Monday 10/23/23, Driving to Klamath, CA

 The roads from Reno were steep, windy, we passed so many burned areas with charred mountainsides.

But other parts were lovely. Lush. Green. And the coast! So rough. Lagoons, surf, trees, trees, trees. 

We never really stopped for lunch. We had some nuts and apple slices from home and snacked on those. And Dr. Pepper . We listened to the last of our audio book mystery. We decided to wait and eat dinner at our destination. Wrong choice. The hotel's bar and grill is closed on Sunday and Monday. Today is Monday. The only other place was across the street. It, too, was a bar and grill with fried things and burgers. Good thing I was in the mood for a hamburger! I couldn't even finish it, it was so big. 

We were able to get checked in before Nick and Kaylee got there, which was just as we finished eating. The little kids were so hyper. They went swimming and I helped watch and shuffle them back and forth to rooms, bathrooms, showers, etc. Jane is bunking with us in a roll-away. I also showered both little girls and helped get them ready for bed. So many hours in a car is so hard. But, as I'm typing this on my phone Monday at 9pm in the evening, Jane is finally snoozing softly in her bed. I can only hope the others are, too. 

We have NO phone service with each other! The hotel has wifi, thus I'm blogging, but phones? Nada. We will have to work hard to stay together on the highways tomorrow. 

Now I shall spend time editing the hundred of photos I snapped from the (mostly moving) truck!

One thing we remembered this time was our Atlas. We drove past "Honey Lake (dry)" . It was definitely NOT dry!

The mountains were lovely ( when they were not all burnt up).

Fall colors, fog.

GOLDEN mushrooms, yarrow(?), pampas grass

 I've never seen pampas in natural habitat. Only cultivated in yards and landscape. There was wild grasses every where!

The ocean was rough, and we saw freshwater lagoons.

The Trinity River in the mountains was really lovely. 

Some of the mountain roads we went on were steep and narrow. 

Close to the coast were elk! LOTS of elk!

You can stay at a place called Elk Cabins and the animals come right into the yards! They are wild animals. Plenty of feed for them. 

There were a lot in this meadow near the cabins.

Some were wandering by the road.

Then, after we are our dinner, we met our kids at the lovely Holiday Inn Express. They swam. We forgot suits. Mike tried to watch the Monday night football game in our room, but he said he got up about 10 times to answer the door. Ha. Not very restful for him.

We are very grateful for our long and uneventful drive across northern California 's lovely mountains to the seashore today. 

We get to go see trees tomorrow! Trees and Ferns. 

Tiny wet footprints on the elevator floor.