| Nine of Cups California, Here We Come 2010 |
With David's Mom, Becky, on the mend and doing quite well, we offered her an early Christmas present: a road trip to visit her big sister, Edna, in Marysville, California. They hadn't seen each other since Becky's 90th birthday, so both were excited at a chance for a reunion. With the help of MapQuest, we planned the 1,200 mile roundtrip with 4 travel days, coming and going, and 3 days in Marysville for visiting. With a resounding chorus of "California, here we come", we headed out mid-morning en route to our first stopover, Tulare, CA...about 350 miles away. We planned rest stops every 1-1/2 to 2 hours and managed quite nicely with a max of 350 miles/day. Though Becky was clearly exhausted at the end of each day, the thought of spending time with her sister far outweighed the exhaustion. |
| We traveled I15 from Las Vegas across the California border, retracing our steps from our previous LAX-Las Vegas trip and crossed the state border at Primm, NV. |
| There were a number of covered rest stops along the way for picnics, leg stretches and potty breaks. |
| We enjoyed the drastic scenery changes as we traveled across the Mojave Desert from Las Vegas across the California border. The terrain changed from desert to the southern California foothills, then to the flat agricultural lands of California's Central Valley. From Joshua trees and prickly pear to grape vineyards, almond trees and citrus groves...we enjoyed the distinct differences as we covered the distance to Marysville, just north of Sacramento ...our final destination. |
| Truck o' garlic...we saw endless open double- trailers full of garlic bulbs. |
| What the heck is this and how do you say it? |
| We passed through Boron, California... "Borax capital of the world" and Selma, California... "Raisin capital of the world". Spanish-named towns like Paso Robles were off the highway and road names like Twenty Mule Team Road and Ghost Town Road sparked our conversations. |
| A giant flock of windmills high on the barren hills took advantage of ever-present winds. |
| WWI vintage bi-plane coasts by as it crop dusts the local fields. Agriculture is a main industry of the Central Valley of California. |
| Finally, the turn-off for Marysville |
| We went directly to Aunt Edna's place and the first reunion was sweet. |
| Marysville, California... In the days of the Gold Rush, the ranch was a stopping point for riverboats from Sacramento and San Francisco that carried miners on their way to the digging grounds. A sign on the roadside as one enters Marysville still carries the slogan: "Gateway to The Gold Fields." Marysville, California, gained its name from Mary Murphy Covillaud, who was a Donner Party survivor. It is also known as California's oldest "little" city. |
| The nearby Sutter Buttes are renowned for being the "Smallest Mountain Range in the World." The range is actually circular with a diameter of 10 miles and covers an area of about 75 square miles and are the remnants of a volcano that has been dormant for over a million years. South Butte, the highest peak is 2,117 feet above sea level. |
| We took a daytrip to view the nearby Sutter Buttes. |
| Sutter Buttes view |
| The Lount Sisters - Becky (left) age 93 and Edna, age 105. |
| Aunt Edna treated us all to a lovely dinner at The Refuge in Yuba City. From left, Joe, Per, Judy, Marcie, David, Becky & Edna. A fun evening and great food. |
| Found an old family photo. Edna (age 2) is in her standing mother's arms, far left c.1907. Great hats, huh? |
| Aunt Edna surprised David when she pulled out an old teak chest which belonged to her father, David's grandfather, Otto Lount, which he acquired in the Philipines during the Spanish American War. Edna has bequeathed this precious piece of family history to David. He's both honored and thrilled. |
| Lake Tahoe viewed from the Tahoe City covered bridge. |
| All too soon it was time to head back to Las Vegas. We had planned a return circle route past Lake Tahoe through the Sierra Nevadas and the northern Nevada desert. Above, a view of Donner Lake. |
| A rest stop at the Pioneer Museum near Donner Pass named for the infamous and ill-fated Donner Party. |
| Picturesque Lake Tahoe with the Sierra Nevada mountains as a backdrop. |
| Soon we were back in the desert of north- western Nevada, keen to get into a hotel. David found a shortcut on the map, unpaved, but passable. |
| Passable that is, until we came to a slight obstacle...a stream. David surveyed and figured it was fordable in the car...and it was. Thank goodness, since it would have meant another 80 miles. |
| We stopped in the small, friendly desert town of Hawthorne for the night. Known primarily for its US ordinance plant, we felt somewhere between safe and incendiary as we drove past the Ordinance Museum with all its missiles and torpedoes on display. |
| A quick overnight stop and we were off again on the final leg back to Las Vegas. Above, ordinance bunkers dot the flat, desert landscape as we depart from Hawthorne. Temperatures hovered above 100F. |
| We passed lots of small desert towns and abandoned shacks along the highway heading south, long deserted when gold mines were worked out. |
| Lots of opportunities presented themselves along the way, but we didn't take advantage. |
| At last Mt. Charleston came into view and the skyline of downtown Las Vegas. On arrival at home, Becky headed straight for her easy chair and sighed in relief. "Good to go...good to get home." Sleeping in her own bed was wonderful! As for us, we planned leaving in two days for our cross country trip to see friends and relatives throughout the USA before heading back to "Cups" in New Zealand. A quick unpack, laundry, car check, repack and we were ready to head out. |
| Join us on our cross country trip. First stop,Zion National Park, Utah. |
| Marysville, California - 39N05.9 / 121W34.2 |
| We saw very few birds on our trip, but have included them in the Birds of the West/Southwest USA page. Check it out. |