California Baby!

When I was in high school, we had an exchange student from Norway, Astrid, live with us for part of a year. Her husband Knut, daughter Madeleine, and she came to the states for the second time for a visit, and this time they spent part of their time in California. As that was closer for me to travel to than going back to Alabama (where they spent the second part of their visit), I decided to head to Cali to hang out with them.



I headed out of Ruby Valley, and right into the middle of a cattle drive - something definitely different about living out west!

On the stretch between Ruby Valley and Elko, I saw a live badger (my third, but first in broad daylight!) and a dead one. That brings my total to 5 live and 3 dead - pretty sad that I've seen more dead than alive. People here do NOT yield to wildlife, and it's a real shame. The only saving grace is the low population out here... if there were as many people in the wide open west as back home, the animals would be doomed!

The first night I drove to Sacramento and stayed with my cousin Maria - actually, she's my cousin Jasin's wife, but he was out of town, so we just had a girly evening. We went to a great Mexican restaurant and spent the evening playing with her cats and watching HGTV. It was nice to see her home and spend some time with her!

The drive west was beautiful - there was a stark contrast in scenery between all of Nevada east of Reno, and Reno and the Truckee River west into California. I climbed up and over the Sierra Nevadas, saw a turnoff for the Pacific Crest Trail and the Donner Pass.

The next day I drove on to San Francisco. I was ASTOUNDED at the pollution - the sky was PINK and HAZY with SMOG - it was disgusting. The air seeping into the car smelled of chemical stench. It was pretty unbelievable. How did we allow this to happen? The traffic was unbelievable. Everywhere. I was never in California, ever, that I wasn't in heavy traffic. What a shame. Made me long for that clean Nevada air!

As I was approaching San Francisco, I nearly had a heart attack... the realization hit me that I was driving a standard transmission, and about to visit the hilliest city in the US! Oh my gosh... I mean, I can drive a stick really well, I think, but in San Francisco? THAT'S another story! I started sweating it. Thankfully, they'd chosen a hotel right on the coast so I avoided any severe hills.

It was nice to see them - we did some classic San Fran touristy things: walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, rode a double-decker bus on a tour around the city, saw Lombard street...

IT. WAS. FREEZING. None of us had packed appropriately. Knut and I both bought a fleece jacket from street vendors. Our hotel even had fires going outside!

As I left, it took me over an hour to get from the parking lot to the interstate, which was maybe then blocks away. Ridiculous. Traffic. Ugh.

I stopped back by Sacramento for a night, and spent it with my other cousin, Marjo Muir. I spent the evening catching up with her in her new apartment, and got to meet her boyfriend Tony. The next morning we had breakfast before I hit the road.

After a long drive home, and stopping in Elko to get an oil change (hey, when town's a 3 hour drive round-trip, you do things when you have the opportunity!), this was the beautiful scene that greeted me once I arrived back home in Ruby Valley.