In May I flew to California to help Tess drive back to Michigan. After She picked me up in Sacramento, we had lunch with our cousin Kurt and his friend Jared at Auburn Alehouse. We had deep fried pickles and discussed what makes a good deep fried pickled. I had Gnocchi for the first, it was delicious. We had a great time.
Afterward, we went to Vikingsholm. Vikingsholm is a 38 room Mansion on the shore of Emerald Bay. It was constructed in the late 1920s and is one of the best examples of Scandinavian architecture in the US.
The parking lot is right off of highway 89. The walking path to it is a zig-zag downhill to the bay.
It was too early in the season so we couldn’t look inside The details were amazing.
You can see Fannette Island from the shore.
It’s the only island on Lake Tahoe. There’s an old tea house that blends into the rocks.
That night we spent some time with Kelly, Kira, John, and the kids.
The next day we packed up all of Tess’ belongings into her car and got onto Highway 80 heading toward Salt Lake City. A few hours into Nevada there is an attraction just off 80 called Thunder Mountain Nevada State Monument. It’s a group of handmade buildings and structures made by Frank Van Zant. He was a WWII veteran. After the war, he became a self-identified creek Native American and named himself Rolling Mountain Thunder after he claimed he had an epiphany. He built the structures for the supposed coming apocalypse and a haven for spiritual seekers. I think he had PTSD and this was his way of self-treating himself. The place has this eerie ominous vibe to it that makes you feel you are in a horror film.
The guest log was full of people saying how creepy it was and one hippie couple that said who loved the energy. we spent half an hour there before getting back on the road.
Driving through Nevada was nice, open space surrounded by mountains. the mountains in the distance were hidden behind black clouds. It appeared like the clouds were just a part of the mountains until there was a sudden downpour for five minutes.
Ii was intense.
We got to Salt Lake City around dinner time. We had a reservation at Camelot Inn and Hostel. Tess thought since it was an inn and hostel she had booked a room with a bathroom in the inn part. That was definitely not the case. They emailed Tess the code to the door to the hostel. To sign in we had to use a computer from the early 90s. I don’t remember how we used it to get the key to our room. the door didn’t have a doorknob just a deadbolt lock.
The only light int the room was on a timer.
After we checked in we went to dinner. I had picked out a vegan restaurant with hard cider, called BOLTCUTTER. The neighborhood it was in was beautiful. It was on a pedestrian street full of cute shops and restaurants with outdoor seating. The restaurant was lined with a window folded accordion-style. We sat inside because alcohol is not allowed on the street or in the outside seating. I had a prickly pear hard cider, it was sweet and spicy. We shared jackfruit NACHOS and Baja soy tacos. It was the best meal of the trip.
We called it a night soon after dinner because tomorrow would be our longest day.
In the morning we got checked out and walked to breakfast. It was called Maud’s Cafe. It is right next to the youth homeless center and had an employment training program for them. I had a great breakfast sandwich and Tess had avocado toast. Soon we were off to Canyonlands. Before you get to the park there are free range cattle everywhere.
We had to be careful of cattle crossing the road. Canyonlands is so big it is divided into three sections. We only had time for Island in the sky, which is the most accessible. We stopped at the visitors center to fill our water bottles. When we got back to the car there was a crow on top of the car next to us.
There was a group of people in front of the car taking pictures of the crow. After the crow photoshoot, we went across the road to Shafer Canyon.
The heat wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because it was so windy. It was so strong I stayed at least five feet away from the edge and sand hit your skin like sandpaper. The sand stuck to everything and was more noticeable because it was red. had never seen red sand before. Our next stop was the Mesa Arch.
I was the most crowded area we went to. The trail to it took five minutes.
We both had fun climbing up next to it.
Next, we took the shorter trail of Aztec Butte, it went to the granary. We walked for almost half an hour until the trail seemed to stop. It took a minute to find the trail markers leading up the rock.
After we climbed up the rock the trail went down to this ledge.
The granary was on the side of the cliff.
When we were sitting on the ledge I realized I had lost my earring. After carefully searching for it for a few minutes I was sure it went down the cliff. A few seconds later Tess found it in my hair. We headed back to the car after that. Buck Canyon was next. There was a nice stone pathway to it that was built by the national guard. It seemed to be overlooked by the crowds. Probably because it was so close to Grand Viewpoint.
The Grand Viewpoint was our last stop. It was so vast it was hard to photograph. We didn’t have time to walk down to the bottom. We still had to drive to Denver. We got to Denver Early evening and went out with Tess’ friend Cam. I’ve never really gone bar hopping before so it was definitely an experience. It was a lot of fun and I was the first one to crash for the night. I think all the time zone changes were catching up with me.
We went out for lunch late the next day and just hung most of the day. Late afternoon we went to a rooftop bar. By five we were driving out of Denver and Tess was asleep. By the time we hit Nebraska, it was almost dark and the storm had caught up with us again. Luckily it didn’t rain but the thunder was roaring and the lightning almost blinding. Halfway through Nebraska, I booked a hotel in Lincoln. When we got to Lincoln Tess was starving so we picked up IHOP and got to our hotel around one am. We watched Ratatouille while Tess had dinner.
We had breakfast at the hotel and stocked up on fruit and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. We drove to Starved Rock State Park and got there just after we finished lunch. The first thing we noticed when we got out was the humidity. After all that dry heat it felt like the rainforest at 85 degrees. The canyons were so cool, it felt like it dropped twenty degrees when we were at the bottom.
One canyon had a narrow passage that had water a few inches high. You can see the footprints in the rock from people walking the path over the years.
We headed to Auntie Kims’ and Uncle Eddies’ after that. We got there around dinner time. Mike showed up and we had a great time hanging out. The next day we made it home late afternoon. Tess grabbed stuff from the house and headed back to Kalamazoo. we had a few days to unpack before starting her new job the next week. It was so great having all that time talking and hanging out with Tess. I’m so glad a went. It was a little last minute, early on I was just planning on going to visit her for a long weekend. I wasn’t sure if I should take a week off work after taking that much time off the month before. I’m so glad I did. it was definitely a once in a lifetime thing. Going for this trip and helping Tesds plan it really inspired me to travel more. After this trip, I made it a goal to take a big trip at least every two years. I can’t wait for my next adventure. I might even have the courage to make it a solo trip!
