I spent the evening wandering up and down the Strip looking at all the lights and free shows. This was my favorite sign. One of the few "old" casinos still around, with three big names. (Lorna Luft is Judy Garland's "other" daughter...) |