Lake Tahoe, Sacramento and home

We drove north from Las Vegas and it was so dry that there were dust devils swirling across the desert. We turned off the freeway and saw this hill of rocks, the amount of weathering on the stones was amazing. 

It was a lovely drive with some beautiful vistas in small town Nevada. We climbed up over a mountain pass almost to 8,000 feet on the way into Lake Tahoe

We stopped in there for the evening. It is a beautiful spot and we had time in the morning to go for a hike. Then we drove up the west side of the lake from south to north and then we headed for Sacramento. 

We had a great visit with our friends Pat and Carole whom we first met in Mexico in 2006. On our way to San Francisco to catch our plane Pat drove us through the delta that is east of San Francisco Bay. It was an enjoyable drive along the levees that were constructed after the gold rush in the 1800's.

We drove through vineyards and pear orchards, a very rich growing area. We took the rapid transit into San Francisco where the temperature dropped about 25 degrees and was rainy.

We are back home and I probably will stop blogging now that our life will be fairly predictable. Check back in the middle of January 2019 when we will return to San Carlos and the boat.

Las Vegas

We took the bus to Tucson, Arizona and then rented a car and drove to Las Vegas. It was a pretty boring drive until we got close and we went through the old mountain range. We stopped at the Hoover Dam, it was really something. It was so hot, 107F or over 41C, it was a very dry heat though so we weren't sweating like we did in Costa Rica. 

Barry had been to Las Vegas as a kid in the 50's and I had never been so we were astonished by the number of hotels and the opulence that was on display.

We cruised down the strip gawking like the tourists we were. The Las Vegas hockey team is in the Stanley Cup finals so signs of Go Knights Go were everywhere. In the Excalibur Casino the knight was wearing a hockey jersey.

I am not sure if you can read the sign but they bet on just about anything in Las Vegas, including first team to score a goal. They had golfing odds as well and we were surprised to see Tiger Woods was given 10-1 odds for winning the Fed-Ex Cup.

We went into the Coca Cola store and I had to resist mightily the urge to buy a pair of these pyjamas.

I finally got lucky and won $113 USD at the slot machines. I cashed in and walked away. That is thing if we win we just leave with our money. It was early in the evening and I now understand gamblers, it was very difficult not to try and win some MORE money, but I resisted and it paid for our dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp restaurant.

Here is Barry who was extremely pleased to have a whole roll of paper towels with which to wipe his fingers if he chose!