RENO

So we went to Reno, NV. We left Eugene right around 8:30 am on Thursday morning and pulled into the Hotel around 4;30 or 5 in the evening. For those that don't know there is two common ways to get there from here, one is to go down I-5 and through Mt. Shasta the other is to go through Willamette Pass and go down via Central Oregon. We choose to take I-5 down. The trip down was uneventful which is always a good thing, there was a lot of road construction which of course slows you down.

Here is a shot of Mt. Shasta from I-5.

We had wonderful weather on the way down and on Friday, except for the winds started on Friday. Friday we went out and about, we visited 3 yarn shops that were on my list. I will post pictures later of my haul....hehehe.

Hey girls I found a license plate for you all, take a look...

Then we came across this little gem.....

We went to the Railroad Museum in Carson City on Friday and were greatly impressed, there was some serious history there.

Scott and gang bowled Friday night and did pretty good, we will see just how good in a while. Fingers crossed for the money.

When we got back to Reno Friday we played at the different casinos, no big winners. But needless to say we had fun. I am a people watcher so I was in heaven just watching all the people and everything going on around me. Here is what the Reno sign looks like at night....

Saturday morning we got up and played a little Keno, we just happened to hit a 4 spot which was our big winner for the whole trip, it payed out at $115 not to bad. Then we headed out for the day. we went to the new Cabela's store...all I can say is WOW. This is an outdoor persons dream come true. I can't even begin to describe it, they have just about everything a person could want. They have wonderful displays of wildlife animals in natural settings. If you ever get a chance to go to one you really should.

When we left there we headed to Lake Tahoe. We started our journey at the upper end of the lake and drove around the West side down to the South and came back over Mt. Rose. The highest elevation we were at was right around 8900 ft. The lake is incredible, there was still snow on the ground and the houses. It was chilly and we had high winds. But it really was a great day. Here we are at the North end of the lake...

Here is a view of the lake at Inspiration Point..... On this leg of our trip the winds were blowing, we had 60 mph gusts.

We had to be back in Carson City for bowling at 8 am on Sunday so we called it an early night. We went on down to Carson City and found snow on the ground. The gang bowled and then we all headed out. Talking with everyone and watching the weather channel we had a decision to make ...which way to come home? We ended up coming home through Klamath Falls and then Willamette Pass.

We had pretty much every type of weather possible on our return trip. We started the day off with sunshine and winds, then hit the snow, then we got into some hail, then fog, then we hit more snow, then when we got home we had rain.

I wish I could say the trip home was uneventful but I can't. We were making good time and just cruising along until we made the turn onto Hwy 58, this is the highway that takes you over Willamette Pass. We started out with nice dry pavement no snow, no ice. Then we started getting into the snow, not bad, it was fresh and the sanding truck had just gone through, so all was good. Then it got worse, we went about 5 miles and came upon a wreck, a car on each side of the road, one flipped over on its roof, everyone appeared to be ok. Then about 3 miles from that we hit the ice, we slid a bit, no area to chain up. So at this point we just parked for a bit to regroup and get settled down and then proceeded on our journey.

We went past the ski lodge and all was well, except the icy roads and fear building in us. Then when we got to tunnel we had to sit for about 45 minutes. There was a U-Haul truck with a car dolly and car on the back that jack-knifed just outside of the tunnel.

I have to say I really was scared at this point. Not knowing how long we would be there, what was going to happen, and with the temp dropping who knew what was to come. Anyways a tow truck got the U-Haul out of the way and we were moving again.

When were about 45 minutes from home we hit a snow storm. I was pretty cool to see the snow coming at us the way it was, we could hardly see the road but the snow itself as so pretty.

We ended up pulling into our driveway around 10:30 pm. We hit the road at about 2 pm so we really didn't do to bad on time.

I was so happy to be home. Frank greeted me at the door by jumping on me, as soon as I emptied my hands I picked him up and was greeted with about 5 solid minutes of his puppy kisses. The kids told us he was depressed and refused to eat while we were gone. He is back to normal now and doing well.

So that my friends is the story of our journey to Reno. All in all we had an awesome time. I feel very blessed to have made the whole trip with out any real problems and am very happy to be back home.

I will be taking pictures and posting my LYS haul.