Our time with Minnie Winnie is slowly coming to an end. Few days ahead of us, we have one major destination, Arches National Park, before doing a lot of driving through Utah, Nevada and California to ultimately San Francisco, where Minnie Winnie and us will part.
Nature’s sculpture workshop
There are many unique geological sites in the US. I have seen Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, Brice Canyon and Zion National Park. And we have seen incredible landscapes on this trip. But in my opinion, Arches National Park just puts them all into the shade.
For miles and miles, we drive through the magnificence of these rocks, some looking like cathedrals or entire cities, others like statutes, some like animals, and others just with a shape of their own. I let the pictures speak for themselves.
Utah will need a second chance
We head further West that day and spend the night in Provo, near Salt Lake City. What is it with Utah? We don’t know what it is but we don’t feel at ease here.
Salt Lake City rises to our right as we head onto I-80, it looks artificial and synthetical. It doesn’t get better as we are being bullied in traffic, and the foul egg like smell of the Salt Lake that we pass by just breaks the camel’s back. The salt desert is just very white, and we are glad when we reach the border to Nevada.
Passing through Nevada
Nevada feels different, and not only because we are glad to be out of Utah. We stop in Elko to take a look. It is just amazing for a European that a town can only be a hundred years old (my grandfather was born that year), but Elko is showing all the heritage it can dig up with all its pride at the Northeastern Nevada Museum. I know it’s reducing the exhibition a little, but one gets the impression that the left wing of the museum is showing the firearms with which the animals in the right wing were shot. Seriously, the collection of stuffed animals is huge. According to the museum’s website, it is the donation of a certain Jack Wanamaker from California. One wonders what Mr. Wanamakers did all his life, given that his arctic hunting gear is part of the exhibition. In any event, I feel a little nauseous when we leave the Museum.
This has been our longest drive so far. We arrive at Winnemucca in the early evening and jump into a way too warm pool. Countdown to Winnie Minnie’s return.
Fallen Leaf Lake
The next day, we enter California at Lake Tahoe, spreading out in its majestic blue greatness in front of our eyes. We have left the Wild Wild West. As much as we have liked it out there, it feels good to be in an environment full of blue and green as opposed to variations of brown and yellow.
We arrive at Fallen Leaf Lake in the afternoon, at a beautiful campground, a 5 minutes’ walk away from the beach. Fallen Leaf Lake is a gorgeous place. I have been here twice before as a guest to friends of my parents. I remember going on the so called “cocktail cruise” around the lake every evening with our hosts on a marvelous old wooden boat with a pitcher of Margherita and thick handblown greenish cocktail glasses with a yellow swirl around them. I keep very fond memories of these stays. Unfortunately, I have not been able to contact them prior to our arrival, and our little quest along the lake on a terribly bumpy and narrow forest road in order to find their wonderful house on the lake shore, remains unsuccessful. We eventually turn around, and I don’t know how Minnie Winnie does it, but she is just a miracle.
After setting up camp at the Fallen Leaf Campfground, we spend some time on the lake swimming and playing, and then start a nice campfire and have an outdoor lumberjack dinner with a colorful evening sky.
To San Francisco
Our last full day with Minnie Winnie starts with a beautiful morning at Fallen Leaf Lake.
At noon, we hit the road for Petaluma near San Francisco, through the Sierra Nevada and ultimately parts of Sonoma Valley. Too bad we have no time to stop and do some wine tastings.
The sun sets as we reach our very last KOA campground, where the children enjoy the pool and the parents clean up Minnie Winnie and pack things for the final departure the next day. After almost four weeks on the road with our rolling home, it feels like moving out of a house. Needless to say, we are all a bit sad in light of the approaching separation from our motorized friend. Leo speculates whether Minnie Winnie celebrates her birthday, and figures that most probably her annual birthday present are new tires.
We take off early the next day and Minnie Winnie to Oakland to her final destination, crossing the Bay with spectacular views as the sun rises and the fog lifts. Then all of a sudden, the moment has come to hand Minnie Winnie over to her rightful owners, we turn around one last time, hop in a cab, and are off to new adventures.
