The Road Trip - Day 1

We decided to do most of the driving on the first and last days of our road trip. We drove 16 hours during our first day. Yes, 16 hours was a lot, and yes, we were both fed-up when we got to Lake Tahoe, but it was also quite the interesting drive. During the 16 hours we saw every kind of landscape that you can think of: rocky mountains, plains, desert and rolling hills. We also experienced all 4 seasons and every weather condition during our drive: temperatures ranging from -3 to 20 degrees Celsius, rain, snow, sunshine, clouds.

Miles and miles of a whole lot of nothing

Our drive in southern Wyoming was pretty uneventful. Our only form of entertainment were the hilarious (unintentionally so) billboards along the way. My favourite restaurant billboard said…Apple Pie…Oh la la. Really? You spend thousands on a gigantic billboard and you only have a photo of an apple pie and those words on it?

Brrrrrr

We then became quite fascinated by the prospect of driving past Little America. According to the billboards, this place was something to see. A great place for the whole family. An amazing vacation spot. Fabulous restaurant. That all changed when I saw the 1980’s style picture of a piece of steak with fanned out asparagus and oddly placed potato - I then realized that this place could not be as fabulous as they were making it out to be). For 2 hours we were wondering about Little America. It took us all of 3 seconds to drive past it and NO, it didn’t live up to all they hype.

mmmm...Little America....

After hours of driving, the conversation and general excitement died down a bit and I decided to take a nap. I could normally fall asleep in any car, but the loudness of the rain on the windshield kept waking me up. Finally when I couldn’t take it anymore, I got a not-so-great surprise: we were almost out of petrol and the next town was at least 50 miles away - eeeeek! We started driving much slower and I sat with my legs under me, in a tiny ball of nerves, wondering what we would do if we did run out of petrol. Would we leave everything in the car and risk all of our belongings getting stolen on our first day or would I stay in the car while my hubby goes on a petrol hunt and risk being possibly kidnapped or/and attacked by a stranger in a rapist van. Oh the pressure! Luckily, just before the needle touched the last and final red line, we reached a tiny little town with a petrol station. Remember this VERY important lesson: when driving in the dessert, NEVER let your car get too empty, because garages can be few and far between!

Interesting landscapes

About an hour before we were due to arrive in Lake Tahoe, I had had enough. Luckily we drove through a tiny little town called Genoa. According to the sign it was the 1st settlement in Nevada and it was just the most adorable little town. That day the place was full of life and abuzz with the sounds of people laughing and chatting, because they were celebrating during their annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival - if I wasn‘t desperate to get to our hotel after 15 hours of driving, I would have loved to attend the festival - it looked and sounded like so much fun! Such a cute place.

Sunset in Lake Tahoe - worth the drive

Once we finally arrived in Lake Tahoe, I quickly shook off the long drive. We went to our hotel room, changed and started walking around. The views of Lake Tahoe were breathtaking and from the bar on the top floor of the hotel, we could see the sun set while sipping on a glass of something cold and bubbly. The perfect way to unwind after such a grueling day of traveling. After sundowners we were starving so we popped into a Mexican restaurant in Havey’s Hotel & Casino called Cabo Wabo. Their Guacamole & Chips and Carne Asada was spectacular. (I’m not sure if it was really that good or if it was just the fact that we were famished and beyond tired.) Our first night we opted out of gambling. With 4 hours of sleep and long hours on the road, all we wanted to do was to fall on the bed and sleep. Unfortunately our sleep was not as peaceful as we had hoped…moderately to extremely intoxicated people were running and screaming in the corridors and when the guy next door arrived at his room he knocked and knocked until the whole floor was open. When his girlfriend finally opened the door, he entered the room by screaming (at the top of his lungs) “show me some boobies!!!” It just goes to show…when a hotel offers you an upgrade for only $30 more, you should seriously consider it…