Action Packed

Today we left the good ol' Virginia Settlement and headed down to Mono Lake and Lee Vining. We wondered around in Lee Vining for awhile and then walked along the shore at Mono Lake. The tufa towers were amazing! I had been there once before with Heather a long time ago. After leaving Mono Lake we went through Yosemite, had a little hike, and then headed back down into San Francisco for the evening.

Our Cabin at Virginia Creek Settlement

Jim Laying in the Road

Us

Lots of Barbed Wire

View from the Bodie Road

Caskets

Old Pool Table

The School House

Bodie

Bodie

The Mine

Sheep on the Bodie Road

Heading to Bodie

Topaz Lake

Fire outside of Lake Tahoe

Us at Lake Tahoe

Playing on the Rocks

My Sweeties at Lake Tahoe

Blue

The water was so blue and so beautiful.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Ahhh Nevada

Power Twizzler

imajellidonut

Hazy Morning

Yay! Going to Bodie

We left out - not too early to make our way to Bridgeport and Bodie. It was another beautiful day, we have been lucky. We left Reno and went to Lake Tahoe and Topaz Lake, which were both beautiful. We explored the tiny town of Bridgeport then drove the long rough road up to Bodie and rambled around a bit. It was really cool. Heather and I filled some memory cards on our cameras for sure. Afterwards we checked into our night's accommodations in Bridgeport, a place called Virginia Creek Settlement. They had cabins and coverd wagons for people to stay in. I nixed the covered wagon idea... cold evenings + seperate shared bathroom = no way. Plus they are only meant to house 2 people. So we got a cabin. It was a funky little place with bunk beds and a futon couch. We ate dinner at the little restaurant there, and retired to our little cabin - totally exhausted.

Bathroom group photo

We are such dorks! But fun dorks I guess.

Waiting for the elevator

Heather in the big chair

Mike's winnings are none too shabby

Playing the Slots

Jim is not convinced, but he's a trooper. He mainly enjoyed watching the game Heather was playing - Texas Tea with the dancing armadillo.

Heather & Mike

Lovely Moon

Our Winnings - $310 & change

The View of Reno

Our hotel room had a good view

Silver Legacy

The hotel we stayed at. It had a gold rush sort of theme going on. If I'm ever in Reno I'd stay there again. I highly recommend.

Reno

Jim and I got into Reno a few hours before Heather's plane was due to arrive. We found our hotel... with much effort. Well, no. We found our hotel very easily, but we finding the entrance to the parking garage was a major endeavor. It was in the cluster of other older casinos, sort of downtown.

We checked into our somewhat fancy hotel - the Silver Legacy, dropped our stuff off in the room, and headed downstairs to find some food. After a weird meal we headed for the slots baby (video slots - I'm not hardcore). Jim is NOT a casino guy. Mom and I go a bit to the ones in Oregon, but Jim is generally opposed. We played for awhile and won a couple hundred dollars which was nice! Then we headed off to the airport to retrieve Heather and meet Mike for dinner.

Mike is an old friend that Heather met while she was in California working at Bodie, a California State Park. This was prior to the great Baldry migration to California in the 90's. We met him for sushi at a restaurant that was located on one of the crosswalks between the casinos. It was great to see him! He is doing well and seems very happy. He is a science teacher - which totally fits him. At one point after leaving California he led these wilderness survival trips for troubled teens. He's just an awesome person. The four of us went down to the casino in our hotel and played around a bit. He of course plays the tables. All in all it was a great evening.

Nice

I think this is quite possibly the best photo I have taken - and from the car no less. Of course it was easy.... It was a phenomenal view.

Little Butte

What a nice morning

Rail Road Tracks

It looked really weird to see the rail line all the way down there.

It was really low

Abandoned TV

Actually there were several scattered down the highway.

Goose Lake

There is an abandoned TV down in the bottom left corner.

Old Safeway Sign

Road to Reno

We headed out of Lakeview bright and early to make our way to Reno. The rain had cleared out, the sun was up, and we were somewhat well rested. We drove through the Goose Lake recreation area which lays across Oregon and California. The lake was way down from the summer dryness. It was gorgeous! We took our time on the way down, but we knew we had a short driving day. We have to be well rested for the evening's fun!

Line of the Storm

Heading right for the storm

At least the rest of the day had been beautiful.

Fort Rock

The clouds were amazing!

Driving the Hole

My car got dirty... in the Big Hole

It was FUN!